Indie Beatz: Indie bands blog - Voting for the band of the month

Thanks for being with and remaining with the Indie Bands Blog Newsletter and I hope 2013 has started out well.

Chartburst

I wrote about a new website earlier on in January - which is a place for fans of music to support acts get their music in-front of music labels and for bands to have that opportunity. For the full article just follow this link to What is Chartburst?

Band of the Month

The top ten will published on 1st February and votes will go in to the mix of 6 variables each weighted to determine the final chart final position, your vote carries the most weight.

You are welcome to vote for any band you wish, including those not on the site, but for now here is the list of the top 15 contenders for the band of the month chart in Alphabetical order.

12:27
Ambassadors
The Antics
Audioshock
The Blue Collars
Deerman
Dexters
The Indieannas
Magic Trick
Medic
Mooner
Pauline Andrès
Running The Risk
Sea Legs
Their Planes Will Block Out The Sun

All well and good, but how to vote? - Drop me an email (alternatively tim @ indiebandsblog.com) with the name of the band. (Duplicate votes will be ignored). Voting closes on 31st January at 23:00 UTC.

And Finally -

I was keen to get your views on an idea I am thinking about and as a subscriber to the newsletter your view is highly relevant.

I will not change editorial standards at all and the website is predominately about discovering new and emerging bands from across the globe, which will also remain the case. For direct - fan / band / label /manager introductions there will be no change in writing free reviews - so please do keep them coming in, as they are always welcome.

But there are also those who professionally market a range of bands charging the band or the label for their service and I feel that the site is here to try to give back to the music industry as much as it is to showcase bands. So I am thinking about charging those professional marketing firms for any reviews that appear on the website and using part of that fee to support writers (who are currently mainly interns or guest writers) on the website and provide some financial support to some of the bands, as well as perhaps being able to offer some additional prizes on the newsletter.

Editorial decisions on writing a band review will still be based absolutely on the creative value of the music and no band reviews will be written because of a fee being paid.

But what I don't want to do is alienate you from reading the website thinking that because a fee has been charged the band is a) getting a review or b) getting a positive review - so I would really welcome your feedback and thoughts. As I said this will only affect professional marketers and all other introductions will be treated exactly as they are now - as free reviews.

If you have any opinion on this I would really welcome your thoughts - please Drop me an email (alternatively tim @ indiebandsblog.com).

Enjoy the week and speak soon.

Tim

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