I totally get artists concentrating on their superfans though it does sometimes feel like fans are being taken advantage of and potential new fans are being ignored but I think there is a far bigger issue than that. I’ve yet to see any convincing strategy for new artists to build up the kind of fan […]
2016
“I see vinyl is making a comeback”
There is a common misconception that vinyl just naturally gives a “warmer” sound. Of course in reality if you use a digital master it will sound no better than a CD. More importantly an awful song on vinyl will still be dreadful. A great song will be great on any format. A vinyl sleeve is […]
Going , Going … gone ?
The Wedding Present are just the latest band to sell to their fans via PledgeMusic with an album “Going, Going …” not due out for another six months. Founder Benji Rogers’ original plan to help small bands raise funds is long gone and well established bands taking this route is now the norm as it […]
Record Store Day Saturday April 16th
After some soul searching I decided that I would register the shop for this year’s Record Store Day. It may now be nothing like the event we envisaged when we had that first Record Store Day in 2008 with no product at all, just in-stores and a few special offers, but that doesn’t mean Avalanche […]
Musicians are like footballers
One thing that has changed is that when music is new to somebody they only buy the music they love. Whether new music or simply new to the customer it doesn’t matter so for instance if I recommend The Twilight Sad to somebody who has never heard of them out of 5 people one may […]
Avalanche blog
For a variety of reasons I’ve had to look through old Avalanche blogs recently and was amazed to find my self reading over them not knowing what was coming next ! It often seems a long time ago now. People still refer to the blog a lot, even old posts and I can now sort […]
King's Stables Road planning application and the Grassmarket
A planning application for the King’s Stables Road site has now been lodged and it can be viewed here https://citydev-portal.edinburgh.gov.uk/idoxpa-web/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=NZD15EEWKVI00 Not too much more can be said that hasn’t been said already in previous blogs. Edinburgh Council clearly understood what was needed here both in supporting the arts and improving footfall in the area and […]