To do a proper scientific survey of a scene as small as the UK prog scene would require a far more time and effort than anybody remotely sensible would consider worthwhile.

Polling Council

The whole argument that this Myers blog was making was based on an entirely wrong understanding of polls. Not a leg to stand on before we even got to the factual inaccuracies, timeline issues, or the agenda that Tim has outlined.

And if Panic Room used their social media presence to canvass for votes, I really don’t see what the problem is. Success in music *does* have as much to do with promotion as it does with making amazing music, and anyone who claims that’s cheating is a child. It’s not like we’re talking about mainstream shock-and-awe campaigns for mediocre nonentities who will have 15 minutes of fame then disappear, is it?

And one thing I need to make clear. Esoteric Antenna are not a “major record label”. As co-proprietor Vicky Powell has stated, they’re part of the Cherry Red group, the oldest surviving independent label in the UK. Given the reprehensible behaviour of the EMI/Sony/WMG/Universal cartel who represent “The majors” in recent years, it’s a very important distinction to maintain.

But then, every poll or list drawn as a result of fan-based votes will always come under suspicion – because everyone has different tastes and therefore expects different results… just consider the names in the current top music charts, and see how many of them you agree with, and how many you believe are up there because they’ve had money and top names pushing to get them there, rather than because they are the best of the best.

The blog is rather unfair and I will state that I don’t agree with it… I thought the results of the polls were good – and was even suprised (in a positive way) to see some names that I didn’t expect to be included. It looks like someone was angry about something and wanted to lash out – and took an ill-advised path, that must have drawn regret as the post did get removed.

Back-stage politics are an evil in the music industry – I know one band who were “cyber-attacked” by someone intent on sabotaging their FB pages, with the resultant effect on their analytics meaning that their traffic (and subsequent exposure) was massively reduced. But rather than get mad, they turned it around and called on their fans to help them re-raise their page-views… which they couldn’t do unless the fans were genuine and on their side (which they were). This same band are confused that anyone would feel the need to “play dirty” – they see their fellow musicians as siblings rather than rivals, and any positive exposure for another band (particularly in the Prog scene) is a good thing, that scores not just for the genre, but also for small / unsigned bands everywhere.

It’s such a shame that everyone can’t just Get Along… but I suppose that while some see music as an art-form, others see it as a competitive business – and in the business world, dirty tactics and nasty tricks are weapons wielded by those who know they can’t better others if they play fair.