''At this point The Velvet Rope is read by virtually everyone in the music industry,'' says Julie Farman, a PR chief formerly with Epic, now at Revolution. As far as she's concerned, that's not a good thing. ''I really do hate it. It just amazes me the erroneous information that's been posted and then accepted as fact. Journalists were taking it as fact.'' Because of hurtful things written about a friend and some of her acts, Farman has stopped reading the forum herself — though she admits that her assistant does keep an eye on it. (Gordon officially discourages gossip about personal lives and occasionally deletes posts she deems potentially libelous or that violate AOL guidelines.)

If there's any reason why such an influential gossip folder exists for the record industry but not for movie or TV insiders, it may be that the business of music attracts more impassioned employees. Here, even suited VPs argue about what constitutes a rock & roll ''sellout.'' That passion has been more evident recently as the VR tide has turned toward flame wars and general philosophical debates (What's ''alternative''? How indie is indie? Should Billy Corgan have shaved his head?) and away from hardcore gossip. With so many newbies on VR, some of the real insiders who want to focus strictly on hirings and firings have rediscovered that quaint conduit for hearsay — the telephone.

Still, it's hard to compete with the spraying power of the cyberword, when even a record-company drone can be Hedda Hopper for an hour.

Originally posted Oct 11, 1996 Published in issue #348 Oct 11, 1996 Order article reprints
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