Feature: Music For The Masses?

I should make this clear from the start, that I have no problem whatsoever with other websites and publications using CitR as a source for discovering new musical talent.

Hell, ultimately, after all the thousands of words and quirky pictures, the pivotal element is, and always will be the music that graces the pages. The music is the catalyst for the text, and that will never change. To a similar note, I also understand that with the very nature of unearthing relatively obscure musical gems, the probability of other people wanting to write about them, or indeed stumbling across them by other means, is going to be fairly high. The issue of crediting ‘musical finds’ is very much down to the preference of the website, personally I find it beneficial as reader to be able to know whereabouts the artist is coming onto the publications radar from, however it’s entirely at the writers discretion. To put it in it’s simplest and most cliched terms; I want the music I listen to (and thus write about) to be successful.

Now, here is where it gets interesting. In my two years of ‘blogging’, I have never experienced anything quite as bizarre as the following you’re about to witness. Whilst trawling through the affectionately nicknamed blogosphere, scoping out new artists as well as vying for more information on previously featured musicians, I found a post regarding Italian songstress Sylvia, whose premier release Musica Da Camera featured here just under a week ago. Having read the post in question (which can be found here), I felt a sudden sense of deja vu.

As previously stated, giving credit to other bloggers is an entirely personal preference, and it would be naive of me to assume that Music For The Masses had indeed discovered Sylvia through Crack in the Road. However, after re-reading the accompanying text alongside the music, I returned to what I had written about the singer, and here’s what I found:

My text (taken from here):

“A tinkling Perfume Genius-esque piano, a tender, sombre female vocal and a haunting sense of despair. Whilst Milan isn’t known for it’s thriving indie scene, in combining all of the aforementioned elements, Silvia Tofani aka Sylvia is going some way to changing that. On her debut EP Musica Da Camera she’s found remorseful, guilt-ridden and wallowing in lust, all backed by intimate, sparse keyboard sections and choppy beats. The likes of opener Found Desert and EP highlight I’m Not Your Mom see Sylvia slip effortlessly into her finest ballgown, pirouetting without any inhibitions. Check out the entire EP and grab a free download if it floats your boat.”

Here’s what Music For The Masses had to say about Sylvia (taken from here):

:Blend a dash of Perfume Genius-esque piano with a tender, sombre female vocal and a haunting sense of despair, and you’ll get the rather unknown artist Silvia Tofani, aka Sylvia. On her debut five-track EP Musica Da Camera she is found remorseful and guilt-ridden, backed up by intimate, sparse keyboard sections and choppy beats — creating powerful, melancholic pop music. Don’t let this beautiful gem pass you by!”

Not only is the singular comparison exactly the same (if it was simply that it could be blown off as a coincidence) but numerous lines of the text read almost word for word (‘found remorseful and guilt-ridden’ ‘backed by intimate, sparse keyboard sections and choppy beats’). Not crediting the ‘musical discovery’? Meh, it happens. Copying writing and passing it off as your own? Now that is where I draw the line.

Several minutes later and a quick trawl through the Music For The Masses website, and I found at least six more similar cases, before I decided to give up. Images and links for all can be seen below, with the original text taken from Crack in the Road in the yellow box, and the text taken from Music For The Masses in the white. I’ll let you be the judge.

After raising the issue with Music For The Masses, the response from their self proclaimed Owner (how can you ‘own’ a tumblr? nobody ‘owns’ CitR… it’s not like it’s the Huffington Post) was almost as devoid of reason as the original situation. Stating that ‘I manage’ Music For The Masses and that his ‘partner’ had written all the posts in question, he didn’t really seem to understand that I wasn’t concerned about the lack of crediting, but in the fact that they didn’t feel able to express their own thoughts on the music. Having looked through several of the other posts on their website, it seems that CitR might not be the only blog to feel slightly disgruntled. Later, some of the posts had a small disclaimer at the bottom, reading ‘Content from Crack in the Road’, which I said wasn’t necessary at all, I just wasn’t happy with them using my exact words. In my mind, what it all came down to, was them loosing sight of the music, and being intent upon being viewed as ‘Tastemakers’ by the online community. I’ll say it again; the music will always come first.

Being a relatively laidback person, I wasn’t particularly angered by this obvious and unashamed plagiarisation, however what struck me more about it, was that it made their entire website entirely redundant. The enjoyment of blogging comes from having a platform to voice your opinion on issues, be it music, fashion, film etc.; simply ripping off somebody else is, to be quite frank, completely and utterly pointless. The thought of going to the effort of registering a URL, starting a Twitter account and even designing a logo, only to then steal both the content and the words, makes me laugh out loud. We all know the dangers of the internet that are repeatedly being pressed onto us by ludicrously expensive and naive Government backed incentives, yet few people applaud the opportunities the web gives us for allowing to be heard and for our opinions to be aired. To abuse such a privilege is implausibly ignorant. So, Music For The Masses, if you’re reading this: “come on – open your eyes”, and everyone else, remember, without an opinion of your own, you cannot possibly find the inspiration to go on and better yourself in any walk of life, even if it is only the meager writings of a disillusioned adolescent that you’re striving to improve.

Crack in the Road – Music For The Masses