History:
-“We launched in December, 2006.”
-Started with just the two main editors
under the pseudonyms Axl Rosenberg and Vince Neilstein because, from
one interview they gave: “It’s just that if the father of a
fourteen year old girl you met at Avenged Sevenfold show is looking
for you, and he thinks your name is 'Axl Rosenberg' it’s going to
be a lot harder for him to track you down”
-From that same interview, they knew
they had made it “The first time one of our heroes from our youth
threatened to sue us, I knew we were onto something”
-Vince quit his job to focus on it in July 2009. Axl did the same 6 months later. Has grown to include 2 more editors and 13 contributors.
-Vince quit his job to focus on it in July 2009. Axl did the same 6 months later. Has grown to include 2 more editors and 13 contributors.
Facts:
-It makes money: “Enough to support
two of us full time, an army of freelance reviewers and to pay for
server costs and site upkeep”
-Bloggers are a bit secretive, though
Vince said, “My profession is a full-time blogger! (and pseudo-ad
salesman). I went to the University of Michigan and graduated with a
BA in Communications Studies”
-Written from Brooklyn, NY, where they
also hosted a Music Festival in August, 2011 called The Metal
Suckfest.
Statistics:
-Broke 100,000 unique visitors in May
2009, 500,000 in November 2012 and currently sits at just over 1
million.
-60% of visitors from America, “the
rest in the places you might expect - - of course the English
speaking countries like the UK, Canada and Australia, and the
countries where metal is popular like Germany, Sweden, the
Netherlands, etc. “
What makes it unique:
-The mixture of humor with
news and gossip.
-For instance, they'll rate
Game of Thrones episodes by how metal they are, or have giveaways if
people can guess an unreadable band logo.
Strengths:
-Updates ridiculously often,
I counted 15 updates for yesterday, April 16th.
-Good sense of their
community, holding regular contests and features.
-Uncluttered, simple layout
the lets you pick what you want to read rather than plastering
everything over the front page.
-”We’re honest and unwilling to
compromise our opinions”
Weaknesses:
-”because of that, we
often find ourselves the subjects of hate”
-Comment section filled with
elitism and downright toxicity.
-Reviews sometimes based
more on personal taste.
Advice:
-”Just start writing!”
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