Stereogum (Stereogum.com) was one of the first MP3 blogs. It was created by Scott Lapatine in January 2002 with a focus on independent and alternative music news, downloads, videos, and gossip. Stereogum has received several awards and citations, including the 2008 Plug Award for best music blog, Blender's Powergeek 25, and Entertainment Weekly's Best Music Websites. In 2010 Stereogum was named an Official Honoree of the Webby Awards in the music category and won the Omma Award for Web Site Excellence in the Entertainment/Music category.
In late 2006, Stereogum received an influx of capital through Bob Pittman's private investment entity The Pilot Group. In November 2007, it was purchased by BUZZMedia. April 2008 saw the launch of Videogum, a sister site focused on television, movies, and Web videos.
In July 2007, Stereogum released OKX, a tenth anniversary tribute to Radiohead's OK Computer. Cover songs were solicited from fourteen indie rock artists including Doveman, Vampire Weekend, John Vanderslice, David Bazan, Cold War Kids, My Brightest Diamond, Marissa Nadler, Chris Funk of The Decemberists, and Chris Walla of Death Cab for Cutie. The album can be heard free of charge at http://www.stereogum.com/okx.
Other free Stereogum compilation albums include: Drive XV, a tribute to R.E.M.'s Automatic For The People (featuring Rogue Wave, Meat Puppets, Sara Quin, and Dr. Dog). Enjoyed, a tribute to Björk's Post (featuring Liars, Edward Droste, Dirty Projectors, Final Fantasy, Atlas Sound, Stroked, a tribute to The Strokes's Is This It (featuring Real Estate, Owen Pallett, Peter Bjorn & John, and The Morning Benders); and MySplice Vols 1-4:, an annual mashup collaboration with team9.