Fat Planet has fast become an essential filter on the world of music. Run by Stuart Buchanan, 35, of Marrickville, Sydney, the MP3 blog grew out of his weekly radio show on Sydney’s FBI 94.5 FM. The radio show (and site) aspire to a wider definition of ‘world music’. Hence the name. Typical of the best MP3 blogs, Stuart has an individual take on music, an elegant way with words and a workaholic’s list of RSS feeds, blogs, artist and label websites. Stuart and his wife run a web design shop – they’ve done sites for Depeche Mode, Gronland Records and Goldfrapp, and won the MTV Europe web award – so the simple effective website comes as no surprise. His background in writing - he edited the local student rag at uni - and a huge record collection fire the site with the passion of a music fan. He was kind enough to answer a few bounced questions on MP3 blogs and the state of music.

Why did you start your blog and what did you hope to get out of it?

The blog started as a natural extension of the radio show that I do on Sydney’s FBi 94.5FM. The idea of the show is to feature new alternative & contemporary music from around the world, to give an alternative view of what ‘world music’ is. That might be baile funk from Brazil, dancehall from Jamaica, hip-hop from Senegal, psych rock from Japan, electronica from Iceland etc. The show’s been running for two years, the blog started not long after that, basically as a recognition that much of the music I was playing were MP3s sourced from artist and label web sites and not from CDs.

Do you source your own music? Do you find it a challenge to keep your own musical vision/taste intact while filtering through so much music?

Labels send a few promos, but not as many as you might think – many labels are still nervous about allowing even one of their tracks to be posted as a free MP3. I respect that decision, but it’s becoming abundantly clear that a blog visitor hearing one MP3 can lead directly to an album sale – I hear it all the time from comments on the blog. Most of the music I source however comes via my own research, I have a long list of RSS feeds that I visit daily and make connections via articles, reviews and – of course – other members of the blog community. I never tire of hearing new music, but the long list of sites, CDs and mp3s can sometimes start to morph into a large elephant shitting in the corner of the room.

What decisions do you make when you’re thinking of hosting a song?

There’s a few – how easy is it to find this music elsewhere (if it’s readily available or well known, I may not post it); does it offer anything new or original; where is it from? Generally, I don’t post Anglo-American (also true of the radio show), but occasionally I like to post a few Australian tracks as the majority of readers are actually from overseas.

What sort of feedback do you get?

All very positive, people seem to appreciate the time and effort that goes into it and even a little ‘nice post!’ comment can work wonders on a Monday morning. I’ve yet to have any negative comments from any corner of the industry. I cover my ass by only posting mp3s from artist or label sites, or from other legitimate sources – i.e. that which is legally available for free elsewhere.

How many unique visitors do you get to the site? How many return?

I’m around 50,000 page impressions a month, and approx 12,000 users

What are bandwidth costs like? Do you host your own music or just link to others?

That’s where third party linking comes in handy – I’m conscious though of not just posting a link to an MP3 on a label site, but also posting links to the artist page, artist site or (as I’m sometimes asked to do) to online stores or to iTunes store too.

What do you think about file-sharing, p2p and so on?

I’ve used P2P to source music, yes – but generally for music that is no longer available for sale (out of print etc). It can definitely enhance and broaden your appreciation of music, however I think every P2P user will know when they’ve crossed the line. If you consciously use P2P to download an entire new album, then I’m absolutely opposed to that.

What do you think of the recent case in Australia, where mp3s4free.net went down for linking to music hosted elsewhere? Do you see any precedent for MP3 blogs in general?

Think of MP3 blogs like a combination of radio and music press – they work as a sampler for new music in exactly the same way as radio, and come bundled with the kind of critical appraisal that you’d expect from your favourite music magazine. Smarter labels and artists recognise that and work with blogs to promote their artists. It’s only a matter a time before the practice becomes more wide-spread, by which point the music industry itself may well be supporting the blog movement, rather than trying to attack at it as the bogeyman. Perhaps blogs will start to ‘licence’ free MP3s from artists and labels, I know this is starting to happen with some of the more successful American blogs, although it could potentially limit your posting options. The vast majority of blog editors do it because they love music and they want to spread the word about the artists they love – what does it say about the commercial end of the music industry that they want to stop this practice, and cut off this avenue for breaking new music?

What do you think of the impact of technology on the music industry? Do you think it is set for a shakeup? Or will the current players get everything under control?

I don’t have any faith in the major players to get it under control. For example, many of the majors use Windows as their download format, thus ensuring that iPod owners – who essentially kick-started the market for downloadable music - cannot buy the files. I can’t fathom that decision at all – it’s like trying to flog cassettes to owners of CD players. It’s the independent sector and the smaller operators who have grasped technology well. With digitial technology, means of distribution is now feasibly back in the hands of the artists, which surely has to be a good thing.

What do you think are the biggest issues at the moment?

Convincing people that digital distribution is here to stay, and not to be nervous or anxious about the implications.

Are there any really radical options being put forward? Eg. MP3 blogs, netlabels, vinyl, pay per download, free downloads, cottage industry. Do you think the music industry needs a shakeup and what do you think are good ideas or workable new models for the industry?

I think we’re already in the middle of that shake-up. There’s a lot of old school industry people sitting around talking, thinking about the future – while on the ground, the revolution has already happened. Crucially, an artist having their own means of distribution could alter the agreements that they enter into with their labels, management etc. It’s back to the ‘balance of power’ again.