Toadcast #76 – The Presscast
I recently did an interview with Billy from The Scotsman’s Under the Radar blog (amongst other venerable organs) which took the form of an interesting chat about the current tension between bloggers and professional journalists. He has played off my opinions against those of his friend Mike Diver, who is currently the online editor for (the excellent) Clash magazine. The whole thing can be found here, along with plenty of comments from Ally and Milo, professional writers from around these parts, and myself and Tart, on the side of the bloggers. The comments on that thread make for some rather interesting reading in themselves, I have to say.
It’s an interesting debate, frankly, and one which, as a blogger with aspirations, as opposed to someone who is happy to simply chat for the sake of it, I have applied a fair deal of thought to. Ultimately, though, I think it is something of a false dichotomy: some of the best reporters keep blogs as ways of expressing themselves outwith the constraints of the editorial policy of whatever rag pays their wages and a lot of the best bloggers end up parlaying their writing skills into professional careers in journalism. And of either side there is a vast amount of detritus, professional and amateur.
So, yes, the Toad once again holds forth passionately on subjects he knows far too little about and may in general be making a fool of himself once more. The, erm, songs are good though.
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01. Billy Bragg – Which Side Are You On? (03.17)
02. The Decemberists – Cautionary Song (Live) (11.03)
03. Jens Lekman – No Time For Breaking Up (14.09)
04. The Meteors – Out of Time (22.21)
05. Franz Ferdinand – Darts of Pleasure (32.47)
06. The Dead 60s – Horizontal (35.17)
07. Sleepy Horses – Lubbock Love Song (42.27)
08. Eels – I Write the B-sides (52.05)
09. The Replacements – Unsatisfied (62.30)
10. David Cross – My Kids are Amish (68.09)
found where amigo??
Fuck.
Here.
Enjoyed that Matthew, love the Eels track. Missed the boat on Comes with a smile myself but I do think printed artifacts have a place and are a totally different experience than reading online content. In the end though the fact that blogs are convenient and relatively affordable to produce as well as convenient and free to read will win out I guess.
ps Thanks for putting me in the “old pro” category but I actually put myself more in the blogger camp these days, though I have a way to go especially when it comes to
things like posting regularly enough.
I think the mentions of the NME and Pitchfork here are especially interesting.
In the NME’s case, its print circulation has dropped something like 20% over the last couple of years, but its website is phenomenally successful. But that still doesn’t get it off the hook in my opinion, because the reason it does so well online is that it turns every-fucking-thing that happens in the music world into a news story. It’s a slave to the Google Newsbots over any kind of community of readers. But if the NME management are interested in numbers, then billing themselves as ‘the world’s fastest music news service’ was probably a wise move.
Pitchfork on the other hand, is quality over quantity, but has also done extremely well online. Look at how its traffic has shot up recently: http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/pitchfork.com. Some of that may be down to a rebranding and redesign, but it’s established its reputation for well-informed, intelligent music criticism. (Even if I rarely agree with its ratings), and its influence on those on-the-cusp bands is huge.
So there are two strategies here which both seem to be paying dividends: shovel tons of content online as fast as possible, or commission writing on what you and your audience consider to be the best music out there.
I’ll be damned if I know where that leaves bloggers, journalists or whatever we choose to call ourselves.
I think you’re a journalist because you’re writing for the Scotsman, even though you’re blogging. And Milo’s a blogger. Even though he’s a journalist. And erm… erm… never mind!
Matthew,
For some reason I can’t find the article/interview that you referenced and linked. The link takes me to Under The Radar blog but I can’t find the interview. Sorry, if I am being a stupid twit here… Would love to read it.
Gah. I am an idiot. Try this link.
Good it now Matthew, Thanks!
Damn, meant to say “Got it now”…
The Replacements, yay!
Well you know I have a different angle on this question, to do with the motive and impetus for writing two kinds of music review/criticism/commentary. But, that’s just an ancillary conversation to the one you’re having.
interesting music this week!
xoxo
professional music journalists always gravitate towards the middle of the road – it’s an inevitable product of the demand of their journal to appeal to the broadest readership – exactly the same thing happens with radio stations (even those that are publicly funded) – so i don’t read or listen to those media outlets because i want to ‘discover’ artists who are doing something a bit more interesting – i never read pitchfork, and think their buzzbands (like sub pop these days) are as safe and indi-lite as you’d find touted on any other commercial space – keep up the good work – the uhersky brod release is a winner
great playlist…..otherwise i think it’s best we have a chat over a pint with regards to the other stuff, cos i wouldn’t want to unnecessarily upset and offend anyone. But a phrase that keeps coming to mind is:
Altruism wrapped up in a cult of personality.
p.s. Zenm you’re excluding yourself from a great wealth of super music out there.
The Replacements are just fucking awesome aren’t they?
Well maybe Chutters, but there’s only so much any one person can handle, and I think there’s more than enough on the fringes that zenm describes to keep someone perfectly happy. Your point stands though, there’s some great stuff being ignored that way, but you have to ignore something because you can’t listen to it all.
Who are you worried about offending? If it’s just me then go for it. If I think you’re talking shit I’ll tell you so.
I know Matthew, but sometimes this things are better talked about over a pint, and it is also a little bit of self preservation. i get sick of the self-justification spiral that goes on sometimes.
Really enjoyed that Matthew……how good would it have been with a bucketful of gin?
Replacements …cheers for that