Many marketing analysts believe the explosion of choices available to consumers will lead to some people becoming filters, purchasing advisors to help people quickly find something they like. Good, thoughtful bloggers are extremely well positioned for this task. See example below.

The New York Times > Technology > Little-Known Bands Get Lift Through Word-of-Blog by Brain Montopoli (registration required, only free for a few days)

One difference between peer-to-peer networks and blogs is that while the former depends on anonymity, the latter fosters a sense of community. Most bloggers exhort readers to buy the CD’s of bands they like, and their enthusiastic posts can bring prominence to bands that otherwise might not get much attention.

"Music for Robots has the credibility of a very hip record store," says Glenn Peoples, who runs a popular music blog called Coolfer. Good music blogs, he said, let consumers get the word out about bands that are legitimately good. …Because music fans have come to expect to hear bloggers’ favorite bands free, the people behind Music for Robots know they’re taking a risk by charging $10 for an actual CD.

For labels, blogs can be fertile testing grounds. Adam Shore, label manager at Vice Records, said he fell in love with the Norwegian pop star Annie, who was at the time unknown in the United States, but was skittish about putting out her album until he saw the positive word of mouth it was receiving on blogs, as well as on the online music magazine Pitchfork.

"Then I knew it wasn’t just me – that there was this whole community of people who feel the way I do," says Mr. Shore. "It made me feel more comfortable moving forward. Blogs are this amazing resource for us."