Amazingly Ironic

A while back, we got a rather ridiculous review of our installation process from Idolator. Idolator is a site owed by Buzz Media which has a bevvy of music-related web sites (Buzznet, Celebuzz, Absolute Punk, GoFugYourself, JustJared, Stereogum, TheSuperficial, WWTDD). To be honest, ever since we got the scathing review from the folks at Idolator, I’ve been checking in and seeing what’s going on. In fact, I rather liked their celebrity gossip meets American Idol gossip meets music gossip take on pop music an pop culture. Except when they are ripping on us, of course.

So, you can imagine my mixed feelings about the news that the Idolator had slashed it’s staff to, well, one. No one knows better than me that keeping up a well respected, global, highly informative and witty site with an army of one is sometimes a difficult proposition. At times I can be found curled up in the fetal position in my basement surrounded by empty beer cans and Kit Kat® wrappers hoping for divine intervention. Usually it comes when my wife kicks me a couple of times in the stomach or the reminder to get the kids off the bus goes off on my phone. Sometimes, it’s the bigwigs at Qtrax calling and wondering why their blogger takes off a few days between posts. Either way, any writer knows that collaboration serves as a hefty chunk of one’s inspiration. Sitting at home staring at a computer rarely serves as anything more than a reminder that you should get out of the house more often. So, to you , Maura Johnston, who is currently holding down the fort at Idolator, I tip my hat to your solo status and hope you keep on keeping on, dawg. This era in business will be remembered as the great contraction.

I will note, however, that there is some irony in the fact that the very same newspapers, bloggers and writers that cover a music industry in decline, also find themselves getting burned by the axe grinder’s sparks. Keep in mind people, there are no high horses to sit on anymore. There is no bully pulpit sanctuary of the economically immune. We all have something to lose. That’s not our motto over here at Qtrax, but we’re certainly cautious as we move forward. That is why we’re not always able to meet our own deadlines and get up and running on a global basis. There is a lot to gain, but there is also a lot to lose. We are very much committed to our revised May launch schedule for the v.1.1, but if it get’s pushed back even further, please be aware that there are sound business reasons behind it. I’m not saying that it’s going to happen, but we didn’t expect a delay in the April launch either.