Noisecreep
Noisecreep launched in March 2009 as a hard rock and heavy metal music news and media website, built by AOL Music from the ground up. Its existence answered a question that Mike Rich, AOL's head of the entertainment department, put bluntly: unless you were AC/DC or Metallica, you weren't getting much play. The bands that fell outside those giant shadows had no big platform to say "here we are, here's our music." Noisecreep was meant to be that platform. What kind of site did AOL build to serve this underserved audience? And what eventually happened to it?
Noisecreep did not arrive in isolation. It was the fourth genre-specific music site that AOL had assembled, joining Spinner for rock, TheBoot for country, and TheBoomBox for hip hop. All of these properties sat under AOL's MediaGlow publishing division, which had been created just two months before Noisecreep's own launch, in January 2009. The timing was deliberate: AOL was building out a portfolio of niche music destinations, each aimed at a distinct audience that broader news sites were not serving deeply. The heavy metal and hard rock community was the last major piece of that puzzle to be addressed.
The site's format was blog-like, combining music news and interviews in a format designed to feel immediate and accessible. Its editorial focus landed squarely on lesser-known hard rock and heavy metal bands, the acts that mainstream platforms overlooked. Alongside written coverage, Noisecreep produced a video podcast called the "Creep Show," which brought in various metal bands for interviews. The combination of text coverage and video programming gave the site multiple ways to surface artists who had otherwise been starved of attention.
On the 26th of April 2013, AOL Music shut down Noisecreep along with several other online music news properties. The closure ended roughly four years of operation. Less than six weeks later, on the 2nd of June 2013, AOL sold Noisecreep together with The Boot and The Boombox to Townsquare Media, a company with an established footprint in music and entertainment publishing. The sale meant that at least some of the audience infrastructure that had grown around these genre sites would continue under new ownership rather than simply disappearing.
Common questions
What is Noisecreep and what kind of music does it cover?
Noisecreep is a hard rock and heavy metal music news and media website based in the United States. It focuses on music news and interviews, with an emphasis on lesser-known hard rock and heavy metal bands.
When was Noisecreep created and who created it?
Noisecreep was created by AOL Music in March 2009. It was the fourth genre-specific music website owned by AOL at the time of its launch.
What other music websites did AOL own alongside Noisecreep?
AOL owned three other genre-specific music websites alongside Noisecreep: Spinner for rock, TheBoot for country music, and TheBoomBox for hip hop. All were part of AOL's MediaGlow publishing division.
What is the Noisecreep Creep Show?
The Creep Show is a video podcast produced by Noisecreep that features interviews with various metal bands. It was one of the site's primary content formats alongside written music news and interviews.
When did AOL shut down Noisecreep?
AOL shut down Noisecreep on the 26th of April 2013, as part of a broader closure of several online music news properties under AOL Music.
Who bought Noisecreep after AOL shut it down?
Townsquare Media purchased Noisecreep, along with The Boot and The Boombox, from AOL on the 2nd of June 2013. The sale came roughly six weeks after AOL's initial shutdown announcement.
All sources
5 references cited across the entry
- 1webHeadbanging at AOL MusicMaria Russo — The Wrap — March 12, 2009
- 2magazineAOL Forms MediaGlowMike Shields — January 13, 2009
- 3webNow Hear This: AOL's NoiseCreep Caters To HeadbangersTanya Irwin — MediaPostNews — March 16, 2009
- 4newsAOL Is Shutting Down AOL Music And Firing Staff Who Are Live-Tweeting The BloodbathJosh Constine — April 26, 2013