Tagged with the musical chairs …

Jan 31 2012
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Journalism

Introducing a new version of The Musical Chairs

Firstly, a little bit of background. Before I became a contributor to a lot of music webzines/magazines I was a journalism student and, in that time, I set up my own music blog, which was called The Musical Chairs. It was always intended to be a platform to showcase my writing and it also gave me some nifty perks – I went to the Great Escape festival in Brighton for three years through it.

But now I don’t need to use it for that. I write for music webzines like MusicOMH and For Folk’s Sake and publications like Artrocker and Clash. Over the last year Musical Chairs has been struggling to find a new sense of purpose.

Then last year the idea of a new angle for the site was floated about by me in my own head. I then got this idea out of my head and talked it over with a few people. This was in September. It’s now January and I’ve only just put it into action. Why? I do not know.

There isn’t really a website that exists to showcase what is happening in Guildford with regards to music. This is also the time where such a website would be useful. G Live opened last September, the Boileroom is getting more and more popular, artists of national recognition like Slow Club and Summer Camp are actually seeing the town as a place to go on their tour itinerary. In short, we’re going through a good period.

So in terms of what The Musical Chairs would be it is now this: a source of news about the Guildford music scene, showing a spotlight on local bands who are quite good and other things besides. It’s not a finished product but it is something that I hope to spend some time on throughout the year. It’s also re-kindled my love for WordPress, which was much needed.

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Oct 19 2011
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Arts & Entertainment

Archive Musical Chairs

A few weeks ago I decided to radically change The Musical Chairs, the music blog I’ve been operating since 2008. The older version had actual articles with actual words in them and some of those articles were rather fine. Most of those fine articles, however, appeared when I was angry with something. Therefore, I’ve decided to upload a few of them as artefacts of the old version of the site, even if those artefacts are as valued as floppy discs.

The first one, which you can read in a fancy PDF format, is about the time I saw 30 Seconds To Mars in Bilbao and, subsequently, how I wanted the earth to open up and swallow me whole. Read it and never see this band in your lifetime, possible.

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Sep 06 2011
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Life

Hello Autumn

It’s been a while (again) since I last wrote down an order of coherent words here and clicked the button marked ‘Publish’on my WordPress dashboard. I’ve been too busy doing a whole multitude of things so it might be best to summarise all that’s happened in the past few weeks in one simple blog entry.

Guildford People – Still going pretty well. August could have been a very quiet month but the riots and the general paranoia and confusion that surrounded it boosted traffic lots as confused residents wanted to filter fact from fiction. As luck would have it, a small fire broke out at a disused nightclub in Guildford whilst I was in town and I knew almost instantly that this would be widely misreported by people looking out of bedroom windows. So I got some pictures on my phone, posted them to Twitter and then posted them again plus some others on the website that afternoon. The traffic we got was extraordinary and just went to show how wide-ranging this story was even in places where nothing was happening.

The next month should be busier still. The new entertainment venue, G Live, opens officially on Thursday and I’ve got some ideas floating around as to how to cover events at the venue. This week I’ll be going to the press launch as part of the Heritage Open Days. There’s also other things happening which will prompt me to go in again on Saturday. It’s a busy long weekend but one I look forward to.

Label Love – In the aftermath of the riots, it emerged that the PIAS distribution centre in Enfield got destroyed and countless stock for many independent labels were lost. Label Love was born in order to raise money for those affected and I’ve been helping out whenever and wherever I can on the press side of things. There was a benefit gig at the Silver Bullet in Finsbury Park last night that I couldn’t get to but was a success according to those who were there. More events are currently being planned so it’s worth keeping an eye on their website and their Twitter account. They should also give you information on how you can help.

The Musical Chairs – The blog that I’ve been using since 2008 to express thoughts on all things relating to music before I became a writer for magazines and webzines is currently in a state of flux. I’m currently not sure what to do with it. Part of me wants to bring the curtain down and call an indefinite hiatus but that would also mean losing some articles that I was really proud of – okay, most of them were rants but entertaining ones I hope. I’m going to reach a decision hopefully in the next couple of weeks but I know that it’s certainly no longer the priority that it once was.

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So that sums it up I think. This blog will also see some changes I think. In order to kick my own bum into gear I’m going to be promoting more of my own work here as soon as it’s published. Hopefully you’ll see some original content here too. Who knows, eh? This concludes my “Hey, I still exist!” post.

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Nov 21 2009
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Journalism

Planning for 2010

2010

I don’t know if it’s a really pathetic thing to begin planning for 2010, but that is currently what I’m doing amidst all the other work I have to get done before Christmas. I’m trying to give myself a list of things to do during the Christmas break and I’ve managed to narrow it down to these absolute essentials:

  • Give this blog a brand new design. I might try and find a theme and then play around with the CSS with my newly acquired skills from this semester.
  • Tidy up The Musical Chairs. This means cleaning up my blogroll and adding/removing certain widgets, as well as making it easier for the reader to access in general.
  • Find work experience placements. I’ve already applied to a couple but this figure is likely to increase in the next few weeks.

The last one is a bit more complicated. I’m so torn about whether to find placements that would stand me a good chance of getting me a good job in an iffy job market after university is done and dusted, or try and find one that appeals to me for experience on the CV and hope it leads me towards something I want to do. It’s a tricky one.

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Apr 22 2009
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Life

I’ve been featured by MOG!

Mog Music Network

I got an e-mail this morning from Sonic Dice with something interesting. Apparently, the MOG Music Network had featured the review that I did of the new Art Brut album (brilliantly titled Art Brut Vs. Satan) for Sonic Dice in their newsletter. Considering that the newsletter goes out to a lot of people around the world that is pretty big exposure not just for me personally but for Sonic Dice as a website. I was very humbled but I didn’t know much about MOG so I did some reading up.

Upon investigating I signed up The Musical Chairs to the service as what it essentially is as a form of advertising for independent music blogs. Websites sign up for the service for two reasons – exposure and advertising money (it should be pointed out that at this time I currently have no revenue for The Musical Chairs – it is all out of my own pocket). Here’s a much better description:

MMN’s purpose is to help affiliate sites drive more traffic and generate revenue from advertising. MMN builds online advertising packages that deliver unique benefits over typical ad networks or Google AdSense, including the opportunity to:

— Increase exposure and drive traffic: Headlines and excerpts from MMN affiliates’posts are published via RSS to an audience of millions of music fans across MOG and the entire network, who click through to read full posts. — Increase search engine rankings. — Get access to premier brand advertisers. — Command premium CPMs. — Control the kinds of ads and advertisers displayed. — Set CPM minimums exceeding leading third-party ad sales solutions.

“We’re not just repping ads here,” said David Hyman, MOG’s CEO and founder. “MOG has already built the largest pure music blogging platform. Now we’re opening MOG’s doors and integrating independent music blogs into our platform. They get to find a brand new audience while benefiting from our back end of community and streaming music.”

It’s all very exciting because I’m always looking for ways to promote my site in a way that doesn’t feel contrived or non-beneficial to the reader. I like MMG because not only will it (I hope) bring new readers to the site but also link me up to read other music blogs and websites that are under the radar that I’ve completely missed. I’m always on the lookout for new sites to add to my packed bookmarks and this is a good way to do it in my opinion.

And it’s sunny outside! Yay!

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