By Jane Hamilton & Rachel Sherman, MyMediaInfo
Last December, Mashable published five predictions for the music industry in 2011. They were on the mark with music piracy never dying and more artists going social, but even they couldn’t have predicted that Lady Gaga and Justin Beiber would still be so popular after a year! New music is being created and produced faster than ever, and it’s almost impossible to keep up with the new names that pop up every day. With YouTube and reality television adding to the mix, sorting through the noise to find music that speaks to you can be difficult. Keeping track of the best genres, artists, and albums is easier with reviews from these experts who listen for you, and tell you the best in alternative music, hip-hop, eclectic, underground, dup-step and more.
1. @fuseboxradio: Founded in 1998 by DJ Fusion, FuseBox Radio is a syndicated radio broadcast channel with a strong Afro-American influence. Described as “a diverse mixture of Hip-Hop, Soul, Jazz, Reggae, Rock & other forms of Black Music from all over the world,” the show features guest interviews, news and commentary on industry trends and music communities of various types. The show has spread from its roots at Rutgers University to several websites, FM & Internet radio stations and outlets. You can read up more about FuseBox Media and its members at the blog FuseBoxMediaUSA.com.
Tweets: 77,117 | Followers: 5,655 | MMI Rank: 527 | Stars: 5
2. @NMEmagazine: NME Magazine, or New Musical Express, is a weekly music publication in the UK. Starting off as a newspaper in 1952, NME is now a magazine and website with over 5 million users per month. NME also has radio channels, television channels, awards ceremonies and several clubs around the world. It offers the latest news in music, along with album releases, reviews of albums and musicians and more.
Tweets: 19,586 | Followers: 216,144 | MMI Rank: 575 | Stars: 5
3. @KenPlume: Ken Plume is the owner of Fred Entertainment, a pop culture website that features music reviews, interviews with musicians and more. It is also home of “The Masters of Song Fu”, a songwriting version of Iron Chef, and “A Bit of a Chat with Ken Plume”, where celebrities have weird but interesting conversations with the host. Ken has written a book called There’s a Zombie in my Treehouse!, a children’s horror book.
Tweets: 27,961 | Followers: 7,692 | MMI Rank: 884 | Stars: 5
4. @Gigwise: Gigwise is an online music magazine that features music news, album and band reviews, information about music festivals and concert tickets, and community forums. Based in the UK, the website was founded in 2001 and began as a live music listings service in Liverpool, and then went on to cover news, reviews and interviews. In April 2011, Gigwise launched a monthly club night at XOYO.
Tweets: 21,560 | Followers: 11,580 | MMI Rank: 906 | Stars: 5
5. @JpizzleDizzle: This is the twitter page of Joseph JP Patterson, an editor for MTV’s The Wrap Up blog, a columnist for Grammy.com and XXL Magazine, a street music correspondent for BBC Radio 1, and Huffington Post blogger. Known in throughout the USA and UK for his astute appreciation of the underground music scene, Patterson started his career as a night club promoter before he eventually became Contributing Music and Clubs Editor for SUPERSUPER magazine. Through his various columns and his blog, Joseph brings his readers the best reviews of grime, dubstep, bassline, hip-hop, and UK rap.
Tweets: 39,778 | Followers: 3,953 | MMI Rank: 1,112 | Stars: 5
6. @grimygoods: This Los Angeles-based music review website, Grimy Goods, features content, giveaways, shows and events calendars, photo galleries, and tickets to off-the-mainstream performances and music events. The Grimy Goods team is mostly made up of women, and the group reflects the eclectic music selection and content of the website itself.
Tweets: 21,949 | Followers: 3,665 | MMI Rank: 2,502 | Stars: 5
7. @punchbowlblog: The PunchBowl blog was founded by Susan Younis, a producer for MTV, and Archna Sawjani, a music journalist. After noticing that the most popular music blogs were US-based, they started their entertainment blog meant to highlight all of the talent in the UK. PunchBowl offers information and updates about everything in the entertainment business, including music, fashion, politics, arts and gossip. It features interesting and informative music reviews on bands, the latest releases, and shows and events.
Tweets: 18,326 | Followers: 3,798 | MMI Rank: 2,904 | Stars: 5
8. @richthane: Richard Thane co-founded The Line of Best Fit, a UK-based independent online music magazine that features new and alternative music with articles and stories from renowned music writers and photographers of the world. The site also includes reviews of records, artists, bands, and shows from all over the world. Thane’s tweets are protected, but don’t be afraid to send a request so you can follow his insights.
Tweets: 21,216 | Followers: 2,331 | MMI Rank: 2,920 | Stars: 5
9. @tsururadio: Aaron Tsuru is a photographer and music enthusiast who shares his eclectic thoughts, photography and interests in music on his blogs and through his twitter feed. He has several blogs, including one at which he shares his mix tapes and reviews the songs he includes. His twitter page is an update on his latest mixes and more. He also tweets about music at @TSURUCOMMUNITY.
Tweets: 20,177 | Followers: 1,561 | MMI Rank: 3,186 | Stars: 5
10. @martyndarkly: Martyn Casserly is a journalist, musician and podcaster from London. He’s behind MovieMantras.com and is also a product reviewer and feature writer for Guitar&Bass magazine. Previously, he was a feature writer for Wired Magazine and a product reviewer for Musicplanet Magazine. His twitter page shares links to his podcasts, updates on this music reviews and more.
Tweets: 16,708 | Followers: 628 | MMI Rank: 3,894 | Stars: 5
* All number of tweets and followers are based on facts collected while the article was written.
** To recreate this list: If you are a customer of MyMediaInfo, and have access to the social media module of the database, then you can recreate this list using some easy steps.
1. Click on the Social Media Module. On this page, under the ‘Twitter’ column, click on ‘Topic Tags’.
2. In the search field, type in the search term ‘music review’, and click on ‘GO’. You will get a list of tags that are related to the search term.
3. Select “music review” and click “OK”.
4. You will now see a display of the number of results from this search. Click on “Get Results” to view the list.
5. To rearrange the list in a descending order of MMI rank, click on the column called “MMI Rank”. The MMI Rank is based on frequency of activity on Twitter among other aspects. Remember, the smaller the MMI Rank number, the more influential the Twitter handle.
