Out of pure curiosity, we recently took a deeper look at our GDW website analytics to see just how far our musings about the Canadian music scene are travelling across the information superhighways. And while we anticipated that the majority of our site traffic originates in North America, we were surprised to learn a few other interesting facts from the data along the way:
- 53% of our audience are in Canada, with 19% visiting from the USA.
- The remaining 28% of our audience include visitors from India, Burma, and Brazil.
- We have not registered a single website hit from Iceland, but have readers in The Sudan.
- 80% of our readers appear to speak English as their primary language.
- Readership is pretty even across the age groups; 25-64 year olds the most popular bracket.
- 50% of website hits are directed from our social media pages (thanks for clicking).
- 10% of our audience have bookmarked the website; 40% arrive via search engines.
Our desire to spread the word about the joys of great independent Canadian music remains at our core, and we truly appreciate the feedback and kind words received from many of our readers over the years. And especially to those of you who have brought some of your own favorite musicians to our attention, or have chatted to us in person at festivals and other live events. Which brings us to this idea for a new feature: one that needs the active participation of our readers in order to thrive. An idea that stems from some recent recollections of an online radio show that I tuned into during the mid-1990s when back living in the UK. This Sunday morning two hour broadcast had a small, but devoted audience, who were strongly encouraged to call into the station for competitions, requests, and good old-fashioned ‘chats’ with the host. With fond memories of this community of like-minded friends came the idea to establish a recurring feature; a ‘Community Noticeboard’ or ‘Your Name In Lights’ segment, if you will, or better yet, GDW: By Request. That’s right – Team GDW wants to hear from you!!!
As far as the format, we propose to open up the first Saturday (possibly the third Saturday too) of the month to share music choices from you, our readers, on our social media pages. We want to know what Canadian songs you are passionate about, and most importantly, WHY? In return, we’ll feature your song choice (preferably those with public domain / YouTube videos available) and words, along with your name and state/province or country, to share with our audience. Of course, we don’t want to throw a rulebook out there, but to make this fair for everybody, please see the guidelines below:
- Participants are limited to one submission per calendar year.
- Canadian content if possible, but not essential if it fits within our music profile.
- Submission must be accompanied by 100 words or less about your choice to be valid.
- GDW reserve the right to edit all submissions prior to posting on social media.
- We promise to only share your first name, initial of last name, and geographic residence.
- Please do not use as a forum to solicit sales, services, or advertisements.
- Musicians are welcome to participate – but please refrain from promoting your own material. Please contact us through the normal channels if you are seeking coverage on GDW.
- Submissions are to be sent directly via our Facebook “Contact Us” feature.
- Submissions automatically constitute your acceptance of these terms and conditions.
![New Feature](https://s3.amazonaws.com/greatdarkwonder/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/05073135/newfeature_middle.png)
GDW: By Request is now open for business, and our first submission shall be shared tomorrow. We look forward to learning a little more about you, our readers, through your written words and musical choices. Please be considerate of our audience when making your requests, and accept that we reserve the right to dismiss material that may be too offensive for a family-focused environment. So come on, don’t be shy – pick a tune (extra points if it has a YouTube video or audio feed), string a few meaningful words together, and send to us via Facebook. In these crazy COVID-19 days, your favorite artists will be grateful to see their fans spreading the love.
The British guy that crossed the ocean and crash landed in central Pennsylvania (to quote Greg Keelor, “And I wonder what am I doing here?”). As the youngest of four siblings, exposure to music from a very early age nurtured my passion and appreciation for many musical genres. Continuing to discover some amazingly diverse and talented musicians based in Canada, I gravitate to live music experiences and remain devoted to spreading the word about such a vibrant music scene.