How much worse can that new music blog Idolator get?

[Full Disclosure 2: Back in May, when I found out Alex Balk (ex-TMFTML, now co-editing Gawker) was working on this new GM music blog, I asked him (don’t know him, but we’ve e-mailed, before) to toss my name into the hat. Nothing came of it. Even if my name was passed along, I’m sure something – my inability to post more than twice/week, my insufferable chunks of prose, my stubborn gag reflex – removed it from eligibility.]

lame

it's pretty vapid, in that patented Gawker Media confectionary sort of way. which means it could be a pretty great distraction once the writers find their groove.

also, is that associate editor Maura of ILB?

also lol at don weiner dissing a blog by quoting another blog

glad the intentional irony wasn't lost on ya (and as for the angry loner bit, well, I wish I were...)

care to enlighten us as to why this new music blog is so deserving of our wrath? Or does coming up with a reason take away from the fun of piling on?

lifeless writing, no clear voice, no gossip, embarassing amount of Gawker Media linkage, late to the party with nothing to show for it, a zillion posts in just a few days worth of existence, weak layout, etc. There is no compelling reason to read this blog.

I'm sure Maura's a nice person. I like Raftery's work in GQ or Esquire or wherever it was where I used to see his byline. But this blog, which took years to hatch, isn't any good.

I must disagree.

and also you have spent a lot of energy and time on something that is not compelling enough to read

um, isn't this gawkerempire SOP - i mean the anonymous cheapshots, maybe not the angry loner part.

i think idolator may grow into something worth the occasional browse, but the music biz does not seem nearly as well suited to the gossip/snark/rumor methods of gawker/defamer/wonkette (of course there's lots in the music world worthy of this, but not in the dozens-of-daily-items ratio that feeds the other sites)

good luck anyway

new times? yes.

- people assessing the worthiness of a blog within days of its launch. clearly the phrase "sit back and watch what happens" no longer applies to... fuck, anything

- the insane rants of bloggers who are salty because someone else got the job they applied for. of course, you have to wonder with such pissypants knee jerk reactions, would these douchehammers have been any good at the job?

anyway, im gonna go back to my corne and continue to cheer maura on. GO MAURA!

[hstencil mindmeld]

I think the major demographic for this blog are people in office jobs who want to escape to netsurf for a little while, and -- as someone who admits to 'escaping' frequently -- I even find it hard to keep up with every entry.

Less entries with more depth each would hopefully breed more insightful comments. I'm disappointed in the comments as they currently stand, and it's a tricky question on how to get more out of a commenter, given the small amount of time the readers each probably has to ponder the entries while on the job.

(I rarely read blogs, so there might be ones I like better or not, and this is still a new site and it's hard to say which direction it will take. No blogs, DIY or funded, start off without a bit of unrusting first, as plenty of people above pointed out.)

Blame Ned!

Again, I'm blaming the large number of entries for this. I think people would have time to elaborate more if there were fewer things to focus on per day. Just IMHO. I'm slower than most folks, though.

see also: the gawker media business model.

after the jump = let us massage our banner ad impression delivery by double serving you the article you've been reading.

Just one of those things I picked up on.

some crappy mp3 blog nobody cares about plagiarizes wikipedia. idolator brings you the scoop, and the shocking proof!

DEVELOPING...

(coincidentally, my DigiNarc Blocker just fired up)

- the insane rants of bloggers who are salty because someone else got the job they applied for.

Douchebags who can't even afford domain names for their blogs, ha ha!

:-D

I like snark as much as the next guy and I'm all for everything being fair game, but picking on Save the Gramophone for being exceedingly flowery kinda feels like ragging on Jefferson Smith for having a corny-ass plan for a kid's camp. Say what you will about the in-house style, but I've never thought it was Sean or anyone hopping on a song as an excuse to stroke their creative writing cock - I always just thought some people's enthusiasm comes across in more oblique forms.

well isn't this rich. idolator, a member of the gawker empire, is bemoaning the lack of sensitivity in a rolling stone piece joking about mark foley. it is too "offensive" for them.

first they break a shocking plagarism scandal rocking the mp3 blogosphere, now this!

http://www.wonkette.com/politics/mark-foley/your-dramatic-reading-of-the-mark-foley-ims-post-205055.php

or this: http://www.wonkette.com/politics/mark-foley/mark-foley-does-literally-during-house-session-what-rest-of-congress-only-does-metaphorically-204965.php

i mean, how dare they find "a powerful politician trying to solicit sex from minors" to be "amusing!"

How much worse can that new music blog Idolator get?
save this

oh, don weiner, you doofus you
to idolator ilx ... saved by 1 other person ... on sept 22

Did Blount ever get a gig at Idolator or was his hissy fit here for nothing?

i heard he rejoined the navy

i think i was one of the 'crypto-tories'.

RIP big man. Heaven needed an American.

never forget (tho it has nothing to do with him)
actually, blount...

q: how much worse can that new music blog idolator get?

a: they just hired military strongwoman jessica harvell

so, jess is making this worth an occasional read. good job.

yeah, dude's liveblog of the congressional hip-hop hearings was especially ace.

lol don weiner.

ever since they addded jess, matos' column, that chart column and now Alex in Baltimore's column its become probably one of the better music blogs on the internet.

tho i will say that i remember one of the first times they did that "anonymous magazine slander" columns, i think jess left a comment that said something like "the anonymous part of this is bullshit," but it still runs.

also, their cmj coverage has been A+++

haha "ever since they hired half of ILM its become probably one of the better music blogs on the internet."

i wasn't gonna say it...

yeah the anonymity of that column is kinda lame but it's still one of the best parts of the site and if whoever it is needs to be "Your Correspondent" to feel ok about saying really blunt, funny, OTM stuff about Christgau or whoever then so be it.

i totally agree with you, i was just saying.

thanks for the props, btw, although my column has deprived ILM of my passion for starting a Rolling 2007/8 Corporate Rock Thread.

yeah no problem. i have more of an interest in modern rock as a genre than i do a like for the music itself, but it's hard to find anyone covering it/ talking about it (intelligently) nowadays (except for like alternative press or something, but fuck that), except for like blender (which is one of the reasons it's my fav mag on the stands right now) or maybe rolling stone but that always seems more forced than anything.

too bad about the ilxor on another gawker site

didn't know you were on it, alex in baltimore, i will look for your writing

yeah it was weird to see ethan show up on fleshbot.

xpost.

thanks for the props, btw, although my column has deprived ILM of my passion for starting a Rolling 2007/8 Corporate Rock Thread.

Yeah, it occurred to me in retrospect that my rolling emo thread that gets five posts a month, if that, should have been broader. Your column has nice potential.

I find this thread title annoyingly unfair.

gawker media flog idolator to buzznet... who also own stereogum

Idolator Joins Stereogum at Buzznet
http://www.catbirdseat.org/archives/000973.php

was just reading the comments at Idolator about this.

synergy.. idolator and stereogum display latest rss content on both sites

stereolator idolgum

getting away from the shitty gawker template can only make it less worse

ain't nobody in this game getting paid like perpetua.
-- j blount (papa la bas), Monday, September 18, 2006 5:25 AM (1 year ago) Bookmark Link

That was before Lex got that Farringdon hook-up.

big perp steady ballin

big perp aka the coin slot polisher

I like how that blount post could just as easily be a dead serious Wrinklepaws post.

it reads serious as it is.

you're a better fucking writer than me daddino! gimme a break! blogs are (with very very very very few exceptions, like albino buffalo or something) complete fucking garbage and the only reason i can imagine anyone doing one (including the exceptions) with an ounce of selfrespect is to get fucking paid so that puts maura one up on any motherfucker that's gonna post on this thread bar possibly perpetua and at least her money is aboveboard and 'ethical'.
-- j blount (papa la bas), Monday, September 18, 2006 5:09 AM (1 year ago) Bookmark Link

balls morelike balls amirite?

http://content.answers.com/main/content/img/amg/pop_albums/2/4/j/d24191qbbjs.jpg

you'd better be fucking glad blount quit posting

-- El Tomboto, Monday, August 27, 2007 10:12 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

maura's still a better writer than anyone on this thread and the only reason anyone w/ an ounce of selfrespect would write a blog is to get paid.

maura's still a better writer than anyone on this thread and the only reason anyone w/ an ounce of selfrespect would write a blog is to get paid.

-- balls, Monday, April 14, 2008 3:30 PM (10 seconds ago) Bookmark Link

or because they like writing?

writing a blog cuz you like writing vs. shooting amateur porn cuz you like acting

maura's still a better writer than anyone on this thread

-- balls, Monday, 14 April 2008 21:30 (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Someone hasn't read the DG vs Richard Hammond thread.

syllogism vs uh, non-syllogism

mind you talking about selfrespect to dom is like talking string theory to tuomas

http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/807/25033076.JPG

hey guys can you recommend some GREAT BLOGS to read? i'm looking for some takes on that new cut copy.

charles aaron has ALOT to answer for.

goodness gracious, great blogs of fire

given that most of the posters on this thread have names like 'sanskrit' and '31g', i dunno how blount makes the comparison but there we are -- obviously maura is a superb writer and idolator is every selfrespecting music fan's homepage.

blog/messageboard = same

truth bomb

i "know" like who 3 ppl on this thread are and you ain't one of them. do you have a blog? what's yr take on the new sebastiAn ep? have you head about this thing called 'trapped in the closet'? and hey how bout what's going on in velvet revolver? crazy no?

lol xpost (or was it?)

o_O

lol blogs

the abyss stares also into balls

i had a blog for a while but it was mainly just me and some others pretending to be a little known nfl commentator

RIP

sounds wild

oh man ilnfl glory days

ie before i got pwnt by someones sockpuppet

hahaha

i had this crazy blog where'd i post mp3's and write descriptions of the mp3's, really ponderous shit like 'new kanye (diplo remix) - it's hot!'. i did this cuz i love to write.

but why did u quit that

got a job at stylus

congrats dude

http://pic.photobucket.com/bsite/LiveJournal_logo.bmp

http://www.sportsjournalists.co.uk/img/samuel_and_parkinson.jpg

if that's not DeRogatis he has a chin twin

hey guys can you recommend some GREAT BLOGS to read?

dalston oxfam shop
wayneandwax
this one nutty eastern european one i can't remember with a bunch of italo rapidshares and every china crisis album
idolator, but with jess gone i skip much more

ps writing in order to get paaaaaiiid isn't such a bright idea these days anyway

no idea what any of those ppl think of cut copy, sorry i couldn't help there

Dalston Oxfam Shop is a fucking fantastic blog, seconded

My real life killed my virtual life and I'm mostly okay with that.

And the Oxfam guy is a bro.

krazydad

gff what is dalston oxfam shop? similar to wayneandwax or more of a blog?

dalstonoxfamshop.blogspot.com

Once a week high quality digital recordings of cassette tapes purchased at the Dalston Oxfam Shop in East London.

why would you want that?

because the music on it is often really great. mystery explained!

do you want blogs or do you want the truth?

i want lies about new wave

YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE BLOG

It is 2008 and it is time for CHALLENGING OPINIONS

killfile has saved ilx

lol i cant actually link jballs to any good blogs because i cant think of any i actually read but obv its just a medium for writing so i find it hard to believe there aren't good writers out there who use them. at this point i do kinda think the whole "lol blogs suck" is one of those CHALLENGING OPINIONS tho

also i was kinda hoping someone else would take the jbait

blogs are way better as places to download good songs than they are as places to read good writing

deej hating blogs is a CHALLENGING OPINION from like '06

max is correct

i find it hard to believe there aren't good writers out there who use them.

Why aren't there any good doctors performing surgery for free?!?!?!

though the columns on idolator are genuinely good

hey guys can you recommend some GREAT BLOGS to read?

http://www.acuterecords.com/blog

Why aren't there any good doctors performing surgery for free?!?!?!

-- Whiney G. Weingarten, Monday, April 14, 2008 4:35 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

you dont have to go into massive debt or get a degree to be a good writer

in fact the number of bad writers with degrees >>>>> the number of bad surgeons with degrees

in other words thats a terrible comparison

lots of ppl write extremely well and interesting-ly for little or no pay.

i mean at this point whiney on blogs is like alex in nyc on whitney houston

no hate just saying

if yr gonna go all hit-em-up on whiney g dont pull your punches. hoos only gets away with that cuz hes a zen master

haha i'm not going hit em up at all just saying that anti-blog posts from whiney are total bot territory and bordering on self-parody

deej you can say that but the blogs i read that are well written (which aren't many music blogs - 'seeing vampire weekend tonight - so excited! here's an mp3' isn't riveting shit to me, apparently that's a minority opinion on ilx) are generally (like at least 80% of the time) it's someone that in some way is being compensated either directly by whatever's hosting the blog or the blog is an off-hours extension of their dayjob. ie. pros. i don't know if it's just music criticism was such fallow ground to begin w/ or if it's just the ability to just throw up an mp3 has made it slightly absurd to expound on who/what it sounds like and writing about music in any manner beyond who/what it sounds like and maybe 'i like/hate it - here's why' is just unfathomable for most of the ppl that would feel the urge to start a music blog. either way reading (most) music blogs for any reason beyond 'oh, free mp3's' (and even this isn't much of a reason - there are other, better ways of acquiring music out there), nevermind CARING about music blogs like some of you sad freaks do - i can't even begin to fathom what type of life you would have had to have lead to have those priorities.

the blogs i read that are well written (which aren't many music blogs - seeing vampire weekend tonight - so excited! here's an mp3' isn't riveting shit to me, apparently that's a minority opinion on ilx)

is balls my sock puppet?

man that sentence in any other context is o_O

i dont really see anyone on ilx talking about how blogs saying 'here's a free mp3!' are great writing but then i dont read vampire weekend threads

w/ the caveat that the 'pros' (lol, writing pros) writing for free dont count then you're MORE right but theres still exceptions ... obviously economics are gonna dominate bcuz who can afford to just give away writing for free, everyone needs to make a living etc. but dylan's writing for govt names and finneys posts on skykicking (or do they count as 'pros'??) both strike me as examples of ppl writing for free in a venue that allowed them to stretch out in ways pro writing normally couldnt (altho obv thats less the case recently since dks a world traveler who occasionally posts to ilm to upbraid newjacks for stealing his ideas and finney has paid outlets that give him substantial freedom to write i.e. idolater and pitchfork) but the point is yeah ive seen good free writing. its not very sustainable tho

and ultimately i think im barely disagreeing with you

Music oriented in my "daily reads" file:

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/
http://idolator.com/
http://www.cave17.com/
http://nightafternight.blogs.com/
http://determineddilettante.blogspot.com/
http://music.alltop.com/

Re: free writing and perceived quality -- yeah yeah, I might lack said second element but for me the blog has generally (not totally) served as a way to talk about a variety of things of interest other than music while providing pointers to published pieces of mine on music as well as addressing points as they come up, very irregularly. It is about striking balances.

deej you can say that but the blogs i read that are well written (which aren't many music blogs - 'seeing vampire weekend tonight - so excited! here's an mp3' isn't riveting shit to me, apparently that's a minority opinion on ilx) are generally (like at least 80% of the time) it's someone that in some way is being compensated either directly by whatever's hosting the blog or the blog is an off-hours extension of their dayjob. ie. pros. i don't know if it's just music criticism was such fallow ground to begin w/ or if it's just the ability to just throw up an mp3 has made it slightly absurd to expound on who/what it sounds like and writing about music in any manner beyond who/what it sounds like and maybe 'i like/hate it - here's why' is just unfathomable for most of the ppl that would feel the urge to start a music blog. either way reading (most) music blogs for any reason beyond 'oh, free mp3's' (and even this isn't much of a reason - there are other, better ways of acquiring music out there), nevermind CARING about music blogs like some of you sad freaks do - i can't even begin to fathom what type of life you would have had to have lead to have those priorities.

-- balls, Monday, April 14, 2008 10:58 PM (43 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

waaaay to long to read -- you don't get paid to write, i don't put in time to read. until you brought up the great writing chops of idolator's maura, no-one was saying 'aren't blogs great'; more lol-ing @ you saying big perp and maura were the only decent writers on the thread because they got paid to blog. no-one said anything about blogging being awesome till you brought the upt-the-minute r kelly zings.

where did i say perpetua's a decent writer?

What *does* define 'too long to read' these days, exactly.

for a true blog aficionado such as whoever the fuck banriquit is a mere paragraph is waaaaay too long to read. maybe i'll post a zshare link w/ it next time.

lol 'you don't get paid to write, i don't put in time to read' is like some sort of social contract of music blogs though.

http://www.eirc.org/images/leaf/challenger_center/51Lcrewbig.jpg

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/1/13/Challenge_Anneka.jpg

etc

(i actually agree w. blount that blogs are some bullshit.)

for me the blog has generally (not totally) served as a way to talk about a variety of things of interest other than music while providing pointers to published pieces of mine on music as well as addressing points as they come up, very irregularly.

^^^^ this. Also: I could never run a blog if I wasn't also getting published regularly.

what kind of stuff do you publish, alfred?

what music blogs u read, balls

beatdiaspora, wayneandwax, sherburne, ewing's popular if that counts

i kind of love the idea of me being the christa mcauliffe of blogging, i have to say.

<i>lol 'you don't get paid to write, i don't put in time to read' is like some sort of social contract of music blogs though.</i>

qft

oh fuck bbcode, this is what i don't get for posting to i love baseball for an offseason

what kind of stuff do you publish, alfred?

Email me.

i kinda hate writing for money, esp. the weekly deadlines

The deadlines are the best part! Discipline, etc.

A couple people should start a blog debating (unpaid) the worth/worthlessness of posting 10-20 times daily (unpaid) on message boards.

(But maybe that has already happened. I don't read many blogs.)

what this thread is missing is Jess scolding us all that if we had these kinds of long debates about Idolator on Idolator their hit count would be through the roof and Nick Denton would've bought him a house by now.

yeah if anything moving off gawker means that comments will appear sooner than 45 mins after posting them

(But maybe that has already happened. I don't read many blogs.)

I've heard of you.

i've written a lot of stuff on my blog that nobody would ever pay me for. or at least i don't think they would. i didn't ask anyone. so, it can be nice to have that outlet. if i just want to talk about a record i like, i'll come here. i don't post stuff on my blog all the time though. i have to be in the right frame of mind. i have no idea if anyone reads it, but i still want what i put up to be decent writing-wise. i'll hardly ever post something completely off the cuff. unless it's "KYLESA RULE!" that was off the cuff.

oops, that was me, scott.

yeah, me.

The deadlines are the best part! Discipline, etc.

-- Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, April 15, 2008 1:20 AM

agreed

One thing I've learned about writing for the AMG -- most albums deserve no more than 300 words, and in many cases far less.

one of the best things i ever wrote i wrote for my blog. my christopher columbus mix-tape thing. and after i posted it i kinda wished i'd had someone to send it too. you know, to print. it was too good for the likes of me! hahahahahaha! (i actually did do this with my chubby checker thing. i posted it on the freelance mentalists site and then later sent it to mike stax to put in ugly things. i always forget that since hardly anyone reads them the stuff you put on them is, like, brand new forever.

here is my columbus thing on ilm. if you own mojo you can print it for free. just find nice album cover shots and you've got two or three pages of your next issue all set:

Christopher Columbus Said The World Is Like A Ball Spinning Round In Endless Circles It's Not Flat At All People Laughed And Said You Poor Fool Now What's Your Game And He Said You're Never Gonna Mak

i get depressed about deadlines. i'm a weird freelancer though. buyer beware.

The deadlines are the best part! Discipline, etc.

-- Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, April 15, 2008 1:20 AM

I guess I should figure out the cure to my procrastination problem...Almost every week, deadlines cause me to stay up 'til 3 in the morning. Then I end up turning in shitty schoolwork and shitty articles. It's been ~2 months since I turned in something I was proud of...

"The cure" is just to do it though, man. No shortcuts, you've just gotta take the time to build the habit and the discipline. Over the last couple months I've started getting up a couple hours early so I can sit down in isolation and write. It was really difficult for me, especially at first, but by now it's a matter of habit and I know the quality of my work has improved.

Yeah, exactly. I can't imagine staying up till 3 am to write anything -- not even when I was in grad school. I mean, get shit done and over with. I always saw school work as the banalities you had to take care of before you could do the stuff you really cared about, and I regard rockcrit kinda-sorta in the same way. I like flirting with dilletantism!

(rockcriticing not a problem. i'm super quick and much better at that. i'm talking features about boring bands. but yes, same thing about getting it done, i know i know.)

man i wish i could do shit on time

i always do stuff at the last minute. i'm all about maximum panic. 50% of my stuff is shit hot and 50% is serviceable. i can live with that. if i got paid more to write reviews i would probably care more. which might sound mean, but then i'm very very mean. i only write for magazines cuz i'm afraid if i don't that i'll never do anything. other than, you know, raise my children and clean toilets. fear motivates me pretty good. having said that, i've taken a few months off from metal writing and i've been loving it a lot. i wish someone would start softrock magazine.

writing w/o a deadline is a death knell for me

(and it's wrong of me to call them boring. there's something interesting about every band, i think. i'd be a jackass if i wrote about all those interesting things, though, 'cause sometimes it's something as simple as a horrible bar band that has no chance of succeeding)

i don't write features though. i would kill myself if i had to do that. but that's just me. i'm not a journalist. or a reporter. i wanna die just reading most band features.

i enjoy a good Q & A.

When I meet LEAD SINGER of BAND, he's already INTOXICATED on ILLICIT SUBSTANCE.

dude tape store there are lots of uninteresting bands esp in columbia mo

cat jams rip :(

deadlines made me. i was always a fast writer but after years of writing on what is often a same-day deadline im the flash. fastest on record was a 400-word movie review in 15 minutes.

Positive or negative?

Hey Scott, how's that Darsombra review coming?

;)

positive!

"fastest on record was a 400-word movie review in 15 minutes."

This is a fun discipline. I have to do singles reviews for a local rag each week - 4 X 150 words in 40 min. Including listening time. At $50 for the lot this actually pays me better than my actual paid work, which pays pretty well.

I couldn't do this for pitchfork and idolator though (so calm down edytors) - once you get to the 600-1000 word mark, automatic writing just doesn't work anymore.

"Hey Scott, how's that Darsombra review coming?"

hahaha! i totally set that up for you. i knew you would come along. you will have it shortly. and boy will it be worth the wait!

Who's Maura? Idolator is the one that does the end of year poll isn't it? They asked me to do that. I did. never read it though. Isn't Jess involved?

welcome to 2006, nick!

anyone ever pop into that dalston oxfam shop just to try and deliberately gazump dude

cos like that would probly be a mean thing to do, i imagine

I love that Idolator can do sweet classic rock takedowns and glory in the pageviews. (Confidential to Idolator: if you knock on Three Dog Night or Grand Funk Railroad, the Lefsetzes of the world will spazz like nothing else.)

http://www.airhog.com/targets/images/fish_barrel.gif

I like Idolator but the Doors takedown was disappointing.

I'd like Idolator if I never had to hear about Jonas bros, Miley Cyrus (cept for racy photos), High School musical or any other shit like that.

So basically, 90% of it.

I like Idolator.

you were the most brolic guest blogger ever.

Gotta snap a neck for some live EFX.

I was also the most "brolike"

it was all very "SUP BITCHES, CHOKE ON MY META, BAM"

it's pretty useless

it's good if you're into "enlightening music discussion."

there are lots of challops and ironic newsflashes about shitty bands too

I thought that fell under the same "enlightening" category as baseball stat chart geekery and hey-guys-I-still-like-this-ism.

guys lets categorize every possible statement that anyone can make ever

Welcome to ILX

: D

My brain keeps telling me that "challops" are some sort of vegetable or seasoning like shallots and scallions, so challenging opinions always make me hungry.

ironic newsflashes about shitty bands too

-- omar little, Wednesday, 30 April 2008 16:52 (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

^^^worst online music crit trend of 2007 by far

"HAI GUYZ RAZORLIGHT HAVE ANNOUNCED A NEW TOUR LOL THEY SUCK"

Hurricane Chris to release new brand of energy drink lol what's it called suck juice?

says the dude who's started 200 ironic poll threads about bands/songs he hates.

I don't "do" irony.

Would you "do" Beth Ditto?

I've fucked worse.

dom passantino, ladies and gentlemen!

But have you fucked better?

... two?

i used to like idolator a lot but i can't really read it anymore. maybe it's the ironic newsflashes or something.

i think the only thing they're sincere about now is american idol and the careful scientific analysis of the billboard top 40 zzzz

It's like a lazy tina fey joke from 30 rock the whole time

too many pictures

Do they even have mp3s anymore?

I think they basically decided to avoid them and any possible legal issues entirely after the first few months.

For someone living outside the US, Idolator's AFAIK the only blog that talks about the chart/industry stuff (as well as Hannah Montana/High School Musical &c&c&c) - any others around? Seems to fill a niche pretty well.

what happened to ethan's column?

cutting through the weak beats is a full-time job

blame jess for that i didnt write it

and the answer is they wouldnt return my emails or ims after they said my stormfront piece was unpublishable so i guess i got fired

death of print blah blah teenpop crap blah blah reality tv shoot me plz

regardless, the first post in this thread is still pretty vile.

and the answer is they wouldnt return my emails or ims after they said my stormfront piece was unpublishable so i guess i got fired

-- and what, Wednesday, April 30, 2008 10:27 PM (6 days ago) Bookmark Link

post!

http://haroldramisforever.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/egon08.gif

"Print is dead."

ethan you should really just keep sending new pieces, I'm sure they'll run them, can't get discouraged about one thing being shot down.

Wait did you go on stormfront and talk about country being african?

ill post on 77 where it cant be googled

i posted in, where else, "rappers <3 cbs"

hey ho, to be expected in these cash starved times i guess

i realise that a few of you post on ilm, so just wanted to say thanks for plenty of smiles, and hope the new blog style proves to be a success.

so

it sucks

this is probably a gawker network problem, but the old idolator pieces i had bookmarked have disappared. have they restructured their URLs of have the expunged the memories?

i just tried my old links to my column and they worked, so stuff seems to still be there are the same addresses

sounds promising. maybe i will be able to turn some of them up.

all these are 404:

http://idolator.com/tunes/you.ve-got-to-be-kidding/an-idolator-real-talk-special-report-the-black-kids-hype-must-be-stopped-313517.php
http://idolator.com/tunes/dream-teams/uestlove-todays-greatest-american-hero-296758.php
http://idolator.com/tunes/hey-asshole/band-of-horses-singer-not-too-thrilled-with-the-cameraphone-era-280149.php
http://idolator.com/tunes/stopping-leaks-before-they-start/record-label-actually-makes-smart-move-regarding-piracy-277224.php
http://idolator.com/tunes/leaks/to-leak-or-not-to-leak-why-the-labels-need-to-learn-to-chill-out-and-float-on-248348.php
http://idolator.com/tunes/magazines/littleknown-music-magazine-attempts-bigtime-adsales-scheme-229421.php
http://idolator.com/tunes/riaa/exlabel-employee-hits-rewind-on-the-riaas-antimixtape-stance-229329.php

most of the addresses i've been able to find w/ no problem had no 'php' in them and digits before instead of after the title

yeah, i have a couple of sentences or the title saved in some cases and google doesn't know them. : \

7 COMMENTS TOTAL FOR THE DAY. IDOLATOR 2.0 OBVIOUSLY UNDERWHELMING THE MASSES. SOLUTION: MORE BIEBER:GAGA:GLAMBERT “NEWS”.

Pop or Poop?

Idolator Relaunch Meets a Tough Audience...
http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/121709idolatorcrowd

But Johnston was 'never a great fit,' according to Buzzmedia president Alan Citron, and the site appears focused on cultivating a new crowd, instead of courting to the existing base.

But Johnston was 'never a great fit,' according to Buzzmedia president Alan Citron...

or 'didn't want to be told what to do, so we went out and hired spineless zombie writers who are just in it for the check.'

Oh Christ! It's been a while since I've gone on Becky Bain journalism recon, but this has to be read to be believed.

http://insiteboston.com/movies2.html

Uh Oh, Am I A Racist
Because I Hated Precious?
by Becky Bain

There. I said it. Right in the headline, too, all big and bold and unavoidable. I hated Precious, the independent movie about an overweight, illiterate, poor black teenager with an abusive mom and two kids by her father. Nope. Didn’t like it. At all.

I saw it opening night at a sold-out screening. (Apparently, I wasn’t the only one sucked in by all the hype and the film festival awards and the four-star reviews and the blah blah blah.) I was prepared to be wowed. Alas, it took only five minutes for me to realize that Precious was not the second coming of Citizen Kane, but just a badly made, amateur movie with good acting.

Unfortunately, a few good performances (by Mo’Nique and Gabby Sidibe especially) cannot distract me from terrible editing, misguided direction, and an overwhelmingly melodramatic story that would seem more appropriate on Lifetime. In fact, why wasn’t this movie on Lifetime? How is the plot of Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire any different than When Danger Follows You Home or Identity Theft: The Michelle Brown Story? (Yes, those are actual Lifetime movies.)

While I was discovering that yes, each scene could get more hackneyed than the last, people in the theatre were crying on either side of me. I looked at them, looked back at the screen, then looked back at them to make positively sure they were crying about the overdramatic soap opera playing, and not, say, a bug flying into their eye. No, it really was the movie.

I told a friend that I didn’t like the film because I thought it was poorly made, and his reply? “You can’t not like that movie. You’re a white chick. That’s like a German who hated Schindler’s List because he thought it was miscast, or a heterosexual man who didn’t care for Milk because he thinks it had bad editing. Sorry, your good points don’t matter. You’re a judgmental racist and/or homophobe. Asshole.”

He was being facetious… or was he? Am I racist because I didn’t like a movie with a mostly all-black cast? Then again, I despised the also-beloved film Mystic River, and that movie’s got nothing but pasty white people in it. Dear god, am I self-hating Caucasian?

“Oh, Becky,” people would explain to me when I told them my negative review. “Obviously it was such an emotional, gut-wrenching film about incredibly desperate people dealing with incredibly tragic issues, you obviously couldn’t handle the traumatic experience of watching it. You poor thing.”

Look, if there’s anything I love most in this world, it’s indie movies with some messed up shit goin’ on. See my DVD collection: Requiem for a Dream, Dancer in the Dark, Monster, and so on. You get the idea. Depressing, dark, dismal stories don’t upset me. What upsets me is shoddy filmmaking. And Precious: Based on a Novel Who Had the Same Name as an Action Movie That Was Just as Bad But Came Out Earlier, has both.

Why was I the only one who could see Precious for what it really was: a movie too bad to deserve all this overwhelming praise, but not bad enough to become a drinking game? It’s an awful gift to be incapable of accepting bullshit, even if it’s a “message movie” tied up in a pretty four-star-review bow.

I think audiences swooned for the film at Sundance in the first place because film festivals are filled to the brim with crap. From the opening night gala to the closing night ceremonies, if you see anything halfway decent at a film festival (and if I’m going to pay this movie any compliment, it’s at least got some very good performances), you’re going to explode with rapture.

Or maybe audiences went go ga-ga for Precious because Mariah Carey was in two scenes, sitting behind a desk, not wearing any makeup or Hello Kitty couture? Or was it because Lenny Kravitz played a hottie male nurse? Or because The View’s Sherri Shepherd showed up for a few scenes, wearing cornrows? Actually, what the hell is up with all these celebrity cameos? Was this movie the big-screen version of what 30 Rock’s become?

So why don’t I just let it go and let a movie be liked? Because I’ll be damned if something is going to be undeservingly well-respected. I read “Oscar potential!” on some reviews and just start gagging. This is certainly not the best Hollywood, indie cinema, or any professional filmmaker working today can do. Aim higher, everyone, and that includes people making movies and the people watching them.

Then again… am I wrong? Is Precious: A Movie With a Terrible, Unnecessarily Long Title, along with all the other films I’ve viciously criticized over my lifetime, actually a brilliant work of art like all the film critics, moviegoers, and members of the Academy try to convince me they are?

Did I mention Mariah Carey is in this movie? Yeeeah. I’m not wrong.

haha i love the idea that someone who was with a site from the very beginning and was for long stretches of time its only consistent presence was "never a great fit" for it.

Aug 19, 2008 Industry Moves: TMZ's GM Alan Citron Leaves, Joins Buzznet

Good call Alan.

man this site is so ugly now, even just aesthetically

boggling at bain's inarticulacy - palpably struggling to make even the simplest point

I told a friend that I didn’t like the film because I thought it was poorly made, and his reply? “You can’t not like that movie. You’re a white chick. That’s like a German who hated Schindler’s List because he thought it was miscast, or a heterosexual man who didn’t care for Milk because he thinks it had bad editing. Sorry, your good points don’t matter. You’re a judgmental racist and/or homophobe. Asshole.”

^^^contemptible imo

This review reads like a really bored girl making up enemies in her diary entry

I told a friend that I didn’t like the film because I thought it was poorly made, and his reply? “You can’t not like that movie. You’re a white chick. That’s like a German who hated Schindler’s List because he thought it was miscast, or a heterosexual man who didn’t care for Milk because he thinks it had bad editing. Sorry, your good points don’t matter. You’re a judgmental racist and/or homophobe. Asshole.”

ugh

The current movement of LiveJournals-as-book-publishing-deals needs to stop now.

The current movement of LiveJournals-as-book-publishing-deals needs to stop now.

fixed!

so I'm way late to the party but when did Idolator change so drastically? I don't mind an emphasis on pop, too few US-based blogs do so, but it's a bit glossy - Justin Bieber, Adam Lambert, Lady Gaga - they certainly aren't retaining much of their old style.

In brief, they let Maura go because they wanted to pander to idiots instead.

There was shift in personnel that moved Maura out and brought in flunkies who just cover artists that generate page hits, with no real writing necessary whatsoever. It happened last November.

The best thing is that, aside from the 2 or 3 weeks right after it happened, nobody anywhere talks about Idolator anymore.

how much worse can it get?

How much worse can that new music blog Idolator get?

ilxors circa 2006 had no idea

The answer is NONE WORSE

In brief, they let Maura go because they wanted to pander to idiots instead.

― Ned Raggett

More or less the definitive account of what happened.

For ilx's official take on the matter, go here: Village Voice's F2K

frown-y faces all around

blogging is hard

^ brought actual lols, thx u velko

http://i40.tinypic.com/2vt6wev.jpg

lol pop or poop should be the sitewide description for ilx these days.

Interestingly, it doesn't look like the strategy is working for them. According to Alexa, their page views are down 7% in the last 3 months, and their page views per user are down 25% in the same time period. Time spent on site? Down 37%. (And % of traffic arriving from search engines is up 49%.)

It's gratifying to see the bean counters shooting themselves in the foot. Their short-term strategy succeeded -- re-orient content to attract users searching on popular topics -- but it's clear that carpet-bombing posts about Gaga, Kesha and Bieber isn't enough to generate reader loyalty.

frankly they could (and should) be doing much worse, especially considering that overhead costs are probably a lot lower with whatever the current drones get paid compared to the old talent

haha, I haven't read the blog for more than 2 years - some serious cognitive dissonance going on here. is this really idolator? if you replace every plank of wood on a ship with a new plank, is it still the same ship? this is really bringing the lols

nice to see 100 and single still going on at chris's blog tho - wish it were more frequent!

Idolator under Maura did relatively well because what she was doing there was something people weren't really doing in many other places

Idolator under the robots is doing very poorly because what they're doing is something that's already being done by many far more high-profile people, and most of the traffic is going to go to them

pre-switchover 2009: solid writing abt pop music & other genres

2010: "poop or pop" - Justin Bieber doesn't like school, is he a fuckin' awful role model?

"pop or poop"

get it right

poop

apologizing to poop

poop.

"poop it up"

"idolator - we're poopin'!"

jazz or jizz

classical or spazzical

blues or boos

I wouldn't mind a decent US-based pop blog but the writing is not very good and there's no focus - plenty of sites/magazines cover a large range of music but at least they know the same person is going to reading the articles on page 20 and page 30 and target their content as such. They write their Justin Bieber articles like some 7 year old girl is going to read it instead of the lip-servicey "look at kids today and the crazy shit they're into" way that would make more sense and perhaps be interesting.

Now I feel like I'm beating up a retarded kid but the sheer ridiculousness of making a point of polling a teenager saying "school sucks" just hit me - that's like some sub-TMZ shit.

"as soon as I strike it rich at age 14" - r u for real, seriously idk but who do they think reads their site

rap or crap

r&b or poo and pee

hahahh

techno or heck no

rock of shlock

rock or shlock

country or cunty

pop or *plop*

funk or bunk

electro tits or liquid shits

minimal or criminal

dubstep or misstep

http://idolator.com/5451962/photos-alicia-keys-plays-key-shaped-keytar-asks-audience-if-they-get-it#discus_thread

also lol @ the old Idolator favicon still showing up there

hip-hop or shit flop

alicia keys playing a keytar=always funny

http://idolator.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/97812184-500x360.jpg

frown-y face

acid house or mickey mouse

http://idolator.com/5444122/who-loves-justin-bieber-more-lily-allen-npsh-or-that-crying-three-year-old#discus_thread

http://idolator.com/5434232/who-should-be-more-offended-by-this-fan-video-keha-or-justin-bieber#discus_thread

reggaeton or icky-dumb

indie rock or my gigantic cock

freak-folk or weak joke

hardcore or huge bore

punk or stunk

phat loops or ass soup

punk or spunk

drone or moan

ambient or excrement

noise or noise

rock, rot or rule

darkwave or fartwave

New Wave or Ew Wave

haha

new romantic or too pedantic

acid rock or flaccid cock

late 16th century baroque or blate sickenin sedentary & broke

post-punk or roach dung

minimal techno or reaching for pepto

late 70s freak folk revival or shit

custos or crusty toes

http://idolator.com/5462971/photos-before-she-loved-controversial-music-videos-erykah-badu-loved-hats#discus_thread

hahahaha

Surely we can count the days now, right?

pop or poop

Ricky Martin recently came out of the closet on his website. Should he have been more open about his sexuality earlier in his career?

* Pop: No. Everyone is entitled to handle their own sexuality their own way. Ricky didn't owe anyone any more details than he chose to share when he was on top of the charts.

* Poop: Yes. Ricky could've taken a stand and provided more leadership for gay fans when he was a bigger star, but he obviously was more concerned with his career.

smh360d

lmfao

great job, BUZZMEDIA

wait the poop or pop thing is real?

hahaha, oh M@tt I envy you

M@tt: http://idolator.com, go to the bottom of the right-hand column

lol i didn't realize Buzznet changed its name to something equally lame last year

well i'll be...

Just noticed they got an Alison Goldfrapp interview. It would've probably been a lot better conducted by Maura, but that's beside the point. In the glory days, it would've had about 200 comments. Now it has FOUR.

In the end what happened to the 'Worst songs' feature?

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/archives/2009/11/f2kindex.php

Yeahy! Was wondering whatever happened to that feature. Damn, those look truly awful. Thanks!

How much worse can that new music blog [Hype Machine|Gorilla vs Bear|Popmatters|etc] get?

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/fastest-growing-digital-entertainment-publisher,1322876.shtml
http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2010/06/update-story-behind-buzzmedia-the-music-blogs.html

BuzzMedia has added today 6 major music blogs. PureVolume, PopMatters, Gorilla vs. Bear, The Hype Machine, Concrete Loop and RCRD LBL join Stereogum, Buzznet, Idolator and Absolute Punk in the web entertainment publisher's music portfolio.

each blog has structured its own unique deal with Buzz and most are centered around advertising. While Buzz does own and control most of its original properties, the new "additions" leave most of the bloggers independent. A spokesperson for BuzzMedia described the new relationships with HypeM, RCRDLBL and Pop Matters as "partnerships" and claimed that "all sites will retain their own editorial control."

For most of the blogs, "partnership" appears to mean selling and delivering adds. But for the Gorilla vs. Bear blog, The Buzz relationship goes farther. "We generally don't get into details of how deals are structured," said the Buzz spokesperson, "but Gorilla vs. Bear is an acquisition in the form of an investment with right to buy the remainder".

there should be a 'via Carles' in there too

secretly hoping that Buzznet buys more shitty indie rock blogs and slowly ruins them like they did Idolator

"in the web entertainment publisher's music portfolio."

GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!

yeah i mean...i'd be pretty bitter if they've actually learned their lesson from the Idolator fiasco in time to preserve the magic of Gorilla Vs. Bear and help them thrive

no idea how much Concrete Loop or Absolute Punk are 'worth' per se but i'm betting they knew what they were doing with their sites as is and probably didn't need to enter into such a risky partnership

Absolute Punk has been owned by Buzznet for years now

oh duh misread the thing

i hope for their next act, idolator breaks the wrinklepaws scenestars payola scandal

― mr. brojangles (sanskrit)

why did i reread this thread? now i need a xanax

anyway hi guys, how's life

hey maura.

I miss o.g. Idolator so much.

You got that right.

yeah, it was beautiful at times. it simultaneously made and ruined my life. i am still talking about it in therapy! that's something!

Don't sweat it, maura! This regard affirmed my faith in both evolution and entropy!

i love you ilx. even you, crankypants don weiner.