Sputnikmusic
Encyclopedia
Sputnikmusic, or simply Sputnik, is a music website offering music criticism
and music news alongside features commonly associated with wiki
-style websites. The format of the website is unusual in that it allows both professional and amateur content to co-exist, distinguishing it from similar music websites such as Pitchfork Media
and Tiny Mix Tapes
, as well as collecting and presenting a wiki
-style metadata database in a manner comparable to Rate Your Music
and IMDB
.
Over time, the site has come to be established as a credible source, earning mentions in mainstream print, becoming a featured reviewer on Metacritic
, and being used as a news source by other websites. As a general rule, the staff writers tend to focus on new releases; however, any user is welcome to submit a review of any album that has been officially released. All genres of music are covered by the site, with dedicated subsections for metal
, punk, indie
, rock
, hip-hop
, and pop
; an 'Other' section also caters to electronica
, jazz
, reggae
, trip-hop
, classical music
, and soundtrack
s.
The musical focus of the site's staff has often been on non-mainstream artists, with the likes of Burial
, Kidcrash, Cynic
, Kayo Dot
, Off Minor
, and The Tallest Man on Earth
performing strongly in the staff-voted Best of 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2010 features.
network, which also included MusicianForums; the reviews that existed on the website on launch day had been imported from the latter's CD Reviews subforum. At this point, the site was simply a source of amateur content; it is also worth noting that due to its association with MXTabs, the site's focus was noticeably skewed toward guitar-based music, notably metal
and rock
, at this time.
In June 2006, following claims made by the MPA
about the supposed illegality of music tabs, MXTabs was closed, later to be acquired by MusicNotes. At this time, Sputnikmusic became its own separate entity, with MusicianForums renamed as the SputnikMusic Forums. It was at this point that the focus of Sputnik began to shift toward providing professional content, with a news page added, and a stratification system implemented for reviewers. As part of this shift, several features have also sporadically been provided by the site's staff writers, including live reviews, interviews, exclusive MP3
streams, and year-end features.
As well as showing the score a reviewer has given to the album, a review page will also show the scores given by other individual reviewers, and the average
rating given by all users. Should enough users have rated the album, a bar chart will also be shown indicating how many votes each rating has.
Music journalism
Music journalism is criticism and reportage about music. It began in the eighteenth century as comment on what is now thought of as 'classical music'. This aspect of music journalism, today often referred to as music criticism , comprises the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of...
and music news alongside features commonly associated with wiki
Wiki
A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
-style websites. The format of the website is unusual in that it allows both professional and amateur content to co-exist, distinguishing it from similar music websites such as Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
and Tiny Mix Tapes
Tiny Mix Tapes
Tiny Mix Tapes is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, as well as its mix tapes generator.-History:Originally called Tiny Mixtapes Gone to Heaven and...
, as well as collecting and presenting a wiki
Wiki
A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
-style metadata database in a manner comparable to Rate Your Music
Rate Your Music
Rate Your Music is a metadata database where musical albums, EPs, singles, videos, bootlegs, and movies are rated and reviewed by users. This data is then used to generate recommendations for users and to create rated lists of albums...
and IMDB
Internet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
.
Over time, the site has come to be established as a credible source, earning mentions in mainstream print, becoming a featured reviewer on Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, and being used as a news source by other websites. As a general rule, the staff writers tend to focus on new releases; however, any user is welcome to submit a review of any album that has been officially released. All genres of music are covered by the site, with dedicated subsections for metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
, punk, indie
Indie (music)
In music, independent music, often shortened to indie music or "indie" is a term used to describe independence from major commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, and an autonomous, Do-It-Yourself approach to recording and publishing....
, rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, hip-hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
, and pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
; an 'Other' section also caters to electronica
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
, trip-hop
Trip hop
Trip hop is a music genre consisting of downtempo electronic music which originated in the early 1990s in England, especially Bristol. Deriving from "post"-acid house, the term was first used by the British music media and press as a way to describe the more experimental variant of breakbeat which...
, classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
, and soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
s.
The musical focus of the site's staff has often been on non-mainstream artists, with the likes of Burial
Burial (musician)
Burial is the stage name of William Bevan, an electronic musician from London. His music contains elements of dubstep, 2-step garage, ambient and house music. His eponymous debut album was released in 2006 to critical acclaim...
, Kidcrash, Cynic
Cynic (band)
Cynic is an American progressive rock band, incorporating experimental music, alternative, metal and jazz fusion elements, founded in Miami, Florida and currently based in Los Angeles, California. Their first album, Focus, released on September 14, 1993, is widely regarded as a landmark release of...
, Kayo Dot
Kayo Dot
Kayo Dot is an American avant-rock/experimental music group that was formed in 2003 by Toby Driver. They released their debut album Choirs of the Eye on John Zorn's Tzadik Records label that year. Tzadik's descriptive label on that album reads: "Kayo Dot powerfully integrates elements of modern...
, Off Minor
Off Minor
Off Minor are a Hardcore/Emo band from New York City. They formed in 1999 with Jamie Behar, Matt Smith, and Steven Roche, all former Saetia members. However, Smith later left and was replaced by Steven's brother Kevin on bass...
, and The Tallest Man on Earth
The Tallest Man on Earth
Kristian Matsson is a singer-songwriter from Dalarna, Sweden. Since 2006, he has released two full-length albums and two EPs...
performing strongly in the staff-voted Best of 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2010 features.
History
Sputnikmusic was originally launched by Jeremy Ferwerda as an offshoot from the MxtabsMxtabs
MXTabs.net is a music tablature website created in 1999, offering free guitar, bass, and drum tablature created by users of the site, in addition to music reviews and instrument lessons. Although the site shut down in June 2006 in response to claims made by the MPA about the supposed illegality of...
network, which also included MusicianForums; the reviews that existed on the website on launch day had been imported from the latter's CD Reviews subforum. At this point, the site was simply a source of amateur content; it is also worth noting that due to its association with MXTabs, the site's focus was noticeably skewed toward guitar-based music, notably metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
and rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, at this time.
In June 2006, following claims made by the MPA
Music Publishers' Association
The Music Publishers Association of the United States is a music publishing organization based in New York City. Founded in 1895, the MPA is the oldest music trade organization in the United States...
about the supposed illegality of music tabs, MXTabs was closed, later to be acquired by MusicNotes. At this time, Sputnikmusic became its own separate entity, with MusicianForums renamed as the SputnikMusic Forums. It was at this point that the focus of Sputnik began to shift toward providing professional content, with a news page added, and a stratification system implemented for reviewers. As part of this shift, several features have also sporadically been provided by the site's staff writers, including live reviews, interviews, exclusive MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
streams, and year-end features.
Reviewer stratification
Currently on Sputnikmusic, four classes of reviewer exist that demarcate whether content should be considered professional or not.- Staff Writers are the writers who contribute the professional-standard content, which includes featured articles in addition to reviews. There are currently 23 staff reviewers, four of whom also act as moderators and administrators for the site.
- Contributing Reviewers can not contribute features, and are not eligible for inclusion by either Metacritic or Wikipedia, yet are acknowledged as being good writers who generate content of a high quality.
- EmeritusEmeritusEmeritus is a post-positive adjective that is used to designate a retired professor, bishop, or other professional or as a title. The female equivalent emerita is also sometimes used.-History:...
is a status given to former staff writers who no longer contribute to the site. Reviews by these users are acknowledged as professional.
- Users includes everybody who has not yet been promoted to any of the higher levels. Despite this, they can still contribute new reviews, artists, and albums to the database, edit data already present, and submit journals and lists.
Rating system
Sputnikmusic operates a simple 5-point rating system, starting at 1, that allows .5 intervals. As a guide to new reviewers, each of these values is assigned a word, ranging from 'Awful' (1.0) to 'Classic' (5.0).As well as showing the score a reviewer has given to the album, a review page will also show the scores given by other individual reviewers, and the average
Arithmetic mean
In mathematics and statistics, the arithmetic mean, often referred to as simply the mean or average when the context is clear, is a method to derive the central tendency of a sample space...
rating given by all users. Should enough users have rated the album, a bar chart will also be shown indicating how many votes each rating has.