For some time now, I’ve been getting offers to run commercial content at this website. Once every few months or so, a marketing company will contact me about the possibility of paying to publish a “guest blog.”
Typically they dangle an undisclosed amount of cash in front of me, with promises of serving up guest content that will be “consistent” with my site. They also assure me that I’d have final say about the content. As if they’re doing me a favor by letting me decide what goes up on my own website. So kind.
Of course it’s a quasi-scam. They’d give me nothing more than a thinly veiled commercial to run. And for that, how much are they willing to pay?
I don’t know, I’ve never followed up. Whenever one of these offers pops up in my Inbox, I just trash it. If they’re persistent, and some of them are, I spam it.
Recently, however, a new kind of commercial offer came my way. Something a little more insidious, perhaps, than supplying material for the website.
I’ve been offered a form of payola.
A woman named Shana emailed me about a ticket broker called ScoreBig, which deals in tickets for sports, concerts, and theaters.
I want to give you $100 off an event of your choice so you can experience ScoreBig for yourself, she said. In exchange, I’d love to hear what you think and see a review of ScoreBig on your blog.
The ethics of this are pretty straightforward. It’s perfectly fine to accept Shana’s money and write a review of ScoreBig so long as you’re completely transparent with your audience about what’s going on. If, however, you don’t disclose payment, then you’re being a creep.
Perhaps some bloggers, particularly those looking to monetize their sites, would jump at the chance to grab an easy Benjamin. But me? I don’t want their hundred bucks. I’d rather just write about it.
The more common “guest blog” offers were something new to me when I first encountered them. But Shana’s proposition brings back memories from when I was a radio DJ and a freelance music journalist.
All kinds of freebies float around the music industry. Or at least that used to be the case back when, you know, there was still a music industry to speak of. I have no idea what it’s like now, amid the wreckage of that once mighty enterprise.
But back then? Let’s just say that working in radio is where I first encountered the word/acronym shwag (SHit We All Get) or swag for the politer set (Stuff).
I wasn’t even at a big, commercial, megawatt station blasting the pop hits into the air. I spun records at lowly, non-profit public stations, one college- and one community-based, so it’s not like we were swimming in free cocaine. But even for us, little goodies came through now and again.
Getting guest-listed for shows was a given. It was kind of an insult if you didn’t get a +1 (you and a free guest). Free records and CDs were also commonplace. And there were various other little doodads from time to time. None of it very valuable, but all of it with a purpose: Here’s a little something for you, so maybe you can do a little something for us.
In other words, play the record. Push the show. Promote the band.
At the public stations where I worked, all the DJs volunteers and the stakes were pretty low, so it was difficult for an industry person to make anyone feel beholden. People were DJing for the love of it, and the shwag had such little value that there was no real guilt or repercussion they could hang over you.
But a hundred bucks? Hmmm. That’s almost real money for writing up a quick review. I’m sure I could bang it out in an hour or less.
But that’s okay Shana, I think I’ll pass.
Don’t get me wrong. I have no problem getting paid to write. You wanna hire me? I’m available. In fact, I just got an advance to write a coffee table book (more on that in a future post).
But no one hired me to run this site. In fact, I paid a couple of people to design it and help get it up and running. So this little diddy’s mine. And if it ever does get monetized, it’ll be on my terms.
Which of course means it’ll probably never get monetized. Because whether a website, a radio station, a newspaper, a publisher, or most any other medium, people hire you for what they want, not for what you want. And this here site is what I want.
Hopefully it’s what you want too, at least once in a while. If so, sit back, relax, and enjoy the freedom.