Comments on: Death of The Music Mag

By: Simon Tyers

Simon Tyers — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:56:44 +0000

I think access is the thing the magazines should be talking up, that only they can bring you the personalities alongside the music that’s freely available, but then that puts them squarely in league with the people they’re meant to be critiquing because they know that the NME is the big music brand for casual music fans and is still the most immediately visual magazine, so if you have ambitions of reaching that bigger audience you have to make some plans in that direction. The monthly magazines that have adapted the best are those who specialised in longform pieces that weren’t necessarily set to instantly changeable trends, and I think that’s going to become apparent in the near future – I don’t know if anyone’s seen the new look Q yet, but whoever designed The Word should sue.

I think after everything else the role of a good blogger is primarily to mimic the vibe of sitting around with (virtual) friends going “did you hear about…? Oh, have you heard this band?” and hoping your enthusiasm and positioning rubs off on them.

By: Demob Happy

Demob Happy — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:29:31 +0000

I think people will still seek out informed opinion, but they just won’t wait as long to get it anymore. It’s interesting to see how, for example, Uncut magazine has been steadily increasing its online activity, particularly with blogs. I think the big magazine brands will survive if they keep up with the times.

By: Tom Whyman

Tom Whyman — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:09:04 +0000

I don’t read music magazines because they’re shite.

By: ro

ro — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:23:00 +0000

Its the same thing as business. Why pay when you can get something for free? its why freelancing as a writer/photographer etc is harder now than ever- so many people will give things for free that they dont need to pay. People find their own favourites that come close to their opinions, and stick to them as a trusted source.

From going to a limited choice to infinite choice means it is harder to find well written material, and that the limited number of users is spread- ergo reader numbers will be down.

NME’s lowest common factor journalism just doesn’t work any more for more literate readers. It hectors and bullies people who don’t know better. The reliance on major label bands also alienates- not to mention ‘pretending’ bands are unsigned for a few weeks before announcing they got signed (as they did with ordinary boys back in the day)….

There will always be a need for something to read in a dentists surgery.

By: Simon Gurney

Simon Gurney — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:35:46 +0000

I agree with Andy’s second paragraph.

By: Simon Gurney

Simon Gurney — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:34:13 +0000

I agree with Rich, the format has just moved from the physical to the internet, there will still be music journalism. I just wonder about the career opportunities available, whether there will now be fewer paying roles, and we’ll now see a lot more small scale ‘do it for the love of doing it’ music writing for free (or actually, maybe its always been like that, I don’t really know).

As for the question: why do you write about music? My response would be because I want to communicate with other people. I don’t really connect with the gate-keeper position some people like to take up, (I’m not even sure if this mentality is wide spread or exists at all), I just want to say why I like/dislike something or what I see/don’t see in a song, album, scene etc. and have people read my point of view. Maybe that’s a little self-important, but I do like hearing other peoples opinions too, I like the dialog and the exchange of ideas and other ways of seeing things I might not have thought of (and inspiring that in other people).

By: Andy Johnson

Andy Johnson — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:17:37 +0000

I actually quite like having a nice fat music mag to read, but I buy them less and less these days. At the end of the day they’re actually quite expensive, which doesn’t help them, and magazines like Q and NME just don’t really have much at all in the way of in-depth long-form reviews, which is one of their main functions in my opinion.

That said, I think there are things that the magazines can do well – having them as a thorough on-paper guide to future gigs is very nice. The thing is, I think, that putting out a magazine on a national scale is a damn expensive business, which tends to make such publications inherently corporate, which doesn’t necessarily result in the kind of content people are really after.

By: Rich Hughes

Rich Hughes — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:41:19 +0000

Hmmmm… interesting article. I’m not sure music journalism is dead… It’s probably dying in its old form. The rise of sites like us, DiS and Pitchfork with their championing of new music, is great.

The print media will never be able to mate the faster moving nature of the web – NME have tried, yet their website is awful. It’ll shift, but there’ll still be people buying Mojo and the like, if only because they’re not interesting in new stuff quite so much.