Measure for Measure

No, not Shakespeare. Here's a blog that, at least at first glance, is a convergence of the many players in the arts blogging discussion. The blog in question is Measure for Measure. Let's count the levels of intrigue:

1. Overt subject matter: songwriting (hence the clever title)
2. Implied subject matter: Art. Or at least the creative process.
3. Written by: songwriters (famous ones, too. Andrew Bird, Roseanne Cash, Suzanne Vega, Darrell Brown
4. Blog host: New York Times. See, this is where it gets interesting. Andrew didn't call Roseanne one day and say, "Hey, let's start a blog and tell everyone what it's like to write a song. What's Suzanne up to--think she'd want to help out?" The Times is paying these contributors to write a "blog" (usually unnecessary quote marks quite necessary here), which will appear for a predetermined number of weeks, with scheduled entries, and the engine of one of the country's largest media outlets providing its power.

Is Measure for Measure a blog? NYTimes.com says so. But it's a very different creature than the umpteen million blogspot-powered one-man bands we might think of when we say blog. For that matter, it's a very different creature than the bigger bands, too (Alex Ross et al). And it's one being replicated by every newspaper and periodical of means in the country. Do these Big Blogs threaten the democratization of arts criticism that the blogosphere might be about? Do they stifle independent, small voices (and doesn't that sound familiar: maybe the questions never change, just the mediums do)? Or are they just part of the mix, adding to the unruly conversations virtually tripping over one another to get our attention?