Dan -- This year, 173 Auditeers submitted votes. Two years ago, 179 folks voted, the highest total in seven years of the poll. Jason observed that majors had a larger presence than before, and I checked the past results, and, of course, he's right! There have been years where only a handful of major label discs made the list. There are two things that may explain this -- 1. It just so happens that a lot of artists with Audities appeal happened to be on majors. Looking past the majors, a few of the 11 indies are not too far from majors, in that you can walk into any store and get something on Rykodisc (Josh Rouse) or V2 (The White Stripes, Grandaddy). The distinction means less. 2. If you look at the indie artists on the top 20, they have something in common -- they all are, to one extent or another, established artists. IKE is the only debut record, but with the John Faye connection, it's still not like a total rookie. The highest placing debut on an indie, other than IKE, was The Singles at #25. Meanwhile, Rooney, The Thrills and Jet all placed debut records in the top 20 (my theory about IKE applies much more so to 'supergroup' The Thorns). I think indie artists need a bit more time to permeate a wider audience, even one that's as keen (I mean, of course, both keen in the sense of demanding and acute, and the sense of being, you know, keen) as the Audities list. For example, The Shins and The New Pornographers did not make the Top 20 with their debut albums. And word of mouth rippled, so that by the time album two came out, they had a much larger audience. (Ex. -- The NPs first show on ELECTRIC VERSION in Chicago at 1,000 seat venue, The Shins on CHUTES TOO NARROW at 1,200 seater). This effect may be somewhat exacerbated when we have a larger number of voters, because when there's a larger pool of voters, there are probably more voters who buy a limited number of discs -- and their purchases are likely to skew to the titles that are more commonly known and available. This is totally a theory. And one more thought -- 3. When I joined the Audities group in 1997, I joined at a very exciting time. There was an explosion in the power pop and pop world. A convergence of factors (cheaper recordings costs, the Internet, labels like Not Lame and Jam and, at the time, Big Deal) suddenly gave an outlet to a lot of artists with a general common pop sensibility. Throw in Poptopia and then IPO, and these artists not only could sell their records, they had a place where they could play and get the type of validation that folks playing pop and power pop in the early '90s couldn't have dreamed of. While this was going on, melodic pop was also finding vogue with a younger constituency. Whether it was Belle & Sebastian or Elephant 6 or Pernice Brothers, melodic pop also hit. And of course, in Sweden, just as one example, you had power pop bands, bands taking a Cardigans/Saint Etienne path and lots of other '60s influenced acts. So, just 6 or 7 years ago, I think there was this intense focus. If you were a big power pop fan or '60s pop fan or (name subgenre), you could learn about a bunch of bands and explore them. I think that this focus has diminished, in part because it's really danged hard to keep it up, and in part, because the newness has worn off. It's not that there aren't plenty of good pop and power pop records coming out -- it's that there are so many. It's weird. What we call pop is not popular, chartwise (with a few exceptions). And yet, more artists seem to be playing in these pop styles than ever. Which actually makes it harder for them to break through or develop a larger following. Thus, the pop artist who ends up on a major or a bettern known indie has a tremendous advantage. Enough rambling -- Mike Bennett NP: Don Rich and The Buckaroos -- COUNTRY PICKIN' (The Don Rich Anthology) Record reviews and more at http://fufkin.com >From: "Franke, Dan" >Reply-To: audities@smoe.org >To: "'audities@smoe.org'" >Subject: Admin Questions >Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2004 15:10:18 -0600 > >Out of curiosity... > >Michael Coxe - >Do you have a tally of the total number of list members? > >Michael Bennett - >You said that it was the second largest voter turn out. >How many people voted this year & what's the record? > >Thanks > >****************************CONFIDENTIALITY >STATEMENT*********************** > > >E-MAIL AND/OR ITS ATTACHMENT(S) IS INTENDED ONLY FOR THE USE OF THE >INDIVIDUAL OR ENTITY TO WHICH IT IS ADDRESSED AND CONTAINS INFORMATION THAT >MAY BE CONFIDENTIAL, PROPRIETARY AND PRIVILEGED. 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