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| From | Amplifierj@aol.com |
| Subject | Re: audities-digest V5 #47 (13 msgs) |
| Date | Mon, 22 Jan 2007 00:42:05 EST |
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In a message dated 1/21/2007 9:08:40 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
audities-owner@smoe.org writes:
Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2007 16:25:46 -0600
From: "Brad Harvey" <billionbrads@att.net>
To: <audities@smoe.org>, <audities@smoe.org>
Subject: Comments from a former Amplifier writer
Message-ID: <200701212231.l0LMVGNm029863@smoe.org>
Kerry Tucker of Einstein's Sister turned me on to Amplifier ten years ago. I
loved the magazine's power pop/pop rock niche--I did the occasional article,
reviewed CDs (all gratis), and even got another writer a gig there.
I'm a huge fan of Johnny Society. Being altruistic towards deserving bands,
I wrote a piece on spec. Joe at Amplifier balked--nicely--but agreed to
print my article after I convinced the band's label to purchase an ad and
donate CDs for Amplifier's 'free CD with subscription' offer. Had I not been
so passionate and willing to hustle on behalf of both sides, this never
would have happened.
For over five years I was editor/publisher of OIL magazine, a free music
monthly in western Illinois/eastern Iowa. If an artist had a good review (or
bad) we would contact them ahead of deadline and ask if they wanted to buy
an ad. Whether they did or didn't, the review would run, as is. It was
simply another means of squeezing revenue from a limited resource.
To be frank, struggling musicians are a pretty invisible demographic when it
comes to having the financial clout to support a magazine. We relied more on
car dealerships and restaurants to keep our bread buttered--having the
corporate muscle of a co-publishing deal with the local daily helped too.
(Most alt-weeklies make their real money off 1-900 ads which they run for
free in exchange for a percentage from the number of calls said ads
generate.)
I'm sure when Joe took Amplifier national, it was for reasons of survival.
Unfortunately, the further into the mainstream you venture, the blander you
get--you start putting acts in your pages that alienate your original
fan-base and if that strategy doesn't attract those prized national
advertisers (and new readers), well, you've sacrificed your identity for
nothing. Tread water or roll the dice, it's the entrepreneur's dilemma.
Joe's biggest enemy is technology--why shell out newsstand bucks for info
that's already months old when you can get it free and immediate via the
internet? For me, the sage opinions of Bash, Bennett, Borack, Brodeen and
Mason are just a mouse-click away on Audities.
Brad Harvey
NR: Ugly Things, Big Takeover
Generally, this is the kind of tripe that I don't usually respond to because
it's all based on memory, recollections from year's ago, or, in the current
situation, an act of extrapolating what I thought was a personal business
exchange as gospel truth. One thing I'm guilty of is being naive....never would
I have thought that a conversation between myself and someone else would be
used as fodder on a Blog to denigrate me and besmirch my reputation. But
that part's between me and Matthew at Birdman and we've already spoken and said
our piece to each other.
But to say that Amplifier has become blander and more mainstream Brad?
Let's see who the features are in the current issue:
Badly Drawn Boy
Bettie Serveert
Joan as Policewoman
Over the Atlantic
The Changes
The Winnerys
The Bottle Rockets
John Borack's Rave On column (man, how could it get any blander or more
mainstream than Chris von Sneidern, Jeffrey Simmons, Fresh Mowed Lawn, The Fire
Apes or the Handcuffs....oh wait, take them out, I think they're opening for
Justin Timberlake now.)
Jens Lekman
Gomez (I think they're on Virgin but I just dig 'em.)
Lloyd Cole
Pere Ubu
Andy Partridge (anybody on Audities dig him....heard of him?)
and how about reviews....let's see, Gwen, Justin, ...who do we have?
1090 Club
Annuals
Shane Bartell
Beach House
The Black Neon
The Black Watch
Brian Wilson (one of my greatest days is seeing Dave Bash's cover story with
Brian effing Wilson!)
Califone
Bon Savants
Lindsey Buckingham (how mainstream but the guy's a pretty good songwriter
and guitar player)
Shawn Colvin
Graham Coxon
The Curtins
The Decemberists (backlash be damed; they're still aces in my book)
Dog Age (from the brilliant Rainbow Quartz stable)
David and the Citizens
Drydin
Earl Greyhound
El Pero Del Mar
The Fags (and The Figgs in the same issue!)
Tanya Donelly
Form of Rocket
Grey Does Matter
Feist
Jenny Lewis
The Gurus (from the brilliant RQ again)
Miho Hatori
Heaven 17
The Hold Steady
The Horrors (what a fun band)
Hot Young Priest
Josef K
L.E.O. ( ya know, Bleu, Mike Viola, and some other cool folks with all those
platinum records)
PJ Harvey (how boring is she?)
Los Straitjackets with the World Famous Pontani Sisters and Kasier George (I
think by reviewing this CD alone I got like 2,873 new subscribers alone).
Matt Mays and El Torpedo (from the fine folks at 00:02:59 who brought you
the last incredible Willie Nile album).
My latest Novel
Stephanie McKay,
Mute Math (oh, oh, didn;t they have a video on MTV.....that one must have
slipped by me....probably cause I loved the album.)
My Morning Jacket
Michael Nace & The Nace Family
The Pernice Brothers (bet a lot of people on this list would like him)
Pinback
The Trolleyvox (gotta admit I think we were in early on this one)
The Places (from that major label powerhouse High Plains Sigh).
Eliot Popkin
The Purrs
The Rails
Roman Numerals
Sebastian Schuller
The Shakes
Smash Place (from my old friend Art Herman at Zip....is it okay if I review
his stuff because I like and respect him as well as the material he puts out)
So Percussion
Some Action
The Static Age
Stefy (oops, what was I thinking....but at least we trashed it!)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs live review (what a boring, mainstream show they put on)
System and Station
Tahiti 80
This Day & Age
The Tickets (Brewery Records Walter Clevenger)
To Live and Shave in LA
Tokyo Police Club
Tristeza
Turn Off the Stars
The Winnerys (well we also figured we'd review the album as well as feature
'em)
Denison Witmer
Yo La Tengo
Pete Yorn
Zoodrive
I'd stop there but have noticed how this is the season for lists ....and
because I do have to admit we're going big-time for the sellout next issue.
Features:
The Good The Bad and The Queen (cover story) - actually I feel pretty good
about this as we got to talk to all four members of the band. Could become the
biggest band in the world after one album in which case we'll be able to
tell the whole world we told you so.
Young Love - check out the 1/8th page ad they tood out in exchange for our
article....oh, wait, they didn't return our emails.
Daylight's for the Birds - check out the....oh, never mind.
El Presidente - check out the.....oh, never mind.
Hotel Lights - nope, not this one either.
The Little Ones - or this one....how do these artists get articles without
forking over ad dollars?
Clinic - yeah, score....thanks to Domino for the ad!
Colin Meloy (for the Mix It Up column....sorry still like 'em)
Jesu
Maps
LCD Soundsystem
Sondre Lerche (he's so cute we're trying to attract more female
readers....thank God his album is excellent.)
Reviews:
All India Radio
Apples in Stereo (only because they're on Elijah Blue's new label and I was
hoping to meet him!)
Arctic Monkeys
The Autumn Defense
The Blow
Boyskout
Broken West
Coach Fingers
Dead Rock West
The Ears
Ex-Lion Tamer
The Frames (kinda mainstream and approaching popularity but Anti puts out
such great albums)
Patty Griffin
High Llamas
Honeydogs
Locksley
Of Montreal
Outrageous Cherry
The Scruffs
The Silos
Tom Waites
Jaimie Vernon (only because he bought an ad....though I'm pretty sure I put
that CD up for grabs to the writers well before advertising was mentioned.)
Tom Waits (way mainstream but a lot of people seem to dig him)
Willard Grant Conspiracy
James Yorkston
So there you go....sorry to bore you with such a long list of prominent,
manufactured, MTV-nurtured artists that we cover within our pages but if that's
bland and mainstream to Brad I only hope the surgery to remove his head from
his ass is successful. I believe the identity of AMPLIFIER remains intact.
No, if you really want to do your homework and not take everything you read
as fact and then call me at home and email me with all sorts of seemingly
impossible physical suggestions, make a mental note of all the artists that we
cover in the next issue you read (actually, I don't think many of you are
readers of subscribers, especially all you with so much to say about me and the
magazine) and try to find ads for those artists. The synopsis of all the
babbling is the assertion that Amplifier trades reviews for advertising. See if
the facts bear that out and get back to me.
And Brad, since you don't want to shell out newsstand prices give me your
mailing address and I'll send you our latest issue so you can check yourself.
And I don't think my biggest enemy is technology....it's people who treat
private correspondence as worldwide blog fodder and pass of some one-day private
(ha!) email exchanges as some sort of company policy.
Joe Joyce
AMPLIFIER MAGAZINE - AMPLIFIER ONLINE
Indie Rock + Artists That Matter
5 Calista Terrace
Westford, MA 01886
_http://www.amplifiermagazine.com/_ (http://www.amplifiermagazine.com/)
AmplifierJ@aol.com
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