DiS Download Store Launched! Martha album early 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)?

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!

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.

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?

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

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.

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.

always a complainer
even about the good stuff huh?

BMFA really grew on me.
When I hear it once I have to listen to it 10 times in a row.

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

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.

er, a little on the up take my friend. read above.

sx

Please note: We do not, and will never, review our own records.

What CaviarandCigarets said.

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.

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.

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

"our staff are just top level users"

Oh, CHEERS.

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.