Welcome to CEMBlog, Belmont University’s official student-run music and music business blog! On behalf of the Student Leadership Council (SLC), I’d like to thank you for stopping by to see our fine bloggy wares. We hope you won’t be disapppointed.

First things first, though: why are we here?

This blog was conceived with lots of shining ideals in mind, but the main one is unity. We all know Belmont is well-noted for its music/music business community and the incredible concentration of talent therein, but up until now there has never been an organized way to keep track of everything the individual members of that community have been up to. CEMBlog aims to change that.

Of course, the thing about being community-centered is that this blog’s value will be entirely what you make of it. If you add your bands to the Directory, read and comment on posts, and send us music to review, CEMBlog will be a fun and informative web-hub that provides focus and feedback to Belmont’s music/music business community. If not, the blog will be boring and lame, and you will miss out on an awesome opportunity to network (it happens on the Internet now, don’tcha know) and publicize your music to a big audience of your peers (who might be important someday) and who knows who else!

So, you get the idea. Get involved. Love the CEMBlog and the CEMBlog will love you back. Pretty straightforward.

Now, a more specific run-down of what you can expect and why it will all be so great for you:

  1. We’ll write about your music! Which is pretty cool, considering we’re not you or your mom, right? We’re very interested in getting students excited (and opinionated) about everything their peers are working on, so if you direct us to an album, EP, or even just new MySpace tracks you’ve got, we’ll write about it in some capacity – guaranteed. We do have standards and will be selective in which music we dedicate full reviews to, but we promise to be fair and reign in our Belmont-snobbery once we start writing. For further information on this feature, please see our Reviews page.
  2. We’ll write about your concerts! Yep. But you gotta let us know about ‘em. See the Events page for further details.
  3. We’ll keep you updated on CEMB events! So there’s no excuse for not attending enough Insider’s Views or Writer’s Nights or not voting in the annual CEMB Awards anymore!
  4. We’ll answer your questions! So ask them.
  5. We’ll give you a place to complain about stuff! What, so you didn’t enjoy that one Showcase or Insider’s View? Well, here’s the place to let the powers-that-be know why!

Of course, that last point brings us to another point: our Comment Policy. Now, I am an ardent believer in free speech and feel that constructive criticism is key to improving anything, and that’s why CEMBlog is dedicated to providing an open forum for students and whoever else to express themselves honestly. That said, please bear in mind the following two guidelines:

1. Keep it clean. Profanity of any kind will not be tolerated. This is a school-sponsored blog and all.

2. Speak respectfully. We encourage active discussion on topics and realize this may lead to potentially heated arguments or criticisms, but please keep your remarks grounded in a basic sense of respect – i.e., no name-calling or outright antagonizing of other readers or people mentioned in the posts. Recognize that this is a public blog and anyone could end up reading what you write.

Violation of either guideline will result in the offending comment being deleted by an administrator, usually alongside a friendly “hey, [such-and-such violation] is why your comment isn’t there anymore, punk.” This measure is not intended to censor or discourage active discussion, but rather to facilitate an environment where any reader can feel comfortable expressing his or her opinion. This is a happy place.

Well, I think that about wraps up everything I had to say. Look out for posts in the very near future, send us your music to review, and don’t forget to add your MySpace or website to our Band Directory! And please, if you like what you see here, say hello in the comments. Ditto if you have questions or suggestions – let’s just get the ice-breaking over with now so we can start the fun part, y’know?

Once again, on behalf of SLC, I’d like to thank you for stopping by CEMBlog. We’re happy to be serving you.

- Dan Milliken, Editor