Here we are at another signpost, not a significant milestone, but a gravelly pull off from the highway of life. I've been at this blog thing for close just under ten months, and in that time we've named 42 Bands of the Week, crowned our very first Band of Year, and thus far for 2012, we have named three Bands of the Month. We've also published numerous daily shuffles with weirdly incongruous subtitles (like Zombie Apocalypse Mix - which btw has been one of the top search strings which has brought people to the blog). Most importantly (I think), we made some great friends and had the good fortune to hear and share some incredible bands and music. While I can see site visit data, I don't always know who visits the blog and what they think about it - at some point I realized that isn't ultimately so important. Sometimes, I will feel like I should work harder to "grow" the audience (my wife would like it if this was a money-making venture), and/but/so what it always comes back to for me, is that the best moments for the blog have come when I just followed a muse or a nudge or just did what felt like the right thing to do.
If you really want to help the blog out, you can do your Amazon shopping through any of the links on the site. You can purchase items from our Affiliates which show up often at the bottom of a blog post. Mostly though, you can just come back and while your at it, wake the kids and tell the neighbors. Oh and most importantly, support independent music whenever and however you can. Modern technological advances have been both beneficial and detrimental to musicians and song writers. Social Media and sites like Bandcamp and ReverbNation have helped bands reach a larger and larger audience. Legal-free downloads are a great way for a band to get their music into the hands of their fans. But as a fan, we have a responsibility to the bands and artists we like. First and foremost, resist the temptation to get free music from a dodgy file sharing site. If you grab a free song download, and you like what you hear go buy the music. If you are able, pay for those "Name Your Price" downloads on Bandcamp. I grab all the free music I can - from the band and other legal sources, and currently I don't have the ability to buy every album of every band I like. That is one of the reasons I started this blog, figuring that the least I can do is help to spread the word about the music I love.
If you are reading this, and you are in a band, please contact me either by e-mail, facebook or twitter and if possible give me a link to where I can listen to some of your music. If you've contacted me, and haven't heard anything, please hit me up again. That second listen may help me to connect with your stuff. If I still don't write about you, remember it's me not you...
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But, Ear to the Ground isn't about me or about itself or whatever, it's all about the music.
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