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Why is Music Journalism Collapsing?

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Melody Bot, Jan 30, 2024.

  1. Melody Bot Jan 30, 2024
    Melody Bot

    Your friendly little forum bot. Staff Member

    This article has been imported from chorus.fm for discussion. All of the forum rules still apply.

    Ted Gioia, writing on the collapse of music journalism:

    Before streaming, everybody in the value chain needed new music. The record stores would go broke if people just listened to the old songs over and over.

    And the same was true for record distributors, record labels, radio stations, nightclub owners, and music writers. Everybody needed hot new songs and rising new musicians.

    Of course, fans also benefited. Life gets boring if you just listen to the same songs year after year, decade after decade. But there was no risk of that. The music industry worked tirelessly to find exciting new music, and share it with the world.

    That business model is now disappearing. The people who run the industry killed it—and now we live with the consequences.

    The irony is that exciting new music is still getting released—but almost nobody hears it. The system actively works to hide it.

    And occasionally an artist breaks through the industry inertia, and proves that fans still want exciting new music experiences. But here, too, entrenched interests do almost nothing to support this—and much to hinder it.

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  2. theasteriskera Jan 30, 2024
    theasteriskera

    Trusted Supporter

    Ironically... my friend sent me a review of the new Kaonashi EP while I was reading this haha
     
  3. Tim McCall Jan 30, 2024
    Tim McCall

    Regular

    I think the lessons of fictional Lester Bangs in Almost Famous would be wise to follow for an aspiring music journalist. "Be honest, and unmerciful." Social media has weakened the line between journalist and public relations.
     
    Dan O'Neill, stephenvstrex, Serenity Now and 2 others like this.
  4. theasteriskera Jan 30, 2024
    theasteriskera

    Trusted Supporter

    That last sentence, so much. Only a handful of people could write for Pitchfork in the past, now thousands of people can make 30 second TikToks about a record
     
    Raku and CMilliken like this.
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  6. Jason Tate Jan 30, 2024
    Jason Tate

    newsletter is back Staff Member

    I think I'd give the exact opposite advice to someone wanting to be a music "journalist." We'd all be better off if writers, and journalists, were more merciful, not less. I think the "lessons" of Almost Famous ruined a generation of writers to think being mean meant being objective, that being objective was attainable in criticism to begin with, and chasing views and engagement taught people that drama was more important than passion.
     
    Raku, CMilliken, whitenblue88 and 5 others like this.
  7. Tim McCall Jan 30, 2024
    Tim McCall

    Regular

    I concede a bit. Unmerciful is extreme. I believe being mean for the sake of being mean is lazy writing. My own interoperation of the lessons of Almost Famous is warning not too get too close to the musician and not to let it get in the way of your writing.

    Objectivitive criticism can be obtained if you can define the musics context and compare it to its peers.
     
    Serenity Now and sowrongitsryan like this.
  8. okaybrian Jan 30, 2024
    okaybrian

    Newbie

    Agree! I think one thing the article didn't touch on is that nowadays people can't throw a rock without hitting 100 strangers who want to tell them what they should think about music, let alone everything else. And I think it's gotten to a point where people don't really give a shit about what these strangers have to say. It's sadly too saturated.

    Music news outlets thrived more back in the day because it was less saturated.
     
    Raku, theasteriskera and grimis16 like this.
  9. Serenity Now Jan 31, 2024
    Serenity Now

    deliver us from e-mail Supporter

    Good article! Reminds me of how much we need to be curators of where we get opinions nowadays. Given that we have unlimited options and previous generations had only a handful, the ability to consider the source of everything before you take it in has become a critical skill...and an incredible burden.
     
    CMilliken and theasteriskera like this.