Keep up the good work.

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

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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