“Critics who expect you to write the same album over and over again are also fun.”
We’re getting ready to ask you a favor, the financial kind. But first, an explanation: there is no question. This has been the high point for me, our one-take, R-rated interview with Darcy Rego of The Meligrove Band. Before that, I had blogged anonymously for years, and submitted some awful fiction to some unsuspecting periodicals. The Muse In Music was only a notion until January 2009, but by October 2010 it was a fully-forged music site, no longer a blog. We hadn’t sold a penny of advertising, and had never launched a pledge drive. Yet we had a fantastic design, were talking to some outstanding musicians, and were privileged to review advance copies of some incredible material. I would never have heard of Wildbirds and Peacedrums if I wasn’t blogging. I can say the same about Field Rotation and Her Name Is Calla. Ditto that Le Blorr, whom I fully expect to be Jack White Big any day now. Even so, Darcy’s answers to our careless, scattergun questions are some of the best original material I’ve ever read on any music website.
Why the exercise in remembrance? Let me put a word to it: The Muse In Music has reached a transition. Here’s a more potent word: it’s broke. We joke about it — and take pride in the fact — on our About page: “You’ll find no holding companies here, or corporate affiliations. No distribution agreements or shady benefactors. Yes, we advertise, and we might even turn a profit one day. In 10-12 years.” But all joking aside, this venture generates expenses. Web hosting is a big expense, as is site upkeep. Forget for a moment everything we would like to do, but can’t, since revenue is so hard to come by. Even when considering basic site functions, our shoestring budget has taken a toll on technical quality and site connectivity, and that drives down traffic. Which drives down ad revenue, which drives down our budget, which drives down technical quality and site connectivity. And so on.
Now let’s talk about what we would like to do. We would like to raise quality, and improve connectivity. We would like to bring on more writers. We would even like to pay them one day. We would like to offer more contests, and bring on bigger advertisers, and review all of the pertinent albums, not just the four-star releases that Pitchfork is already writing about. We would like to provide more transcendent moments like the one with Darcy, even though all we really did was write out some careless, scattergun questions and email them to his PR rep. That’s The Muse that I think of when I sign on and see that lake, that old picture of Stevie Wonder, that candlelight vigil, and whatever that machine part is at the top. Hopefully you think the same.
By my count we’ve posted over 290 articles under the category of Free Downloads. How about instead of free, for now we think of those as Dime Downloads? Ten cents for every one of those 290 songs (or EPs, or LPs, or compilations) is $29. Would you consider donating $29 — or any other amount — to keep The Muse In Music in the black? If so, please click the “Donate” button just to the upper right.
Thank you for even considering it. And for reading this far. And thank for the last three great years. Here’s to the next three!
Warm regards,
Patrick and Fred
