Press – Does Anyone Need It Any More?
By RayMonday, February 16th, 2009
This past week at my place of work, we heard that two staples of the metal press - Metal Edge and Metal Maniacs – are shuttering their doors. While many magazines continue to post lower and lower subscription numbers (with the exception of a few) while raising advertising rates (you know those things cost around $2,500-$3,500 for a full page advertisement?), I ask myself: is it worth it? From a record label standpoint, the logical connection between a kid seeing an ad in a magazine and them going out immediately to buy a record is basically non-existent. (Correct me if I am wrong, people). Accordingly, we have curbed many of our budgets to reflect that.
Also for the sake of discussion: does press/good reviews/bad reviews even matter? Most music critics slam some of the most popular music within the punk/metal/hardcore/emo scene, and yet kids continue to buy that stuff in droves. If memory serves me, I saw a study that showed a large majority of people do not even pay attention to music reviews.
So, where do you all stand with it? I know everyone’s opinion will differ; but with everyone having a voice on their own music blog or review site, does press even matter?
Tags: music industry, press
February 16th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
i never payed much attention to zines — much less the ads within the zines — when i was a kid. the record label logo on the back of the cds i bought and the bands they thanked in the liner notes or even the t-shirts they wore in the layout was enough for me to discover new bands.
blogs, twitter and social media have completely taken over compared to buying a magazine to pay for the opinions of a select few…
i think people who can’t think for themselves use reviews as a compass to direct them to buy, or not buy certain albums… for everyone else who doesn’t pay attention to reviews, it all comes down to word of mouth from your friends and the people you respect. and this is something that works hand in hand with social media.
yet, as far as punk rock goes, i think print zines are fucking essential… i don’t think they’ll ever completely go away.
February 16th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
I think that to an extent, reviews will matter. To be more precise, reviews of a certain sort and of certain bands, will still matter.
Reviews that aren’t just a rehashed press release will still count I think. Reviews that are less objective reports, less butt-kissing, more honest appraisals of music. But I think the key here is honest appraisals of NEW music.
Bands with pasts, bands with pre-existing listening audiences and that are taking part even in a small way of internet social networking, aren’t totally going to care that much about press. But newer bands that are still trying to establish ANY audience at all, those are the ones that count on press. And thus they’re going to be dependent on record reviews.
At least I think so. Of course doing even my own small microcosm of music reviews and editorials, I’m skewed in my opinion and objectivity.
February 17th, 2009 at 5:43 am
The Pixar film Ratatouille makes a great point with regard to the culture of criticism. In the movie, a powerful food critic makes the point that, while critics love to write snarky reviews, and while readers love to read them, a review will most likely never be as significant as its subject. If you apply this to music, it means that even the shittiest record is probably worth more to society and culture than any review it inspires. That’s a powerful point and to me rings true. Honestly, do we remember records, or what specific people and/or magazines said about those records?
The other thing that struck me about Ratatouille’s commentary re: the culture of criticism is that the most important and powerful thing a critic can do is to come out in defense of something new. This is the only time in which the critic really risks anything, and its in that kind of situation that the critic really matters to the rest of the world.
I’ve written hundreds of reviews and have even been paid cash money for them. I often bring this up as a joke in conversation when debating music with friends – that the notion of being paid for one’s opinion somehow makes that opinion more valuable. Sure, a learned perspective on an artistic offering is useful for putting that art into a context or category, but all of that is subjective anyway, and only worth what the reader puts into it.
My last point: I’ve often said that, as a form, the short record review is deeply flawed and teeters on the verge of meaningless. So when I do them, I do my best to make them count for something. There’s only so much substance you can eek out of 150 words, but that doesn’t mean you can’t say anything useful.
March 3rd, 2009 at 5:48 am
Someone asked if anyone remembers reviews and my response is yes, I remember a # of well written reviews that changed my perspective on an album or an artist. The problem is, well written reviews are near nonexistent and intelligent criticism has been replaced by snark. I do trust the opinions of some writers but they are few and far between. If I thumb through a magazine at all it is to see what is coming out or what has already come out. Rarely do I actually read what the writer has to say.