Talking of online music websites with an editorial leaning, EMAP owned tickets website Aloud.com are hoping to gain some ground on competitors in the online ticket agency space by adding a blog facility on their website which will enable music fans to comment on gigs they are selling tickets for. It is a brave move because it may well lead to the site publishing negative coverage of artists they are still selling tickets for. The blog will be led by the company's Assistant Editor James Hickie, who will post reviews of gigs he has seen. Consumers will then be invited to add their own views and reviews. Aloud.com bosses hope the service will give them valuable credibility among music fans.
Aloud.com boss GiGi Dryer told reporters: "The difference at Aloud.com is that we live the brand, we live for live music. So a blog that shows what gigs our man about town has been to, that tells people what he thought of the show and whether he'd advise people to see them is a really informative service rivals just couldn't do because they don't share our passion."
Hickie himself stressed the importance of the 'post' facility which will allow music fans add their own opinions on gigs: "From the first moment we started talking about the blog, the most important aspect was the 'post a comment' facility. We didn't want it to just be a part of the site where we talk about gigs in isolation because that's not what gigs are about. We want to get feedback from other people that experience the same gig, or perhaps saw the same band another night, so readers can get an idea of what it was really like to be there."
The blog service launched earlier this month and already includes reviews on Kaiser Chiefs, The Magic Numbers and Sufjan Stevens.