As for me, I’ve never put much stock in being first and I’ve actually turned down “exclusives” - and told publicists and musicians to go ahead and spread it around so that more people can see/hear it. I try to get good information on Canadian music to people who care about it - I try to be timely, but “first” isn’t really necessary.

I (we) also avoid bad reviews for a couple of reasons:

First there is so much out there - so many bands and so many websites that I see it as kind of a waste of time (mine and the readers) to write about what people shouldn’t listen to.

In 2002 there were 35,000 full length albums produced worldwide. In 2007 it was 700,000 full length albums - I haven’t seen any numbers since then, maybe they stopped counting but MOST of those bands I could probably be negative about if I had the time but what’s the point? Who wants to read about hundreds of thousands of things you shouldn’t listen to?

Second, most of the musicians I know are broke. They are working day jobs and then rushing to band practice or to gigs - taking a few months off to do a tour and then making up for it by working overtime the rest of the year. I don’t have much interest in kicking them because I didn’t like their album.

There is a limited amount of time in the day that I can devote to writing anything at all. I’d rather spend it with what I like than what I don’t.

I’m not offended that he wants to get paid for writing. But it’s not up to me, or you or anyone else but him to accomplish that. If what he used to do isn’t paying the bills any more he needs to adapt - whining about it and blaming music bloggers and the internet doesn’t accomplish anything. It comes across as whiny and self absorbed.

My “best day on the internet” was when I posted video of Bruce Springsteen playing with the Arcade Fire and this is what I had to say:

“I’m back in Montreal and uploaded the videos. I think we are the first to get them. There is a lot of camera movement (I’m sorry, I was in the pit) but the audio dynamite!”

That’s the best I could muster. It haunts me in my sleep and I won’t change it because I use it as motivation to get better.

As time moved on I realized that I shouldn’t just blog for the sake of blogging and hits and being first to expose something. Write about what you like, write about what you hate, but write it well. And I try to do that. I’m no trained writer (readers will notice that quickly) but I feel that my love and hate for music is worth blogging about.

You shouldn’t be offended that he wants to get paid for writing. You should be offended that some people get “paid” for writing BS and churning that into ad revenue.

“Why don’t all you people who are sharing your opinions and ideas about music stop and just listen to me because I know more than you and I want to get paid to tell you what to like some more.”

It’s offensive, and kind of stupid - I don’t think the internet is going to go away because he finds it inconvenient.

The reality is that with his connections and experience if he was very good at his job he wouldn’t have to worry about not getting paid anymore.