Sign Up For The Saving Country Music Newsletter
In an effort to stay behind the curve of the massive devolution in social networking and information dissemination that has plagued music over the past few years, Saving Country Music has set up and old fashioned email list/newsletter sign up, so that people that are not on Twitter and/or Facebook, or people that don’t get good information through Facebook’s cryptic and self-defeating interface can still stay in touch with the website. Please find a signup form below, and there will also be a permanent link in the menu bar.
This will not be a daily spamming tool to remind you of each article posted, but more like a twice-monthly roundup of important news and information, along with exclusive content upon occasion that you will not find anywhere on this site or anywhere else (That’s a dangling carrot to get you to sign up, so chop chop, get to signing up). And if something really big happens, yes, we can use it to keep you informed about breaking news as well.
This is also one of the tools we are putting in place in an effort to either move off of Facebook, or at least stay ahead of it’s most certain demise. Facebook has destroyed lives, relationships, families, careers, communities, and it destroyed MySpace. Twice it has directly threatened the strong community of Saving Country Music by spreading fear and misinformation. Yes, Facebook can also be helpful. At times. But it is a necessary evil at best. I am not setting a time limit for a departure from Facebook, this is more about putting in place the tools to make the move once it feels right.
I am appalled and disheartened that bands and fans had better ways to communicate and discover each other in 2005 than they do now. I guess that just follows the devolution of everything about music. I don’t even know where to link anymore when talking about bands if they do not have a dedicated website, and even if they do, every website is different, and doesn’t offer all the tools and resources in one place like MySpace once did. But I will continue to do my best to keep you informed, and help you discover the good music you crave, and that the music consumer deserves, through the newsletters, and the calendar and message board.
And as stupid as I thought it was at first, I can confidently sing the praises of Twitter as probably the best source right now for spreading information, so if you use Twitter, make sure to follow me at http://twitter.com/#!/The_Triggerman.
You can also sign up for the Muddy Roots Mailing List!
Bill Goodman
March 4, 2011 @ 10:35 am
Have you been to Myspace lately?
The Triggerman
March 4, 2011 @ 11:04 am
You don’t think I’m singing the praises of today’s MySpace, do you? I’m talking about MySpace circa 2005-2008. It is awful now, but it was 10 times better than Facebook is now 6 years ago. We’re going in the wrong direction.
AdamSheets
March 4, 2011 @ 10:38 am
MySpace sucks these days. It’s too confusing to use. I like Reverb Nation and Band Camp as alternatives.
The Triggerman
March 4, 2011 @ 11:10 am
Band Camp is too restrictive, and ReverbNation charges bands if you want it’s full features. Neither also offer the social networking capabilities MySpace did. The original MySpace, with better spam filters and a few more slight limitations on the ability to edit your own page (no horizontal scrolling or overposting of flash that slows down page uploads for example) would be light years ahead of what Facebook is now.
The two best things about MySpace were the Top Friends, which allowed for passive marketing from bigger bands to smaller bands, and bands of the same style between each other, and the bulletin board, which was a REAL TIME way to communicate that did not used some cryptic way of generating the content the user sees. It was based on the idea of distributing information, NOT acting like a casino’s maze-like layout designed to trick you into staying longer than you want. MySpace was based on art and networking. Facebook is based on voyeurism and time-wasting.
Carla
March 5, 2011 @ 3:43 pm
Actually the Top Friend function was brilliant. I looked at Hank III’s Top Friends (all bands) and discovered Joe Buck, Wayne the Train and a few others this way.
Denise
March 4, 2011 @ 10:38 am
Disheartening in the least Triggerman. I could care less about twittering. That is just what I think of that, a bunch of twittering. I initially thought Facebook worthless, but it’s not since Myspace is an antiquated mess. I enjoy Facebook for the socialization with my friends from highschool and whatnot, but it is definitely not where I get musical information from the bands I like. I rely on SCM for that. I will not be twittering though.
I think this newsletter of yours is a fantastic idea and, please, keep us informed!
Aran
March 4, 2011 @ 10:47 am
Facebook has been an awesome tool lately, especially since myspace shot itself in the head. Still, I don’t doubt it is a temporary thing, and I think the newsletter is an excellent idea!
The Triggerman
March 4, 2011 @ 11:18 am
Is Facebook an awesome tool, or does it make you THINK it’s an awesome tool? I see a lot of people thinking that they’re solving problems on Facebook, but they are problems Facebook created in the first place. It purposely narrows people’s reality tunnels, and makes them think that the superfluous drama in their lives is what the world is centered around. There may be some slight information dissemination benefits to Facebook, but there is little outreach from an artistic level. It strengthens clans and prejudices and cliques instead of creating collaborative situations bridging people’s differences. It also spreads fear and misinformation at an alarming pace.
Remember, Shooter Jennings was going to cancel the Muddy Roots Festival, and I was helping him.
Denise
March 4, 2011 @ 12:39 pm
Huh?!
The Triggerman
March 4, 2011 @ 12:44 pm
Exactly.
Carla
March 5, 2011 @ 3:45 pm
And twitter is different how?
Aran
March 4, 2011 @ 3:17 pm
I’m not defending facebook Triggerman, But I am very new to the computer world, and it’s allowed me (along with what started on myspace, and no small contribution from the community around THIS site) to spread my fan base far beyond my small hometown. I think I just missed the glory days of myspace, but up until their complete over-haul a few months back I still preferred it over the facebook. Myspace is still the only place you can listen to my songs in-full.
catfish carrie
March 4, 2011 @ 10:52 am
Myspace if definitely a giant mess. I can’t even log into it anymore without my computer locking up an/or kicking me offline. We’re probably going to go thru Scrappy Studios in the Summer for an official website for our band, as Facebook is only marginally good for musicians. I’ll be signing up for the newsletter. Although I don’t always comment, I read about 95% of what you post. You’ve always been informative and fair, and that’s something you don’t see very often these days. Thanks for always keeping us up to date on the goings-on of the REAL country music movement!!
Autopsy IV
March 4, 2011 @ 11:00 am
A website running on WordPress and a bandcamp account are a must for bands.
Then, add a FB fan site and a twitter account.
You’re solid.
And stay away from Reverbnation….that mess is myspace lite.
The Triggerman
March 4, 2011 @ 11:19 am
Thanks for reading Carrie! I remember meeting you on MySpace! Super early on!
KennethRay
March 16, 2011 @ 10:06 pm
I gotta agree with carrie i read about 95% of the articles you post, could get involved in more discussions, and as much as i hate facebook, hated the dramas of myspace althugh i discovered bot outlaw radio and SCM on there, it is where i get a lot of information from bands, and how i know when you’ve got a new article up and that’s mostly what i use it for and keep in touch with a few of my friends. But all it’s done really is made internet stalking a normal everyday occurence, and a way for people i don’t like to find me. I hands down refuse to get a twitter, I don’t have enough quirky thigns to dsay all day i’m to busy working. If somebody could find a way to take what was good from facebook and what was good from myspace and merge them that would be great. And i just wann leave one last thing I live in San Diego which has a terrible terrible underground scene and if weren’t for places like this and the shows on SCM live i would have no idea about some of these bands or that there are as many people out there who are as sick of nashville as i am so thank you and cheers.
The Triggerman
March 16, 2011 @ 11:21 pm
Thanks Kenneth!
Autopsy IV
March 4, 2011 @ 10:54 am
Myspace killed myspace.
Well, myspace and the deluge of spam from it.
Twitter, it’s sad how many people summarily dismiss it. I have some of my best and most informative conversations on twitter.
that said, I ain’t signing up for another mailing list.
You know what else has destroyed lives, relationships, families and careers? Religion.
Denise
March 4, 2011 @ 11:09 am
There’s no room for religion in God’s House. There is room for a relationship though.
The Triggerman
March 4, 2011 @ 11:25 am
That’s why I NEVER bring up politics or religion around here unless it very directly involves the music, because it just causes division. So does Facebook.
Autopsy IV
March 4, 2011 @ 12:01 pm
I’m the exact opposite….I wear my political and lack of religious beliefs on my sleeve and worry about the fallout later.
Jahshie P.
March 4, 2011 @ 2:48 pm
What was the point of this comment under this blog? Just curious?
Autopsy IV
March 4, 2011 @ 9:32 pm
conversation….
Triggerman and I know each other across multiple blogs and internet services…
That was the point.
The Triggerman
March 4, 2011 @ 11:23 am
I am really looking at the newsletter as being an alternative to people riddled with the Twitter prejudice. As far as music goes, Twitter is probably the most important tool since MySpace, but the problems still remains that there’s no landing pages for bands and artists that can be directly networked, and as long as Facebook is the big dog, that will always be the case. And Facebook will never fix that problem, because they don’t want you paying attention to music, they want you paying attention to you, and your little stupid drama of nominal consequence.
olds
March 5, 2011 @ 5:57 pm
super negative…you need to rethink this…of course, it looks like you ve created your own little drama stage here..too…
olds
March 5, 2011 @ 5:59 pm
i only say this because of the fact that if i feel someone i “know” on facebook is being a drama queen, i simply filter them out….i dont play farmville with freaks..
The Triggerman
March 5, 2011 @ 9:02 pm
For the record, this move has nothing to do with any individual, or any specific scenario. I avoided Facebook for as long as I could. Carla who has commented in this thread can attest to that. Dozens of people were trying to convince me to get on, and I hardline refused for months and months, before capitulating, and now I regret that I did. I was the last one on, and I hope to be the first one off.
Yeah, it is super negative. I can’t be anything but when taking a realistic look at the social networking landscape in music right now. There’s bands out there that I have no way to see their tour schedules. Bands have no solid, linkable landing page unless they have their own website, which costs money, and is not as intuitive as a universal social network-based page. I want to be as realistic as I possibly can so that I can identify problems and try to offer solutions. Me and specifically Gillian who is helping with the SCM calendar are doing yoman’s work trying to keep people informed.
Carla
March 5, 2011 @ 4:06 pm
Autopsy IV: To politics and religion I”™d add music and footwear. Went on a date with a gorgeous Turkish man who used to play professional football in Brazil once but when he told me he loved Ronan Keating I had to let him go. Also, never a trust a man in boat shoes. Don”™t be wearing them boys unless you own a super yacht!
AdamSheets
March 4, 2011 @ 11:11 am
I agree about Twitter. That’s the single best tool I know of for getting artists, labels, disc jockeys, bloggers, podcasters, promoters, etc. together in one place.
Burch
March 4, 2011 @ 11:14 am
I’ll be stoked when something else comes along that can be a Facebook killer. Social networking went from a pretty neat thing to a banal bitchfest with the advent of Facebook, it’s proof that everyone and their mother doesn’t actually need to be on the Internet.
I love Twitter. It’s definitely what the individual makes of it, even pointless garbage can be fun on there.
manby
March 4, 2011 @ 4:39 pm
Just signed up! Thanks Trig! I made the transition to fb a couple of months ago after the debacle of the new myspace. Fb makes me feel kinda dirty, a bit voyueristic. People are posting all kinds of personal shit that I don’t feel I should be privy to. With your newsletter, I have one more reason to cancel my fb account!
The Triggerman
March 4, 2011 @ 5:13 pm
I don’t want anyone to cancel their Facebook account if they don’t want to, and I’m not trying to make anyone who finds Facebook useful disheartened. I understand that for some, it is a good way to stay connected with their family, friends, etc. But for Saving Country Music, and for social networking in music in general, I think that it is holding everything back, and I have to make the decision how much energy I want to give something that is adverse to what I am trying to do, which is simply connect fans with artists, and disseminate information.
I may continue to be on Facebook until it either starts to crumble, or until there is a seriously viable alternative. We’ll see.
Scott
March 4, 2011 @ 9:49 pm
I don’t use twitter or facebook but I also never check my email. Internet is usually too slow where I live which is why I like this site – it is usually pretty quick for me. My email account exists strictly to be able to sign up to sites such as this, and more importantly for fantasy football.
Ernie
March 5, 2011 @ 7:24 am
I just look at the website once a day. if there’s an interesting looking article, I read it. ha
The Triggerman
March 5, 2011 @ 1:13 pm
It’s funny. I have about a dozen websites I check daily, mainly to keep up with country music news. I don’t use Twitter, Facebook, RSS feeds, any of that. I have the sites bookmarked at the top of my browser and go across one at a time to make sure I don’t miss anything. Other times I do find info on Twitter or Facebook, but usually this is breaking news type stuff.
The problem I have with Facebook is there’s no rhyme or reason what you see from who, unless you tell it to focus on specific people, but then you don’t see everyone else, where information could come from too. The MySpace message board was done, and Twitter is done as a simple timeline that you can filter and scan to see if there’s anything interesting. Meaning the last thing someone posts is the first thing you see. On Facebook, this isn’t always the case. Sometimes it is the next to last thing. If you post something on your wall, but then someone posts something after you, your post might disappear in your friends news feeds. Or it might not. I don’t like that cryptic approach to information dissemination.
Ernie
March 5, 2011 @ 2:20 pm
I think it is cool that you are so passionate about this trig. I can totally see you coming up with a way that re-invents myspace’s collaboration tools for musicians some day in the future.
Carla
March 5, 2011 @ 3:55 pm
You just need to ‘hide’ people’s posts, it’s easy and it means they still get to hear from you but it just means you don’t get to hear about the blood nose I woke up with yesterday. Next time you see something from me on Facebook, just click on the x to the right of my post and it will ask you if you wish to hide all future posts from Carla Briggs. You just click on it and Bob’s your uncle. I can still write on your wall, send you messages infact I don’t even know you have hidden me 🙂
The Triggerman
March 5, 2011 @ 9:05 pm
Hide whose posts? I don’t want to hide anybody’s posts, Facebook already does too much of that for me.
"Louie" Chris Lewis
March 10, 2011 @ 4:22 pm
Hey Trig, not sure if you’re aware or not but at the bottom of your facebook news feeds there is an edit tab. If you open that you can change on whether you want to see everyone’s post or just those that you interact with the most. Facebook changed everyones page to only receive posts from those you interact with the most, but it gives you the option to go back to posting everyones feeds.
Gillian
March 5, 2011 @ 7:29 am
As Phil Collins sings “I will follow you, will you follow me?” http://twitter.com/#!/GillianTheGreat
KAK
March 5, 2011 @ 10:14 am
I think Facebook is a tool just like this website, Twitter, and email. It can’t destroy or damage anything…people do this. People are responsible for all of the evil engagements with technology we have seen throughout the years.
I just want to make one comment about the utility of social networking sites…SNSs CAN help foster community. I can give you personal accounts of how this has worked for me but I will spare you all my stories. Community is at the heart of this music scene for many of us. It is not only the music we share a love for but the fellow fans and artists we share it with. Facebook has served as a fantastic tool to connect like-minded folks as well as fans with artists. I will not deny or challenge that it fails to serve the purposes that Trig outlines above for musicians trying to promote their music directly. But Facebook is excellent at allowing “friends” to share what they like with others. For many fans, this is how we learn about new music.
The viral spread of videos, links to news stories, and general information has been profound on SNSs. And if you study networks and communication among human populations, you will learn that most people really like to learn about ANYTHING from people that they know and trust rather than from a detached disinterested external source.
I think Facebook and other SNSs offers huge benefits to bands and artists. I have become a part of a music community that spans the continent and even extends to Europe as a result of my involvement with Facebook. I can guarantee that this wouldn’t have happened the same way with MySpace.
Perhaps the next forum will allow everyone to have their needs better met. I’m all for looking ahead.
The Triggerman
March 5, 2011 @ 1:22 pm
Are you pro gun KAK? Because that’s the same philosophical argument.
In the same vein, you are more likely to be killed by someone who loves you than hates you. Facebook preys on this human frailty.
I can say that the particular music community that I am a part of is not even nearly as strong as it was before Facebook. It is probably fair to say that this is not as much the fault of the rise of Facebook, but the death of MySpace, but Facebook helped accelerate the death of MySpace, and it’s popularity keeps a new format that would be better for promoting music, movies, comedy, and art from being able to gain interest.
Without question Facebook has helped strengthened communication in SOME circles. But not nearly as well as MySpace did in 2005 or so. Silly me to think things would improve instead of regress.
jeremy
March 5, 2011 @ 11:43 am
i haven’t figured out twitter..but, you are definitely correct about how bad myspace has become..i can’t update our schedule..we redesigned it, made it look reall good..and then the new launch/design…
they screwed it up…
and, not goin on the politics, but do you remember who bought it just before myspace started goin down hill???
hmmmmmm
MR.BANDANA
March 7, 2011 @ 11:14 am
WHO BOUGHT IT?I THINK I HEARD BUT CAN’T REMEMBER WHO IT WAS..
The Triggerman
March 7, 2011 @ 12:21 pm
It was Clear Channel, Rupert Murdock, News Corp. or whatever the top company is that owns FOX and dozens of other media outlets.
I really don’t think they’re ownership is primarily to blame though. They are pretty shrewd business people who had a vested interest to make sure MySpace succedded. I blame the founders, who after getting their big payday, lost their heart and drive. They also worked under that false misconception that since MySpace was free, people would put up with a certain level of bullshit and spam. They were wrong.
MR.BANDANA
March 9, 2011 @ 10:34 pm
I DON’T UNDERSTAND HALF WHAT WAS SAID HERE TRIGGERMAN..I DON’T TWITTER,DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT IT..I HAD FACEBOOK FOR A LONG BUT DIDN’T USE IT..YOU WAS USING IT WAY BEFORE I DECIDED TOO BUT I FINALLY GIVE IN BECAUSE ALL THE HELLBILLY FAMILY HAD MOVED TO FB.. FACEBOOK IS WORSE THAN MYSPACE EVER WAS..MYSPACE IS SO MESSED UP NOW BUT I MISS THE WAY IT WAS WHEN I FIRST STARTED USING A COMPUTER IN 2007..I DON’T GET YOUR LINKS ANYMORE,SINCE BACK IN EARLY NOVEMBER..I GUESS I NEED TO START CHECKING INTO SCM LIKE I DO FB OR ANY OTHER PAGE..THINGS CHANGE AND I DON’T LIKE CHANGE BUT I HAVE TO GET USE TO IT..I’VE GAINED A LOT OF FRIENDS BUT LOST A LOT TOO!!!
Denise
March 10, 2011 @ 6:58 am
Hey MR B
I totally agree with you . . . I was against the facebook at first but since they made myspace so horrible I went ahead and went there. I spend a good amount of time here! There’s alot going on and alot of issues to give input to. I know you love the good music too! So come on in!
I hope all is going well with ya. 🙂