Blanco of YHTN: 'I Always Try To Cover Indie Artists'
First and foremost, can you describe the benefits of working for YouHeardThatNew.com?
There are many benefits that come along with working at youheardthatnew.com including getting exclusive/early listens to a lot of mainstream projects/singles/videos. I have a voice to say what I want without any restrictions man, most blogs or websites you aren't allowed to have your own opinion its more political then anything, I can post who and what I want with no limitations. We are also apart of the NMC (New Music Cartel) which consists of Nahright, 2dopeboyz, Xclusivezones, Miss Info, Onsmash & Dajaz1 this puts us in the spotlight more then other sites which gives my work a wider audience.
It is not a secret that your email address is accessible. What catches your eye in regards to music submissions?
I am very picky about what I post and don't post. I receive close to 100 emails a day in regards to submissions so I first start off by posting the people I am familiar with or have built relationships with. If I am not familiar with an artist and they don't introduce themselves I will not post it. A lot of artist think just because they put their link and a description that I am just going to post it, it doesn't work like that.
I am a person not a robot so introduce yourself, tell me a little about yourself, don't just expect a post. I never post records that are sent as an email blast, to me that is just showing no interest in building a relationship with me. Another thing that will get your music trashed is if I have to go looking for artwork or links, I have enough on my plate so make my job as easy as you can by making sure all the correct information is in there.
There has been a lot of talk about big blogs not giving indie artists a shot. What are your thoughts on this? Do you think it is inaccurate?
This is the million dollar question and I will try and give my best depiction of it. Me personally I always try to cover Indie artists more then the mainstream stuff. The mainstream stuff is going to get posted and covered regardless but I feel like blogs should give the Indies a bit more coverage then they do. But there are sites out there who are dedicated to giving Indie artist the exposure they deserve, the only thing is the audience may not be as big as other sites. Some blogs will not post your music unless you have a great PR or have the funds to get on the larger sites. Plus at the end of the day these sites like nahright or 2dopeboyz are probably getting between 300-1000 emails a day for submissions. Imagine having to dig through that many emails, its physically impossible.
But most blogs just stick with whatever indie artist is hot at the time and will occasionally break a new artist every once in a while. But unfortunately the blogs have turned into the radio where its money talks or whatever is hot. Last thing, I also feel like its the artists job to provide undeniable dope music, at the end of the day dope music will get heard at some point you just have to keep going hard at it. It's also a matter of who you know, if you know me then I'm going to post your record as opposed to me not knowing you. Then it get backs to what I said earlier, does your email have all the right info link, artwork, description etc all that stuff will go a long way in getting a post. But at the end of the day it is all politics so I would say it is an accurate statement that the bigger blogs don't give the indies a platform to shine but I also feel like until your ready and the music is worthy of being there then the artist needs to keep working hard to get to that point.
I also see that you dabble with PR/Marketing. In what ways has blogging increases your writing skills?
Man not much to be honest lol. I went to private high school and they were so strict on us in regards to grammar and punctuation that I feel like for 4 years that's all I did was write paper after paper. Most bloggers copy and paste anyway lol I have seen so many of my descriptions from a post on numerous blogs. I can say that it has definitely expanded my creative writing because I try to be original with every post I do.
Favorite Baltimore sports team?
This question is almost impossible for me to answer. I grew up playing Metro baseball in Baltimore my whole life, I traveled around the United States playing baseball, had I not hurt my shoulder in high school I would be playing baseball for a living instead of answering these questions lol.
I was drafted out of high school, but that shoulder injury derailed any hopes of that happening, so with that being said I am a die hard Baltimore Orioles fan. But I love football too, and the Baltimore Ravens have been one of the best teams in the NFL for the last 10-15 years. I have seen them win 2 Super Bowls and that was great. So I can't really choose one, this is like picking your favorite kid, you just can't do it.
Comments
Post a Comment
PraverbForever!