Music journalism has lost its edge, wrote Kelefa Sanneh in the New Yorker recently, causing a huge stir online amongst critics and music fans. Was the age of witty and brutal music journalism dead, they wondered? Are we doomed to fawning, ever-positive album and live show reviews for evermore?
Reading his piece, I found myself nodding along with many of the points he raised. As a music journalist myself, I know there are problems. To name just a few: the clicks-driven online economy, a reliance on advertising from a monopoly of big labels, publications dealing with tightening budgets, a sharp decline in the number of specialist outlets covering music and – this one’s not to be underestimated – vicious stans ready to dox at the drop of even a middling three-star review. Such factors are all scaring publications away from taking risks or delivering the harsh-but-helpful truth.
