Sensing the confusion in the wake of the Village Voice firing venerable rock critic Robert "X-gau" Christgau, Gawker Media music blog Idolator has swept in to claim more relevance in the "End of the Year" music poll market.
Christgau was the champion of the Voice's "Pazz and Jop" poll, which will continue this year, and, no hard feelings, Christgau plans to contribute. But Gawker has tapped esteemed freelancer Michaelangelo Matos to compile its own version called "Jackin' Pop."
No one loves new media v. older media story like the New York Times, so they got to writing about it.
For the uninitiated, Pazz and Jop aggregates hundreds of critics' lists to compile the infallible list for music purists. Gawker's offering will include the same. They're both fishing for the same critics. It was only a matter of time before someone did something (allegedly) to gain the upper hand.
Idolator reports, from an alleged tipster, the following:
Village Voice wants us to vote, as Idolator is going to compete with us head-to-head on the Pazz and Jop poll. I'm not allowed to vote in the Idolator poll, and while you do not have to be exclusive to Village Voice, I do encourage you to be exclusive to us and not participate in the Idolator poll.
Idolator, of course, is loving this. While blogs have been doing the aggregating thing for sometime, it didn't get serious until Gawker Media got involved.
There are three scenarios.
Idolator poll gets more participants - Idolator wins, upstart tops 30-some-odd-year poll in its first year.
Both polls turn out to be similar, due to equal participation -Idolator wins, upstart matches 30-some-odd-year poll in its first year.
Idolator poll gets few participants - Idolator wins, upstart still gets media attention despite flagging poll.
Traditional brands have no chance!