speed of dark

I'm going to level with you, readers: a monster has been eating my blog. I envision it a lot like the one above, kind of bored, mindlessly chomping away, and completely unresponsive to discussion. It's been devouring chunks when I'm not looking. While I'm trying to have a sense of humor about the situation, it really isn't very funny. In the past week, six of our posts have been deleted by Blogger, none with any prior notification, and only two with notification after the fact. I know which ones four of the poofed posts are, but I think maybe the other two are so old that it's not worth my time to look for them. One that I do know of was dated over a year ago, and although the link code was still in place, the songs were long gone off the host server. What was the point of that except outright intimidation?

I'm not the only one this has happened to. Suddenly there seems to be a concerted, strong-armed attack against music blogs hosted on Blogger. It's perfectly understandable that many of us would react by giving up--that option has been going through my mind too. See a thoughtful and well-worded post on Setting the Woods On Fire blog: One Last Post From An Old Blogger?

Very few music bloggers like us or the friends our blogroll make any money from blogging; we spend our time and money on it for the love of music. We hope to turn you on to things we like and support our favorite artists. Speaking for myself and Indie Mom, we have bought a LOT of music because of hearing one free song on some blog, long before we started blogging ourselves. I'm sure a great number of our readers do that too. Want to confirm that, readers?

I acknowledge that most of us tend to draw the line between good and evil just at the point where we ourselves fall on the good side. But knowing that blatant abuse does exist, in the approximately 26 months since Indie Mom and I started Speed of Dark, we have tried to stay on the good side of being an mp3 music blog. A lot of the songs we post come either from the artists themselves or from their representatives. Not every single one, but a lot. We usually don't just dump the songs out there either; we write reviews and relate them to personal commentary. Two of my glowing album reviews were among the deleted posts. Almost every post of ours includes links to the artists' websites and links to buy. We never, ever post full albums, and I take the files off our host server, although I haven't adhered to an exact schedule about that in the past (see changes, below). On the (I think) two occasions we have received an e-mail to take down a track, we have done it immediately, whether it was in legal wording or a simple request.

But apparently to certain powerful elements of the music industry, all music bloggers without distinction are egg-sucking dogs, lower than pond scum. Blogger's response to their not-very-accurate pointing fingers is to be insensitive to its own clients by deleting whole posts without warning or explanation. It's making me feel pretty creepy; like something that I can't see is always watching, and I don't know where it's going to lunge out from next. I have no intention of quitting, but we are making some changes to protect ourselves.

Changes you will note immediately: I am posting only tracks that I have personal permission from the artist or artist's representative to post. I will post a lot fewer tracks in general because securing that specific permission takes time. I am keeping much tighter control over how long the links remain active. I have let that slide from time to time, but I can't be lax anymore. I encourage you to become a subscriber so you don't miss out. Time Travel Tuesday is on indefinite hiatus because all older artists' work is owned by the large labels and record companies that are behind these deletions. I will only post older songs if I can obtain specific permission. Other changes are still in the planning stage.

Speaking of obtaining permission, I wanted this post to include "Somebody's Watching Me," covered by a non-descript group called the Halloween Party Singers under The Orchard label, and "After the Flesh" by My Life With the Thrill Kill Cult from The Crow soundtrack. I e-mailed both and requested permission. I have not heard from either of them, so those songs don't appear. However, you can listen to "Somebody's Watching Me" as my contribution to this week's Contrast Podcast #135 (a fantTAStic Halloween mix!).

To them and to the shadowy entities behind these deletions: the door swings both ways, folks. Bloggers and blog-readers don't just download free music--we BUY music, LOTS of it. We also go to concerts and purchase other merch. Music blogs benefit the artists in ways other methods don't. As evidence, I offer an e-mail I just received from our Aussie reader Mike G, who wrote me:

Thanks for posting Cut Off Your Hands (Irresistible Riffs)! Bought the album and will get a few tickets to their Sydney show after finding your post.

If my readers don't hear your songs, they won't know about them and won't buy them.

Thankfully, there are artists like Frank Hoier (who contributed to Time For Change) and David Azizinamini (Tanned Vampire) who have thanked me personally for hosting their songs and who appreciate the partnership music blogs offer. We will continue to support artists like these.

The benefit of these changes to you, dear readers, is that you have even more opportunity than ever to fall in love with something new. Here are three good examples:

Silvi Wersi and Mawe N. Klave intended to form a Smiths cover band but instead found themselves writing and recording their own songs as Mikrofisch. The Mozz influence lives on in tongue-in-cheek titles like "I Never Get Much Sleep On Weekdays," "Drum Machines Will Save Mankind," "The Kids Are All Shite," and more, many more. But today, "Alien Monsters" fits the theme.
Mikrofisch: Alien Monsters From Masters of the Universe (2007)
MySpace | Website | Label: Komakino Records | Free Download
This track expressly authorized by Matthias Weber of Komakino for publication on Speed of Dark.

San Francisco independents Lilofee, featuring Rob Easson and Kimi Recor, have a beautiful song that reflects a few of my thoughts. Is this how you destroy me? Not if I can help it.
Lilofee: Destroy Me Remix from The Only Years
This track expressly authorized by Kimi Recor of Lilofee for publication on Speed of Dark.
MySpace | Buy: direct from Lilofee

Twin sisters Romy and Sari Lightman of Ghost Bees spin a delicate and haunting folk story of spooky doings while building a story on their EP Tasseomancy. I may be West Coast, but I am not a vampire!
Ghost Bees: Vampires of the West Coast from Tasseomancy EP (2008)
MySpace | Label: Youth Club Records of Halifax
Buy at Youth Club Catalogue Store, iTunes, and eMusic
This track was provided by an authorized agent of the artist for the purpose of distribution on Speed of Dark.


Woodcut used by permission, from Bill Casselman's Canadian Word of the Day website