BenGodwin.com

My cockles were thoroughly warmed this morning when I saw that the editorial staff at Ourstage had featured ‘Drinking Gasoline’ in their ‘Daily Dose‘ blog.

I keep on meaning to find the time to explore the site in more depth, but suffice it to say that I’ve been hearing some great music there. And, inevitably, some terrible music. There doesn’t seem to be an exact relationship between the chart positions and the quality, but then again, there isn’t in the iTunes charts either, is there?

It may not be a perfect site yet, but I’m very heartened by the fact that the editorial team actually listened to the tunes. For an independent like me, that’s not something you can take for granted. And it may be the closest I ever get to Bon Iver, and that’s something. =)

Popularity: 55% [?]

I know, I’m probably about a year behind the times, but I uploaded a few songs to Ourstage. I’ve never really dug these online ‘battle of the bands’ sites, but I figured this one would be worth a go.

Pretty much every other similar site relies on bands and artists asking their mates to go vote for them. So nobody actually ends up listening to any music. Some of them even want you to get your fans to send text messages at 50 cents each… leading to the awkward spectacle of musicians buying dozens of pay-as-you-go SIM cards and setting up impromptu phone banks with ALL TEN of their fans, and spending hundreds of bucks/quid on trying to win.

Fortunately, Ourstage doesn’t require any of that ludicrous crap. You go to the site. You listen to randomly selected tunes from the genre of your choice and you rank them. Since the songs are randomly selected, you can’t ask your mates to vote for you. And rather than text messages, they rely on the idea that once in a while you’ll hear something you absolutely love, and you’ll go buy it. So no cheating!

So- I’m NOT asking you to vote for me. But do point your browser at Ourstage and find some great new music. (Although, if you wanted to leave a comment on my Ourstage page, it would help me look more like a rock star.)

Popularity: 48% [?]