I'm sure most folks think that the life of a music blogger is all glitz and glamor. In fact, I bet you guys think Shawn and I just sip champaign with 50 Cent all day and eat caviar with Paris Hilton while getting manicures. Well, I'm here to tell you that is most certainly not the case. Being a music blogger is a hard, thankless job full of long hours and attending an endless stream of concerts. If all that wasn't bad enough, now Uncle Sam wants to take another bite out of our asses. According to a recent story from Mashable:
"The FTC has updated its Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising for the first time since 1980, and among the changes, a requirement that “bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service.” Fines for violating the new rule will run up to $11,000 per post."Now, fortunately-or unfortunately depending on how you look at it-we've only ever received a handful of CDs and mp3s, so there isn't much to disclose. And, honestly, we hardly review anything on this site.
But! And this is a big but, mind you, that does not mean that we are not totally willing to whore ourselves out in exchange for free goods and/or services.
Hurry, though! December 1st is right around the corner and all those products aren't going to review themselves.
