Are we the super heroes for folding indie magazines?

photo courtesy of amazon.com

Perhaps BarricadeBuzz.com is the solution to problem mentioned in an article posted to WashingtonPost.com this morning. The headline reading: "Record labels hit by the demise of music magazines."

The article discusses the loss of three music magazines since the start of 2008 (Harp, No Depression, and Resonance), and the effects they have on the music industry today.
Some of the remarks made were that labels will no longer have print sources featuring "lengthy" reviews of their CDs, and that some labels were withdrawing from print advertising because it is more affordable to advertise online.

One area of this article that really struck us was the notion that print magazine were starting to cut CD reviews and were not really taking notice to triple A and alt-country artists. This is exactly what we at BarricadeBuzz.com want to revive.

We want to deliver as many reviews as our minimal staff can. We want readers to know what they're getting for a $20 CD or a $50 concert ticket. We want to get the word out on music... of all types. Barricade Buzz wants people to notice the self recording artists out there.

Our editor in chief, and photographer, Amy Willard explains, "I started Barricade Buzz because there are two things I love, music and photography. About six years ago I found a random music section on a website that had five artists listed that simply said "listen to them," one of the names was Plain White T's. I checked out their website [very minimal in 2002] and downloaded their stuff off of PureVolume.com.

I then made it a personal mission to get these guys noticed. I spent nearly a year trying to find a copy of their CD in a store-- I somehow stumbled across a beat up case on vacation at Disney World of all places. Then I started wearing their t-shirt I convinced my mom to get me for my 16th birthday (she refused to get me the Newspaper style hoodie--which I still never got). I kept trying to get the word out. I got a few of my friends hooked on them as well, but it wasn’t anything substantial. Then I joined my high school’s newspaper and wrote my first CD review on them. I thought that would help and maybe it did, I have no idea. Then they released a second album, All That We Needed, and bought the matching watch, and wrote another review, thinking it would help. But nope, they still weren’t on radio and they still weren’t on MTV.

I remember calling local radio stations to request any sort of song of theirs and the response being “Plain White—what?” It wasn’t until the beginning of my senior year that “Hey There Delilah” even made air play. I remember seeing the video online and thinking it was the coolest thing I had seen in a long time, yet people still didn’t notice it. Then I got another Plain White T’s t-shirt for my 18^th birthday, and still nothing.

Then the T’s released an EP featuring “Hey There Delilah” and suddenly it was this magical hit. I remember leaving high school and seeing a random freshman wearing at shirt with “Hey There Delilah” scribbled along the side—I’m pretty sure I said to myself that day “finally.”

Ever since that then, they’ve been contenders in the Billboard Charts, and features on MTV, and I couldn’t be more proud. I think the funniest part of this all is that I’ve spent six years trying to get them noticed, and I saw them in concert for the very first time last summer.

For me, it was personal accomplishment to see them “hit it big.” This is all that I ever wanted for them, and I’m glad I could be a small contributor. This is what I want to continue to do for other bands making their start. I mean, if some fifteen year old checks our site, sees a virtual unknown on our playlists that they end up loving want to promote until they hit MTV, then we will have accomplished our goal.”

We just want to get the music out there, and it is unfortunate that print magazine are either folding up or not willing to cover the unknowns. We want to change this. We want bands to be noticed, and we'll continue to post reviews, playlists, videos and photos, until that happens.