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 –
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| Avert Francis - first LWM reviewee |
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 2nd 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.
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| 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.