It’s All Hype Pt. Deux
The Hype Machine is a tool that can really be helpful for someone working within the music and party industry. It’s great for keeping your fingers on the pulse of what is cool. The sites editors do a great job of selecting the blogs that they feature, all of which are run by cool bloggers. I’ve learned about more cool new bands this way than any other. I don’t even know how people figured out what new music there was to listen to without the advent of the Internet and music blogs. I guess at that point the music scene was a lot different from how it is now. Before having a garage band meant playing with your friends in the garage, but now even the most untalented hacks can put music up on the Net that sounds relatively polished and has the ability to garner fans.
The site lets you log in so you can use its Dashboard feature. This feature on the site allows you to review the tracks you’ve recently listened to a well as any updates that have happened on any of the blogs that you’ve favorited. This makes finding music even more convenient. What I love most about the site is how you can personalize it to get you’re a stream of content that you’ve designed through your use of the site. As you continue to seek out music and get introduced to new blogs your stream of information continues to expand.
It’s really important to keep in the know if you want to be able to stay relevant in an industry that is based on what the populous wants. I get asked every day at work if I know some band or other, or if I think a remix or performer would appeal to a young crowd or not. It’s important that I not only know what people like, but what the artists actually sound like and which demographics they’d appeal to most. Hype Machine emphasis on the blogs themselves and not just MP3s also comes in handy because the bloggers usually provide useful information that can get you acquainted with the artists they’re featuring.
For example, my boss is planning another party and said he wanted LA Riots to play, but the planner wasn’t familiar with the bands demographic and concerned that they wouldn’t be a big enough draw for the kids to come show up and party. So she asked me about what I thought. Now, I don’t really listen to LA Riots myself, but through my searches on Hype Machine I’ve been able to see that they appeared on Steve Aoki’s new album, and remixed HeartsRevolution, as well as J.U.S.T.I.C.E. I also know that their remixes have been pretty popular and appear on music blogs a lot. This pretty much means that they’re popular with the people who are into the whole Dim Mak and French House music scene.
Since this has become a pretty strong movement in L.A. over I was able to say “yeah, they’re cool” with some authority. I’d look at LA Riots on a flyer and assume that wherever they were playing had some cred. This is what makes a party successful or not, because the more people we get from that scene to show up to listen to someone they already like equals the more people around to listen to my boss’ new music. This leads to more fans and credibility for him and makes the whole event worthwhile. Throwing parties and hosting club nights is a real industry that I really want to work in so all this seemingly frivolous talk about parties and what’s cool actually means something to me long term. You’ve got to know what people want in order to supply it and be successful.
So, the site is also great because not only does a search bring up blog posts with MP3s it also presents upcoming tour dates for the artist whose name you’ve searched. I can’t begin to talk about how important blogs are to the music industry right now and more importantly to underground music culture. It’s crucial to know what the cool kids are listening to now because it will inevitably filter into the high schools and the popular music scene. So it doesn’t matter whether you’re planning a large event and need to know which bands to book, have to figure out who would be the best name to attach to a remix for an artist you’re producing or if you’re trying to find a new band to sign, the Hype machine is a great tool for anyone in the industry.
