I got my first solicitation for promotion on this site the other day. A young singer-songwriter's rep e-mailed me about an upcoming show in Madison, gave me links to a couple of MP3's that I could "share with [my] readers," etc. I passed, primarily because I can't go to the show myself, but also because this is not an MP3 blog. If I'd been interested, and if I didn't have other commitments the night of her show, I might have gone and shot a clip or two for the podcast.

Then I saw that her rep had also spammed Upcoming.org, posting her entire tour without a self-promotion flag. I take social software seriously, and people who use it without being on the up and up break it. Trust is our only currency here, and truth has no price.

In other news, 1990's college rock mainstays Cracker have a greatest hits album coming out soon. Virgin has compiled hits from throughout their catalog for the record, and has done so without the band's blessing.* In fact, the band has gone so far as to re-record each and every song on Virgin's compilation to release their own version, Greatest Hits Redux, on the very same day, via indie label Cooking Vinyl. I think that's kind of hilarious.

* I don't know why they need to do this, since 2000's Garage d'Or is a perfectly good compendium, but whatever.