Interview with Adrien: Do You Like That Song?
1. First, can you introduce yourself? When did you start Do You Like That Song?
Hello guys, I’m Adrien from France, I’m 21 years old. I’m studying business in France, but I’m currently talking to you from Finland, where I’m studying this semester!
I started Do You Like That Song? in 2011. At the beginning it was just a Tumblr page to gather my music discoveries and share it with some friends, I was not updating it very regularly. But after seeing the number of followers increasing little by little, I decided to put more effort into it, and post daily. So the actual start of the blog was in fact at the beginning of 2012.
2. Can you tell us about the different sides of your personality and how they show up in your site Do You Like That Song?
Of course, the most obvious side is my passion for music. I started to be interested in music quite early, going through different genres and artists that I won’t cite here. ;)
When I listen to a song, I am usually curious to know more about the band: where they are from, on which label they release their music… That’s one thing I try to communicate in my articles, so that readers can understand the background, and discover more music they like. But I still keep the posts quite short, as music is mainly about listening and feelings, right?
The only criteria to post a song is that I like it: it’s that simple and straightforward approach that I wanted to communicate when I chose the title of the blog. And of course, the title is also related to the likes on Facebook, as it is an essential place to gather followers and share music.
I usually listen to artists that few people are aware of among my entourage, I aimed to keep the same with my blog. It’s harder to do it on the internet, given the huge number of music blogs sharing music daily. But I think it’s the best way to differentiate my blog, find good music that is not already on the biggest music blogs. Again, I just post what I like without taking care of the “hype” or the most popular names that will get the maximum likes on Facebook. I really hope people will discover new artists by visiting my blog and think “Yes, I do like that song!” after they click play.
Finally, I like the fact to have my own space that I can personalize and organise the way I want. I’m often thinking of what I can do to improve the blog, and did several changes already, based on new ideas and suggestions I receive. I lived in different countries for my studies, and this blog is a project I can pursue anywhere: I started it while I was studying in Japan, probably as a way to re-affirm my musical tastes while being confronted daily by Japanese pop.
3. You focus on Electro music, but what specific types of electro do you like and what do you think of the scene today?
Indeed, the term electro is very large. I really like nu-disco, I like the groovy and melodic side of it, and the vocals. I also enjoy house, deep house, synth-pop, chillwave… I mostly post nu-disco, but I try to vary the genres.
The scene of today is very interesting and full of new talents. We just need a little effort to find them, and that’s why music blogs are here! Before launching my own blog, I was visiting music blogs daily, especially Golden Scissors, and that’s how I discovered so many good artists, that are the essential ones in the nu-disco scene, but are not known on a more global level. So, I mean that anyone can access to this type of music easily.
There are really good artists, but also some that, after getting some hype, repeat again and again the same formula without evolution, and it becomes boring. I try to stay objective in my choices: if an artist that I regularly feature releases a song or remix that I don’t like, I won’t talk about it. I also wish there was less remixes for a single song: the biggest trend in 2012 was remixes for Lana del Rey, in 2013, it will probably be for Kavinsky and Phoenix.
The major part of the electronic scene, more mainstream is EDM. I used to listen to it, but my tastes evolved and will probably evolve again. As we say in French, “all tastes are in nature”, so I won’t start the debate about the EDM scene here. I don’t mind that the music I listen to is not played on radio stations, I think that taking time to look for new artists is part of the fun.
But, when you’re tired of listening to EDM, come visit Do You Like That Song!
4. You just celebrated your one year anniversary for the site, how did you you mark the occasion, and how would you sum up this year?
To celebrate this first anniversary, I decided to make 3 mixtapes, summing up the main genres that I share: House, Chill and Nu-Disco. These mixtapes were aired on the webradio Aquarium Radio, during the week of the anniversary. This webradio supports me by airing my monthly mixtapes, and I naturally thought about them as a partner for this event. For those who missed it, don’t worry, they are now available for streaming and download!
I would say it was a great first year for my blog! When I started, I had no idea if it would work, and how long I would keep on running it. But today it gathers hundreds of readers, and I regularly receive positive feedbacks about it. I tried to make the blog evolve little by little, by changing the design, and opening new sections, like interviews and monthly mixtapes.
I’m also very satisfied with the relationships I could develop around the blog: I enjoy being able to get in touch with artists, labels, as well as other bloggers to discuss about music… or anything else. The American blog Upside Sounds and the French one Beware! asked me to contribute on their blogs, so it is a great opportunity for me to learn from different techniques, and reach different audiences.
One of the interesting projects of this year was the flashmoblogging, initiated by Sodwee: around 20 French music blogs collaborated for a big post, shared simultaneously, and featuring the new artists on who you should keep an eye in 2013. We received positive reactions to it, and I think it’s nice to have this type of collaborations between blogs. We are a couple of French blogs, quite complementary in the genres we share, and I always discover great music by visiting these blogs. I hope we will have other similar projects, I trust Sodwee for that.
5. In terms of new, emerging music, how has technology helped music lovers in your opinion?
I’m old enough to know how it was before having all this technology, so I have a point of comparison to answer this question! I think that technology definitely helps music lovers!
Obviously, now, anyone with a computer and an internet connection can listen to any songs he wants. When I discovered Youtube, I was really amazed to be able to listen to any song. I also created an account on MySpace and really enjoyed the fact to look for new bands, and interact with them. It is something I keep on doing today with Do You Like That Song?, via the different social networks. Now, Soundcloud enables to follow your favorite artists and discover their newest songs as soon as it is published, without any intermediaries.
To discover new, emerging music, many great resources are available, you just have to find the good ones that correspond to your tastes, otherwise it takes too much time. Personnally, the updates from my favorite blogs and artists on Facebook, Soundcloud and Youtube are all I need to find new music!
Another big advantage of internet is the fact to find a community of people sharing the same tastes: when you listen to non mainstream music, it is harder to find people around you with who you can talk about it, and this can be frustrating.
Frustrating indeed! Thanks Adrien! Make sure you follow Do You Like That Sound on Twitter, like his Facebook page, and definitely subscribe to him on Whyd!