As regular readers know, The Digital Music Weblog is retiring as of today. The blog will continue to exist as a searchable archive. Grant and Gordon, who have written so splendidly in this space, are staying in the network.
Whenever we make a change, there is some disappointment among readers, and sadness for everyone -- including those of us involved in decision-making. We take it all seriously; nothing about this is capricious. TDMW has lived close to our hearts, and especially close to mine.
This blog was my starting point at WIN (read this if you're interested). It was a little tough to let it go when I was hired by AOL, but Grant, Gordon (Tommy Perkins and Sharky Laguna before them) have done an amazing job carrying onward the blog's relentless examinations of the RIAA's colossal machinations and the opportunistic maneuvers of the indie music scene. And it's tough now to move the blog into retirement.
It's important to point out that a blog retirement is not a blog failure. Here at Weblogs, Inc. we are continually honing our network to be the best content engine for readers and bloggers both. In part, that means figuring out how to divide our resources that, sadly, are not infinite. We have changed tremendously in the last three years, expanding wildly at the start into a sort of bulk publishing model, then refining and contracting somewhat into a leaner machine. We have more bloggers than ever before, and fewer blogs than a year ago. That means a dazzling concentration of minds and voices in our chosen fields of publication. A good example is Grant Robertson's ferocious blogging at Download Squad, his new home.
I speak for everyone on the Weblogs, Inc. team when I give the greatest appreciation to our amazing bloggers, who wake up every single day thinking, "What will I dig up today?" Professional blogging is unlike any other freelance writing gig, in both its relentless schedule and editorial freedom. I am always proud of our team, and frequently awed.
Finally, thanks to everyone who took an interest in The Digital Music Weblog, both casual visitors and dedicated readers.
The Digital Music Weblog retires
Reader Comments
(Page 1)2. All I can say is if the recent activity is the best you can do, then good riddance. I used to check in every day, back when the blog was active. But it's been so slow and uninteresting over the last few months that I just scanned the RSS feed and said "Meh."
Sorry to see you go? As I remember this blog, yes. As it was recently, no.
Posted at 6:18AM on Feb 2nd 2007 by Brian
4. Thanks for all the news guys. I enjoyed the site over the past couple years!
-Jeff
Posted at 10:35PM on Feb 2nd 2007 by Jeff
5. You will be missed. I try to cover some of the same space... new music and technology, with a bit of news commentary thrown in. I invite others to come by for a visit...http://globallistic.blogspot.com.
Posted at 9:40AM on Feb 7th 2007 by Jason Herskowitz
6. I really enjoyed the Digital Music Weblog about a year ago, when I was reading it daily from my mobile phone. Once I stopped paying my mobile provider's monthly web access fees, however, I stopped reading the blog; I had been in the habit of only reading the 10 or so blogs I was subscribed to using my phone's feed reader. So I can't comment on the past year's content, but I ingested alot of valuable information in the time that I was regulary reading the blog.
I've been running an Internet radio lovers' forum for the past few years, and anyone interested in the technology and its content, please feel free to join in the conversation. We don't get alot of spam there, as I moderate the list warily, but if you have a digital music project/site/station that's related to Internet radio (or even podcasting), run a search for the group "Internet radio lovers" on Yahoo!Groups. Hope to see you there!
Posted at 12:53PM on Apr 11th 2007 by Harold J. Johnson
7. What I meant in my last comment was, we don't allow much spam on the Internet radio lovers forum, but we do allow some announcements related to Internet radio (and other digital music) projects. So feel free to stop by and let us know who you are and why you love 'net radio; if we decide you're spamming us too much, we'll let you know. Again, search for the "internetradiolovers" on Yahoo! groups.
Posted at 11:19AM on May 10th 2007 by Harold J. Johnson
1. You will be missed. I always enjoyed your point of view in a discussion that has too few voices. I'd like to invite you readers to check out my own little music industry blog HYPEBOT - http://www.hypebot.com
Posted at 1:50AM on Feb 2nd 2007 by Bruce Houghton - Hypebot