RTP-area local music and culture

[bendy <bendy AT blackstrap.org>]

grady wrote:
> Hmm. I know there are reasons to want to have the reviews in the 
> magazines on the same day that the CD hits the shelves (shelves? Do 
> people buy CDs anymore?),

I dunno if there's a reason, but there sure seems to be a culture of "we 
got you the promo, and let us remind you that it's coming out next 
Tuesday..."

 but around here lately, especially this year,
> the paradigm seems to have shifted to "release the CD, then wait around 
> a few months before servicing college radio & etc."

Then you get things like In The Red releasing Jay Reatard's "Blood 
Visions" and doing no significant promotion. It's a album which seems to 
please everyone who hears it, even if they're not into garage punk. That 
record could have used some coordinated hype.

> So maybe the "answer" such as it is, is to abandon the idea that some 
> privileged subset of tastemakers get advance copies so that they can 
> write about the thing at their leisure. Just release the thing & then 
> anybody who wants to can procure it & write about it in whatever medium 
> they want.

Works for Shellac.