''AbsolutePunk'' was a
website
A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wikip ...
,
online community
An online community, also called an internet community or web community, is a community whose members interact with each other primarily via the Internet. Members of the community usually share common interests. For many, online communities may fe ...
, and
alternative music news source founded by Jason Tate (the most recent
CEO). The website mainly focused on artists who are relatively unknown to mainstream audiences, but it was known to feature artists who have eventually achieved crossover success, including
Blink-182,
Fall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy is an American rock band formed in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, lead guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer Andy Hurley. ...
,
My Chemical Romance,
New Found Glory,
Brand New,
Taking Back Sunday,
The Gaslight Anthem,
Anberlin,
Thrice,
All Time Low,
Jack's Mannequin,
Yellowcard
Yellowcard is an American rock band that formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1997 and was based in Los Angeles beginning in 2000. The band is recognized for having a distinct sound in their genre, primarily due to the prominent use of a violin i ...
,
Paramore,
Relient K
Relient K is an American rock band formed in 1998 in Canton, Ohio, by Matt Thiessen, Matt Hoopes, and Brian Pittman Board Message during the band members' third year in high school and their time at Malone University. The band is named a ...
, and
A Day to Remember. The primary musical genres of focus were
emo and
pop punk
Pop punk (or punk pop) is a rock music genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop. It is defined for its emphasis on classic pop songcraft, as well as adolescent and anti- suburbia themes, and is distinguished from other p ...
, but other genres were included.
On March 31, 2016, it was announced that founder Jason Tate would be re-acquiring ''AbsolutePunk'' from
SpinMedia (the parent company of
Buzznet) and the website would be shuttered and folded into Tate's new music and social platform, Chorus.fm. The very next day on April 1, all of the domain names and social media accounts associated with ''AbsolutePunk'' were being redirected to Chorus.fm.
Website
Founded June 6, 2000 by Jason Tate, the website focused on music industry news, and included album reviews, interviews, articles, journals and photo galleries. The site also allowed user interaction via a
vBulletin Internet Forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are often longer than one line of text, and are at least tempora ...
system; users could register their own personalized account, create a profile, and comment on nearly every portion of the site. Special accounts were 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.
The website originally started as a
Blink-182/
MxPx
MxPx () is an American pop punk band from Bremerton, Washington, founded in 1992 as Magnified Plaid. As of 2016, current members include Mike Herrera on lead vocals and bass guitar, Yuri Ruley on drums and percussion, Tom Wisniewski on lead g ...
fan site. In 2005, the site was drawing six million hits daily. 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.
The social media network
Buzznet purchased ''AbsolutePunk'' in May 2008. ''AbsolutePunk''s community included over 500,000 music fans, making it one of the largest alternative music zines on the Internet.
The site was essentially run by contributor-turned-moderators who worked for the site but were not paid. They added news posts, wrote reviews and conducted interviews all in their free time.
Content
Even though it lost some content because of numerous server switches over the years, ''AbsolutePunk'' still featured over 55,000 news articles, 2500 reviews, 500 interviews, and 52,000 files in its multimedia gallery. ABSOLUTExclusives (content exclusive to the website) and recent album reviews were often displayed prominently at the top of the site's news feed, while other stories were simply listed in descending chronological order. The staff conducted frequent interviews with bands and often asked the ''AbsolutePunk'' community to contribute questions in advance. They also ran numerous contests via both an opt-in lottery system and through news items, with the latter usually awarding prizes to the users who replied the fastest while meeting certain criteria
Forums
One of ''AbsolutePunk''s main purposes was to connect music fans with one another through its extensive online forums. The forums featured over 318,500 registered members. They were divided into a number of different sections, split into categories such as
entertainment
Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousan ...
,
sports
Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...
,
politics
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...
, and
education
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. ...
. Users were encouraged to contribute their own media to the site, such as album reviews and news submissions. As most of the site functioned on the same
bulletin board system
A bulletin board system (BBS), also called computer bulletin board service (CBBS), is a computer server running software that allows users to connect to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, the user can perform functions such ...
, forum activity would often spill out into album reviews and news stories as well.
Accomplishments
The website 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
A blender (sometimes called a mixer or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender container with a rotating me ...
'', owner Jason Tate was named #18 in their list of Top 25 "Most Influential People in Online Music".
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
Something Corporate.
References
External links
''AbsolutePunk''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Absolutepunk.Net
American music websites
Internet properties established in 2000
Internet properties disestablished in 2016
Defunct American websites