Long before EMERGE had a blog, and indeed before I even worked with BSSP or Influx, I was a music writer and would-be critic who admired the respect and bylines attained by David J Prince. An industry insider who's labors on behalf of the music he feels passionate about go far beyond simply writing good stories, Prince is a veteran event producer and maintained the infamous Miami Masterlist of events for a number of years purely as a community service for ravers in search of a killer night out while at Miami's Winter Music Conference.

Most recently, Prince was involved in the creation of the currently-on-hiatus M3 Summit, which pretty dramatically (and for the better) altered the topography of what Miami New Times journo Mosi Reeves called "the dance music orgy popularly known as Winter Music Conference. At the same time as Prince was organizing a three year run of really impressive programs for M3, he also found time to launch Earplug, a biweekly electronic music newsletter affiliated with Flavorpill.

Recently Prince and some colleagues quietly launched a killer website called The Daily Swarm, which aggregates and filters really interesting cultural news. We'd go into it in depth here, but then we'd have had nothing to ask David Prince about.... Without further ado, EMERGE's interview with David Prince of The Daily Swarm:

1) What exactly is The Daily Swarm?

I've been describing the website as the one for people in the music business who love music. Or just people who love music. It's a website with headlines and links to other sites primarily, with some original reporting,commentary and analysis filling it out. There's also a video scroll of good
clips from YouTube and other sites, really looking at the leading music video work, music in advertising, and again, the absurdities and humor music brings out. Everything on the site is hand-picked, and we try to have a unique consistent voice in the headlines. Trying to put as many hands as possible on the elephant in the room that is the exploding/imploding music business.

2) You announced The Daily Swarm in an email in which you mentioned that the company aggregates super-connected people with literally decades of combined experience in all areas of the music and publishing industries. Who is on staff?

I'm handling the editorial side, while Todd Roberts is the publisher. We have a guy named Noah Zoschke doing the back end programming and site development, and David Weissberg designed the site. We've got a bunch of people actively helping me search for the stories and links, and a couple of investors. There's going to be some additional regular contributors as well, as soon as we finish building out the back.

3) The Daily Swarm is a filter. What exactly are you guys hoping to distill out of the cacaphony of information out there?

Primarily, yes it is a filter. Most of the people I know don't have the time or the interest in scouring the net for the pertinent information that's out there. They're interested in having it all one place, as much as that's in any way possible. Hopefully, people can trust that the really
important news about music and the music industry will be on the Daily Swarm, and in a timely fashion. It's a fun moment to be observing the music industry - nobody knows where the bottom is - everybody's flying without shades. The EMI sale. Live Nation vs. AEG. Live Nation vs. Ticketmaster. iTunes vs the labels. DRM vs. MP3. The Zune. CD sales. Festivals explosion. Music and advertising. Sponsorship. Pirate Bay. Last.fm. The list of giant ongoing music-biz soap operas is really long. These stories are being played out over months and years.

And then there's bands, and DJs, and producers - the artists. We filter in our own way. There's a lot of same-ness in music coverage right now, only some of which is well-deserved. I think the goal is to be true to our instincts.

And the video thing is mostly for fun...there's so much great stuff out there, can never have too may eyes trying to make sense of all of it.

4) You call The Daily Swarm "news for the new business of music," could you explain this a bit? It doesn't read much like a trade publication. Is The Daily Swarm really an industry thing?

Well, I used to read Billboard when I was in high school. I suppose that makes me a bit of a weirdo, but I do think that people who love music are interested in the way the business works, as it has such a huge affect on how and what they get to hear. In the movies, box office scores and studio moves are the stuff of interest to many film buffs...its part of the appreciation of the art. So there's definitely an industry bent to the stories (both the ones we link to and the ones we write ourselves). At the same time, we're coming from a place of appreciation of pop music in all its guises and most of its genres, and the absurdities it throws up. Serious and childish all at the same time.

5) There is an element of insider "tips" and off the record info surfacing
on TDS. Could you discuss this a little and maybe describe how you guys vet
an off-the-record story before publishing it?

Well, yeah, that kind of stuff is fun, and truly enlightening at times too. I was a staff reporter for two years at SPIN magazine, and I was a fact-checker there for a bit before that, so I have experience in verification. This is my first time writing for the web on such a regular basis, so I think I'm being extra careful at this point. And I don't make those decisions myself either - those are definitely group discussions. Both the stories we've run so far with anything like that were fully vetted with multiple sources. In particular, the Saatchi/Dr. Martens piece was fully sourced with on the record quotes and statements. I did get an anonymous tip, but used that to get a scoop on the actual story. Ultimately we only have our reputation, so for the moment I can stand by it 100%. Hopefully I can always say that.

6) What else is on the horizon for the site? What sort of readership are you
guys going after? How are you publicizing the site?

Now that its up and running, just want to give it some time to develop its own rhythm and voice. I figure that if its as good as my friends have been telling me, then the audience who needs and wants it will find their way there. The internet has a wonderful way of working like that. The best way to advertise the site is to create some compelling wholly original content that others will link to and spread. That's what I'm focusing on first...ferreting out the news wherever I can find it. Its pretty fun actually.

Advice, tips, criticisms, ideas, links etc. always welcome at editor@thedailyswarm.com
Subscribe to The Daily Swarm RSS feed here

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