I've always considered This Noise Is Ours to be an ethical blog (I.E. not charging for anything such as preferential coverage or asking for physical review copies from every band that submits material to me, like some sketchy blogs do online). I don't feel the need to do so, because I see it as a huge privilege to be able to do what I do and because at the end of the day, this is a hobby for me and I've always said that the minute it stops being fun, I'll shut it down.
I've also toyed with the idea of making the blog a subscription only blog and about the best, most ethical way of doing this. Not because I want to make money (as I've always wanted it to remain as a not-for-profit effort) but because I always thought it was an unspoken rule that independent blogs like mine should remain free and accessible to all.
With that in mind, I want to canvass your opinions on an idea that I've been thinking about recently. The idea is to make This Noise Is Ours a subscriber only platform, whereby I would charge each subscriber £1 a year to access the blog and in return 50% would go to charity and the other 50% would be put back into the blog (for running costs) and towards helping to release music etc. I would ask subscribers to choose the charities that will benefit and I will also make sure that I work with labels and bands etc to offer subscribers extra perks as a result.
I would welcome your comments both here and on social media. Please bear in mind that this is only an idea right now and I am not going to do this without considering as many opinions and voices as I possibly can. The floor is yours.
I would join.
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