I've previously mentioned Brady Rymer's blog, which, though updated only sporadically, is a fun read. There are a few other musician-authored blogs I've been reading for weeks if not months now, and I've been failing in my kids-music-news duties by not mentioning them before.
The best kids' musician-penned blog I know of is Monty Harper's blog, which includes links to his podcasts and gives some insight into the working world of a kids' musician. Harper's good humor, noticeable in his songs, is evident here, too.
A couple other artists who have more recently started blogging, of a sort, are Eric Herman and Yosi. Both take a slightly different approach from Rymer and Harper -- they've focused (thus far) on other kids' music artists. Herman's blog talks generally about assorted kids' artists, both well-known (Ralph's World) and not, and why he's enjoyed them. Yosi's blog focuses more on specific albums that he reviewed for a parenting magazine in New Jersey.
Harper has been blogging for a while now (longer than this site, even), so he understands what it takes to write a blog on an ongoing basis. We'll see whether Rymer, Herman, and Yosi want to keep it up. (And believe me, after that initial burst of expression, it's easy to let the blog just die a slow, painful death.)
Now there are other ways to communicate with fans -- Justin Roberts is a fairly regular newsletter publisher, for example, and Dan Zanes' newsletters, while not as regular, always have a nugget or two of good (or fun or useless, or all three) info. And Myspace, of course, has its own blogging capabilities. But I'm actually surprised that more artists haven't plunged into the blogosphere. It does seem to me a fairly cheap and easy way to establish connections between the artist and the audience, especially one that may be growing, at least in terms of the ability of an artist to reach a national audience. Monty, Eric, Yosi, Brady -- has it helped? Or is it a useless, time-consuming pain in the rear?
3 comments:
Ah, I don't know that it's going to "help" in any big sense, but some things are worth doing just for the sake of doing, eh? The only annoying thing is the formatting on Blogspot, which can be very "arrrgh"-ing. At some point after I've listed more of the kids' artists I'm really crazy about my blog will probably morph into something more like Monty's or Brady's, with personal observations about life as a kids' musician. I should mention that my newsletters also have plenty of good, fun and useless info. Sign up now and get a free turnip twaddler (while supplies last).
Hey "ericherman!" Sign me up for your newsletter.
I'm know too well...formatting can be a pain. Some artists/friends send a monthly or seasonal newsletter. What captures my interest is all the silly family or kid stories. It's always great to hear about the latest achievement, but the glue of a newsletter is the homespun trivia.
Check out Trout Fishing & Danny Adlerman's newsletters. They're always great!
Stefan, I love all the great rockin' kids music that's being released. However, I'm finding it difficult to review CD's during a hectic busy summer. I'm getting plenty of time to listen to artists on the road, but not enough time to write about them. I figure September could be more forgiving.
Oops gotta go catch my kid!
Hi Stefan,
Thanks for your kind comments about my blog! I noticed the subscription numbers jumped up after your post, which speaks volumes about your own blog. (We'll see how long they stay up!)
Does it help me to blog? Such a thing is very tough to measure. I sometimes feel like I'm blogging into a vacuum, but then I hear from somebody once in a while at a show or online who enjoys it, and that keeps me going. I recently heard from someone who became a big fan through my blog, so yes there is anecdotal evidence at least that it does do some good.
I never know what's interesting to people, though, so your post and these comments are all very helpful. I wish my readers would post more comments!
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