Twisted Thoughts And Thoughtful Truths On Thursday #013

Twisted Thoughts And Thoughtful Truths On Thursday #013 – “Time To Dust Off The Sarcasm”

It’s my favorite time of year.

Spot the sarcasm yet?  I didn’t even get one sentence into this…jeez.

Look out…rant incoming…

So here’s the thing folks – what you don’t see behind the scenes of a place like this is the sick level of correspondence we receive.  I know what you’re thinking…must be a nightmare to have to sift through piles and piles of letters and emails telling us about how awesome the music has been, or what show we put out that you liked best was this week etc. etc., but the truth is, I’ve been doing this for fourteen years and I don’t think I could even describe a single day like that, where the positives outweighed the negatives with respect to the ol’ inbox.  I don’t get a ton of hate mail either, so that’s nice…at least it’s balanced in that regard.  No one tells us we’re great, but no one really tells us we suck either…I’ll take that as a win.  Don’t get me wrong, you get an occasional message from either side of that scenario, but it pales in comparison to the monumental amount of spam we get sent to us, the consistent barrage of press releases that we receive, all usually from a bunch of mailing lists we never actually signed up for.

Anyhow.  We’re seasoned veterans of the digital wars over here…an overflowing inbox is generally no big deal.  Every now and again though, something or someone will break through and something written in will stick in my craw.  I won’t share the name of the keyboard warrior/musician that decided to confront me about not doing a free review for him just because he was kind enough to grace the world with his presence and drop a new song onto the internet (because that’s rare!), because honestly the guy doesn’t deserve another iota of free publicity in his lifetime – but I will share the conversation we had with you.  Why am I sharing it?  I’d say that’s because I think it’s important some of you folks know what we go through on the other side of the screen here.  There’s a largely misinformed opinion that just because we’re fans of music, that we should do everything that we do for free, and that every time a new song is gently placed online with such great care (*cue eyeroll), that we’re supposed to revere it.

After receiving a lengthy press release that I did not request or ask for, I did what I usually do in 9.9/10 cases – I simply send back a standard ‘thanks for checking us out’ and a link to our services page for more information on how to submit, and why you might want to.  I’ll fully cop to the reply being pretty boiler plate stuff, but again, if you knew how many of these we receive a day, you’d go that route too.  The response I got back in this particular scenario though, was a little bit more shocking than normal.

The response to me sending him the proper link for submissions at our site read (please mind the incoherence of it all…he didn’t seem to be the brightest of bulbs…little on the dim side really):

• “Sure artist who are fooled by it are always welcome to give you money huh?”
• “You think just a lnk (sic) sells you. Music journalism is dead.  it is in fake pages like this that troll naïve Wanna be’s that charge for everything.”
• “You have no news only fake stuff from people who paid for it.”
• “You haven’t posted an interview since Sept of last year so I’m interested are people stupid enough to let you do one?”
• “As an artist it really irks me to see Leech stuff like this. I wish artist were smarter and did (Editor’s note: he means didn’t) fall for this.”

Hittin’ a guy with the bullet points!  Impressive right?  *Yawn.  Maybe he just caught the wrong one on the right day, I don’t know…but the insinuation that I haven’t done enough free stuff throughout my career as a music journalist, or that I haven’t put in countless unpaid hours at this site, or the strange implication that seems to think this place even makes a profit?  Wild stuff!  I don’t think y’all know just how much I’d love for all his accusations to be true.  I have so many ‘peers’ in this industry that found an incredible plethora of ways to make a ton of money from advertising on their sites, to doing the job half-assed, to even just copying/pasting what others send them or what they see online…and it’s fucking disgusting to me.  I’ve consistently done everything the hard way.  Not just the hard way, but the damn near stupidly hard way that’s not just hard but way harder than it needed to be.  Not because I’m smart, not because I’m in this for the money, just because it is really only the work that matters to me.  Maybe there’s a more efficient way to do this or that.  Maybe there’s an easy way to make money for doing something different than I’ve been doing it for the past fourteen years.  I don’t even think these are maybe-style queries to be truthful with ya – I’m goddamn sure there are better ways to do just about everything that I do if only the money matters…but that ain’t me.  So instead, I pretty much pay for this site to operate year after year and there ain’t that much leftover after expenses, you feel me?  If you think I’m out here driving a Lexus, I’m not – it’s a Honda.  Reliable.  Clean.  Unimpressive.  Affordable.  If you think I’m living in some four story mansion with all the loot I’ve made off the backs of the artists in the independent scene, I hate to disappoint you…while it’s true I have owned a home or two in my lifetime, I’m currently renting an apartment.  Sound luxurious or what?  As far as the free stuff goes – all this asshat had to do was LOOK at the same part of the site where he was able to see that I haven’t done a written interview since September of last year, and just two clicks down from there, he’d have seen actual evidence of the FREE INTERVIEW we did in 2025 here.  Then of course, there are things like the SBS Podcast, SBS Separated, and SBS Live This Week…these are shows & things I make because I enjoy making them, not because I’m getting paid to do them.  Still no ads on our site and there never has been.  How about all the time I spend actively listening to the music I review?  Spinning a record once or twice might maybe be covered within the fees I charge…but I’m pretty sure you’ve seen from the work I do that I’m probably spinning things a whole lot more than that (fact check – true!).  Or how about the simple fact that in the entire history of ALL-THINGS-SBS related, there is not one documented case of me doing the bare minimum.  There is no order I have ever received where I’ve simply supplied people with what they’ve paid for & that’s that.  It’s true.  Every single order I’ve had, for the past fourteen years, I have gone the extra mile and added more to it than people thought they’d receive.  That’s free, ain’t it?

So you bet your ass I responded to this fool, because he pissed me off.  Point by point even.  Here’s what I said in return…(I’m the guy in bold).

“(Name redacted because I’m a fucking nice guy)…that’s incredibly rude to the point where I feel like I should post it all to let people know who YOU are.

Allow me to respond though, just for the sake of it.”

• “Sure artist who are fooled by it are always welcome to give you money huh?”

“Fooled by what?  Trying to earn an actual living so I can keep supporting the music scene out there?  You’re not making any sense dude.”

• “You think just a lnk (sic) sells you. Music journalism is dead.  it is in fake pages like this that troll naïve Wanna be’s that charge for everything.”

“No – I don’t think a link sells me, not at all.  I think the last fourteen years of consistent hard work does.  I do almost agree with you that music journalism is dead – the good stuff practically is, and that’s seriously unfortunate.  We’re inundated with requests from people like yourself to do what we do for free.”

• “You have no news only fake stuff from people who paid for it.”

“Absolutely false, but you just said what you said to be insulting with no real thought behind it.  I charge a modest fee to do what I do, and about hundreds less than any PR firm does – that’s the facts and feel free to look it up.  Any article I’ve ever written features actual critique and insightful coverage.  Why?  Because music is the only thing that has ever mattered to me – but you haven’t actually looked into any of my history in music journalism, so of course you wouldn’t know that.”

• “You haven’t posted an interview since Sept of last year so I’m interested are people stupid enough to let you do one?”

“Hard to disagree with you on this one!  You’re absolutely right, it’s been since September of last year, in print at least…again, you don’t know anything about all the other things I do and I could point out that they’ve been done in both audio and video since then, but what’s the point right?  It’s not like I’m going to change your mind, which is clearly already made up, and you know exactly how to go about making friends in the music scene.”

• “As an artist it really irks me to see Leech stuff like this. I wish artist were smarter and did (Editor’s note: he means didn’t) fall for this.”

“Leech stuff?  I didn’t ask you to send me anything, did I?  Did I come to you, soliciting YOU to write me a song for free?  I don’t think that I did.  You know what irks ME as an ally to the entire independent music scene?  When people assume our time isn’t valuable.  Isn’t YOURS valuable?”

Here’s more of what you don’t know.  I would have worked with you on pricing if that was an issue.  Hell – I’ve done PLENTY of free reviews in my 25+ years of music journalism – for respectful people.  For the record, those come out the exact same way as those that paid did.

But again, you wouldn’t know that…because you don’t know anything about me whatsoever (redacted-name-buffoon).

Sincerely though, I wish you all the best of luck out there.  With your attitude, you’re definitely going to need it.

And with that I dispatched this idiot and sent him on his merry way.  Like most cowards and bullies, when you stand up, they shut up – and he tucked tail and ran.  I don’t blame him – in his previous press release he sent links to every site he’s involved with under the sun…a quick look through those and you see all the different venues they’re playing and things they’re posting up & such…the last thing people like this guy want are an online confrontation, or for me to be reaching out to the places he’s playing so that they know who they’re really giving a platform to when they put him onstage at their respective bars and clubs.  Another message from him and believe me, I’d have been mighty tempted to do that kind of stuff.  I didn’t need an apology or anything like that though – I just wanted him to disappear, and he did.  No harm, no real foul then as far as I’m concerned.  You end up with broad shoulders as a music critic…we don’t tend to have a whole lot of fans if we’re being honest about what we hear, so for the most part, hearing shit like this guy was telling me over email is seriously no big deal whatsoever really.

But still…even though I know that…I sit here…and I’m like…is he right about ANYTHING he said?

In my heart of hearts, I know he isn’t…he’s a buffoon and nothing more.  That being said, his comments burned my biscuits just enough that I bumped up this year’s free interview ahead of schedule as an extra fuck you to the guy.  It’s open to every artist and band of all ages and skill levels, except to him.  So hell yeah I do free stuff bro…but hell no, I don’t do free stuff for pricks that are completely insufferable.

Somewhere foolishly in the back of my mind, I’m like, fuck yeah, that’ll teach him…as if he would ever even dare to visit our site to learn about the free interview in the first place.  Laughable delusion.  But I’m still like…fuck yeah…it DOES feel good to do free things when I can, which is precisely why I’ve ALWAYS DONE THEM, year after year, in some way, shape, or form.  Now here’s where the real dose of shitkicking heartbreak comes in though…so buckle up chucklefucks, because this might apply to YOU.

I launched the new free interview at sleepingbagstudios on April 1^st this year, and we’ll be accepting submissions and requests until the end of the month, just like we did last time, so that we can publish them all the following month – May, as it were, this time around.  I know pretty much what to expect from doing things for free and how hard it actually can be…but yeah…point being, it’s not my first rodeo.  This one might be my last though, and here’s why.  As much as I knew people wouldn’t be storming the gates on the first day they could submit or request an interview from us, I’ve been blown away by the sheer amount of tumbleweeds so far.  You read this whole thing to get to this point in the article…so think about all that…all those press releases…all that correspondence…all those people like the asshat cowboy who died as a result of brutal internet beat-down (R.I.P.) that feel like we should just do anything and everything for free…crickets.  I genuinely cannot put into words how demoralizing that is.  All year long, I’m asked to do this or that for free, and yet when I actually DO something for free – silence.  Nearly complete and total silence, save for but a few.  Having done this kind of stuff MANY times before from contests to giveaways and things like the free interview dealio at SBS, trust me when I tell ya, it doesn’t take more than a couple of days for me to know if something is going to be a success or a complete disaster…and this one’s gonna be the latter.  And you know what?  I’m gonna let that happen this time around.  I’m not jumping in to save this one.  I could steer it towards success by advertising it here or there, but nah…fuck that.  If you want in on our free interview this year, the information is right there on the site plain as day, available for anyone that’s actually still reading things.

As positive as I like to be on these pages of ours, I’m discouraged to say the least.  Demotivated for sure.  I figure if this round of free interviews doesn’t end up being close or equal to the amount of submissions we got last year, then that’s it for me…I won’t do’em again.  Not the interviews, not anything…the free stuff will cease to be, because what’s the point?  If the artists & bands featured on our pages, or people just randomly cruising the page for the first time can’t be bothered to take all of ten minutes to answer some questions and talk about what’s happening with their music, at no cost to them whatsoever, then I think I’ve basically totally failed in my mission to create some kind of supportive online community here.  That’s why I’m going to let this organically play out how it will…because I need to see what the efforts of fourteen years nets.  Will it be only the two submissions we’ve received so far?  Double that?  More?  Will it be like it was last year, where a bunch of folks requested interviews and then went radio silent?  Stay tuned folks, it’s seriously riveting ain’t it?

So…yeah…like I said at the start, it’s a tough time of year – it’s essentially the season of disappointment.  Think of the staggering amount of bands and artists in the world…not even the ones that have already come and gone, but the massive number of those currently working in the scene today, relentlessly banging on doors like ours to be featured on our site.  Two.  Two requests for interviews.  Nine days so far.  I’m sorry, but you all know me to call things like I see or hear’em, so how’s this – that’s pathetic.  I’ll be very real with you and say those numbers are so damn dismal to the point where it gets a guy to rethink his entire path and question why he tries to do anything at all for the independent music scene.  Because I’m still driving a Honda instead of a Lambo.  Because I’m still renting an apartment instead of owning a castle.  Because I’m still putting in way more than I’ve ever pulled out of this place, financially speaking.  All that time…I thought I was building something significantly special…could I have been that wrong?  If there was ever a time for you to prove me wrong, this would be the one dear readers, dear friends…you’ve got me simultaneously begging for YOU to do a FREE interview so that my will to keep going and faith in this whole project might survive a little bit longer.  Not gonna lie to ya though…I’m as doubtful as I’ve ever been that this current offer will go on to do anything else other than confirm what I’ve been suspecting lately, which is that it might just be time to throw in the towel here at SBS for good.  Without real support, a band or artist won’t go on to have that amazing career they deserve.  The same is true of online magazines and the places you go to learn about music, stream it, or purchase etc. etc. – without your support, all the great stuff we love just disappears like a fart in the wind.  All art is a unique but constantly endangered species without the support it needs to succeed.

Of course, to counter all this (or perhaps twist the knife in me even further), I received a notification from my kickass web-dude (a rare moment here where I’m not being sarcastic!) that helps us with all-things-technical, and he informed me that we had something like thirty-seven thousand views at the site over the past month, which is amazing for this tiny little soapbox of the internet we stand on here (and truly, thank you…I mean it).  It’s both amazing, and extremely sad.  Thirty-seven THOUSAND views site-wide…TWO requests for a free interview with us…by my calculations, that’s thirty-six thousand, nine hundred and ninety-eight missed opportunities is it not?  I was never good at math…but I did used to think that I write a decent interview.

Time will tell the story on that.

As always, thanks for reading.  Rant over…for now.

– Jer @ SBS