RIVETbUZZ | industrial + post-punk + goth + ebm

About this Site

The Promo Dilemma

While contemplating my latest album that's nearing completion (if I could ever get the damn mastering done), it dawned on me that I needed to update my promo list. Back in the 90s, when I ran a record label, I kept an excel spreadsheet with the contact info of deejays, reviewers, radio stations, and other people that we hadn't yet started calling "influencers". The scene was smaller then, and there was a plethora of reliably short-lived music zines and long-lived college radio directors we could turn to for building a buzz. The internet was new, and bands were doing their best to adapt and build a band homepage at Geocities, Angelfire, or even (*gasp*) AOL Hometown. Band, radio, and magazine directories were common and very useful when trying to build a promo list.

Gothic versus Gotham

No one (not even me) can argue that we are so much more "connected" than we were in the past, thanks to social media. But with our increasingly dwindling attention span and insatiable thirst for likes and follows, we somehow missed the fact that a simple curated list of relevant promoters is easier to build when you're not being bombarded with targeted "sponsored posts", memes, and social media drama, all while only being served 10% of the posts from pages you actually wanted to follow. Where does one go to find promotional info today? How does an online deejay or podcaster find their audience when sites like Spotify don't know the difference between a bonafide gothic deathrocker and a podcast about Batman's hometown? I asked around. What is the best source for this info? Google? Wikipedia? (Is VampireFreaks still around?) Please don't say Facebook post archives...

Get Off My Lawn, Freak

Based on my not-so-subtle luddite tendencies (plus the fact that I know what the hell Geocities was), you've no doubt realized that I'm something of an "eldergoth" (more like a rusty rivethead, though I do miss the eyeliner). And while I've kept somewhat active as a musician, deejay, and promoter over the last few decades (aside from a few lapsed years when I went "off-grid" like a mad Y2K doomsday prepper, but let's not dwell on that), I recently found myself struggling to rejuvenate my old promo list so that I can start doing the promo work that every modern music guru says I should be doing, with the dwindling hope that I will someday after 25+ years in the biz, finally build enough buzz around my project that I quit receiving the stinging compliment that my music is "criminally underrated".

Social Media Malaise

So yeah, I spent weeks sifting through social media hashtag diarrhea, trying to decipher and translate to an excel spreadsheet all of the missing vowels, numbers for letters, cutesy asci art, and upside down "V" characters that have as of late permeated the scene (I know...like I should talk...my band name is "creatively spelled", too!), all while having my feed burnt by meaningless fire emojis and pay-for-play offers from empty accounts claiming to represent "big name producers". Meanwhile, my all-too-limited rural internet data plan was repeatedly being violated by auto-play video ads, and half of the deejays using the word "industrial" were referring to some kind of overdriven brand of fast techno that I swear we used to call hardcore. It was exhausting, and my family didn't quite recognize me when I was done (they said I looked more like I did in my old goth days).

See a Need, Fill a Need

Despite all of the headaches and frustration, my efforts revealed that our scene now has more promotional support than ever before...well over 1,000 individuals across the different platforms at first glance! I found reviewers that are dedicated, focused, astutely honest, and well-written. Podcasters and deejays are blasting unique content across YouTube, Twitch, Soundcloud, and Mixcloud. Some might use YouTube, but not Twitch. Or Soundcloud, but no Mixcloud. (Just like the old folks hanging on Facebook and the Millenials on Instagram.) Their formats are different. Some stream live, while others are prerecorded. Some require subscriptions to hear the goods. Their playlists and genre descriptions also vary wildly.

Consolidated!

What I needed was a single place that listed all of these amazing promoters, providing a way to easily compare what they currently spin, to see whether my music might be a good fit, and if their show or podcast is active and should be on my promo list. A separate excel spreadsheet with contact info is still a necessity, once I can determine who goes on there. But an excel spreadsheet is not a living document...at least not one that automatically keeps tabs on whether these promoters are still promoting.

An Old Solution for a New Problem?

After asking about this on a few Facebook groups, I learned that I'm not the only musician who would benefit from an "old school" styled directory list of deejays and reviewers. Many others were also interested (even some young people). In addition to the musicians and record label heads that liked the idea, music listeners were also keen on a site that presented a carefully curated directory of scene podcasters and deejays serving up their favorite dark tunes across multiple streaming platforms. So an idea took shape...I could build a website. Sure, I'm a bit rusty, but I can certainly design a basic directory and maybe figure out a way to serve up direct links to the latest offerings from these promoters. This way, you could peruse the list, click on a play button and sample each deejay's latest work to determine whether you might want to include them (or keep them) in your promo list.

Take it for a Spin

And there you have it...the full story behind the RIVETbUZZ website: a place for deejays and music reviewers to be found, for listeners to locate reviews and dj sets of good industrial/goth music being spun by talented deejays, and a tool for bands and record labels to find relevant scene promoters more easily. I hope you dig it.

~ Jeff (aka Testube)