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As most of you know, there's a tumblr shill cartoon in the works produced by Hayden Black. A few months ago Hayden had an interview with a DJ called Niceguy Eddie. Now normally this would not merit second mention, but Eddie has been engaging Gen Zed detractors in the gutter that is youtube's comment section. The salt levels are off the charts.
This is guy who said he gets 5 million listeners
More from the gen zed thread.
I think it's worth keeping discussion of Eddie off the gen zed thread as it's starting to derail it. Expect Slow updates.
This is guy who said he gets 5 million listeners
More from the gen zed thread.
Forgive me for going off-topic on Hayden, but I got a reply from Sobel about Eddie, and I can see where he gets his smug go-ahead to be an attention seeking sperg.
I skimmed through the "Sobel Promotions" site. Didn't get any lag from the smoke - but my ears were promptly assaulted by a shitty electro remix of Doctor and the Medics' "Spirit In The Sky"... (The fact Ms Sobel has named her company after herself also sets off an alarm.) Anyway... It seems Sobel maintains eight stations which she uses to promote her artists - and though my first thought was "autoplay", it would appear the stations have solid schedules of real DJs playing music. Some of them. Skimming these stations' schedules, however, I did notice the same names popping up repeatedly. Nice Guy Eddie's show, it turns out, is broadcast on two Sobel Promotions stations. Rainbow Radio seems to be the main one - taking a look at its site, I found this rather illuminating...
I also notice that four of these eight stations do not have listed schedules - those, I suspect, are autoplay and nothing more.
Moving on... Sobel's bio states that she started out publishing fan newsletters and running forums for bands. (Off her own bat, or commissioned by them to do so, I don't know - but I can speculate...) Sobel Promotions has been active since 2010 and as mentioned above, it's essentially in the business of promoting artists, producers etc. - hence the fact so many of the acts on its roster are DJs on its stations. These acts also provide testimonials, which are enthusiastic. (And I don't think it's a case of "Derek Savage Syndrome".) According to Sobel's bio, "In 2015, Barbara Sobel was named Promoter Of The Year by Just Circuit Magazine."
I quickly checked out Just Circuit's website. Another promo site (a LGBT one), as far as I can tell. Here's a screenshot of their forum...
...You know, I think I'm starting to get a good general idea of what's going on here. And it isn't anything terrible. The music industry is saturated with artists, producers - and most of all, promoters - trying to make a mark, acquire publicity and so on. In their efforts to do so, they of course tweak the truth in an attempt to make themselves sound as impressive as possible. Sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. The much vaunted claim of "five million listeners"? I have a strong suspicion this refers to the numbers of visits (not unique listeners) Sobel Promotions' eight stations have between them received since they started broadcasting.* It wouldn't be the first time I've seen a station (or network of stations) pull that stunt, at any rate.
In conclusion: Barbara Sobel is one of a multitude of people trying to make a name for themselves as music promoters. And she's not doing a bad job, all things considered. Seriously needs to work on her own PR skills, though. Nice Guy Eddie is a arrogant loser with a blatant inferiority complex who got the gig 'cause Ms Sobel was looking for DJs prepared to broadcast for free. No shame in that (99% of the indie music scene is, as Ms Sobel says in her bio, "for the love of music") - but it's not a guarantee of quality. And for shit sure, it's not Nice Guy Eddie's show that's pulling in dedicated listeners. His fb, YouTube channel and Mixcloud are testament to that.
* Supposing this to be the case - having checked out the length of time these eight stations have been on air and having done the math, I estimate each of the eight stations as receiving, on average, a thousand listeners a day. (Possibly some stations receive more, some less.) Nothing incredible, sure - but by internet radio standards? Not at all bad either.
I think it's worth keeping discussion of Eddie off the gen zed thread as it's starting to derail it. Expect Slow updates.
If an enterprising Kiwi could dig out these two morsels of information, we might just be able to get a definite answer re: Rainbow Radio/Nice Guy Eddie's huge fanbase...
