A COOL HALF A MIL

LWM Passes the 0.5million Readers Milestone

Way back in 2012 I took a job in Exeter which meant leaving London – my home of 10 years –

Avert Francis - first LWM reviewee

winding up my monthly Death & Glory gig nights which I ran with good friends and, most importantly, being able to see my better half more than once a month. This was all good but without gigs to arrange and all of London’s temptations on my doorstep, what the hell was I going to do with my evenings? The answer for the future was, ironically, in my past – I had been reviewing music since I did work experience at Plymouth’s Scene Magazine aged 15 and then was some years before the internet so I fired up my laptop and Listen With Monger was born.

I genuinely never expected this blog to turn in to the obsession, the joy and the therapy that it has over the past 8 years and I certainly didn’t expect the sheer quality and quantity of music that I get sent on a daily basis. What really stunned me a couple of months ago, however, was just how close I was getting to having had half a million visitors to the site in that time. 500,000 times someone has clicked on a link to their mates band, a new singer or just been curious about a press picture and that’s ruddy amazing. During writing this blog I’ve moved to Cornwall, had a son, got married, bought a house, been diagnosed with cancer, got the all clear, got cancer again (not 2^nd all clear just yet), riled against Brexit, riled against the Tories and generally aged the way you do, but throughout it all the music has kept me sane and sharing it with you all has been an absolute pleasure.

Now, a lot of blogs far better than mine have gone to the wall in recent years because this lark doesn’t pay and it takes a lot of time but I can’t imagine life without this window on to the musical world so I’m carrying on, health permitting. No, I just wanted to pause at this significant milestone and say a massive THANK YOU. Thank you to the readers, the musicians, the creators, the PR companies, the labels, the managers and everyone who has ever shared or retweeted a post to share the excellent new music that exists out there even though the mainstream wouldn’t know it.

Joanna Cooke

There have been over 3530 reviews from all over the world with only one writer (apart from that time I asked the kids at Keyham Barton School in Plymouth to lend a hand) and one laptop. It started with a review of the debut album by London based singer-songwriter Avert Francis, ‘Is He Sleepwalker’, and that’s an album I still listen to now. The most read articles have been about the Doors Alive live shows (2.69k readers), the second EP from Plymouth based Joanna Cooke (1.36k readers) and the single ‘Exposure’ by Manchester collective Y.O.U.N.G. (1.33k). The average clicks per post is 141, the blog is slightly more popular in the States than it is in the UK (32% compared to 30%) with Russia, Germany, France and Canada following up next and, for some reason I still can’t work out, the most popular search keywords that bring readers to Listen With Monger are ‘the toilets when you’. No idea what you guys are searching.

Anyway, that’s all just stats really but it was fun to have a little trip down memory lane. I’m going to keep on doing this thing and there will be changes (anyone enjoying the monthly playlists?) but this is just one man with one laptop and one insatiable appetite for new music so, y’know, bear with me and we might just get to a million in less than eight years.