Today it was announced that the Federal Trade Commission has amended it’s guidelines on endorsements to include bloggers. This means that anytime a blog receives something free, or an outright payment for a review, they must make a full disclosure.
We realize there is a whole world out there of other blogs getting cool tech gadgets or free trips but here in the good old music realm, what does that mean? Idolator thinks that means we must disclose when we get a free cd in the mail. The Culture of Me believes it also includes guestlist spots. Does it? We’re not sure.
We’re not so naive to think that there are no blogs out there accepting payment for reviews that they do not then post as a “sponsored review” which, to put it bluntly, flat out sucks. Here at TMS, that doesn’t happen however, you all know that for the most part we go to shows for free right? But it’s never for a show we’d otherwise wouldn’t buy a ticket for if we weren’t so desperately poverty stricken. You might also notice in our FAQs that we do not want cds. EVER. Ok, maybe cool music geekout things but please see our previous comment on being poor, we live in small places that cannot possibly hold cartons of music. As for anything else, well, if someone ever wants to send us a new camera (which we really really need, hint hint), ship us someplace outrageous or pay us buttloads of cash to review something, we promise to tell you all. Deal? In the mean time, we’ll just continue to accept our usual sexual favors for reviews. Oh, wait. Do we have to declare that too FTC?
