Courtesy of Vampire Weekend

You almost feel sorry for them. In a matter of months, the indie band Vampire Weekend went from blogosphere obscurity to Saturday Night Live. Unfortunately, they also went from internet darlings to blogosphere outcasts whose album was likened by a blogger to “one big project made just in time for Black History Month….“

What happened? The media herd happened. Favorable media herd reviews, New York Times profiles and NPR interviews destroyed their credibility with the same “discerning” music bloggers who supposedly gave Vampire Weekend life.

Before MediaHerd awards itself the Rip Van Winkle Prize for blogging away about a band that is “so yesterday,” let’s get to the point: Vampire Weekend earns a “Flock Alert” because they exemplify the confluence of randomness and the media herd’s Rise Of The Blog Band storyline. Every so often a band supposedly bubbles up from the depths of the blogosphere and explodes overnight. The media herd LOVES reporting on this “phenomenon” and it’s a self-fulfilling prophesy. The media herd dutifully reports that bands like Vampire Weekend are “discovered” by music blogs such as Stereogum or Brooklyn Vegan, where they earn a loyal following of influential music fans who propel them to fame and glory. The only problem with this storyline is that it doesn’t make any sense because there are literally thousands of bands being promoted in the blogosphere. That’s where the randomness comes into play. Just look at the lineup of bands that played at this year’s SXSW festival in Austin try to explain how Vampire Weekend was plucked from that group?