Music journalism continues to be a hellscape
This is what everybody was talking about
The relationship between a journalist and publicist is a strange thing. It’s quid pro quo— one side controls access to the celebrity and the other controls the content being propagated on a platform. At it’s best, they work together and an insightful/interesting/unusual story is born. It can be antagonistic if one side feels the other hasn’t lived up to the tacit agreement of offering access for exposure (and vice versa)
Yesterday, nearly every music journalist that I know was mistakenly copied on an email between a publicist and a writer. Out of respect for all parties, I’m not going to share the identity of the publicist, writer or the artist they were discussing. It’s not relevant. If you’re not on Twitter (lucky you), here’s what happened: The lengthy email thread appeared to show how the writer wasn’t just working with the publicist, they were colluding on creating positively-spun pieces and pitching them to various outlets. This appeared to include agreeing upon titles and editorial copy and in turn, getting the artist to share the final pieces on social media. [The publicist refuted this later in a mass email].
My first gut reaction was disdain. It felt icky. Journalism isn’t supposed to be a collaboration in this way, unless expressly stated, such as a celebrity co-authoring a book. Or, an “as told to” piece that’s basically a writer transcribing what the subject says with little to no critique. Further, if these are the kinds of pieces being green lit, it makes it exponentially harder for the rest of us because artists and their teams expect an inordinate amount of control and oversight.
Sadly, this is a natural byproduct of the dumpster fire that is media. Nobody knows what’s going on and everyone is grabbing for the same scraps. We collectively lost all power once we became beholden to social media algorithms. Content needs to be clickable! Nobody reads 2,000 words when there’s a AI-generated Buzzfeed quiz waiting to be published. Artists feel that they can go to Instagram or YouTube and control their narrative and believe that’s equivalent to speaking with a professional journalist. We’ve seen this time and again when they don’t want to answer “tough” questions. The fans are no better, incapable of anything with criticism or pushback. Intelligent discourse is rare and much of coverage is basically a press release in disguise.
Meanwhile, the media wants to push personalities over bylines. The “author as platform” is the new strategy. Outlets are at the mercy of revolving door leadership, shrinking ad dollars and chasing algorithms. Remember that infamous pivot to video? Despite destroying newsrooms, executives are begging to pivot to “short-form video” because of the popularity of TikTok. Platforms like Buzzfeed and Complex publicly tout that they now have “content creator networks” (Translation: Kids most likely getting paid in exposure) in lieu of staffers. And every day, writers have to hear how AI is taking over their jobs. Look no further than the WGA strike taking place as we speak.
The scarcity of money, platforms and opportunities has left everyone feeling insecure and desperate. Until writers are respected—by the companies they work, the industry and consumers— this will get worse before it gets better.