Article by
The Monarch
Genre: Dubstep, Electronic
Category: Music Commentary, Music Videos
The Machine is Just Hype.
For a lot of music fans, Hypemachine’s charts have become a way to find “the best new music on the internet”. For others it has acted as a promotional tool. For most, its nothing more than a way to find new tracks. Generally speaking the charts are biased to artists we’ve already heard of, tracks that have been overplayed, and they are often influenced by praise from magazines like Pitchfork. As an aggregator of so many different blogs it is a great repository of music and an awesome tool to help you find new things you might like. Â Ultimately, its not the billboard charts and isn’t subject to much oversight, rather it democratizes the way in which we are exposed to new music. This democracy isn’t perfect.
Hypemachine aggregates music from a plethora of blogs across the world, hence the nifty translate button at the bottom of SalaciousSound. Many of these blogs are biased, not just towards certain artists, because often they act as promotional tools for people in local cities their objectivity should be questioned. There are multiple blogs owned by record labels, DJs, and promoters. Record labels will often push new artists out there into the world. DJs will draw a following and give people an idea of what they spin through the music they post. Promoters will post songs in order to draw attention to their upcoming Justice show, or even a show by the little known DJ behind the Justice remix or mash-up they chose to share.
Bloggers are people with friends, people with enemies, people who aren’t subject to much oversight. I post what I want, often what I like, and some times music I don’t love for people who I like. In this case I choose to describe why someone might like something, rather than expressing my own personal opinion in a lot of these cases. Blogged music can, at times, be amateur. I remember about a year ago there was an advertisement for an afterhours that said “No Blog House”. Over the course of running this blog, I have come to understand why. Ultimately, the thousand Justice remixes rushed to completion in someone’s bedroom don’t compare to the original and official remixes that have been masterfully produced, mixed and mastered. Bloggers can’t post a lot of the music they love, often the result is a take down request.
Duck Sauce’s “aNYways” was one of my favorite songs of the summer, and I didn’t post it out our of respect for the fact that it is a Major Label recording. At the time, it was flooding blogs, HypeM, and Forums. The song is easily available for download in high quality whether it was posted here or not. I didn’t, in fact, post it until I had found a copy of the original song that they sampled in mp3 format that I could share. Now, one might ask, “why wouldn’t you just post the original?” The thing is if I had just posted the original many people who came to the post from aggregators like Elbo.ws and Hypem wouldn’t have found it. I wanted people who liked the “aNYways” to come find the Final Edition track that it sampled so I bundled it in the post. We received a takedown request.
A lot of music bloggers often worship the ground that Pitchfork took claim too. The desire to be at the forefront of innovative music, while telling people that major artists have litle value. Thankfully, because of sites like Pitchfork and Hypemachine, a lot more underground music has been given some light. At the same time, the type of music that is often proliferated by the music critique and blogger bourgeoisie doesn’t necessarily resonate with the proletariat.
There is a reason why Jay-z, Bono, and Tiesto sell out shows in venues that fit over 50,000 people and The XX and Friendly Fires show in Toronto is at the Pheonix, a venue with a capacity of less than 1000 people, they haven’t established mass appeal yet. The show sold out, obviously, but at the same time could they sell out the Air Canada Centre? Probably not (at least yet).
Time Festival at Sound Academy featured a lot of fn Hypemachine favorites. The main room featured A-Trak, DJ Mehdi, Felix Cartal, Don Rimni, Rye Rye, Crystal Castles and Flosstradamus alongside other established local Toronto talents. There were 3 other rooms. One featured one of the forefathers of Techno music, someone who most Electronic music bloggers would respect, Jeff Mills. Another, featured a slew of young up and coming DJs in Toronto, including the new infamous Conor Cutz. One might assume that an event of this magnitude in a city like Toronto could potentially take place in a venue that could fit ten, maybe twenty thousand people. It took place at The Sound Academy where the capacity is less than five thousand. This is the same place Justice played an all ages show a year and half ago. Yes more people are falling in love with undergound music. I know to some of you, you can’t fathom why someone would listen to Miley or Britney, but the truth is… they outnumber us.
Ultimately the music bourgeoisie, isn’t the masses. Maybe we can call music bloggers the 5 percenters of music, attempting to free 85 percent from their ignorance, exposing them to the freedom of Animal Collective, Phish, The Cool Kids etc. to free them from the shackles of BET and the chains of Miley Cyrus. But when it comes down to it, that 85 percent is where all the money is. There o a reason why songs like Hathbanger’s (who the fuck is this kid?) mediocre mash-up of Biggie and Miley Cyrus made it to the top of the charts and is one of the most loved longs we’ve ever posted on the site. People love Miley, and other people love Biggie, you put the two together, even if it is mediocre, you get a lot of people who will love that song.
The belief that Hypemachine’s user base doesn’t fall victim to popular appeal and promotion is false. While the majority of music posted on the site tends to be new and cutting edge, there is also a lot of crap clogging its arteries. The outrage that has ensued over Conor Cutz and DJ Black reaching the top of the charts is, if nothing else, hilarious. The fact that they promoted his song being on hypemachine and got his fan base, which is actually quite large in the Tri- Cities area (Guelph, Waterloo and ?), to show him and DJ Black some love isn’t malicious. At the end of the day the song hit number 1 on Hypemachine, received the criticism it deserved, created some “tension” with DJ Jedi based on one line in his Bio and will be forgotten by those who didn’t love it and remembered by his friends who did. Hypemachine isn’t Billboard and if you can get enough of your friends to click a little heart beside your song name, you will probably reach the top of its charts(How to Become a HypeMachine Hitmaker).
The recently implemented Twitter Chart is pretty interesting on another hand. Different users have greater influence based on their number of followers. This makes it susceptible to the influence of those with a large twitter following. One tweet by Shaq and you are at the top of the charts? Quick, someone tell Shaq he can revive his rap career all my himself. Start a blog, post his own music, and tweet! Once at the top of the charts your bound to face greater criticism, and as much as I love Diesle I don’t think his poetry will hold up.
Recently, one of our writers, thehungriest, posted about Zeds Dead. They were recently featured on Skream’s Stella Aessions mix and have been receiving a lot of praise from the Toronto music community. These guys are the real deal. How much love did they get on Hypemachine? Not as much as they deserved. They are relatively unknown to most music consumers but have had a massive amount of support by some of the most respected DubStep sharing YouTube channel’s around. Support from one of the Dons of Dubstep isn’t enough. The fact that they won both remix competitions they entered through this site wasn’t enough. But really, does it matter? Their music has received recognition by the people who matter: arguably the best DJ/Producer in their genre, multiple music blogs, record labels and other taste-makers. Who cares if they got less love on Hypemachine than Hathbanger… This duo is actually GOING SOMEWHERE!
Hopefully people will realize that the Hypemachine charts aren’t perfect. Often they influence themselves. The higher you get the more exposure you get the more random people who will show you love. The more popular the more likely lots of blogs will talk about you. The better your EP and the remixes by other artists the greater likelihood that your song will be all over the charts in each of its unique incarnations. If your friends show you love, even the most mediocre producer can shine in its light. Hypemachine is democratic, which means its open to flaws and as songs become more popular they often face more criticism. Try checking out other social media based chars. I recently discovered We Are Hunted and its been a great place to find new music. In music’s increasing digitization, we are opening our minds to new sounds and different artists. More music is being created and recorded than ever before. The internet has removed barriers for undergound artists and allowed their music proliferate into markets that would have previously been unreachable. Let’s appreciate the fact that there is more opportunity to discover new music.
I thought about posting a fake Justice remix to add to my point, but decided against it. Instead here is some music I really like, the songs that have got the most love on my iTunes over the past few weeks. Some of it might be popular on Hypemachine most of it will be overlooked by many. CFCF’s music really deserves the attnetion it has been getting. Most of it will likely just add to the repository of unloved, but amazing music on the site. The XX remix of YGTL if amazing. Check out “Dance of the Sock Monkeys”, it’s definitely one of the more interesting songs I’m posting. Monarchy is great and I’m really enjoying what they’ve put out there so far, I can also relate to the name. Diminishing Returns deserves to be at the top of the pops. This a collection of music I found on some of my favorite blogs, including The Curb Crawlers, Plugged Not Thugged, Pelski and Disco Dust. Hopefully this post will give you glimpse into what I’m listening to rather than just what I have been posting.
Ali Love - Diminishing Returns (Extended Version).mp3
Bill Withers - Who Is He (Henrik Schwarz Edit).mp3
CFCF - Raining Patterns.mp3
CFCF - Monolith.mp3
CFCF - Half Dreaming.mp3
CFCF - Big Love.mp3
Erik Hassle - Hurtful (Penguin Prison Remix).mp3
Fever Ray - Seven (Martyns Seventh Mix).mp3
Florence and the Machine - Youve Got the Love (The xx Remix).mp3
Jupiter - Mama Used To Say.mp3
Monarchy - Gold In The Fire (Demo).mp3
Sub Focus - Coming Closer.mp3
Sub Focus - Last Jungle.mp3
Tell Your Friends
More Articles About The Artist(s)
A-Trak, Ali Love, Animal Collective, Big L, Bill Withers, CFCF, CIS, College, Conor Cutz, Cross, Crystal Castles, DJ JEDI, DJ Mehdi, Duck Sauce, Erik Hassle, Esto, Felix Cartal, Fever Ray, Final Edition, FLOSSTRADAMUS, Friendly Fires, Henrik Schwarz, Jay-Z, Jupiter, Justice, Martyn, Monarchy, Penguin Prison, Rye Rye, Skream, Sub Focus, The Cool Kids, The XX
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now thats a post.
anything worthwhile, once it’s reached the masses, is dumbed down for easy consumption.
certain blogs featured on hypem do escape this unfortunate circumstance; thankfully for the medium of the internet.
I just wanted to say THANK YOU for writing this entry. I agree with you 100% about everything.
Music is music, it is for everyone to enjoy and to listen to. Sure constructive criticism is always welcomed for us to improve on, but writing hate comments to other artists and/or DJs is unnecessary. Bloggers such as myself and artists who are trying to get a name out there should be grateful for The Hype Machine…without that website I wouldn’t of discovered half of the music that is on my iTunes right now. And I wouldn’t of discovered Salacious Sound and the many other blogs that I’ve personally bookmarked to check out again.
Basically what I’m trying to say is that people should be a little more appreciative to music sites such as HypeM, Elbo.Ws, etc. Without those sites our love for “underground music” wouldn’t of extend to a higher level than it is right now. Thanks for writing such an honest entry about HypeM, it’s nice to see someone setting some facts straight. Too bad you don’t see entries like these on other blogs.
I think you meant to say this was one of your favorite songs of the summer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQwmjxR5TUU
I don’t see what’s imperfect about “this democracy” dude – by definition it works exactly how one should, with no sort of coercion at the ballot box. Sure, campaigning is allowed, but you and I know very well how well ‘no campaigning’ rules work.
And it isn’t just some blogs that are biased.. ALL blogs are biased. Some are biased by their label, some by their advertisers, some by the conceptions of their editor, and some yet (like Monarch) by personal tastes and their friends; YOU CAN’T ESCAPE IT. What aggregation does, like in statistics, is average things out to see what is popular, or in modern parlance “hype”. HYPEm never claimed any more or less, so I really don’t see what all the fuss is about.
And just for the record, I only post things that I think are good. That’s my bias.
excellent article… interesting and accurate observations.. in short: i totally agree
the reason i always check Salacious Sound, apart from the music, is that it is a very well-written blog
i found your blog through hypem and love it. thanks for introducing me to zeds dead and so much other goodness.
Quality post, I posted something pretty similar, but not as good, a while ago. I agree with you on so many levels, especially that the popular charts are faulted and influenced by bigger names, not the music (as was intended).
DJ Cal, I understand your point, and it’s probably true that all blogs are, to some extent, biased. But it’s also true that all blogs are biased to different extents. Some will post virtually anything that’s sent their way by friends / promotors, whilst others will only post things that they personally like. It’s important to make that distinction! Generally, I agree with you, though.
Great post.
The imperfection is in the promotion. Lesser known artists that promote “hearting” are advantaged against lesser known artists that don’t (Conor Cutz vs Zeds Dead). The majority of stuff that gets popular on hypemachine starts with a recognizable name that is already big. Often blogs will come across stuff on those charts and repost them because, guess what, they like it as well. This tends to perpetuate the same tracks reaching the popular charts. How many times have you seen The Twelves remix of Black Kids up there? Since hypem always puts the most recently posted version of a song at the top of the search results, people searching for the same track might keep a song up the for months, thus negating the 3 day period that songs are suppose to remain on the charts. Elbo.ws system of directing traffic to the first post of the track rather than most recent tends to eliminate this recurring search bias.
This is one of the reasons I have stopped following the popular charts, rather I have found a plethora of blogs, around 40-50, who have opinions that I respect. Find music through friends whose taste i admire. And follow the charts of labels and artists that I think have good taste.
The great equalizer ultimately is that if something bad becomes popular people generally tend to discredit its higher ranking. The blessing and the curse I guess. Its also fair to post music that you can see other people liking. While, like i stated, Conor’s music wouldn’t be appreciated by the heads, it will get a lot of love from the type of crowd he caters too. Oh well, I guess I’m left pondering a couple of new ideas for weekly posts.
To put it simply, a vocal minority would never be able to win an election in a democracy, for example no matter how strongly Naders supporters support him, their numbers would never allow for his democratic election. I guess that’s the best way to describe the suggestion that hypem and charts like it are undemocratic?
ok made it through the post, must have taken a while to get it all down!
its seems like you a critiquing hype machine and that you post just what you want, then revolve the rest of the entry on how hypem works and the best way to achieve results ie duck sauces ‘anyway’, slightly confusing and contradictory.
anthony at hypem is the big man over there and keeps on top of these labels/agencies who have blogs and removes them in order to keep the content on there honest and unbias although sometimes slips but everyone does at times! they have really knocked back on a heap of blogs that just re-post duplicate content to stop the watering down of an already almost transparent uniqueness found on blogs in 09′.
to top it off the tracks you have posted all fit into that category of stuff posted before and sure to get ‘hearts’ on the machine, the xx, florence and the machine, fever ray, monarchy and sub focus. why did you have to add these, your statement personally would have been taken a bit more serious without these additions… even if they are just a few tunes you have been listening to recently.
this might sound like a beat up im just unsure what exactly your point is, do you like it?, hate it?, love it? or even heart it? (har har har)
happy to discuss further by email if you would like?
ubbs – stoney roads
@ Ubbs from stoney roads
First thanks for reading the whole thing and writing a well measured response. I guess half the reason why I wrote this was purely to get some dialogue going. Its mostly what has been going through my head over the past few months insofar as hypem is concerned. I used to follow the charts etc a lot more closely.
I like Hypemachine. I think its great. I just think people need to understand that it isn’t always going to be objective. I haven’t seen Sub Focus get a lot of love on Hypem, I guess its because i haven’t followed the charts for some months now. There are a lot of blogs that are owned by labels and are great at the same time and they still remain on the aggregator. If you want to know my opinion in one sentence:
Hypemachine is a great tool to find to music, it is a great way to promote new artists, it favors those who are established, and can be manipulated by those who feel topping their charts will help take them to another level.
Let’s keep the discussion in the comments… I think it lets everyone get involved!
well written, thought out and highly accurate.
hit the nail on head with a sledge hammer!
fantastic
“I know to some of you, you can’t fathom why someone would listen to Miley or Britney, but the truth is… they outnumber us.”
unfortunately this is fact.
Well said.
The problem is that money is what labels are looking for,
and the money is in the ‘product’.
Usually, people working in labels don’t know anything about music. They just know how to negotiate a contract.
Going to a music school really changed the way I see music and in a way it is disheartening.
Its 10% music, 90% business.
But there are people who know, see, and hear otherwise – what we hear on the radio is not the above and beyond.
And of course, there is music that has taken a lot more heart and consideration than the songs that contain 175 tracks in Pro Tools being sent from LA to Toronto to New York to San Diego and back again.
The problem is that the mass media doesn’t know, and are too comfortable in that ‘societal skin’.
Another problem, I think, is that a VERY minuscule amount of people are familiar with these blogs.
I think the point you make could be made about any populist medium for distributing art. That is, you could complain that things like Youtube and Digg reflect the biases of the people contributing to them, which is what I gathered from a statement like: “Bloggers are people with friends, people with enemies, people who aren’t subject to much oversight. ” The point is for there to be no oversight. The precise point of something like Hypemachine is that it is a totally honest picture of the prevailing opinions and biases of its contributors.
So, while I think your description of Hypemachine as a sort of perpetuator of the established opinion, it doesn’t seem to be all that unique or interesting.
Monarch, you make the statement that “the belief that Hypemachine’s user base doesn’t fall victim to popular appeal and promotion is false.” I would agree. However, I don’t think that people imagine Hypem to be unbiased. Rather, they trust the bias of bloggers and music lovers like themselves instead of the biases of major record labels and industry execs.
@Monarch You’re talking about perfection without regard to intent, and about fairness or democracy with the actual meanings of those terms. Simply, Hypem has defined itself as something that tries to do exactly what it achieves – a short term measure of popularity. It empowers anyone, with equal opportunity, to get music up on the chart. So insofar as its intent is concerned, it is perfect (this is perhaps hyperbole, but you get what I mean).
Your statement that the system unfairly favours artists that have bigger promotional bases is true, but I think that the freedom this system affords is analogous to fairness and democracy. What you’re clamouring for is more “editorialness”, I think, which relative to democracy looks something a good deal more like fascism.
DK, this article is incredible. This is musical intelligence.
@Mon
Thanks for the polite response, wasn’t 100% sure how it would go down haha
Yeah but these people who have a fan base CAN push the track as far as possible but it then comes down to the track actually being worthwhile or horrible.
Sometimes these tunes are good and deserve a bit of hype (pun intended) but just need a little nudge in the right direction.
I agree with you when people look at the basis of blogging and figure hypem/elbo.ws is the be all and end all of it.
At the end of the day you should blog, be comfortable doing it for no money, no traffic but purely for the enjoyment of expressing yourself honestly and un-biasly.
Sure we have had contests, pitches for nights etc etc but it fits into the scheme of things of stuff we like.
Anyway, enough of me rambling.. good on you for the post.
It’s a pleasure to read a post of this nature so publicly displayed and thought out.
Ultimately the aggregators are just automated mirrors of trends in music blogging and the bigger picture of the music industry at large. It’s so easy to fall prey to the ease of just posting what’s waiting in your inbox, delivered by the accommodating hand of the all too enthusiastic music PR agencies. And it’s even easier for a site owner to get lost in the dick measuring ratrace of traffic numbers.
I think a lot of the issue is that people expect music blogs to take the place of dying print mags, in terms of spurring the discovery of new artists and providing factual, balanced commentary. And there are sites that blog in this manner, but for every one, there are ten that are essentially personal music diaries and/or promotional tools.
I think in a lot of ways we are trying to force “music bloggers” into the role of “music journalists”. It’s important to realize that there’s a distinction between the two, and it’s not wrong for someone to have a personal site where they post popular remixes they like. But it is wrong for the public at large to allow such sites to become hyped to the point that they are regarded as destinations for informed opinion.
Like it or not, music blogging is a trend, and just like any other trend, the public is quick to hop aboard and create overnight stars, but slow to look deeper until it’s quite possibly too late.
The sorts of blogs you’ve discussed will never die out and there is a place for them in the blogosphere, but the public needs to be more discerning with whom they bestow the the title of “tastemaker”. And for the bloggers who take the time to write because they love to write and search out new acts because the head to toe rush of discovery keeps you awake at night, you don’t need the satisfaction of the highest traffic rank or the most hypem hearts, because you aren’t the kind of person who ever measured your worth by popularity votes in the first place.
Hypem is just as you point, and it is good to help people to realize that it is not an absolute truth, but the result of just aggregating many biased voices.
When i discovered it, i passed 2 or 3 weeks getting a lot of input from hypem to my sets. By now i returned to my usual way of purchasing music, just checking many shops, charts, etc… because I realised about hypem characteristics and biases. But i kept including hypem in my adquiring process, because it helps me to feel what’s going on in the underground.
I find Hypem really helpful also in finding proper not-official remixes of bad (but popular) mainstream songs. And to add some color to my sets via some fresh surprising sounds that still did not reach the main dancefloor outputs. For me as a dj, it is just another great tool.
And as every new mass internet media, its characteristics will be assumed and comprehended really soon. And it will have much more impact in the future, just as the number of hits it delivers increases, maybe overnumbering tv radio or any other media.
Well written!
Just wanted to say what a great post!
After reading all of this, I would just like to throw in my two cents.
The Hype Machine is good! It allows for fans to show direct support for their band. Also, it is a place that provides a potential gateway to success for new bands. Sure that Oasis Remix by the Ed Hardy crew was sub par, but hey.. lots of people liked it and lots of people hated it! I even downloaded it despite its shortcomings. That track has potential!
All in all, the hype machine is good for music, but only when the music industry stays on the sidelines.
Also, (in reference to the DJ Jedi vs Ed Hardy crew comments) If you don’t like somebody’s style, don’t cramp yours by slamming theirs. However, constructive criticism is good, its the only way artists can get better. It will be interesting to check out what the Ed Hardy crew is doing to music in the next few years.
Excellent article. I love it when a blogger just posts music for a while, sitting back, not saying anything (no offence intended, i do the same). Then with the fury of something very fucking furious unleashes something like that. I make sure to try and look because they make for interesting reading.
If im honest i didn’t read it word for word. i just dont have the emmense concentration needed for it. however i believe i got the jist. Hypem/elbo in my opinion are a starting point. Whether it be for bloggees, artists or bloggers.
When i first started to read blogs of a musical nature, it was EXTREMELY hard to find good ones. I would search for hours, find 1 good one and then trawl through their ‘friends’ to try find another, wasting several hours of life. Hypem changed that for me. I started follwing artists and found by doing so was sent back to the same blogs time and time again. Here started my coveted era of being a bloggee. This then lead me onto my next 2 new finds, artists and bloggers.
New artists are part of every bloggers world (or fucking should be anyway) and although Hypem etc does swamp A LOT of them, some do break through and find a way to the top. If you take Hypem as an example, you regularly see acoustic/folky/indie/whateverothergenreyouwanttofithemin bands hitting the top 20. And although im deeply into my electro/dub/dnb/etc, im a skinny jeans wearing prick who likes to mellow out to some girl and her guitar. I know a lot of these indie bands and repeatedly i see new ones emerge on Hypem.
However i get what you mean by saying a lot get missed off the radar. I second the shout out to Zeds Dead. I first saw them on another blog (sorry) and have been hooked since birth. But have never seen them hit the big time on any aggregator. It’s true of a lot of people i saw emerge, get hype on blogs, but then not receive the much wanted love on aggregators. John roman is a classic example and only received the credit he deservd until late on, but a lot of blogs hyped his stuff (and meant it from what i read) and im sure he was able to win a lot of hearts (real ones and small red ones bloggers sometimes use – even if it is for every song they post).
Here is where i go back to my original point, aggregators help start you up. When i first started blogging i had 2 friends, my best mate and my dog. Now i have 000s checking in every week and regularly as well. Not these flyer bys just looking for the odd track. I believe whole heartedly this is all down to Hypem. I’m no-ones friend and i never posted my address on anyone elses walls. I linked up to hypem and posted what i liked and talked about what i liked. The people sample, some liked and stayed, some didn’t and they can fuckkk off and die.
All in all, i respect your opinion i just think although some artists do get overrun and missed and your right it isn’t the ‘be all and end all’, it has its place in society and helps a shit load of people find their place.
P.S. sorry its so long. i like ranting too…..it’s why i have my own blog, so i can force it on others. also i sometimes don’t make sense so im sorry for that
much love
Also not many people end a rant like that with such a good selection of music. makes everybody happy so kudos.
Great post man, totally agree. From a producer/blogger P.O.V., you are right on target.
Very nice post, glad someone has some integrity left in the blog-world. Thanks
thanks for the post, added you to my blog roll becuase this was local, now i know i would have if you lived anywhere else
Keep up the good work.
nice post.
i’m in muslim studies right now –Â i like that five percenters reference. nice work there. i like the rant. read it a while ago – but just learned about the five percenters so i thought i’d drop a line. i don’t mind people in the 85%. i like my close up concerts and cheap ticket prices and finding something kind of secret. there’s been enough talking on here so i don’t need to repeat anything but ya, good work king.