Getting There!! (musosguide.com)

Member Name: beansprout

Product:	musosguide.com
Date:	22/08/03 (27 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: broad appeal, interesting and entertaining, lors of variety

Disadvantages: some areas unfinished, needs archive boxes

A few years ago the net was full of big, bright, flashy ?entertainment? sites that called themselves ?channels? (what?) and had sponsorship for every little feature, loads of them were owned or consequently became owned by companies who, despite being wholly inexperienced, decided that an online ?entertainments arm? for their business was the way to go? There are, and have been since the very beginning of the Net As We Know It, fanzines dedicated to a band, a genre, a journalistic style, an ideology?. To my mind, maybe I?m naïve, there isn?t really anything that bridges the gap.

The closest I?ve found is www.musosguide.com. It?s clearly not run by a big business. The site looks very, very professional and could easily be, initially, mistaken for a corporate venture but the content makes it clear it isn?t. That isn?t to say the writing is bad, on the contrary it is, for the most part very good ? more on that later, but there are a couple of sections which read ?Muso's Guide is young site and consequently some areas are still under development...? but to be fair only a handful of pages have this and since I?ve been visiting pages have been developed. Also, the genres and artists covered are very broad, the reviews are very honest and the feel of the writing is very personal, you feel like you are part of a small reading circle and you know all the writers, although, obviously you don?t really. I kinda like that.

The Design & Layout:
The colour scheme is soft greens and the style is quite sedate but I?d say quite modern, a bit like a nice café might have (if that makes any sense!). The site is very easy to navigate, there is a menu down the left hand of the screen and drop down menus with the same choices at the top (I guess some people have a preference so it?s for choice value?) the logo of the site is in the top left corner and is very distinctive ? a big set of head phones and Muso?s Guide written under them, this features on all pa
ges.

The main sections are:

City Guides ? this area isn?t finished yet.

Features ? quite a catch-all page, features seem to be all sorts of articles e.g. a profile series on Swedish music, a comparison between India.Arie and Tracy Chapman, a piece on Rock Against Racism, interviews and artist profiles (which are, again, diverse). I like that there is a treasure trove of topics but an archive box would be handy so that there isn?t just a great long list to sift through, although it is nicely presented.

News ? music industry news and entertainment stuff, nothing investigative but quite good as each news item opens in its own pop-up and they are always quite brief pieces. Recent examples ? ?Napster ? Not the rebel it once was?, ?There is an Ol' Dirty Bastard at large!?, ?Worried Wacko - Unlikely champion of the MP3 downloader?!? And ?Could TV Get Any Worse??. The tone is serious when it needs to be but generally it?s light hearted and jokey.

Unsigned Directory ? this area isn?t finished yet.

Message board ? it?s quite good but doesn?t seem to be used that much which is a shame, I think people may be put off by the length of the registration but if you read it, it actually says you don?t need to fill in anything other than picking a username and password so perhaps this should be changed?

Album Reviews ? again, could be archived but the standard of writing is very high and the style is always entertaining. The genres covered are wide but I think a few more reviews every week would be an improvement.

Single Reviews ? pretty much the same as album reviews.

Gig Reviews ? there aren?t very many gig reviews, this is an area that definitely needs improvement (and re-iterates what I said about not being corporately owned!)

Columns- personally a favourite section, normally online columns are the playground of nazis and crazy people (well, maybe not that strong but the soap box
does seem to attract a higher proportion of the unhinged!) but here the focus is on music, the music industry and music makers. There are some unique subjects which don?t get a regular airing anywhere else e.g. a regular column on the music scene in South Korea. The writing is entertaining, sometimes quite academic and sometimes very light hearted (for example First Beats a column about the music we used to love or Criminal Records, columns by a lady who is listed as the Site Manager, talking about the duff ?uns in her collection). There is a regular editorial column from the Site Manager as well which helps foster that intimate feel.

Music Contacts ? not an area of use to me, having a voice like a strangled dingo, but a useful search of record company websites for those inclined to want them. There is also a submission box to recommend contacts.

Contributors ? a nice touch I think, everyone who contributes to the site has a little introduction and their email address listed. It?s quite funny seeing how dry some peoples are ?I reside in blah blah blah? compared to some ?Kevin fronts southwestern Virginia's only cross-dressing country combo, Bitch Cassidy & the Sundress Kid. Their debut release, Bastards' Brew, will not soon be appearing on any of the labels to which it has been submitted. Kevin's qualifications for music criticism include owning both a) a turntable and b) a typewriter.? I didn?t realise until I looked properly but loads of them are US-based, the site certainly has a world-wide appeal.

Events Features ? profiles, personal accounts and previews of tonnes of different events round the world e.g. Notting Hill Carnival, Reading and Leeds Festivals, New Orleans Jazzfest.

You can also register with the site and all registered users get entered into regular prize draws, the last one was for CDs and the current one is for a personal CD player.

Advertising:
Surprisingly little, there are no
ad pop-ups although there is currently a pop-up to watch Marilyn Manson?s new video but this is actually through the site it?s not an ad for somewhere else. There are a couple of banners for CD stores and a ticket master search box on the events page but that?s it I think.

All in all I would say it shows a lot of promise, there are areas that need work and clearly that work is being done, the writing is honest and pretty consistent, there are some unique topics and entertaining pieces, it?s a little like a ?proper? music magazine but online. (That makes me sound so old!!!)

Summary: