Earlier today we reported on Aaron Turner of ISIS and his comments on Revolver’s inaugural Golden Gods Awards, as well as our own thoughts on the event. Revolver Editor In Chief Tom Beaujour was nice enough to take some time out of his day and respond:
I’m sorry that Aaron was so disappointed by our awards show. Because of the rapidity with which he and his band accepted our invitation to attend, we fully expected that he would have enjoyed himself more than he did.
Revolver never represented that the winners were selected by a voting process. This may change in the future as we recognize that it has caused some frustration with the readers and fans. No decision has yet been made.
Given the degree of hostility that our detractors in the blogosphere harbor for us, I honestly can’t imagine that changing the winner selection process would do much to satisfy them.
Ultimately, you can’t slag Revolver too much. A metal awards show of this scale has never been done in the US, so it will naturally have its growing pains. Revolver is a quality publication run by very bright and well-intentioned people, and we expect the show to evolve into something that will please the crowds while still having the dignity and substance our beloved genre deserves.
Always one to openly speak his mind, ISIS’ Aaron Turner had some criticism for the less than stellar inaugural Revolver Golden Gods Awards, despite taking a prize home himself. From IndiePit:
All of us felt like it was sort of a ridiculous event. I mean it’s great that we’re exposed, perhaps, to more people because of something like that, but at the same time, it’s like, the award itself felt kind of meaningless. A lot of the other awards there I was kind of dubious about too. Like, for instance, the ‘Hottest Chick in Metal’ award. Like, that has no fucking relevance and, to me, is actually kind of insulting. It has nothing to do with the music really — it doesn’t even seem to have anything to do with metal. And I feel like it was kind of demeaning to the woman as well. Obviously she was a willing participant, but I’m just using that as an example of the preposterousness of the event.
The event certainly didn’t live up to the dream of having an American version of Britain’s long-running Metal Hammer Golden Gods. With no formal voting system (either by critics and industry peers or fans) and, as Turner points out, many silly (and heavily-sponsored) categories, the event came off more as hastily put together and superficial than an awards show with the gravitas you’d expect from a credible publication like Revolver. Not to mention MTV2’s glib, heavily condensed broadcast. The entire event could have been so much more, and its goofy, predictable “metal” tone undermines what serious heavy acts like ISIS have been doing for years.
Trent Reznor made a lengthy post this morning on the Nine Inch Nails message board, offering his thoughts on operating as a new/unsigned artist. He praises Beastie Boys’ for joining the multitude-of-purchasing-choices-direct-from-artist brigade, and goes on to say unsigned bands should follow suit:
If you’re forging your own path, read on.
* Forget thinking you are going to make any real money from record sales. Make your record cheaply (but great) and GIVE IT AWAY. As an artist you want as many people as possible to hear your work. Word of mouth is the only true marketing that matters.
To clarify:
Parter with a TopSpin or similar or build your own website, but what you NEED to do is this – give your music away as high-quality DRM-free MP3s. Collect people’s email info in exchange (which means having the infrastructure to do so) and start building your database of potential customers. Then, offer a variety of premium packages for sale and make them limited editions / scarce goods. Base the price and amount available on what you think you can sell. Make the packages special – make them by hand, sign them, make them unique, make them something YOU would want to have as a fan. Make a premium download available that includes high-resolution versions (for sale at a reasonable price) and include the download as something immediately available with any physical purchase. Sell T-shirts. Sell buttons, posters… whatever.
Reznor continues fielding comments from readers saying “Sure, it works…if you’re Radiohead or Nine Inch Nails,” and still defends the business model. Of course, he wasn’t too pleased when the In Rainbows model bit him on the ass with the lesser-known Saul Williams.
Posted by Dan Rodriguez on Tue, Jul 21, 2009 at 11:09 am
Events, Soapboxing