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University of Colorado, Boulder

THEN AND NOW: THE COMPLEXITIES OF MUSIC JOURNALISM IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Kylie Ketchner Independent Study Dr. Rolf Norgaard

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Music journalism. As a lens through which we see and interpret music, the field has undergone drastic changes to adapt to the digital-age in the past six decades. From its popularization in the mainstream culture at Rolling Stone in the 60’s and 70’s, as well as the ​ ​ sometimes overlooked but no less important voices of The Source, Creem, and Village Voice, ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ music journalism has historically offered a platform for audiences to reach musicians through analysis and interviews. By extension, then, music fans and enthusiasts have found themselves more and more connected to the artists and songs they love.

The field’s growth has parallelled that of the entertainment industry, skyrocketing popular journalists to fame and creating a new critical and up-close institution through which to view music. Jann Wenner, Lester Bangs, Hunter S. Thompson come to mind, as well as Nelson George, Jeff Chang, and Jessica Hopper; but the monopoly on music journalism, and criticism, is not limited to the writers living in big cities, and talking to big names.

My first music critic was my dad, Buddy. When I was a kid, every night he would sing my brother and me a song before bed, usually “Angels from Montgomery” by John Prine, plucking the guitar chords and tapping his foot along with the rhythm. At the time, I found the whole thing hilarious due to the line “I am an old woman / Named after my mother,” which, of course, my dad is not. My eight-year old sense of humor endures to this day - it is a little funny to see him ​ ​ sing that.

However, as I grew older, the other lyrics began to mean more and more to me. Now, when I listen to the song, the lines that catch my attention are different: “If dreams were thunder / And lightning was desire / This old house would’ve burnt down a long time ago.” In Bonnie Raitt’s cover, she sings it with such melancholy sadness that the line grips my heart like a cold hand, giving a squeeze and I lose my breath for just a moment.

On its own, the song is unquestionably beautiful - the guitar is smooth and gentle, plucking and gliding over the slow, steady beat of the drums. Raitt’s voice is timeless, a treasure trove Ursula from The Little Mermaid would give everything to possess. But that isn’t why I love ​ ​ it so much. I love it for the sleepy-eyed moments before I drifted to sleep as a child, when everything was good, and I gathered only hints from the lyrics about the realities of life and regret. My heart twists when I listen to it, but it isn’t in a bad way. It’s in the way that music touches you when it's more than just the sounds - it is a physical part of your past, your story.

Remember, now, that criticism and appreciation are tightly woven concepts. It wasn’t just my dad’s late night singing that gave me a deep-seated love for music. It was also the dancing in the kitchen to Stevie Wonder, and the track “See The World” by Gomez on home-made family footage films. And, on the flipside, the rebellion of listening to Nicki Minaj’s “Superbass” at my neighbors house just before it was probably appropriate. I got a rush when I listened to it then, ​ ​ and still do now.

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For many of us, our parents are our first music critics. It could be something as simple as the muting of a radio channel when a particular genre comes on, or conversely, the turning up, ​ ​ but their influence is powerful, one way or another. The name John Prine will always hold meaning to me, even though I don’t know much about his other work, or the genre he worked in. As much as I love new music and my other favorite artists, there is a certain specialness that can never be replaced by those songs embraced (or warned against) by our first music critics.

As we grow, and our world view widens, other critics start to matter more. What are people listening to? Who reports on it? Why? We are all music critics in our own ways, but the institution of journalism and criticism has historically offered a platform to discuss, analyze, and interview. Those who talk and write about music in popular culture have a strong hand in influencing the modern musicscape - giving valuable promotion to what and who they deem worthy.

Music journalism has had a long, winding transformation over the past few decades as its journalists have adapted to the digital age, and now there are new questions and challenges that must be addressed. Perhaps most importantly, how to make sense of the social media age as a field that has largely relied on its ability to access, both musicians and their stories, and is ​ ​ now faced with the fact that access is no longer the music-lovers dilemma. ​ ​

With the introduction of said social media and the internet, and with mass distribution and consumption of music, photo, and video, one might wonder why the nuances of music journalism even matter. After all, if artists can directly broadcast their messages to their fanbase without the need of a physical publication platform, then what really is the fields place? The declining readership of Rolling Stone, the scattered and fragmented world of modern music ​ ​ journalists, and the disheartened twitter rants and articles that come along with it paint a dismal picture - why does music journalism, and specifically print, even matter? How does it fit into our world today?

I wanted an answer to this question. I’ve grown up in the social media age - I’m twenty now and I’ve never even known this mysterious world allegedly dominated by print publications. My life has seen the rise of Instagram, Facebook, and the emergence of new music journalism - ​ ​ Complex, Genius, Fader, some publications half-digital, half-print, desperate to find footing in a new age of journalism. But in all the chaos, I’ve always known that I love the long-form: the stories, the profiles, the photos. I feel deeply that they still have a place in our chaotic mediascape: perhaps even more so than before, now coveted deep breaths of fresh-air in a world flying by quicker and quicker.

To answer my question more fully, I talked to a handful of working music journalists - freelance writers J’na Jefferson and Christina Lee, as well as Rolling Stone staff writer Charles ​ ​ Holmes and Fader senior video producer Chloe Campion - and researched the history of music ​ ​ journalism. After that, I studied the current mediascape, and finally, with a better understanding 4 for what it takes to be a music journalist in the year 2020, I wrote this piece to answer my big question: in todays digital age, why does music journalism matter?

It is hard to simplify it, but the bottom line is this - humans are storytellers by nature and they always will be. The medium of music journalism might have changed, but this essential ​ ​ content has not. Through scrutiny of the interconnected nature of the music-world today, and the lenses of three stakeholders in the game (the artists, the critics, and the consumers), our society can find meaning, and understanding, for the artform of music through its journalism.

A Brief Retrospective

To analyze the current state of music journalism, we should look at its history. For many Americans, this starts with Rolling Stone. ​

Jann Wenner founded The Rolling Stone in 1967. His alleged goal? To meet his heroes, ​ ​ John Lennon and Bob Dylan - something for us to keep in mind in regards to celebrity culture and idolization. Through pure grit and a lot of organized chaos:

“By the end of 1969…[Rolling Stone] was generally accepted as the most authoritative ​ ​ rock & roll magazine in the land. By 1971, Rolling Stone was what Esquire had been in the ​ ​ ​ ​ sixties and the New York Herald Tribune a decade before that: the breeding ground of explosive ​ ​ New Journalists like Hunter Thompson, David Felton, Grover Lewis, and Joe Eszterhas. Two years later, the magazine began to make money. Three years after that, it helped elect a President,” (Robert 6)

Beyond Rolling Stone, other publications began to sprout up for various niche markets. ​ ​ In 1966, there was the precedent for Rolling Stone: Crawdaddy!, which was founded by Paul ​ ​ ​ ​ Williams. Later, came the Boston-based Fusion, Detroit’s Creem, and The Village Voice in New ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ York City, all three of which would boast contributions from such famous critics as Lester Bangs, Richard Meltzer, Patti Smith, and many more (Regatis 49, 62). The rise of the popular culture magazine was swift, and as the years progressed, the aforementioned critics gained fame, and often notoriety, while writing about their favorite and least favorite tracks of the times.

Before continuing, we should note that modern music journalism is not, and historically was not, encompassed by Rolling Stone or any of the white, often male, critics mentioned ​ ​ before. Women, people of color, and LGBT writers were frequently ignored by the mainstream media. Alternative publications were thus instrumental in giving platforms to new genres of music and expanding both people’s musical palettes and their minds, although they were not always at the forefront of popular culture. Acclaimed hip-hop music journalist and author Nelson George writes in Raquel Capeda’s And It Don’t Stop: The Best American Hip-Hop Journalism of ​ ​ ​ the Last 25 Years: ​

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“...Somewhere in my files, I still have a copy of an article I penned in 1982 titled ‘A Consumer Guide to Rap,’ an introductory piece about the 12-inch singles of Blow, Eddie Cheeba, and the Treacherous Three. I submitted it optimistically to The New York Times, who ​ ​ rejected it with a note: ‘too specialized for the Times audience.’...But an editor here and there ​ ​ would show me love when I pitched a rap piece, particularly those in the world of alternative weeklies like The Village Voice and New York Rocker. By the early 1980s you could (just barely) ​ ​ ​ ​ feed yourself writing about rapping DJs, break dancing, and 12 inch singles.’” (xi-xii)

Eventually, The Source, a revolutionary hip-hop and culture magazine, would be started ​ ​ in 1988, marking a new era for representation of the historically ignored genre of hip-hop - some twenty years after Rolling Stone. As time went on, the number of alternative publications would ​ ​ increase, leading to the current mediascape, which is ripe with magazines and websites of all different kinds and represents plenty of different types of music and cultures.

This increase does not imply that representation is at all perfect, however. Still, there is a need to diversify the field and allow historically disenfranchised voices to be heard and highlighted. Later in this piece, we will dive further into this topic.

So, now that the stage has been set, what exactly is music journalism? ​ ​

A broad term to describe any reporting regarding music, historically many critics relied on track reviews to pay the bills, others specialized in interviews and more yet were photographers or musicians themselves. The field was loosely defined, but primarily operated in written form, in long profiles and physical publications. Over the years, it would grow alongside popular culture, morphing and taking on new meanings.

Now, in the current day and age, music journalism has become a different thing altogether. The mediums have shifted - where the focus was once on long-form written profiles, and, in later years, TV interviews, now journalists work quickly to keep up with the digital pace. Social media reportage - breaking news on Twitter and Instagram - has become a major part of almost every music publications business model.

Video content has skyrocketed, with different publications coming up with unique ways to both entertain their viewers and interview the artists. Complex’s Sneaker Shopping comes to ​ ​ mind. Hosted by Joe Puma, the show follows an artist going around a sneaker store and shopping for their favorite pairs, while Puma interviews them.

Another example is Genius’s Verified series. An artist comes on, sitting in front of ​ ​ Genius’s signature bright yellow, and deconstructs the lyrics to one of their songs line by line. Countless viral memes have sprung from the series, often at the comedic expense of the artist and only further promoting the series to a wider audience.

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Finally, perhaps one of the most famous and well-received twists on video music journalism has been James Corden's Carpool Karaoke. Corden is a late-night show host, and in ​ ​ his series, an artist will sit next to him in a car and sing along to their songs while Corden steers the wheel and periodically slips in questions.

Video music journalism can take a light-hearted approach, like the aforementioned examples, but it can also take a documentary-style approach. This allows viewers to perhaps see a more serious, intimate look at an artist or their life than the content produced by entertainers.

Chloe Campion is an executive video producer at The Fader who has produced video ​ ​ documentaries with artists such as JPEGMAFIA and Rico Nasty, and worked on video interviews with Megan Thee Stallion, Charli XCII, and Future. I asked her to contrast the world of editorial music journalism, and video production:

“It’s something that I’ve sort of grappled with at points in my career. I think the story-telling is just fundamentally very different, even though the end goal is the same. And I think something that I think existentially about at times because at one point I did want to be a writer, is that I think there’s challenges to both…

When you walk into a story from a production standpoint you are, by necessity, armed with more things - more physical things, more people than you are when you are writing. So if you’re a writer...there’s an intimacy that I think is really special that can’t really be replaced that allows for an access that’s a bit easier…

[Production brings] the visual and the mood. I think in filmmaking, you can really create a world that is immersive. And...I think that people are reading less and their attention spans are shorter and it’s easier to kind of fall into a film because you can kind of sit back, whereas writing can be more of an engaged process. What you can do with music and visuals and editing, it allows things to be potentially immersive.

Even as I’m saying that, though...I love reading! It’s just a different experience, and [video production] is more of a spectacle, which is alluring.”

With these new developments, it’s obvious that the field has changed drastically in the fifty or so years since its ascent to the forefront of popular culture. No longer is there a singular, dominant music journalism source as there was so undeniably in the ‘60s and ‘70s. The Rolling ​ Stone remains, printing its issues every month religiously, but it’s readership has greatly ​ declined. People are not likely to pick up an issue, instead opting to get their music sources from the internet, be it video or not, and the publication was simply not designed to be a ​ ​ website. At its creation, no one could've even imagined the digital-based landscape it now operates in. It has made the transition to online format, like every other music magazine that 7 has survived, but now it competes with newer, hipper publications like Complex, XXL, Genius, The Fader, and Vice.

These publications, in stark contrast, are entirely dependent on the existence of the internet and the digital age. They are hybrids - some, like Fader, still producing long-form ​ ​ writing, alongside their digital content, and some choosing to focus more on the video/social media elements. Either way, they are constantly evolving, and only time will tell how they change next.

Now, we will look at the various stakeholders previously mentioned - musicians, critics, and consumers - to find the answer to the question that prompted this piece: Why and how does music journalism matter in the digital age?

The Musicians

The digital age is a busy one - sources of information are everywhere. While this may be ​ ​ overwhelming for the reader, it can be equally exhausting for the musician. Every artist has a story and things that make them and their music unique, and beyond that, there are countless historical and cultural factors that contribute to their sound.

Perhaps they are from a large city, influenced by the iconic acts that preceded them. Maybe they come from somewhere smaller, unrecognizable to someone not well-versed in the music-landscape. Or, it could be, they come from a different country with an entirely new musicscape to an American reader.

Either way, the importance of music journalism through the eyes of the musician is the journalist’s ability to contextualize an artist’s story in a fast-paced media environment. A music journalist is expected to be well-versed in music history, as well as popular current trends, and this is what gives them their credibility and importance in the current journalistic world.

Music journalism should never frame an artist in a light that is inauthentic, else it loses its honesty and credibility with the reader. Instead, good music journalism acts as a narrator in a story that the artist provides. Long-form written content in particular, most especially profiles, are a literary stage for a musician to stand on. The journalist simply provides the background information and context that the reader will need to know in order to fully appreciate what the subject is saying.

But journalists also do research, craft the stories, and labor over questions to find a greater meaning. They are the ones who, through profiles and Q&As, can get to the stories behind a record or project, and further analyze and break down something into the biggest question of all: why does this matter? How does this artist and their music fit into, or break out of, the culture at large? If an artist makes a controversial statement, what is the context and 8 background of where they are coming from? What parts of their personal history influence their music?

This ability to sit back and take a moment to truly understand something or someone is a ​ ​ crucial, particularly in a frantic and fast-paced mediascape, and especially for the artists themselves - who may not always have the ability, or desire, to communicate everything needed themselves. Christina Lee, a hip-hop journalist and podcast host based in Atlanta, Georgia, reflected on a time when journalism did this for Quality Control - the label housing Migos, Lil Yachty, City Girls, Lil Baby and more:

“I remember in the very beginning of that label’s formation, their label heads, being Coach K and Pee, didn’t seek out any press, whatsoever. They were very much just about, ‘Go, go, go;’ let’s just connect to the people as much as possible by way of shows and music videos and being like, direct-to-consumer.

It wasn’t until...really until the journalists sort of recognized the credibility that each of them had, particularly Coach K in his past managing Jeezy and Gucci [Mane], that they really started to see [The Migos] as part of this larger trap rap lineage...and I don’t know if that is necessarily something that Coach K would have thought to play up…so I think that, while it is easy to feel like the [role of the music journalist has diminished], I still think it takes a critical eye to be able to articulate what’s really happening...I don’t think the artists are going to take the time to do that, it’s a lot of work.”

This relationship between musician and music journalist means that, for the musician, there is less of a burden to have to “define” themselves or their art. The journalists, with their keen eye and often extensive historical context, help to lead the public discussion that follows the creation of the actual music.

The ever-fluxing number of remaining publications has an influence as well. While Rolling Stone is no longer the staple of entertainment and journalism that it once was, staff ​ writer Charles Holmes points out:

“There is a cache, where there’s not that many magazines - not that many music magazines - and [a cover] is so highly coveted because anybody can post something on their Instagram...not everybody can get a Rolling Stone cover.” ​ ​

On the flip side, smaller artists, with plenty of niche and amateur publications to choose from, have more of a launching pad. This ensures that even the smaller artists will have their stories heard - although there is a point to be made about content-overload, when done with care, smaller publications enrich the music field by offering their platforms.

The relationship between musicians and journalists might always have some edge of contention, along with endearment, because the work isn’t perfect and there can be 9 disagreements in portrayals or importance. However, the two will always be linked - as said by Holmes:

“Humans are storytellers by nature, we want to hear stories, and [Q&A’s, profiles, criticisms, etc.] are tried and true ways to tell stories...at the end of the day, people are gonna keep reading stuff, whether that’s on your phone or whether it’s beamed into your head.”

The Journalists

The digital age of music journalism has impacted no one more than the journalists themselves. Perhaps the biggest difference now is that of accessibility. Mainstream music journalism has not historically been the most accessible to women, people of color, and LGBT writers. It was gatekept, and brutally so. A quote from Rolling Stone Magazine: The Uncensored ​ History, summed up the tumultuous introduction of women to the magazine’s fact-checking staff ​ in the mid-70s:

“The new female frontline attracted abuse from all sides. ‘No broad’s gonna edit my copy,’ Joe Eszterhas snarled. Ralph Gleason sent paragraphs riddled with obscure data to [Sarah] Lazin and taunted her: ‘Now, fact-check that.’ Charlie Perry, discovering that much of ​ ​ his duties has been usurped by a brace of feminists, remained his gentlemanly self but could not altogether hide his disdain.” (Draper, 220)

And including LGBT or writers of color? Forget it.

One genre of writers could not be stopped, however. Hip-hop journalism shot to prominence alongside the music itself, despite the challenges. An article ran in Pitchfork written ​ ​ by Dean Van Nguyen detailed the work done by early hip-hop writers and publications, even when the mainstream media was quick to turn its head:

“Rather than stick to the rigged constraints of traditional music criticism, [hip-hop] writers ​ used the music as an entry point into discussing race, identity, youth, and broader culture. They extensively covered politics and social issues, penning groundbreaking pieces on, for example, the L.A. riots, the crack epidemic, and gun laws. Their insights were as cutting as those of KRS-One, Public Enemy, and other socially-engaged artists of the era. At a time when many other glossy magazines were slow to publish writers of color, hip-hop publications amplified their voice.”

Pieces on hip-hop were published in places like The Village Voice, Spin, Billboard, The ​ Source, and Vibe. Writers and editors like Greg Tate, Nelson George, Kevin Powell, Tracii ​ ​ ​ McGregor, and Barry Michael Cooper were instrumental in the rise of hip-hop and its national acknowledgement (Nguyen).

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Thanks to some of these trailblazers, things have changed since the things of open, vicious abuse in journalism newsrooms. However, this doesn’t mean that there isn’t still work to do.

One of the journalists I spoke to was J’na Jefferson, a New-York based freelance journalist. During our conversation, she commented on the frustrations that persist today as a woman of color in the industry:

“[Representation in media] comes up all the time, especially in hip-hop journalism... the women are running it. There are so many strong, female voices that I’ve worked with, not only in my publication, but that I’ve met throughout my experiences in the field, and we don’t get the shine. There are so many really talented LGBTQ+ writers as well, in the hip-hop journalism field and they don’t get the shine either.

And it’s like...it just sucks. It sucks a lot, because there are so many voices that need to be heard and there are so many perspectives that we all give that are...so important, especially in the world we live in today. You can’t always have the same white guy or black guy talking about Hayley Kiyoko...you don’t understand what she’s going through!

So, like, to try to silence, or erase those voices would be silencing an entire group of people who listen to this music and enjoy it. We wouldn’t be able to read the perspective of these journalists who cover and listen to this music as well, because we’re trying to make people who are already visible or already popular but don’t relate at all...I think that it’s important to highlight these voices because we do need those perspectives.”

Diversity in music journalism is incredibly important. A large part of writing meaningful pieces, and covering artists and projects in impactful ways is finding the deeper implications that come with the stories. When you have a journalist who has absolutely nothing in common with the person they’re interviewing, you lose the human connection that makes that conversation so effective.

With a new level of accessibility, we can see that music journalism matters in an excitingly different way. The days of white-washed journalism are numbered, but not extinct. It is a battle, but the tide is turning towards authentic representation.

On the technical side of things, another big change to mention is the ways in which journalism qualifications have shifted. Music journalism is no longer encompassed by written press in printed publications. Now, video and social media content dominate, and with it, the job expectations for journalists have changed.

The introduction of video took the music journalism world by storm. Now, it is not only an asset, but an expectation to have some form of video content in your publication. Youtube channels like Genius, Colors Studios, Noisey, and The Fader are examples of publications ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ 11 doing it right - welldone video content garners millions of views and tons of ad revenue money, not to mention exposure. But, on the flipside, this new expectation introduces a completely different playing field for music journalists of today.

Rolling Stone writer Charles Holmes puts it this way: ​

“My job on paper is staff writer, but [it is] also is to do a bunch of other stuff. So, if they’re like ‘Charles, we need you to hop on camera and interview this person,’ I have to do that. If they want me to go to a festival like Lollapolloza and they’re like, ‘Aright, we need you to get in front of a crowd, we need you to interview Normani.’ That is something that, younger people, I think, are expected to do versus people who are maybe like, over 35, that is something that is completely foreign to them.”

This change shifts the role of music journalism to a broader spectrum. Now, music journalists aren’t only writers, they’re content creators. Oftentimes, they have additional qualifications in video or media production, and sometimes become public figures. This comes with its own new and unique challenges.

The digital age allows the consumer direct access to the journalist and the artist. This can lead to harassment, as detailed by J’na Jefferson, after she wrote a piece on the link between the opioid crisis and emo rap - and included a picture of artist Lil Peep. Certain fans were quick to jump on her for it for their perceived accusation of their idol:

“I locked all my accounts, I was getting death threats, I was getting taunted, I was getting racial slurs thrown at me, misogynistic slurs - all because people read a headline.”

This element, the direct consumer to journalist line, has the potential to pressure journalists into avoiding writing certain things, or painting people in certain lights. It is essential for journalists to remain objective, and write their pieces based on truth. This is made more complicated when anonymous faces online have the potential to influence, or even shut down, what a journalist might be trying to say.

Additionally, it is important to acknowledge the world of music journalism on platforms like Youtube, where the work is self-made and widely accessible to a larger audience. Music critic Anthony Fantano is a good example of someone who has made a name for himself - he releases his own ratings and videos on projects, and his word is not taken lightly. People care about what he has to say and why, and with over two million subscribers, it is evident that a lot ​ of people do.

There are other music critics, too, who have found themselves large followings online as well. Dead End Hip Hop, AjayII, Shawn Cee, and many more are examples of such success. Their styles are all different, but, at its core, the content remains what music critics have always been - people who love to talk about music, and aren’t afraid to share their opinions. For now, 12 the Youtube sphere of music criticism has largely remained on Youtube - although it will be interesting to follow how this may evolve.

This changing field, while scary in some ways, is exciting in others. Music journalism at its root is about stories - about everyone. A growing and expanding field of new and diverse ​ ​ journalists means for more honest coverage of an equally diverse musicscape. The possibilities are exciting, despite the challenges.

The Public Audience

Finally, we have reached the most important part of the whole cycle: the public audience. Without ears to listen, or eyes to read, there is certainly no point in debating any of the aforementioned nuances. In the high volume digital age, the audience is faced with the task of sorting through a constant barrage of information in order to find the stories, and by extension the meaning, in music and music journalism - grounding the musician and bringing out the human within the hero.

Celebrities can oftentimes become today's heroes - widely idolized and sometimes worshipped by their followers, they hold immense power . The listeners hold a similar responsibility to understand where their information is coming from and take into account the necessary context. Today’s music journalism field is scattered, and fractured, and one can get their news from many different sources. Therefore, it is important for all involved, the musicians and the audience, to be aware of how their heroes are being portrayed, and to remember that they, and journalists who write about them, are only human.

The reader has more options than ever now. When taken advantage of, it is a fantastic resource to furthering your understanding of music and the musicians you love; when not, it is an overwhelming barrage of information that is difficult to sort through.

Music is closely intertwined with culture, and oftentimes journalists find themselves reporting on the intersection of the two. Christina Lee, a hip-hop journalist based in Atlanta, said that the process of deciding what artists to cover involved looking at how they influenced the city:

“[When] I’m listening to the music by any one given artist [I’m] trying to listen for or seeing what they are contributing that is new to the scene, and in what way that exemplifies a changing Atlanta.

Atlanta is in a very unique place in that it has become part of this reverse migration that the city has experienced over the past couple years where, especially black folks in particular, are moving back to the South. And that’s just one factor in particular about how the city's landscape has changed.

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You can look back at how the Olympics changed Atlanta, OutKast - you can look at any number of factors...I guess one [factor in choosing coverage]: Is there something in the music that is really compelling and new and adds to this already really healthy scenes, and two: Is there a direct connection that I can make as far as civic identity, but also where we are as a culture right now?”

This kind of intersection between culture, music, and history greatly benefits the reader. It allows for a large scale conversation about what musicians mean to a city, and what the city means to them. Music is deeply personal, but it is also widely consumed and appreciated. Journalists like Lee open the door to conversations on the deeper impacts musicians have on the people who listen to them.

It is a curse that there will always be too much content, too many new artists and songs, and too little time to learn about them all. Therefore, journalists also function as filters, sifting through the music and promoting the artists and projects that grab ahold of them.

The consumer benefits from this by not being faced with the daunting task of doing it all themselves. The journalist, in turn, finds a purpose in this duty - popular culture and expression are not dictated by the journalists, but they do have their hand in influencing it.

Chloe Campion from The Fader summed it up this way: ​ ​

“Vince Staples can tweet all day long, but music journalism takes these people who are arguably the most important people to culture, who represent forward thinking fashion, who come from various backgrounds, who do controversial things, and it’s our job to make sense of it and give it meaning - whether or not that is what is going on in Tekashi6x9’s trial or why you should listen to IGOR…

It’s reflection and criticism. In the same way as when you go see a movie...and then you read a review...it’s context and perspective. And at the same time, if you trust our voice, music is also escapism and entertainment and so the ability to say there’s all this music out there...here’s what we think is good right now, and if you trust us, it’s like a good friend.”

Conclusion

Things are starkly different than they were a few decades ago when music journalism first solidified its place in the popular culture. Like any other creative field, it is no easy path. Few journalists have staff writer positions, and many more are at the mercy of the unpredictable freelancing path. Additionally, the mediascape has complicated, bringing in new challenges for journalists to work through.

However, music is one of the great joys of life, and the stories, the human behind it, is ​ ​ what makes it so special. Music journalism, for all its challenges in the 21st century, exists to 14 highlight these stories, and connect us all in a deeper way. It investigates and contextualizes our heroes. It brings greater meaning to the soundtracks of our lives. It has done its job when it adds to the appreciation of the music; anything else is a distraction.

As a kid, I listened to the songs my dad sang with wonder in my eyes and stories swirling through my head. The woman that John Prine sings about in “Angel From Montgomery,” so filled with longing and regret, looks different to every person who hears the song. I picture her tall, with gray streaks running through her darkened hair, standing at her window and wistfully daydreaming as the flies buzz in the kitchen. To someone else, she glances at an old rodeo poster, tangled hair and deep smile lines painting her features. Others yet see themselves set against the flowing chords and melancholy lyrics.

In a 2012 interview with The Blue Railroad, Prine explained the song and the origins of ​ ​ his songwriting process:

“I think the more the listener can contribute to the song, the better; the more they become part of the song, and they fill in the blanks. Rather than tell them everything, you save ​ ​ your details for things that exist. Like what color the ashtray is. How far away the doorway was. So when you’re talking about intangible things, like emotions, the listener can fill in the blanks and you just draw the foundation. I still tend to believe that’s the way to tackle it today.”

At the end of the day, like John Prine said, music becomes what we feel. No interview, no profile, no Q&A can paint that unique picture in your mind. But, it can help us to lay that essential foundation, and set the scene for our favorite stories. Music journalism is about more than just music, and more than just journalism. When all is said and done, it is about the human - something within all of us.

So now, in the words of Jann Wenner penned in the very first issue of Rolling Stone: “To ​ ​ describe it any further would be difficult without sounding like bullshit, and bullshit is like gathering moss.”

To avoid collecting any moss, I'll just go ahead and leave it there - the true test of a music journalist is knowing when to let the music speak for itself.

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References

Draper, Robert. Rolling Stone Magazine: The Uncensored History. New York, Doubleday ​ ​ Dell Publishing Group, 1990.

DeRogatis, Jim. Let It Blurt. New York, Broadway Books, 2000 ​ ​

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