Conflict of Interest Does Not Apply at NxEW

I've explained this and discussed it with contributors, and potential contributors to the blog before but I thought I'd throw it out there generally - in part so I can link back to it when people ask.

There are people who don't want to contribute to the NxEW, or limit what they contribute because of conflict of interest. But 'conflict of interest' doesn't apply here. It's not something we're worried about.

Back in the old days people started newspapers, and then some people started papers and magazines that focused on more specific areas. So music magazines were born. These magazines though still considered themselves to be journalistic in nature. So, they would avoid conflict of interest (having someone review a friend's band etc.). Those were also the days when the media was separate - you hoped that magazines and newspapers and radio shows wanted to interview you and review your album but all you could do was hope. Those days are gone, if you have a myspace, a facebook, a blog, a twitter etc., then you are already taking matters into your own hands. There are still such papers, magazines and web sites around. This is not one of them.

Even the concept of conflict of interest, when applied to music, is a bit silly. Conflict of interest rules came up in journalism circles primarily because of business and politics. If a person was running for political office you wouldn't want him, or his brother editing the local paper. Likewise you wouldn't want someone who sold stocks writing the business column.

With music though the worst that is going to happen is someone is going to buy a CD that it turns out they don't like, or go to a show that they aren't that impressed with. So what? That happens anyway. I'm sure most of us have gone to shows or bought music that we didn't like based on the recommendation of 'serious journalists'.

NxEW was created as a place where the music community could come together and share ideas and information. If you are in a band, there's a good chance you have good information about that band. So, NxEW welcomes anyone who is involved, on any level, in the Canadian music community - musicians, promoters, managers, publicists, audio technicians, producers, journalists, DJs, fans, etc.,

We don't expect you to review your own album, but if you want to write about the process of making it and where certain songs came from - that's awesome info. Please share! Likewise if you want to talk about your tour, favorite places to play, things that happen on the road, your experiences at certain venues - also awesome information.

To date, we have more than 70 contributors, from 24 Canadian cities (and a few in the U.S.). Our contributors include Paul Banwatt (Woodhands, Rural Alberta Advangage, We're Scared), Mike Dawsom (Library Voices, Young Soul Records),  Daps Duo (April and Dan of Hooded Fang, Tonka and Puma, Hut), Patterson Hodgson (Olenka and the Autumn Lovers), Scott Birke (Craft Economy), Naomi Kavka (the Arbitraries), and Gareth Willimas (Lonely Hunters). 

Alongside musicians we have journalists and journalism students, people who run their own music blogs, broadcasting students, university radio people, photographers, and other fans of Canadian music. 

We are a community, not a company and we exist because we love Canadian music and want to share our enthusiasm - we have different takes, likes and dislikes but we're not objective and detached, and no one is counting on us to help them make serious financial decisions, medical decisions or political decisions. If you buy a CD because we said it was good and you don't like it - very sorry about that but we probably still like it. We do know what 'conflict of interest' means, we've just decided it doesn't apply here.