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Some Words on the Spotify Debate

The battle between Vince of MetalSucks and Century Media over CM’s decision to pull their music from Spotify has been heating up. Everyone else on the metalnets is chiming in (including Spotify). Now, Vince’s and CM’s arguments are both worth reading. Head over to MS and check them out. Both sides of the argument contain completely valid points as well as plenty of chin-scratching, psdeuo-reasoning. Clearly, I wish that CM was on Spotify. CM holds the license to so much good metal (Arch Enemy, Deicide, Insomnium, etfuckingcetera). I own quite a bit of it, but the new stuff that I want to hear, but can’t afford is unavailable on my new, ultimate favorite in the history OF ALL TIME program, Spotify. So, I head over to Grooveshark and usually find it there. So, all is well at the end of the day, but if I were to pay the $10/month for Spotify, I’d be fucked on the go.

DO IT!

I’d plug my iPhone into my car and be without anything CM that didn’t have a playlist made from my own collection. Bastards. Extra work for me, the consumer. I think not. Actually, it’s not that huge of a deal and I’m running my point completely off the rails.

I’ve run the gamut of methods of music and posted about it before when I first praised Spotify. Rhapsody, Mog, Pandora, Last.fm, Grooveshark, physical/digital purchases and a long-running (but, luckily retired) habit of pirating music. All of them have their benefits and many of them have their downfalls. What I noticed with Spotify was that it, being totally legitimate, still had a huge selection of metal. Pandora and Last.fm aside, in the streaming world, that’s a huge plus for metalheads. Clearly. But, every program has its downfalls. Mog only had one Immortal album; a live Wacken gig. Rhapsody suffered in the same ways with other bands (which I can’t remember right now and don’t feel like researching). Grooveshark has tons of awesome bootlegs and live shows, but doesn’t have a lot of really obscure black metal that I want to hear. They all are awesome, but suck in a lot of ways.

Spotify has the potential to dominate the streaming market and, for metalheads like myself who doesn’t indulge in physical music mediums anymore, that’s a big deal. Century Media pulling away puts a huge dent in my willingness to continue usage of this thing. I mean, I’m listening to Tsjuder right now on Spotify, but when I get the urge in a bit to listen to a Nevermore album, I’ll be shit out of luck. If Spotify was my only means of music, that would be colossal bummer.

Get with it, Century. Come on. For the fans. For the kids. For the sake of not being assholes.

Posted on Friday, August 12, 2011 by Q, Reply

The Blabbzorz

I don’t really do news on this site. I’ll comment on news articles and slobber my 100% correct opinion all over them, but I really don’t break news stories (unless they’re local WV things) like some of the better blogs out there…or like the self-proclaimed CNN of metal news, Blabbermouth. This was a conscious decision from the start because I don’t have the contacts in the industry other fucks do. That’s fine. The only reason I do this blog is because I lurve the heavy metals and like talking about the shit all the fucking time. So, in the interest of the phantom/spam people that actually visit this site, I’ve decided to put a Blabbermouth feed in the right hand column. So, now this IS a news site! Eat that, Roadrunner.

Posted on Friday, August 5, 2011 by Q, Reply

A Treatise on Metal Blogs, Part 2: MetalSucks Doesn’t Really Sucks

The Blabbermouths aside, MetalSucks was really my internet cherry popper for metal blogs. I’d never really gotten into some of the other shit out there…whatever that shit was. I don’t have a timeline in front of me and I’m not sure who started what when. But, a few years ago, I started reading MetalSucks for some reason. I honestly don’t remember who referred me, but I haven’t stopped checking the site daily ever since.

The tagline is actually true

My personal experience with MetalSucks aside, it’s an awesome site. Flat out. Period. The two main hosses on the site, Axl and Vince, have dominance over the metal internets more than any other site out there. They have more exclusive streams, interviews, guest columns and witty, catchy articles than any other metal website on the entire webs-of-internet. It’s true. Actually, should there ever be a study, I’m sure it will be fact. It’s fucking awesome. They kill the shit and draw me in every day.

So, if their site is so dominant, where could it possibly go wrong? Well, honestly, “wrong” is far too strong a word to describe the inadequacies of MS. They don’t go wrong. They’re still sponsoring some of the best tours and bringing us, the metalheads, great stuff on a daily basis. Where I go from here will be a mix of what I’ve gleaned from other sites and my own opinion, musically and journalistically.

MetalSucks has the market cornered and with gleeful tenacity do they continue their march to glory. Good for them. I mean that sincerely. I would love for my hobbyblog to take off and rocket me to knowndom like theirs has. They do this shit for a living. They meet everyone they want to meet, sponsor tours with mostly awesome bands and see every show they want to see. If they want to take a week or more off, they have a staff of writers to cover it while they’re gone. Good writers (mostly). When I say “they”, I mean Axl and Vince. While the rest of their troupe are decent, they are the proverbial Two Kings. They’re the Orthanc and Barad-dur of MS and rule with a Saurumanian white hand. And they should. The guys can obviously run a business and they can write like nobody’s business. I love reading their articles. Actually, I love reading them so much that I check to see who wrote the article before I read it. It’s 90% more likely that I’ll read an MS article if Axl or Vince have written it. Sorry, but it’s true. The guys know their shit and their dedication to the genre and coverage of it are unmatched. Unfuckingmatched.

Thus ends my MS worship (for this article). Sometimes, they go too far. Well, I don’t know. Maybe not really too far, but they definitely take advantage of the fact that they KNOW they are the top dogs in metal journalism (albeit a constant, yet understandable, bow to Decibel). Sometimes they let the opinion blur into activism (trying to convince people to bail on Burzm) or their hubris turn militant (imposing stupid rules on commenters). They latch on to certain bands and cover them a hell of a lot more than any others, at points letting their asskissing get a bit out of hand (Daath, Revocation). My opinion on the bands they support aside, one can only go so far with the “It’s our website, fuck you,” methodology. Sure, I take that approach with this site, but I don’t sponsor anything, make any money from this and this blog isn’t even close to the size of theirs. With great power comes great responsibility (yes, I said that). MS takes their power in the metal world and uses their site as a forum to do shit that I don’t really think they should…like tell everyone that liking Burzum means their racist. Fuck that. Completely retarded.

MetalSucks is top of the pops in the wide world of metal journalism. They really are the hub for all that is awesome when it comes to news, tours, exclusive track premiers and a heavy dose of oft-times faux arrogance comedy. There are drawbacks to reading the site…it’ll get your blood boiling every once in a while, but I think they know that and embrace it. Regardless of drawbacks (admittedly, there are few, hence the size of the pros section vs. that of the cons in this article), MetalSucks is a fucking freight train of metal awesomeness that isn’t slowing down any time soon. Keep it up, guys.

Next up: Gun Shy Assassin

Posted on Sunday, July 31, 2011 by Q, Reply

Spotify is Metal

I’ve been waiting for something like Spotify for a loooooong time. Now that it’s here, I’m a bit overwhelmed. There’s so much you can do with it…and I’m only using the free version right now. Fronting $10/month on top of my current bills isn’t really going to work at the moment. However, barring that minor obstacle and presuming that I will have the paid version soon, this program seriously kicks the shit out of everything I’ve used thus far. Streaming music has been a favorite thing of mine (other than raindrops on roses, clearly) for a long time.

Like EVERYONE over the age of punk weenie, I started my musical quest with physical formats. For me, it was cassettes and vinyl records. Cassettes were the preferred format of the time and my parents had a slew of vinyl, so radio aside, that’s how I listened to music.

They ruled

Then came CDs. Then came the internet (thanks, Al). mIRC, Napster, Scour, Kazaa (big mistake), Limewire and then the viciously malevolent Bittorrent provided me with a fuckton of music at virtually no cost and at a ridiculously rapid pace (every album every Tuesday within minutes). But, as all good (depending on your POV) things do, my pirating days came to an end. I pirated less and less in my latter days, simply because I didn’t have the time. Then came the letters from my ISP saying “Yo, fucker. Stop.” So, I did. I got banned from Napster back in the 90s (yes, because of Metallica), but that was just a bump in the road to ultimately being bitchslapped by the establishment.

Anyway, streaming is how I do it these days. Pandora, Last.fm, Grooveshark, Rhapsody, Mog and the almighty YouTube have provided me with just about everything I’ve ever wanted to hear as soon as I wanted to hear it, at home and on the go.

Sorry, Pandora

All of them have their benefits. Pandora and Last.fm have good mobile apps (Pandora wins that battle with the steller QuickMix option…I have 100 metal stations that shuffle into 1 and it’s awesome). Grooveshark is 100% free on the PC and has a plethora of bootlegs in the catalog, but no iPhone app yet unless you’re got yours jailbroken. Rhapsody and Mog, while pay services on the PC or mobile, are both great because of the full album streams and release day availability. Plus, they both have great metal selections. YouTube is…well, if you’re a metal aficionado, then you’ve used the YouTubes.

But, now, Spotify cometh. It’s a Pandora/Mog/cloud hybrid that blows the fuck out of everything you can use right now. The cloud option (I’d never used a cloud before…even the apparently awesome one from my former employer) is awesome. I uploaded every MP3 I have and can now, once paid, take that shit with me on the go. But, even before I get that option, I now have a really awesome, non-memory intensive music player to use (seeya, Winamp, my longtime friend and ally). Plus, I haven’t searched for anything and not found it. Much like Grooveshark, that option is totally free.

The new win

To test it, I hit up the Blabbermouth CD Reviews page and picked a band that I didn’t think I’d find: Revolting. Guess what? Found them and everything they’ve put out.

I read about Spotify months ago when it was UK only and have settled for lesser programs since. No more. The war of attrition begins now and I see the rest of the streaming giants falling by the wayside so long as Spotify doesn’t make any giant mistakes, like posting a bunch of quotes on their site about how awesome they are from the likes of Wired, the LA Times, Mark Zuckerberg and…uh…Demi Moore.

Posted on Sunday, July 17, 2011 by Q, Reply

A Treatise on Metal Blogs, Part 1

Last night, I spent my time after work lying in bed, going through the massive list of blogs and sites I have listed under the bookmark heading “Metal”. There are a lot. I visit less than half of them. Much like this site, most of them are podunk, heehaw, boondock sites on the outskirts of MetalSucksopolis and Metal Injection City.

Bloglomerate

However, there are some larger, but less than Gotham sites out there that get mad prizzops from some of the more titan-esque blogs and have quite a bit of traffic. Deciblog, That’s Not Metal, Hails and Horns, Heavy Blog is Heavy, No Clean Singing and Gun Shy Assassin all rule and quite a few others escape honorable mention, but actually have a foothold on the mountain of metal masses. Then there are those who run seriously good blogs, but either suffer from a lack of traffic, shitty hosting or cover metal for a larger, non-metal site. Then there are guys like me, looking in from the outside.

In a single paragraph, that’s how, after years of readership, I would succinctly describe the metal blogging world. I’m not really counting Blabbermouth because they’re a down-the-middle news site or even SMN for that matter. Those guys are in a category of CNN-style reporting. Great for reading and then generating an opinion, but for slant, laughs or a boiling red forehead, not so good. I much prefer the editorial blog format for metal coverage. MetalSucks is great for exclusive streams and hilarious, controversial shit-slinging, Metal Injection is great for video and podcast coverage. Sites like That’s Not Metal are awesome for in-character, laugh holes in your face blogging. I highly doubt guys like the Angry Black Metal Elitist act/talk like that every day. But, metal is chocked full of characters, so they tend to fit well in blog format.

The point of this little multi-part column is to take a look at the metal blogs of the world and say what I think about them. There’s some serious rivalry between some of the sites and even open aggression, but also quite a bit of collaboration and crossover effort. When I first started reading about metal online, way back when, it was Blabbermouth and that was it. I’m sure other sites existed, but that’s all I read. I still read it. Today, metal is bigger and more expansive, genre and sub-genre wise and metal’s internet presence is equally as huge, different and interesting.

This was the introduction. Next…MetalSucks!

Posted on Monday, July 11, 2011 by Q, Reply

Metal Detektor

So, this is awesome…for people with money to spend. Regardless, the idea is great. It’s a search engine called The Metal Detektor that scours the internets for metal merch. You put in an artist name and/or title of an album and a list of just about all of their available merch pops up. Super cool. Reminds me of Mad Duckets from Clerks 2, but metallized. Well worth checking out. I found a Wages of Sin t-shirt for $16. Probably won’t buy it, but I could. You know, if I wanted to (had the money).

Oh yeah, and thanks to Deciblog for getting the word out.

Posted on Thursday, June 23, 2011 by Q, Reply

Cheap Metalsucks Stuff

MetalSucks is probably the key source for editorial metal news for me on the whole interweb. Blabbermouth is the AP/Reuters and MetalSucks is the site that takes the news and adds oft-hilarious o-spin-ion. Not to mention their shit ton of exclusive music debuts, interviews and contests.

I was just talking to a friend on the phone while he was driving to FYE to pick up the new Amon Amarth and Enslaved. He still buys CDs and FYE is about the only place in this region to get anything even pseudo-metal…and it’s a 20-30 minute drive. Pathetic. Anyway, as soon as I got off the phone with him, I clicked my happy ass over to MetalSucks to find this. So, April 12, I’m heading to FYE for the first time in over a decade just to get this shit. $10, are you kidding me? Awesome. Thanks guys.

Posted on Saturday, April 9, 2011 by Q, Reply

Thrillcall

I usually use ReverbNation to find local shows. That, or I go to a venue’s website or call a friend or panhandle on the street for information. Buuuuut, I found this site called Thrillcall that actually has a pretty decent setup. There’s no “metal” genre category right now, but you can search by artist and tag genres to find shows within a certain radius of your zip code. It even suggests other local-ish cities to search. Pretty awesome. I even put a widget on my sidebar. I’m in.

Posted on Saturday, April 9, 2011 by Q, Reply

Grooveshark is Metalshark

I love Mog. I love Rhapsody. I love Pandora and Last.fm. I had a Mog subscription for about a month before their system refused to charge my card for the second month. I tried a couple more cards, double and triple checked the numbers, but no dice. So, no more Mog for now. The site and iPhone app were awesome and their metal selection was pretty superb (except for only having Immortal‘s Live at Wacken…really, that’s it?). Rhapsody has always been awesome. A friend was cool enough to share his account with me. I use it online to this day, but it’s still a pay service. I didn’t have a good samaritan on my side, I’d be shelling out $10/month. Not a horrible price, but a price nonetheless. The iPhone app used to suck, but I’ve heard it’s much better and Rhapsody’s music selection is gigantic, metal included. Pandora and Last.fm…meh. I used the shit out of them for a long time before I discovered pay services like Mog and Rhapsody. Since I don’t have a Mog account anymore, I still occaisionally use Pandora in my car. While I’d prefer to listen to something on demand, there’s a nice surprise factor in a mix of Quickmix of 50 metal stations. Last.fm, at this point, can suck my dick because they recently started charging to use the iPhone app. Thanks, assholes.

Enter, Grooveshark. Unfortunately, it’s web only at this point unless your iPhone is jailbroken. Apple won’t approve the app for some reason. But, it’s free and it’s an on demand style service, in the vein of Mog/Rhapsody. It has options for radio, Facebook/Twitter/etc. sharing, playlist creation and a slew of other, awesome features. Did I mention that it’s totally, fucking free? And, it’s packed full of metal goodness. I haven’t searched for anything that I’ve not found. Clearly, there are obscure bands that probably aren’t on Grooveshark, but I don’t care. Fuck off. It’s awesome and I’m Grooveshark#1fanWINFEST2011!

Check it out. It’s free and it has a hammerhead shark in the logo.

Posted on Sunday, April 3, 2011 by Q, Reply

Six Feet Under The Gun