Elbows Music Blog Community

perez hilton...

Sean Gramophone now writes for the Guardian, does that count?



And Stereogum is obviously a commercial concern these days, as I assume are a couple of others.

Faisal a.k.a. Ohh Crapp had a couple of articles in magazines i think

I've written stuff for a couple of different print publications, and did a few interviews for Marvel.com.

Not paying my bills with writing just yet, but it's coming along. However, some well-paying online work that is a direct result of Buzzgrinder has been coming in.

If I can get together & sell a self-published TSURUFOTO photo book, does that mean I've gone mainstream? =o

TSURURADIO doesn't do ads (and don't plan on it, but if our day-job industry keeps tanking, you never know) so our non-day-job income all comes from our TsuruBride & TSURUFOTO (etsy and otherwise) endeavors. Plus, we plan on doing (positive income), sponsoring (negative money) and hosting (small potential positive moneys) more and more local art & design shows together.

I think it's far from mainstream, but if baby got a huge order for some of her purses or ipod holders or whatever from some big boy like Urban Outfitters or whatever, I'm pretty sure we'd totally sell out!

lol.

seth, who started buzzgrinder, has a full-time gig because of doing BG. don't know why i didn't think of that first off, all things considered. he runs noisecreep.com, which is AOL's metal and hardcore blog.

he actually got the job at AOL music to launch noisecreep, which is a different situation from most bloggers. either they write for traditional media outlets or bigger online publications. so basically he started one blog, then got paid to start another.

Congratulations.



Er, I assume.

Never heard of MTVU blog, but I do remember Music For Kids and All Things Go... they still around?

MTVU is just MTV targeted at university students. Though I gather they play more music than their parent station.

so yeah, i'm going to be working as a deputy editor for noisecreep.com with my boy seth. it was sort of tentative when i initially posted about it, which is why i was all hush hush.

but i also just found out about some other writing opportunities that may be presenting themselves.

yeah, it's a new AOL blog like i mentioned earlier. it mainly covers metal and hardcore, which isn't my thing these days. but i'm an editor there and not a writer. so that's ok.

yeah, i'm really excited about it. i mean, i like to write and all, but i'm one of the few ubernerds who can dig copyediting, too.

Congrats. Keep on doing what you're doing (obviously its getting your where you want to be)

I sold another print, I'm officially declaring myself "mainstream"!

;)

So a friend of mine works for an ADVERTISING company... but it's a music PR kinda job... And she reckons she can talk me up for an editing job with them.
The issue is 1. I'm currently a public servant (pube) earning about double what I'd earn there (a back breaking AUS$30 000 a year).
2. I would have to positively promote bands who could be shit.
3. BUT it means I can move to Sydney from hell-town Canberra (though I don't know how I'd go affording to live there on said income).

I want to be able to move onwards and upwards with writing (which I'm not doing at all at the moment but at least get the dollaz) but probably not in advertising... Would this be a good move or a no-no?

I'm going to apply so I have the option but I'd be interested to know what others' thoughts are. Is it worth holding out for more reputable work?

Not at all...
I guess I worry that the wrong move would also make me unhappy...
Hmmm

chris is god = fact

ahasbeen,

If you say you're not happy at all, then what do you have to lose?

Yeah, losing half your income for a job you only have peripheral interest in doesn't necessarily sound like the greatest move. If the new job was something you felt passionately about I'd say go for it, but it sounds like you're ultimately pretty wishy-washy about the whole thing. Maybe keep your ear to the ground and when something you really want pops up, then make the plunge.

so is it an advertising firm, or a music pr firm?

advertising firms, especially in big cities, usually offer much higher salaries than you'd get elsewhere, in order to attract creative talent that wouldn't normally be into making beer commercials. there's no reason to take a pay cut to get into advertising, unless it's to quickly gain the experience you need to move to another firm.

music pr/promo firms, on the other hand, are notorious for underpaying employees, especially young ones, just for the chance to have a music-related job and get experience in 'the industry'. if you can get one that pays you at all, that's great - make as many contacts as you can, and use it as a stepping stone to better things..

other bloggers gone "mainstream" or real media.. there's blogtalk radio on sirius XMU. is it mainstream real media.. ehh? but it is actually damn good radio. perhaps the only good radio i've heard in a loooong time... other than NPR and some college. aquarium drunkard, gorillavsbear, MOKB, hipster runoff to name a few.. and can you believe it, actual dj's playing whatever they like on mainstream radio. really? mind blowing shit my friends

Hmmm this is alllll good advice and it looks like people are generally leaning in the direction I am (to leave). I'm single, 25, and don't have any dependents so it does feel like if I'm ever going to be risky and go without work for a period of time it's now.
I will have about a month's worth of annual leave paid out to me if I leave. So I could easily be job free for a fair while without it impacting me too much.

It's a music pr firm, bond, so that may be the way to go hey. My friend has regular contact with bands and representatives etc. I think the advertising side of things is where the company survives. They ran the Bacardi express thing in Australia. (You know that thing where Bacardi sponsered a Groove Armada and other bands performance?)

I have this theory that when you're starting out you can't really be too critical of poor quality music. Generally if I don't like a musician I won't talk about it on my blog. Mostly because there's so much GOOD stuff out there that I can just focus on that.
Anyway I figure it would really test my writing skills to promote something I think is horrible lol.


Right now yep, I'm thinking I'll go the way of the Zen and get away from the unhappy. :)

good luck ahasbeen! I hope it ends up being an amazing job!

No problem Taylor - still trying to keep up with Ants best I can - hope you saw the shout out on my blog a few weeks back about your favorite albums of 2009 :)

Also, that's great about the bigger press passes, and I'm sure you're giving yourself less credit. Though, it's sort of nice to think that your actual blog has more readers than MTVU's.... maybe?

@Lee: More serious readers for sure.