Hello, and welcome to the first of what I hope will be a year-long blog project, in which I interview various people from all over the Irish music industry and try to establish just how we’re all doing – the ‘State of the Nation’, if you like. First up is Greg Synnott, the talented blogger behind Irish Blog Award winning music site
7BillionPeople.net. Greg has a full time position at a major Irish national paper, yet continues to plow his musical endeavours into his own site, which is currently awaiting a revamp. You’ll catch him exploring the experimental fringes of the Dublin music scene and occasionally chipping in over at
Goldenplec.com. What he’d like from the Irish music scene? Make his jaw drop again, lads…
What’s the role of journalism in the Irish music industry in your view?
The role of journalism in Irish music is to filter the extensive amount of bands that keep producing new music. The average consumer can’t listen to everything, so the music journalist takes on that task and offers up what they think is the best from the scene. They don’t always get it right and too many journalists just push everything but I believe that each persons role defines itself really. No single music journalist is doing the same thing normally and people will follow a varying amount looking for new filters to tell them what’s good.
Can we trust the media/ bloggers to express a balanced opinion?
Yes and no. Bias seeps through everything. You will notice a pattern of journalists pushing acts they obviously favour over others if for no other reason than they’re a fan and want to see those acts succeed. It’s not exactly a bad thing, but it’s not good either. It’s just something that becomes part of opinion based journalism, balance is a tricky thing to get right.
Tell us about something in Irish music – be it a band, label, promoter, venue, whatever – that you think is a bit special.
Finding one single thing to define as a bit special is a nearly impossible task. Honestly, my favourite part of the entire Irish music scene is everyone’s willingness to promote and help each other. You see it online all the time, bands etc. going out of their way to help everyone else when they can. It’s something of a rarity and really shines through in Irish music. Few people are out to better anyone else, they just want to make friends and have a good time.
