NPR Talks About Music Bloggers & CYHSY
November 29th, 2005 . by Jilly
On my drive home today I was listening to NPR. They were doing a piece on how more musicians are turning away from conventional ways of promotion, and instead are choosing the internet. They mentioned the music blogs: Said the Gramophone, Brooklyn Vegan, and Stereo Gum. They talked about how these blogs helped more people find out about Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Which set off a wave of internet buzz.
Here’s the actual article. I’ve paraphrased it below…
Alec Ounsworth of CYHSY was interviewed. They were initally doing all the distribution themselves. But after all the buzz, they hired a distribution company. By self-releasing their album they were able to maintain control over all aspects of their music. Alec said that by producing their cds independently, they were able to make $4 on each cd, which is a lot more than bands on major labels. CYHSY started getting a lot of attention from major labels, but they decided they were gonna stick with their approach.
The article ended by saying that the power of the internet has the potential to threaten the mainstream industry. Probably if the internet didn’t exist, CYHSY would eventually been found and had the following that they now have. But the internet has definitely sped up the rate at which a band could be found and talked about.
Hopefully more bands will realize that they don’t need major labels to put out an album. The internet has now made it all possible.
