The AbsolutePunk homepage as of November 2009. |
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| URL | www.absolutepunk.net |
|---|---|
| Slogan | Music Mends Broken Hearts |
| Type of site | Music, news and media |
| Registration | Optional |
| Available language(s) | English |
| Owner | Buzz Media |
| Created by | Jason Tate |
| Launched | June 6, 2000[1] |
AbsolutePunk is a website, online community, and alternative music news source founded by Jason Tate (the current CEO).[2] The website mainly focuses on artists who are relatively unknown to mainstream audiences, but it has been known to feature artists who have eventually achieved crossover success, including Fall Out Boy,[3][4] My Chemical Romance, Brand New, Taking Back Sunday, Anberlin, Thrice, All Time Low, Jack's Mannequin, Yellowcard, and Relient K. The primary musical genres of focus include emo and pop punk, but other genres are included.
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Founded June 6, 2000 by Jason Tate, the website focuses on music industry news, and includes album reviews,[5] interviews, articles, journals and photo galleries. The site also allows user interaction via a vBulletin Internet Forum system; users can register their own personalized account, create a profile, and comment on nearly every portion of the site. Special accounts are afforded to industry figures (such as record label representatives) and band members denoting them as such, with threads often created specifically to allow users to interact with them.[6]
The website originally started as a Blink-182/MxPx fan site.[7] In 2005, the site was drawing six million hits daily.[8] By 2006, the website was noted for engaging teenagers, and was beginning to chip away at the dominance of MySpace, according to OMMA online media magazine.[9]
The social media network Buzznet purchased AbsolutePunk in May 2008.[10] AbsolutePunk's community includes over 500,000 music fans, making it one of the largest alternative music zines on the Internet.[11]
The site is essentially run by contributor-turned-moderators who work for the site but are not paid. They add news posts, write reviews and conduct interviews all in their free time.
Even though it has lost some content because of numerous server switches over the years, AbsolutePunk still features over 55,000 news articles, 2500 reviews, 500 interviews, and 52,000 files in its multimedia gallery.[12] ABSOLUTExclusives (content exclusive to the website) and recent album reviews are often displayed prominently at the top of the site's news feed, while other stories are simply listed in descending chronological order. The staff conduct frequent interviews with bands and often ask the AbsolutePunk community to contribute questions in advance. They also run numerous contests via both an opt-in lottery system and through news items, with the latter usually awarding prizes to the users who reply the fastest while meeting certain criteria [such as being able to provide their own transportation to a concert venue].
One of AbsolutePunk's main purposes is to connect music fans with one another through its extensive online forums.[13] The forums feature over 318,500 registered members. They are divided into a number of different sections, split into categories such as entertainment, sports, politics, and education. Users are encouraged to contribute their own media to the site, such as album reviews and news submissions. As most of the site functions on the same bulletin board system, forum activity can often spill out into album reviews and news stories as well.
The website has gained a strong following in the alternative music scene over the years, allowing it to sponsor various tours and host or premiere exclusive content from many bands. In the August 2007 issue of Blender, owner Jason Tate was named #18 in their list of Top 25 "Most Influential People in Online Music".[14]
On June 1, 2005 vocalist and pianist Andrew McMahon of the bands Something Corporate and Jack's Mannequin was diagnosed with leukemia. AbsolutePunk raised approximately $16,400 for the Leukemia Research Foundation by selling over 6,000 orange gel bracelets online. The wristbands read "I Will Fight" in reference to a well-known song ("Watch the Sky") by the Something Corporate.[15]