industry

The price of writing about music is plunging. Supply is skyrocketing. Anyone with Internet can start a blog. This by itself is not a bad thing. Professional critics are often blowhards. Laymen’s blogs can be appealingly accessible. But language has become cheap. Standards have disappeared. People still pay for photographers and graphic designers, but often […]

Google Images search result #1 for “critic” Sometimes I question why I write about music. Given what’s coming out these days, I often wonder what’s the point. Take, for example, the last five bands that got a review rating of three or below (out of ten) in Decibel: Suicide Silence, Molotov Solution, Psychostick, Iwrestledabearonce, and […]

Here’s an idea: get fans to pay for an album before it’s made. Traditionally, fans have rewarded artists after they release albums. Downloading has killed that model. Yet fans aren’t any less fan-atical about artists now. If anything, downloading enables fans to find what they truly like, instead of making do with generalized filters like […]

The recession seems not to have affected Metal Blade. In the first half of this year, the label had 29 releases, compared to 23 and 19 in the first halves of 2008 and 2007, respectively. Partnerships with Ironclad (label of Unearth’s Trevor Phipps), Blackmarket Activities (label of The Red Chord’s Guy Kozowyk), and Rise Above […]

Here is a cool idea: Metal Price Watch, a site that compares prices across distros (41 currently). Enter, say, Amon Amarth’s The Avenger into the search fields, and you get a listing of distros that carry it, along with their prices. There is also a small used album section. Right now the site is basically […]

As You DrownPhoto by Anton Hedberg In the early days of this site, I scoured MySpace looking for unsigned bands to review. Now that (a) I do Decibel‘s demo column, and (b) I am deluged with signed releases, demos have become a low priority here. There is just too much crap out there. MySpace has […]

’90s rock group The Presidents of the United States of America have introduced a $2.99 iPhone app that allows users to stream the band’s entire catalogue. (See story here.) The app also contains links to buy MP3’s from iTunes. Until now, I hadn’t seriously considered streaming music. In its current state, I hate it. Some […]

Metal Maniacs and Metal Edge are shutting their doors. Details are scarce, but evidently Zenbu Media, the publisher of the sister publications, found them insufficiently profitable. (See story here.) The loss of these magazines is profound. Prior to their demise, the range of American metal magazines, from mainstream to underground, went like this: Revolver, Metal […]

by Cosmo Lee Shaxul Records is that increasingly rare thing, the metal record store. “WE SELL METAL,” says a handwritten sign on the door. When I enter, Overkill’s Feel the Fire is playing on the turntable. The store is small, maybe 10′ x 20′. LP’s line the left wall; t-shirts the right. In between are […]

by Cosmo Lee Skins used to be animal parts or touch football teams. Now all sorts of software and hardware sport skins. Trustkill Records is selling band-branded skins via MusicSkins, the tech toy equivalent of CafePress. Via 3M vinyl, it’ll slap your designs on iPhones, Sidekicks, Blackberries, and so on. Especially cool are the laptop […]