To Music Blog Or Not To Music Blog

Hero Hill has ended off 2007[or from a different perspective, starts off 2008] with a critique of music blogs in general that in my opinion is really a must-read for every music blogger. Four years on with my own music blog, I'm alternately surprised/disappointed with the influx of the number of music blogs that have materialized over the last four years. On the surprise end of it, it's great to see music blogs as a source of alternative media providing a personal perspective to the music we listen to, but on the other hand I must agree with Hero Hill that on several counts(eg. blogger sheep mentality, poor writing, the influence of promo companies), the music blogosphere is increasingly less and less of a credible source[with the exception of a minority of bloggers - who those bloggers are, in my opinion would vary from blogger to blogger]. Hero Hill's critique has reminded me that I've recently pondered my motivations for continuing to blog about music. I would like to think that the love of music is my main motivation but the influence of promo companies with the tempting lure of a free CD or free guest list spot is a hard thing to shake. I won't pretend that I've never accepted a free CD or guest list spot but I will maintain that anytime I've ever alluded to liking an artist's song/album/concert it's always been a true statement. If you've been a long-time reader, you'd also notice that even in reference to new upcoming artists I've largely stayed away from using overarching descriptions that allude to new artists as the next big thing. As I write this, it's starting to sound like I'm trying to defend myself. On one hand, maybe I am but on the other hand I'm big enough to admit that, on occasion, I've fallen into the trap of poor writing, writing about bands that have been blogged to death, or what have you. I've always maintained that my blog is really about whatever random thoughts, commentary, news or information I chose to blog about. Hopefully, some of it will be insightful, informative and or new to you. If it's not, well god forbid maybe you could leave a comment, but otherwise you can surf away. I do hope you'll come back though and give me another chance.