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DiS Download Store Launched! Martha album early release exclusive!
We've half-mentioned this in hushed corners for a while but now it's finally here. DrownedinSound.com in conjunction with the good folks at Karmadownload.com are very proud to open the doors and cut the red tape on our Download store.
To launch the store we've put Drowned in Sound Recordings very own Martha Wainwright debut album up there exclusively, two weeks ahead of release amid several 5/5 reviews from folks like Observer Music Monthly. Her new single 'Factory' is also released this week across all other download stores as a single.
We'll be tweaking it and intergrating this store much more into our new design over coming months with recommendations and alsorts of clever stuffs. We're starting some DiS Selector EPs from next week too.
For now, get yourself signed up and browse around, here: drownedinsound.com/mp3store
DiScuss: What do you think?
Words: Sean Adams
Reply
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DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pr
every album on that 2 page spread in the OMM got 5/5. I thought it was a print mistake. -
DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pre-release exclusive!
i thought that too! then you turn the page and every album has 3/5. omm? don't know why i bother looking at it really.
store looks interesting, great idea. early days i know but is it going to have more of a DiS flavour (handpicked tracks by DiS team, editorial etc)? -
Re: DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pre-release exclusive!
yeah, that's all to come.
there is a review of Rufus and her Dad, or at least in terms of stars inside that review which ain't 5/5's. -
DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pre-release exclusive!
Looking at it closer actually it's meant to be a sort of top 10 of the month, cos the next page is all 4/5s, and then there's one 3/5 so i guess it sorta makes sense, they're just a bit eager to hand out 5/5s i guess! -
DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pre-release exclusive!
i'm not sure.
i'm not sure at all. -
DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pre-release exclusive!
record label. mp3 store. what next? ticket sales? t-shirt shop? i remember when you said that DIS wasn't going to turn into a media empire. maybe you were drunk. brand it all and sell it.
meet the new boss, same as the old boss indeed. -
Re: DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pre-release exclusive!
What would you prefer? Stay small & get nowhere? -
Re: DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha albu
We should revolt! Down with the capilalist pigdogs! Smash the system!
Sorry got carried away there...
I don't see the problem....its just a music thing...or am i missing some great ideological battle going on? -
DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pre-release exclusive!
i dunno. You don't see NME-Records though, do you? -
Re: DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pre-release exclusive!
what does this point prove? that nme is anti capitalist (or whatever someones comment was) and thats a good thing, or that nme aren't great cos they don't have a record label?
i don't understand.
what does it matter. everyone (and I do include many dis writers in this) shoots themselves in the foot with this whole arguement as to whether dis should get bigger/get a lable, etc. why are we all so affraid of success or the promotion of good music? do we all aspire to just be average or a bit crap? is that whats hip these days? its not like anyone is going to be making a profit for a long while.
sx -
DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pr
I think there is a definite issue when editorial is affected by supposed external interests.
I think DiS is perfectly entitled to veer into other projects - and the more independent record labels committed to exposing new music the better. But when the frontpage is dominated by its own bands it undermines the supposed 'neutrality' of the editorial product. I think there is some very underrated writing within these here pages but I definitely think cynically about the constant promotion of redjetson and thisgirl or whoever. It means I treat DiS as an occasional place to visit but not as a conclusive webzine I trust and base my musical purchases on.
It's not an issue about DiS becoming bigger/becoming capitalist pigs(?!); again any form of independent publishing that can sustain itself is a remarkable acheivement considering the unforgiving nature of the market -if DiS becomes bigger (and stays true to its ideals) then fucking brilliant. But it is my personal belief that certain things should be kept seperate (that is the label and the site) if we are to take the editorial seriously. -
Re: DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pr
But when the frontpage is dominated by its own bands it undermines the supposed 'neutrality' of the editorial product.
Please point out where this is the case. -
DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pr
Erm how about the lead story on the current frontpage? -
Re: DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pr
Another pretty stupid point. The site now has an MP3 shop. Why shouldn't it tell people? Would you rather not know or something? These anti-anti-anti types are doing my head in. -
Re: DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pr
the site is staying true to its ideals through the record label and through other ventures. the site has spawned a record label that has signed really strong bands and musicians. independent bands who are signed to an independent label. those signings were reviewed on dis before they were signed because they are good bands and other writers independently thought so before there even was a record label, so there is little conflict of interest in that sense. and whatever way we look at it, all music sites, movie sites whatever are a form of advertising. what is the harm in advertising that there are gigs on and records for sale, through news items and scene pieces (not reviews)? That’s the point surely.
and surely its better to buy from a place that has spent four years building a good reputation for being what it is. a great site for finding out about great music. the only agenda being educating people and sometimes offering them an alternative.
also how do you keep the label and the site separate? if they had different names surely it would seem a little more sinister and open to manipulation, with people finding out later on that the two are related and feeling duped.
ALL review sites and publications are guilty of self-promotion, in the sense of friends reviewing friend’s bands (the music industry seems to be very incestuous). if all publications were forced to stop doing this then they would all probably lose half their content. so if you are going to complain of editorial being compromised, and action was taken to stop all back scratching (i.e. writers promoting own bands, club nites, other writers promoting fellow writers bands and club nites, and all writers promoting friends bands) then we would all be listening to *thinks really hard* fucking Keane and we would know of few alternatives. (and i am mean this in terms of across the board of mags etc not just dis)
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Re: DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pre-release exclusive!
always a complainer
even about the good stuff huh? -
Re: DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pr
the album's REALLY good
and i HATE dido! -
Re: DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pr
BMFA really grew on me.
When I hear it once I have to listen to it 10 times in a row. -
Re: DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pr
BMFA was definitely a grower for me too.I first saw her live in notting hill arts club and didn't really know what to make of her voice.Bought the EP and although I liked it,it took me a few listens to love it.Her voice in BMFA is heartbreaking -
Re: DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pr
i think i only listened to the single once through and then i got the album and straight away i recognised the song
it must be quality i therefore conclude -
Re: DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pr
The covers a bit smoulder-y isn't it? In a slightly over the top way. -
Re: DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pre-release exclusive!
I think there's a competition of interests. It's impossible for DIS to have any integrity if it has a vested business interest in certain artists. As a result, I somehow doubt any artists DIS signs or works with will ever be subject to a truly objective review : whilst DIS may sign them because they like them, it then makes it unlikely that DIS will objectively criticise that artist if or when they falter. -
DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pre-release exclusive!
gosh a DiS artist getting publicity on the DiS website?...fuckin hell is it me or is all of this a bit ...er..."sycophantic"....(note the sarcasm) ...no it must be me...redjetson review anyone? -
Re: DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pre-release exclusive!
er, a little on the up take my friend. read above.
sx -
Re: DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pre-release exclusive!
Your points and many others here are somewhat muddled.
You're attacking me/DiS for trying to get more people to listen to more music that I love, which is the only reason why DiS started in the first place.
The fact we have such limited resources, limits our ability to champion the music we love, provide this site as a free service and pay for peoples time to go into making DiS the best, most proactive and community driven music site on the web.
We've already kinda had ticket sales working on the site and yes there are t-shirts coming (do you call bands sell outs for making t-shirts?) and we're doing t-shirts because people keep asking for them. We're releasing records because we believe in the music these people are making and we're risking what we have, and using, sparingly, like 5%, of the site space we have to reach our readers mentioning and highlighting the labels acts. If we didn't, surely we wouldn't truly believe in music and our abilities to find and recommend the very best music in the world?
It's so much easier to kick clouds of dirt into peoples eyes than run in a race.
Sean -
Re: DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pre-release exclusive!
Please note: We do not, and will never, review our own records. -
DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pre-release exclusive!
But there is always going to be a slight bias when DiS review their own acts. That's just natural.
Maybe more of an effort needs to be made to make distinctions between the different areas of the DiS "empire". Perhaps initiatives like giving established readers the responsibility to say, write an album review or something?
I'm not attacking the commercialisation of DiS, I mean this is hardly Sony-BMG is it? But perhaps there are some issues. -
Re: DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha albu
What CaviarandCigarets said. -
Re: DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pre-release exclusive!
Well essentially our staff are just top level users, if you wanna look at that way. Apart from Gareth and every so often Colin Roberts (Crablin), no-one sits in the office and no-one is ever, ever, every told what to write about anything. Perhaps that is what needs to be made clearer.
The new site (coming sometime in the next few months) however will allow you lovely users to write your own reviews. Huzzah. -
Mini rant
While I share people's concerns about editorial independance, I think people need to realise that THERE IS NO WAY A SITE ON THIS SCALE CAN OPERATE WITHOUT RAISING MONEY. So, you may find, shock horror, opportunities to spend money being offered to you through the site. Hopefully not in an annoying way (yes the ads annoy me as much as the next man, they are only a temporary addition though), or in a way that inferferes with our reviews objectivity, but it's something that's essential to pay for new features, tech stuff, hosting, editorial and office work, etc.
As Sean says, we don't review records on the DiS label, and the label is really just Sean's project, not something that I or the writers have much of a self-interest in promoting. Heck we all have quite different music tastes, it's not like we're forced to like stuff on the label. A lot of it's not my thing, for example, although I do quite like the youthmovies and that martha single.
But, some editorial space is being used to let you know what the label's doing, and that's fine by me so long as the line is drawn between that and our reviews, which I feel it is.
I'm currently working on a new site which will reduce the distinction between DiS staff and users a lot. The boards and article sections will be a lot more integrated, you'll be able to post your own reviews and listings, and we'll select the best to be featured, the others appearing as user reviews/comments. This amongst lots of other nice social and musical features for which you'll have to wait and see. The database aspects of the site should be a lot better structured too, and we hope to expand our gigs and release listings quite a bit.
So yeah. It should be worth it as a useful resource and a good community site. Just don't expect it all handed to you on a plate for free without any commercialism whatsoever because frankly that's unrealistic. While you may be a trust-funder who can work for free while maintaining their untouchable indie cred, that doesn't cover us all. -
DiS Download Store Launched! Martha album early release exclusive!
Sounds good Sean. -
Re: DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pre-release exclusive!
yeah...derr...i cant be arsed with these double standards, either its ok to "mention" DiS artists in the DiS site or its not. Personaly i think if a DiS artist has something new out then it should be worth mentioning it, in the same way as any other non-DiS artist.
So Martha has got a new album comin out, great, review it, tell people.
What is bollox, however, is gettin your head bitten off for asking why there isnt a DiS-artist review, on the release of their debut album, with all the other new release reviews...being subject to abuse by a DiS writer, but then its suddenly ok to paste Martha all over the front of the site...
just treat all artists, Dis and non-Dis with an even hand, insead of being hypocritical. -
Re: DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pre-release exclusive!
We have put REDJETSON all over the site. To a point. And Raz was being sarky. I thought this was all water under the bridge?
This is a story about the launch of our mp3 store and we have an exclusive before anyone else of the Martha album up there.
As stated above we don't review our own records. How could we and not get slated for it much like the above? I did suggest we get bands to do it in a passing on the torch kinda way (i.e. Sam from Hope of the States reviews Redjetson, perhaps). But then that's just gonna seem forced. -
Re: DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pre-release exclusive!
mate, it is all water under the bridge, i hope you got my note. i was just using it as an example to make my point about perceived double standards. all the points made by Raz, however sarky, were indeed vaild. the big mug shot of martha to go with the mp3 store story kinda contradicts those points though, hence all the debate, before i poked my nose in.
sorry i dont know why, i have a complete inablity to write a post without sounding like a complete fuckin arsehole! i am a tabloid journalist after all!
you are stuck between a rock and a hard place over how to handle DiS artists on the Dis site. its all about balance and you cant please everybody at the same time.
no, I think the "passing the torch" thing sounds like an idea to be explored.
that could be a website in itself...bands reviewing bands...much controversy -
Re: DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pre-release exclusive!
there isn't an NME label as such but a number of NME journos have done (or do) their own record labels. -
Re: DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pre-release exclusive!
"our staff are just top level users"
Oh, CHEERS. -
Re: DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pre-release exclusive!
I'm a user.
Of pizza.
To help with my depression.
Sure as hell beats smack. -
Re: DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha album pre-release exclusive!
I meant in theory. Not in a derogative sense. When people who use the site cross over to writing, they are, in theory, upgraded. I was talking generally, not individually. -
Re: DiS Download Store Launched Today! Martha albu
>i dunno. You don't see NME-Records though, do you?
But you pay for NME. You don't pay for DiS unless you personally choose to take up any of their offers. The whole philosophy of DiS to me leads to it making perfect sense for them to have a record label too.
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