This week, The Washington Post’s Chris Richards published a fabulous in-depth feature article on D. C. Label Underwaterpeoples. In addition to discussing its roster of musicians, Richards hones in on the label’s unprecedented success in using the internet to build a devoted following from the bottom up. Rather than shoot straight for the media outlets that garner the most hits, UPs has always been adamant about fostering a mutually supportive dialogue with smaller grassroots blogs like Chocolate Bobka, Rose Quartz, Friendship Bracelet, and even Visitation Rites–publications that represent a local and admittedly personalized take on independent music, much like UP’s dedication to promoting a pocket of upstart bands from suburban New Jersey.
Maybe Visitation Rites is just flattered that we got mentioned too, but it’s truly inspiring to think that somehow, somewhere, UPs commitment to rooting for the underdog has had the paradoxical effect of actually paying off. Has this handful of school chums from George Washington University actually discovered a way of tapping into social media and the blogosphere to make the music industry a land of equal opportunity? Or at least more of one than it currently is? Let’s just cross out fingers and hope that trickle-up–rather than trickle-down–will be the wave of the future…
Click here for the article.
Words: Emilie Friedlander
Photo: Cover of the Underwaterpeoples Records Showcase Compilation, released in May 2009.
Tags: Chocolate Bobka, Chris Richards, Friendship Bracelet, Rose Quartz, The Washington Post, Underwaterpeoples
reading this, in tandem with your response to Glenn Branca, has brought me a great deal of happiness. I really appreciate the way you portray our mission and while i don’t feel comfortable laying claim to anything too revolutionary… I do believe the future of music lies in the ever perpetuating communities sprouting up across the web. I think music is trending towards a model that thrives off love as opposed to raw popularity. i’d rather be loved by one person than sorta liked by three, or even three thousand. It sounds wildly cheesy I know, but to me, it seems as the internet progresses, it’ll stop being used as a ’store’ or a ‘billboard’ and start being used synonymously with ones heart and mind. It will be capable of articulating intimate, nuanced messages.. and in achieving that, we will no longer be able to hide behind ‘internet personas’ and ‘viral marketing campaigns.’ we’re just gonna have to be ourselves and like children in school, befriend those who seem the most genuine.
thanks for writing about us Emilie, I’ll see ya when I get back from China!