This blog has significantly less comments that the other music blogs I've discussed, but these comments represents a more authentic community centered around the written and musical content of the blog. In this case, the music often serves as background to the stories of the blog, and each elements is mean to complement the other. They describe themselves as having "launched in march 2003, and added songs in november of that year. it was one of the world's very first mp3blogs." To have lasted this long and still stuck to their original format is something that I have not experienced with many other blogs. In order to gain funding, once a year, said the gramophone hosts a donation drive, where readers can give donations through a paypal account. Beyond this, Said the Gramophone refuses to post advertisements.Said the Gramophone is truly an mp3 blog, as each post is only focused on the music. While the authors encourage the readers to purchase the music they like, it is out of their respect for the musicians, and not a form of product placement that has been seen in the other blogs so far.
You do a great job presenting StG as an eclectic blog with a non-commercial sensibility.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I'm not totally convinced by the argument that the other blogs you've mentioned prior to this are engaged in product placement. "Product placement" implies that someone behind the scenes is paying them to blog about the music they select, which isn't necessarily the case. There are probably more nuanced ways you could talk about commercial influence on music blogs without jumping to conclusions.
The next step from here might be to look at blogs that engage in a more in-depth, critical discussion of the music they post about (as opposed to a focus on positive, fan-friendly content).