Quick, how many of the music blogs your read carry advertising?
Frankly I have no idea myself. I know more than a few on my reading list do, but I'd be hard-pressed to say which ones. At one time rock n' roll and advertising were pretty antithetical and now...well... it's harder for anyone to get their knickers in a knot about it, since there's no real money to be made anywhere in music.
I've always thought this blog was a little shabby (yes, I know you can't read the dates - I tried to fix it once and every post disappeared - ask CallPastorJerkface if you don't believe me) to really be a good platform for advertising but would otherwise not be against the idea that a few dollars (a pretty realistic financial outlook for a monetized blog) might roll this way.
I suspect going forth with such a idea would take forethought, ground work and business sense, each of which I lack. So, for now, I'll just throw the question out to you, my commenters;
Should Music Blogs Carry Ads?
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Mine does, but I'm like you and don't know how or care enough to actually make money blogging. I figure if I can make a penny a week, that's a penny more than I had before, so why not? I earned it by blogging well, and, judging by the terms people search to find my blog, I figure I'm providing a service anyway.
ReplyDeleteSince most music bloggers provide free information/criticism/reviews and also sometimes post free music, anyone who complains about a little advertising is kind of being hypocritical. I would say that if you can make a little money by posting ads (particularly if you're posting ads that might be related to the content of the blog, not just 'free herbal viagra' or whatnot) then you should do it. Ads would not cause me to stop reading.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I hate pop up ads...they annoy me!
Not particularly.
ReplyDeleteVery few actually do.
Not a fan of adverting because that will inevitably affect how the content is perceived.
But I can't fault you for wanting to make some cash from doing what you love.
_________________________________
Re date font:
Try Design -> Edit Html ->
Do a page search for "h2.date-header"
It should look like something like this:
h2.date-header {
margin:1.5em 0 .5em;
font-size:100%;
}
Change font size and save.
Good luck!
Go for it! It's free money!
ReplyDeleteI will not put ads on my blog. Every now and then I get some type of email from some service offering me the opportunity- or link swaps with companies.
ReplyDeleteplus, with Google, I am always getting the offers too. They have an easy way to do it.
I kind of have that old punk mentality- crass commercialism is not in my dna. I publicize what I WANT (ie- music, books, bands, etc).
I don't take offense when other blogs do it, but for a couple of dollars a year (or whatever), I'd rather keep my site MY site. If someone offered me significant $$$$, I would jump at it (we're all whores, we just have different price points), but for a few bucks, I'd rather keep what little independence I have.
And no kittens were harmed in the creation of my blog either.
I'm with Nazz. The old punk thing runs deep. I also think it is more than just a knee-jerk stance but also a statement of sorts. Making money should not be the goal of everything.
ReplyDeleteWait a minute...
ReplyDelete...if Jeffen starts harming kittens and making money from it, I am outta here!
I've been doing a punkish music site of some kind since 1997 with two years off for good behavior. I've never had ads partly because I don't think there's any money to be made, and also because I don't have the technical skill to even do a decent spell check.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, and with all due respect to Nazz whose blogs have been great since day one, at my advanced age of 49 I'm amazed people assign a specific meaning to what punk is, or feel they can judge someone as a sell-out, especially when they reference the founding father intentions of first wave bands who did everything they could to sign to majors and make as much money as they could. The DIY hooray-for- poverty thing started with what were (for many intents and purposes) teenage suburban hardcore bands who didn't as a whole wonder where their next meal was coming from.
Web sites with Google ads are so plentiful I don't see how the average surfer would even notice them outside of the usual space constricting considerations. As long as ads don't take over your page and you still offer the same content you've always provided on every level it's nobody's business if you want to see if there's money to be made.
Anyone who insists to you that you have to be poor or unpaid in the name of ART is not to be taken seriously to begin with, so the fewer of these types you have to appeal to the better your life will be.
In other words, do what you want to do and never feel the need to apologize to strangers to whom you provide a valuable free service.
Emerson
oldpunks.com
(I hope this doesn't appear twice. My original entry doesn't appear as I resend this)
ReplyDeleteI've been doing a punkish music site of some kind since 1997 with two years off for good behavior. I've never had ads partly because I don't think there's any money to be made, and also because I don't have the technical skill to even do a decent spell check.
That being said, and with all due respect to Nazz whose blogs have been great since day one, at my advanced age of 49 I'm amazed people assign a specific meaning to what punk is, or feel they can judge someone as a sell-out, especially when they reference the founding father intentions of first wave bands who did everything they could to sign to majors and make as much money as they could. The DIY hooray-for- poverty thing started with what were (for many intents and purposes) teenage suburban hardcore bands who didn't as a whole wonder where their next meal was coming from.
Web sites with Google ads are so plentiful I don't see how the average surfer would even notice them outside of the usual space constricting considerations. As long as ads don't take over your page and you still offer the same content you've always provided on every level it's nobody's business if you want to see if there's money to be made.
Anyone who insists to you that you have to be poor or unpaid in the name of ART is not to be taken seriously to begin with, so the fewer of these types you have to appeal to the better your life will be.
In other words, do what you want to do and never feel the need to apologize to strangers to whom you provide a valuable free service.
Emerson
oldpunks.com
Obviously I agree with Emerson that you should do what you want. As a regular reader of MRML, I'm assuming that you were just asking for other people's opinions not looking for permission.
ReplyDeleteI think Emerson might be missing the (at least my) point when I say "the punk thing runs deep". I'm not speaking about voluntary poverty or planned obsolescence. What I meant is that I try my best to think for myself and formulate my own opinions about things. My opinion on ads is that they soil what is actually a pretty noble endeavor. We're doing this out of some passion for it, there is no money in it for us. Why soil it with ads that will make you a few measly bucks? Why give some of what you are clearly passionate about to them?...
The argument that a few ads don't hurt is a slippery slope. We all keep saying things like that until every single thing in our lives has been robbed of any authenticity. Everything today is a commercial for something else. Why do that to something you care about for such a miniscule monetary reward?
I self finance my site with an IT job that pays me decent enough. Last Days is my little space where I don't make compromises. I'm not doing that for anybody's approval. I'm doing it because I like doing it and when I stop liking it, I will stop doing it.
Just wanting to clarify that I was not just communicating some outmoded hardcore ideal about the "noble poor". I've got tons of respect for you, Emerson, Nazz and lots others out there, ads or no ads. Like I said, you (and Emerson) should do what you want, I'm only sharing and clarifying my opinion.
Holy hell an informed discussion of a contentious issue that is both passionate and reasonable - this is truly my late Christmas gift!
ReplyDelete8 Tracks
You've concisely summarized one reason why ads are fine.
Eric R
At some point ads become do become an interference and pop-ups and spam-like ads are examples of that.
Bio
I do think the ads can make you re-appraise the content (And often in a negative manner).
P.S. Crap you made that font issue so easy to fix - massive thanks are in order.
P.P.S. - ON the internet you can only make money by making cats LOL.
Anon
The phrase "free money" always worries me...
Nazz
"We're all whores, we just have different price points" nicely put and yeah its a valid point about whether the minuscule rewards make it worth the potential compromises (whatever they might be).
Joe
"Making money should not be the goal of everything"
Again an elegant, precise argument
I too come from that eighties HC school where a band having colour on their record sleeve could have gotten branded a sell-out. That's probably why I made this post, to just confront an ideal I swallowed whole a long time ago. An idea I learned in magazine that were, strangely LOADED with advertisement. A non-punk friend of mine once picked up on of my copies of MRR and said "This has more ads than Vogue."
Emerson
"In other words, do what you want to do and never feel the need to apologize to strangers to whom you provide a valuable free service."
I love the way every time I publish a post on some hand-wringing subject, you deliver a detailed yet blunt assessment that cuts to the heart of the matter. Those words are appreciated, each one.
And don't worry, I don't feel the need to justify myself, I just enjoy the airing of opinions on issues that are buzzing in my head.
Joe Stumble,
ReplyDeleteYour second comment, the in-depth one about commercialism and integrity, never showed up in these comments (though it shows in my e-mail that it was posted.)
If you didn't personally deleter it, I'd like to add it here as it deepens an important discussion.
(Hell this turned into a blog round-table discussion with lots of veteran voices chiming in).
Let me know, either way.
Glad I could help.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year!
Jeffen - I thought YOU deleted it! Would love it if you could post it as I do not have a copy....
ReplyDeleteJoe
What a great topic to raise...
ReplyDeleteTo me it comes down to personal ethics. My blog exists to share music, not randomly, but to introduce readers to great music they might otherwise not know. Hopefully they'll end up buying more music because of it.
I do hope that my writing is an attraction as well (the difference between downloads and site hits suggests it might be).
But in all that, I am conscious that my blog is fuelled to a massive extent by material that is not my property. So for music-sharing blogs, I feel it would be unethical to make money on the back of other people's property.
Having aid that, if a reader loved my blog so much that they wanted to send me oodles of money, Jiminy Cricket would have to piss off....
I'm OK with ads if they pay for the blog, and aren't obnoxious. Please try to avoid video ads.
ReplyDeletePosted by Joe Stumble to music ruined my life at December 31, 2010 6:39 PM
ReplyDeleteThis comment showed up in my e-mail alerts but never appeared here, I do not know why but I'm posting it here to fix that glitch).
Obviously I agree with Emerson that you should do what you want. As a regular reader of MRML, I'm assuming that you were just asking for other people's opinions not looking for permission.
I think Emerson might be missing the (at least my) point when I say "the punk thing runs deep". I'm not speaking about voluntary poverty or planned obsolescence. What I meant is that I try my best to think for myself and formulate my own opinions about things. My opinion on ads is that they soil what is actually a pretty noble endeavor. We're doing this out of some passion for it, there is no money in it for us. Why soil it with ads that will make you a few measly bucks? Why give some of what you are clearly passionate about to them?...
The argument that a few ads don't hurt is a slippery slope. We all keep saying things like that until every single thing in our lives has been robbed of any authenticity. Everything today is a commercial for something else. Why do that to something you care about for such a miniscule monetary reward?
I self finance my site with an IT job that pays me decent enough. Last Days is my little space where I don't make compromises. I'm not doing that for anybody's approval. I'm doing it because I like doing it and when I stop liking it, I will stop doing it.
Just wanting to clarify that I was not just communicating some outmoded hardcore ideal about the "noble poor". I've got tons of respect for you, Emerson, Nazz and lots others out there, ads or no ads. Like I said, you (and Emerson) should do what you want, I'm only sharing and clarifying my opinion.
Bio
ReplyDeleteTo you and yours as well!
AMD
Thanks for joining the round-table!
"I feel it would be unethical to make money on the back of other people's property."
That's a strong point, considering as you say a lot of poeple visit for the downloads.
Of course a good blog post adds something of real value(look at that "Light My Fire" post you did - holy hell that must've taken some real digging) and if the blogger benefits it keeps the cycle going. I mean right now we all offer free advertising for the music we love, anyway.
Strumjob
Yeah at minimum the ads can;t be annoying.
Joe S.
"Why soil it with ads that will make you a few measly bucks? "
Tough but not unreasonable.
I don't know if ads per se 'soil' a work. As mentioned above, I spent my youth reading magazines like MRR, Flipisde, Jersey Beat, The Big Takeover et al that not only carried advertising but of which the ads were one of the reasons you read the damn thing.
I mean every post here has an ad, usually for Interpunk, Amazon and (much as I hate to give them space) iTunes simply because I want people to BUY the music.
Can the ads be a part of the work or at some time do they overtake the work?
It would just take that once where Google (or whatever ad server) threw up a Palin 2012 advert and my head would explode. It's all about c-o-n control.
ReplyDelete@Emerson- I fully agree that the old skool bands were into the "filthy lucre" and wanted the cash. As said, if someone wanted to make me a millionaire, I'd gladly pimp their wares. But, I think for most of us, this blogging thing is a labor of love and not a commercial endeavor.
That being said, if I had friends or a cause I believed in- I would run a specific ad.
In fact I do- the "please help" links (hunger site, rainforest site etc) on the right side of my page put (supposedly) a couple of sheckels in the kitty for the charitys and also push you towards a merch site).
And- Punk is "doing whatever you want" in the name of art, Moloch, satan or lust. so, we're all on our own with our decisions- the hell with dogmatism!
if you are pirating/sharing music,
ReplyDeletei think you shouldn't. (you are leeching off some one elses creativity)it makes arguments for sharing music invalid.
If you are reviewing music or writing about it, make as much money as you can, you are providing a service.
I definitely think your blog can remain valid with ads. I'll visit if the content is good. I also don't have a problem with getting paid for writing. I just personally don't like seeing ads for stuff on my blog. It reminds me of people who put billboards on the side of their houses. But it's up to the individual. Like Nazz says, do what you want!
ReplyDeleteThanks for re-posting my note too. Don't know what happened there....
Hi Jeffen
ReplyDeleteHow can I get money with the music ot others ?
No Ads for me, absolutely not! Since thirty five years I buy my records with my own money and I share them on the webb for people who can't pay for or can't find them or in tribute to the bands I like or ...
To get money from ads or to ask people for donate it's a (thin) line that I don't want to cross over ! It costs me time & money but music has already ruined my life !
Do what you think is RIGHT!
Happy new year Jeffen !
If I'm spending time on something as personal as a blog I don't see where a Target or TGI Fridays ad fits in. I mean, basically all of the blogs I care about (and my own) focus mainly on obscure tastes, and while it might be a tired generalization, people whose primary musical/artistic interests are obscure instinctively wince at anything perceived to be corporate. And while the finer points of that view could debated, as they have been here, I simply view the inclusion of ads as not worth the little money they may generate.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with ads on music blogs is the blog changes from a way to share a love of music between "friends" (sorta like swapping tapes) into a commercial venture even if it's just an attempt to pay for itself. That's my .02.
ReplyDeleteIf you do add unobtrusive ads, then there's little chance anyone will click on them and make money. I've seen some large portals listing other blogs make $0 with ads. The ads almost have to be annoying or automatic (pop under/overs) to get clicks. It's a catch 22.
One thing I have seen is some blogs using hosting sites filled with annoying ads and surveys that will pay for the refferal. I avoid those blogs.
I also think it depends on your readership too. I like reading reviews and comments in hopes of discovering something new or old that I'd forgotten about. Blogs that don't offer content and just downloads might get visitors that don't mind surviving annoying file host ads.
Nazz
ReplyDelete"It's all about c-o-n control." Yeah the possibility of random (or evil, as in your example) sapm showing up is big argument against so-called monetization.
Jonny
"it makes arguments for sharing music invalid." I wonder about that. I'm not sure the blogger's job must be free to be valid but I wonder if the ads compromise the integrity of the project.
Midnight
"It costs me time & money but music has already ruined my life !"
A passionate defense of staying ad-free from one of the best bloggers out there.
I hear you.
TSF
"the inclusion of ads as not worth the little money they may generate."
Curt, blunt and probably fair.
imi
Your summary of the Catch 22 (Subtle ads won't pay, obnoxious ones will) is pretty damning.
Here's one for you:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt-YARtVMNQ
Lex
ReplyDeleteFunny!
I had google ads on my site. I clicked many times on the ads I didn't like. Let them pay the price for promoting obnoxious ringtones!! Google owes me about US$4.00 which I'll never see. I think the illusion of having control over my site is great...Let's face it, google owns blogspot anyway and could take it away at anytime.
ReplyDeleteOh, yeah.....ads? Dunno how I feel about them on blogs. The Skate mag Thrasher was one I always looked at in the shop because of the ads. I guess as long as content stays king, they're fine.
No ads.
ReplyDeleteThis is your private area of the internet. Respect it -- and don't clutter it up with commercials.
Chris
ReplyDeleteYeah content remains king no matter the current trend. Yeah Ad sense looks like a fairly worthless concept. The Amazon is one of the few things I'm seriously considering since i already link to Amazon almost every post.
Allan
It is my little corner, through I have chose to make it public...