Welcome to Ad Hoc. We thank you for stopping by, and apologize if you're a little bit confused by the title of this launch feature. You've probably heard that we're a collective of ten music blogs from all over the world, with a focus in underground and emerging artists. Some of us are journalists and critics, others are proud hobbyists, and a few of us like to think of ourselves more as "curators" than as writers. We believe that there is strength in numbers, and that if we put our heads together, we'll be able to create a hub for the stories that are often overlooked, or only partially told, by more established indie media outlets. Seeing as we'd like to do things a bit differently, what better way to begin than by asking ourselves what about the job we do isn't working for us.

Without further ado, eleven Ad Hoc contributors share some things they hate about blogging:

This is probably a tie between the "firsties” race and assessing an artist's worth based on the first one or two songs they've posted on SoundCloud, Facebook, Bandcamp, etc... Calm down. Dig for great releases and let artists develop rather than racing to be the first person to tell the world some kid in his basement is the next great savior of sound. Conversely, don't put off writing a piece on a completed 7" or album you know is great just because someone else covered it. --Andy French, Raven Sings The Blues

I actually wrote a long-form piece about this on the old site, The Decibel Tolls, called “The Problem with Blogs.” Essentially, there are too many blogs out there promoting a pretty small pool of artists, sans any unique voice or analysis. If you're not a high-trafficked blogger, take time to discover new artists, and cast a keen eye toward your own local scene. Your reposting of Beach House tour dates probably won't make much of an impact for anyone, but a thoughtful reflection on a release from a local band worthy of some editorial praise could mean the world to them-- and your audience. Not enough blogs understand this concept. --Michael Powell, Distonal

The solitary practice of writing itself. The celebratory quality of communal, creative work has never been more central to my sense of what's valuable in life, so long periods of knocking around the corridors of my mind can be agonizing nowadays. That said, the thrill of meaningful communication renders all that moot once material is written. --Eric Lumbleau, Mutant Sounds

"The good thing about music is that when it hits, you feel no pain." (Bob Marley) --Charlie Jones, Dummy

I dislike the idea of music blogging as a monolithic echo chamber. There are people out there talking about many different kinds of music and exploring the blog format in a variety of ways, but all the repetition and imitation out there can make people burn out, and slow innovation among both bloggers and musicians. We won't be covering music in the same ways in 10 or even 5 years, and if we are, I'll think we’ve failed somehow. --Luke Carrell, International Tapes

I feel like a good majority of the PR folks I talk to want a paycheck, not to see the young bands they work with flourish. I hate digging through dozens of repeat emails and blind CC's while trying to find new, interesting music. --Jheri Evans, Decoder

The oversaturation of the blogosphere, making it much harder to properly navigate. With so many respected voices, there is a constant pressure to find something more obscure and more relevant than what other blogs are covering. It's hard to escape, and we're as guilty of this as anyone, but the pressure to find exclusives makes the whole thing seem a little fleeting and self-defeating. --Tim, Shea and Richard from Rose Quartz

Probably the most obvious problem with blogs and music coverage today is the mentality of needing to be the first publication to cover something. Seeing that there are thousands of blogs out there, it’s inevitable that there will be overlaps in coverage, and when a writer puts first the mindset of breaking a song, video, or band, s/he waters down the aesthetic that he or she is curating. Building a visual/sonic aesthetic with substance is what will transform “just another blog” into a trusted, taste-making internet destination, and that is perhaps the only viable justification for there ever being more than one single blog. --No Fear Of Pop

The thing that bothers me most about music blogging is the tendency to fall into autopilot, and not push our output to the level of art. What seems like ages ago, a panel of bloggers put their heads together over a Newtown Radio stream to discuss the ethics of blogger-run record labels. The general vibrations of that discussion seemed to point to the realization that the music blogosphere was a different terrain than traditional music journalism. There was a shared excitement over tearing down certain conventions and using our blogs to explore the musical landscape in a fresh way. I'm not saying that every blogger needs to go start a label, just that we need more of the grandiose thinking that has lead certain bloggers to do so. This can be as simple as a finely crafted sentence or an unexpected word. --Samantha Cornwell, Visitation Rites

This is a bit 1st World Problem-y but here it goes: PR Spam.  More than anything, PR Spam.  Far too many hours each week are lost to wading through it to get to the emails from labels/musicians. Please, take us off your mailing list (that we never joined). --20 Jazz Funk Greats

The following words and phrases: shimmering, ethereal, layered, synth-___, Internet, ____ed-out, panoramic, cinematic, sonically "____", soundscape, jammer, fuzzy/scuzzy,  in the past few years, current music scene, surface appeal, reverb-soaked…I could go on and on. What I hate even more is that I've used them all! Except "jammer." Never "jammer." --Matt Sullivan, Ad Hoc