Believe the Hype...machine

Okay, okay, okay I know you're saying, "Wait a second, didn't a few posts ago didn't this very man tell us to rage against the hype machine? Now, you're encouraging it?!?!?" Allow me to explain myself and this rather erroneous contradiction.

Not too long ago, in fact less than two weeks ago, I explicated in blog form how bands these days can get famous just from internet hype, especially through the use of blog promotion. The message I was trying to convey is we need to be careful that these bands that do receive hype, fame, and money deserve said rewards. But how do we find these bands? With so many sites that allow users to upload music to their server space, there is an increasing influx of BAD music. I mean a twelve year old can record his ripping cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" complete with prepubescent vocals and horrible tuning, and within minutes have it streaming on Myspace, Youtube, or Purevolume. And most assuredly following that we will be bombarded with bulletins informing us that he has just posted a new song and that it sounds really "tight". So how do we sift through the muck and mire that is being forced upon us. Well thats where we turn to the Hype Machine.

The Hype Machine is a website that tracks and follows music blog discussions. Every day, thousands of people around the world write about music they love — and it all ends up on their site. Imagine the site as a giant music magnet, attracting all songs and artists that are blogged about in the junkyard (in this case the internet). The songs and artists that are the most metallic (no not the most Metallica, that's different) i.e. most popular or talked about, stick to the magnet and are posted onto the sites front page. Instead of scouring the internet like a wandering traveler in the desert, desperate for water, the Hype Machine finds them for you and you can pick and choose as you please.

Here's how it works:

• "The Hype Machine tracks a variety of MP3 blogs. If a post contains MP3 links, it adds those links to its database and displays them on the front page.
• Some of the frequently accessed tracks are cached by the Hype Machine server, much like Google Search caches web pages, to reduce load on the bloggers' servers and protect their bandwidth.
• Those tracks are NOT available for download, but you can preview them via the play buttons that are next to each track.The blog that posted a particular track is identified under every track by name so you can read more about why they posted it. If you enjoyed a track someone posted, stop by and let them know!
• You can purchase CDs and individual tracks by using the "amazon" and "itunes" links that appear next to most tracks. Each purchase you make via the Amazon and iTunes links supports both the artists and the Hype Machine. Please buy and enjoy." www.hypem.com

This is a huge breakthrough in online music because not only does it try to give artists exposure without letting people steal their music, it allows users to connect to one another's blogs, playlists, and user profile pages to learn more about other things they might like. Also, it encourages users to interact with actual blogs. For instance, if you are in a band, or are a huge fan of one, you can submit music to one of the blogs the Hype Machine collects from. If the blog likes what you send, they'll post it and so will Hype Machine, thus allowing for a lot of exposure to a strong, socially networked audience.

So, I apologize for previously stating that we should merely rage against the hype machine as if it were some terrible monster from the hillside. The truth is we truly do control the machine and technology can always be used for the betterment of everyone. The Hype Machine allows true fans of music to spread the word about music they love and also allows us to no longer be reliant on radio, MTV, or Rolling Stone to tell us what is cool. So I encourage everybody to go to the site, check it out, listen to some music, hate it, love it, praise it, diss it, turn it up, turn it down its all up to you. As I said earlier there is a lot of music floating around there on the interweb, so the question is "who has the power to spread it?" Well, in the words of our hero Captain Planet, THE POWER IS YOURS!