A while ago, in November 20, I started a podcast that was about reviewing underground music, on YouTube. I did this because for many different reason, but it was mostly because of the covid-19 situation. I was simply bored out of my mind, missed being able to tour with my band, and missed the music enviroment. I need to do something to connect with them again. Chatting online simply didn’t cut it, because chatting is something you do everyday, whether you are out touring or just at hom rehearsing with the band.
Surprisingly, this was really fun and educational, and gave me more than I hade hoped for. I didn’t do that many episodes, and some of the episode had to be taken down. I always talked to the band I was highlighting, and asked for permission to play part of a song or two from the album I was reviewing, and explained that parts of this would be on my YouTube song. Despite this some of the band still sent YouTube takedown-request after. So insted of just muting that part, I removed it.
I put a lot of hours into the liveshows, and always got consent beforehand, so i always found it weird. Or maybe they expected a better review? Well, anyways, getting takedown-request after consent was kinda weird, but I do my work after the book. So instead of sending reports about royalties, I just remove them. I guess Less money for the band, and no promotion is preferred by some.
Anyways, getting sidetracked here… After having done some liveshows, I got bit by ‘the bug’. I wanted more. I wanted to give more and I wanted to do more. Now, I don’t claim to be any kind of music expert. I have been a musician for about 30 years now, and been touring and playing gigs for the last 20 or so. So I know how hard the struggle is to get noticed. How some popular sites wants you to pay to cover your band. And yeah, I now that doing this, comes with expenses. And time. So I get that one at least wants the economy to break even. Hopefully this site will grow large enough that someone would want to pay for having some adds here, and that it will pay for the expenses. s.
I have been a musician for about 30 years now, and been touring and playing gigs for the last 20 or so. So I know how hard the struggle is to get noticed.
So with this webzine I want to give more back, and by doing so also learn more about how other bands and musicians are doing. Having a webzine this writes articles about music, review music and interviewing others is a great way if doing just that. Hope the live shows also will evolve and get better and better. And I do think it will, because we gain more experience as we move forward.
We will have the webzine and the live shows, which is more a sort of short-time podcast, I guess. I also hope I get more people on my team, writing for the ‘zine. It’s a great way to get to know more bands and musicians, and a brilliant way of getting to listen to new music.
It’s well known that bigger bands (bands that are allready well known) have bigger labels (labels with more money) supporting them, even though the industry is very different now then what it was just 15-20 years ago. Heck, even just 10 years back we sold more cd’s than we do now. It’s all digital and streaming. And it all comes down to promotion. Having a label and/or pr-company, big or small, back you up usually means having someone with connections, email or phonenumbers to reviewers, venues and even radio and media.
Having a label and/or pr-company, big or small, back you up usually means having someone with connections, email or phonenumbers to reviewers, venues and even radio and media.
But those bigger bands, that we’re talking about, never pays to get an article about them posted in a big magazine, or their releases reviewed, or airtime. That’s usually how you know that you’ve made it. But still, writing about them, doing reviews, interviews, putting them on air… This all takes time for the one doing it, and the expenses are no less. So the smaller, more unknown bands usually ends up paying for them too, one way or another.
This is one of the reasons we mainly focus on underground bands on this webzine. Doesn’t matter if the band or artist is signed by a label or not. Being signed doesn’t automatically remove someone from the underground. We also hope to work with labels in this manor. There are a lot of underground labels out there, struggling in the same way as many labels
My goal for this webzine is for it to grow large and be a ‘zine that people will go to to check at new music from underground bands and artists all over the world, learning something new about them and even maybe get a new favourite.
And last, but not least. If you have experience writing articles about bands, reviewing music or interviewing, we would love to hear from you if you might consider writing for The Jarl.
