Sputnikmusic News: Wk 09.30.08

2008-09-28 by Jom | 23 Comments
Sputnikmusic news for the week of September 30th, 2008, brought to you by Scott Herren: the man who once stopped a busload of nuns from driving into a volcano with only a piece of chewing gum and a stick.

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September 30 Releases

As you should know by now, this list is by no means authoritative or holistic, but features some of the bigger albums dropping this week:

Amon Amarth - Twilight of the Thunder God
Anberlin - New Surrender
Bayside - Shudder
Bleeding Through - Declaration
Bring Me The Horizon - Suicide Season
Flecktones - Jingle All the Way
Ben Folds - Way To Normal
Jack's Mannequin - The Glass Passenger
Kinky - Barracuda
Innerpartysystem - Innerpartysystem
Mercury Rev - Snowflake Midnight
Tom Morello - The Fabled City
James Morrison - Songs For You, Truths For Me
Kellie Pickler - Kellie Pickler
Porter Batiste Stoltz - MOODOO
Pete Seeger - At 89
Robin Thicke - Something Else
Connie Talbot - Over the Rainbow
James Taylor - Covers
T.I. - Paper Trail
Travis - Ode to J. Smith
Trivium - Shogun
Will Young - Let It Go

Look for staff reviews from Dave de Sylvia (Trivium, Tom Morello), Jared Dillon (T.I.), and already-published reviews of Innerpartysystem, Amon Amarth, and more.

Any staff review requests? Drop them a line here or post any review request at the community forums here:
http://www.sputnikmusic.com/forums/showthread.php?t=563397

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Staff Promotions and the Contributor Overhaul

This week marks the end of the application process for potential staff writers. An announcement will be made this week, although I can give you an inside scoop and tell you that at least two writers will be joining the staff ranks, with a possible third to be announced at that time or at a later date.

No, I can't tell you who they are. Yes, you can speculate!

The news is the same as last week:

While there are 2-3 additions to the staff this fall, this is not to say that Dave and I will stop staff growth here. However, we have found it better to have promotions a maximum of twice a year (save for mitigating circumstances). This way, promotions actually are something significant and a sense of accountability and consistency stems from the crop of staffers.

Regarding contributors, it's the same thing as the past two weeks:

It has been discussed, to some degree (although not set in stone), that we are going to strive for approximately a 3:1 contributor:staff ratio (id est, for every staff writer, there will be about three contributing reviewers). What this basically means is that contributing status will have a much higher designation than what it previously was, as spots will be at a premium. Also: contributing reviewers may be cyclical based on activity or inactivity. Lastly, the current staff will have some say in who gets promoted to staff positions as well as contributing positions.

Once again, promotions to contributing status will not be as often and will be based on past merit and current work ethic. Accordingly, if we follow through with this proposed 3:1 ratio, we're not going to promote forty users in the first week. Promotions may be monthly, bi-monthly, every six months... it's something that we have to decide yet, but as always, Dave or I will keep you all posted.


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Other news

mynameischan is running Sputnik MADNESS m/ 2008. Think of March Madness, except with users instead of NCAA basketball teams. He will be using the list feature on the site, so make sure you have a lookout for this event, which has been successful in the past.

Look for a new staff feature from Dave de Sylvia within the next couple days.

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Reminder

When you are publishing reviews that have not been officially released yet (but have been made available online through the band's official site, MySpace, AOL Music, etc.), you MUST link to the stream below your review or in the first comment of the review. This will continue to be rigidly enforced.

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That should do it for this week. Happy thoughts, mates.

-Jom

Tagged: Sputnikmusic

Comments:Add a Comment 
foreverendeared
September 28th 2008
14746 Comments


someone review new Bayside

bastard
September 28th 2008
3432 Comments


I thought Coke would do T.I., oh well, Jared's cool too.

204409
Emeritus
September 28th 2008
3998 Comments


Ya when Coke originally applied to be staff he got in because on his app he said he'd be the "mainstream rap guy ever since Hep Kat left."

Understanding In a Crash
September 28th 2008
428 Comments


I'm prob going to end up reviewing the new BMTH when I get it... all the songs posted I heard have been swimming in a world of mediocrity.

marksellsuswallets
September 28th 2008
4885 Comments


I'm working on my review for the BMTH cd as we speak...just got to add in extra stuff after I hear the remaining tracks...yeah the album is actually worse than Count Your Blessings...sad

Altmer
September 28th 2008
5714 Comments


where did hep kat go anyways

robin
September 28th 2008
4596 Comments


i might review ode to j smith if i can be bothered.

BallsToTheWall
September 28th 2008
52578 Comments


Interesting...

brandtweathers
September 28th 2008
2006 Comments


i dig these updates. good work, all

spoon_of_grimbo
September 28th 2008
2241 Comments


with regards to the staff applications, i haven't heard anything directly (via email) for weeks... is this because there haven't been any emails sent out, or is my hotmail just fucked? i've seen the updates in these news items and it kinda hints that there's been other correspondance...

Poet
September 28th 2008
6156 Comments


Another busy week for the folks at Sputnik. I haven't been on as much as I would like these past couple of weeks, but hopefully I'll churn up another review within the next week.

Cesar
September 28th 2008
2732 Comments


Chan do u remember who won last time?

ToWhatEnd
September 28th 2008
3173 Comments


Sputnik madness hell yes! Vote or die '08. News is greatly appreciated once again Jom, you are the man.

Cesar
September 28th 2008
2732 Comments


Oh.

Yeah go and vote people, its you RIGHT as a Sputnikmusic citizen!!!!

encmetalhead
September 28th 2008
744 Comments


i got Bayside review

bastard
September 28th 2008
3432 Comments


u got nothin son

Chewie
September 28th 2008
4544 Comments


im interested in the Tom Morello review, his new thing will likely suck, but how much is what I wanna know.

spoon_of_grimbo
September 28th 2008
2241 Comments


There've been no e-mails in weeks unless people have directly e-mailed me. I just tell them to read the news posts, mostly.


just to check, did you get my email a few weeks ago? the personal reflection thing? i would email to ask this, but if it's not working, that'd be kinda pointless...

SCREAM!
September 29th 2008
15755 Comments


THOR FOR STAFF!
CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN!

Thor
September 29th 2008
10384 Comments


Hell yeah!

BallsToTheWall
September 29th 2008
52578 Comments


Caina- Tempoary Antennae would be gold.This Message Edited On 09.29.08

jrowa001
September 29th 2008
8752 Comments


cant wait for another negative Trivium review and how un-elite it is to like it. much needed here

LearntoSwim
September 30th 2008
68 Comments


dungen's '4'?



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