Around Shanghai: Battling flack over Battle of the Bands

Hey let's not fight!

You guys are right, you were totally indie from the start. Your viewpoint has always been consistently... no, INCONTROVERTIBLY pro- indie. I said 'jumping on the indie integrity bandwagon' because it's a BAND wagon, as in the wagon that bands ride. But there's plenty of room for bloggers on that wagon. Remember, nothing tastes better when riding a packed wagon going nowhere than a sweet, refreshing Pepsi.

I put "prominent scene figures" in quotes because I quoted those exact words from your blog, Andy. I didn't mean to cast aspersions on their prominence.

We should put this to bed, it's off the Shanghaiist home page.

Ok, so the Guangzhou event was "tied" to the show and there is a relationship between the two, but it fell outside of the remit of your blog. Fair enough, that's your prerogative and if your blog is solely about what happens in the Shanghai studio and you felt you had nothing to add to the Guangzhou story then fine.

But who are the bandwagon jumpers you keep referring to? I've just read back some of the coverage from CMR, Andy's blog and Shanghaiist at the time and I don't really see where the bandwagon jumping occurred.

And like Andy says above, most of the posts from the aforementioned sites seem to share a lot of the opinions that you and Abe put forward in the Voxrocks post - that expecting a Pepsi-sponsored competition to be all about indie culture and artistic integrity was never going to end happily.

First off Jay, no one was writing anything about it any more until you kicked it off again by slinging mud ... at me, among others.

And you are repeating the insult again here now:

I only range outside the focus of my blog in order to pick fights with self-righteous pop culture commentators that jump on bandwagons.

Let's see, China Music Radar, Archie Hamilton of Splitworks that is, broke all the Pepsi stories and Shanghaiist, that is Elaine, did them here. Finally there was follow up from me and Jake.

So who jumped on a bandwagon then? Your blog implies that the bloggers (must be one, some or all of the above) only got in on the issue after first hearing that the bands were pissed about it and then changed their viewpoints accordingly.

That simply isn't true, unless you are referring to another mystery blogger? Care to name them? As for us, we all followed the news from the inception of the show and have kept consistent viewpoints the whole time.

I posted in reply to your article simply because you link my blog in the same sentence you mention jumping on the bandwagon. And it's not true.

Also, your blog has important scene people in speech marks when blasting the boycott which means you are referring to Zhang Haisheng of Yuyintang and Pupu of the Mushrooms and questioning their input and status on the Shanghai scene. They are the ones who posted the boycott thread at Douban.

We all know each other and see each other on the scene week in week out. For you to start slinging mud from your Pepsi branded blog is just ridiculous.

And the worst thing is that if you actually took time to read my blogs and comments on the Battle of the Bands show ... you will see that I almost completely agree with you and Abe's main point on your article. That rock and indie bands shouldn't have gone onto a mainstream show in the first place and it shouldn't have been a surprise to them.

Oh, and by 'pop culture' I mean 'culture related to that sweet, tasty pop beverage, Pepsi.'

I'm Jay. I write Vox Rock.

First off, great to see us English language bloggers are such diligent watchdogs of each others ethics and responsibilities, especially when slinging mud.

Pepsi is probably doing tons of events tied to Voice of a New Generation nation- wide. But the show itself is filmed right here in Shanghai. My blog is a chronicle of the production: what happens on set and the people involved, stories related to that.

I'm not Pepsi PR. I read about the Guangzhou accident on China Music Radar.

What am I going to 'report' about that? I have no new information or insight. And it falls outside the focus of my blog.

I only range outside the focus of my blog in order to pick fights with self- righteous pop culture commentators that jump on bandwagons. Bandwagons aren't okay to jump on. Not in my book.

So, here is a link to the brandrepublic article that says the accident took place at a 'voice of a new generation' battle of the bands comp. It's includes a statement from Pepsi about it.

Is this not the same Pepsi Battle of the Bands that Jay blogs? Are there two?

Can you explain it to me, Abe? I'm seriously willing to admit my own confusion here. Is that article I linked what you are referring to as having their facts wrong?

The Guangdong stage accident link up there takes you to the source. Jay should call it out if it's incorrect.

Let him make a blog post at Vox Rock making the distinction clear and explaining the difference. I'd like to know more about the accident and the event in question.

Why should the Battle of the Bands blog mention anything about the Guangzhou stage accident? It was a completely unrelated event by Pepsi, a corporation that sponsors thousands of events around the world. Damn Jay, I guess you should start reporting on all of those events as well!

The one who needs to be called out is the journalist that doesn't do proper research into the association between two events. But, then again, this is Shanghai and we like to practice our journalism with Chinese characteristics (damn it, where is my red packet!).

You guys so do not get it. It's Pepsi! It's a big corporation, and it's American, and so it *sucks*! Just ask Andy Best!