Having shared threads on pitching your music for coverage, & over on @therecklessyes about releasing music independently or approaching a label the time has come for one on being a music journalist…so brace yourself as here we go for a Bank Holiday bonanza

Depending how you look at it music journalism is either a dying part of a wider industry, or a thriving grassroots community where speaking strongly & thoughtfully to a small defined audience is as impactful than blasting something blander out to broad reach but diluted interest

This makes it an exciting time to want to cover music, IMO. There is no clear defined path & even more thrillingly the very purpose of music journalism is ready to be re-defined in the modern age. When anyone can share a view music journalism needs to add value beyond tastemaking

Before we go further a reminder: I’ve been writing about music for more than 20 years, have been an editor of @louderthanwar, & written for sites including @drownedinsound, @loudandquiet, @getinherears, @godisinthetv, & @echoesanddust

I now run @popoptica, & co-run record label @therecklessyes. Something I wrote was once described as 'if Laurie Lee had taken up music writing', so there’s that

Despite all of that I am still learning something new every day about being a music journalist, about how to best connect & share, & definitely about how to build & nurture communities now we gather online & have (to a certain degree) our listening & info decided by algorithms

I’m learning how the best journalism supports artist & fan without being a gatekeeper or holding itself above with inflated importance. What I’m writing here is part of processing my own thoughts as much as passing on wisdom. I’d hope it sparks discussion & connection

For me personally music writing is about exploring my own connection to any given piece of music, sharing it with others & having conversations. As a socially-anxious & deeply introvert creative I may not otherwise successfully have those chats

My top three music journalism / blogging qualities then:
Connection (to music, to genre, to history, to individual)
Context (to culture, to genre, to society, to artist catalogue)
Kindness (you are critiquing someone’s art, acknowledge the privilege & your subjectivity)

I love writing which promotes & expresses connection on an emotional & technical level, which contextualises & understands position within wider culture, which is personal but not individualistic

Writing (or journalism in other media) which just says ‘I like this’ leaves me cold & often uncertain - unless the writer is very well known how do I know what their ‘like’ really means? In publications written in a multitude of voices, who does their 'like' represent?

Taking care over each word as much as the overall structure is important. Too many people use the word bombastic, for example, but I’m not it means what all of them think. Language is fluid but that doesn’t excuse taking care & pride in crafting a piece

These days understanding the medium is important. If you’re writing online do you know about:
SEO
how people read online (compared to print)
creating accessible content
not stealing pictures
promoting what you’ve published?
You need to.

And writing isn’t enough. You need to be able to tell stories in different ways. Words, video, podcasting…memes. Learn around your core storytelling skill - add graphics, photography, video. You don’t have to be master of everything - but its beneficial to be multi-skilled

Every voice has a place in sharing thoughts on music, but that doesn’t mean every voice is one you want to listen to. Everyone is allowed personal preferences. It's fine to disagree. There is still a lack of diversity in music writing & we should all actively work to change that

This seems like a good place to state one thing: a woman is not writing about music because she wants to sleep with the artist. This view is gross, misogynistic, degrading, & sadly still way to commonly held. It isn’t 'banter' to suggest it. Respect in all things, yeah

While we’re in that area: female-fronted is not a genre. Stop ‘othering’ anything but white & male musicians. Stop assuming a woman needs a man to help her create, play, engineer, or produce. Stop waiting for male musicians to validate female music & consider it on its merit

Stop questioning female fandom as something less than real or authentic. There should be no place for this - certainly not in music journalism. In 2020 it shouldn't feel like it needs to be said, but it does.

Music is subjective, writing is too. Just because one journo / blogger holds a different opinion to you doesn’t diminish your enjoyment of music. Might be frustrating someone can’t hear what you can but there’s the chance for a conversation (not personal attacks, not cool)

My view is good music journalism should be about: connection, context, culture, & kindness. The time for spiteful reviews has passed - you can be critical while still centring the knowledge that you’re writing about someone’s art, someone’s baby. Be honest, but FFS be kind

Most bloggers aren’t getting paid so coverage is tilted toward a positive (as your heart has to be pretty withered to want to volunteer to spend time on something you hate). Lack of oxygen has become the digital equivalent of the tear-apart in the inkies

You can gush & be enthusiastic, but you can (should) also be able to recognise when something isn’t quite there & feel able to express that constructively, preferably explaining your view beyond it being subjective opinion

Be curious too about what you cover. It’s easy & time-saving to be fed releases by PRs and labels (& I work that side too, so don’t dismiss it completely! ) but do seek out releases & artists for yourself. Look for the story in everything & everyone, then support it to be told

Scoring of reviews. RESIST RESIST RESIST. Music is not a competition and scoring is so blindly subjective as to be pointless. And if everything is a 9/10, nothing is a 9/10 (& spoiler…things are RARELY a 9/10 - that is ubiquitous brilliance on a global scale territory)

Scoring is reductive - it plays to short attention spans, to instant gratification, & the idea that culture can be quantified. Some of that is tempting, some of it may even be competitively necessary for publications but do resist if you can & favour context over numbers

Let’s talk - again - about the copy & pasting of press releases directly onto a site. I get why this happens (there’s so many releases & so little time) but it does so very very little for artists or readers

Plus, even worse, publishing a press release under an individual’s name when they are not responsible for the considered wording within the release. That’s not what I’m here for. Don’t do it

Interviews: if you are asking a question which could be asked of any artist have another think. Consider audience - if you’re writing for a gear publication questions about gear are good, but otherwise they’re rarely what people want to know. Remember >you< are not the story

Be prepared for the talkative interviewee who gives you too much & the one who gives you nothing. I once had to write a 2000 word feature from a 42 word interview. That situ is a different type of writing to ‘my thoughts on this album’ - all valid but different challenges

As is writing to length. Online that’s more flexible but writing long is as hard as writing short. Challenge yourself to write something 4000 words, but also review in 150. Can you still get your point across in the short? Can you hold the interest in the long? KEEP LEARNING

If you write for someone else remember a good editor is invaluable to you. They can tighten prose, they can proofread, & ultimately they can help you become a better writer. The best will also know how to match a writer to a piece, & curate from the firehose of pitches coming in

Keep a portfolio - even if you aren’t looking to pitch your work in at other publications having a record of your own work is nice, & helpful in seeing your writing & voice get stronger. There’s special sites to help you do this but Medium, Dropbox etc can all work

Whatever type of storytelling you do it’s worth getting your heads around the fundamentals of libel & defamation, as well as copyright. I recommend following @DBanksy as he'll drop things into your timeline you didn't even know you didn't know about media law - always brilliant

Every site you contribute to will be slightly different. Like everything, some places & some people are toxic while others are beautiful supportive communities. Find the good ones, leave the bad ones. Don’t feel sad about leaving bad places & taking your voice elsewhere

Are you going to get paid? Probably not. Not writing online anyway. You’re better off finding a niche, building an audience, & managing a community for your writing through Patreon or similar. Know your worth & be smart when contributing to publications for 'exposures'

So, what should you do if you want to be a music journalist or blogger? Just do it. You don’t need anyone’s permission to start. If you think you need permission, THIS IS IT. Go & write about music. Add you voice.

Reasons not to write about music:
you want free stuff
you want to stop someone else writing about music
you want to be needlessly mean about someone’s art under the protection of critique
you think it will be easy

Work out why you want to write (for yourself? for others?), find your voice, recognise what you don’t know as well as what you do. Join the community. Start a blog, or a mailing list, or a podcast, or an Insta live. Approach other blogs with pitches

Starting your own blog - Wordpress is still good for this. Hell, micro-blog on Twitter, vlog on Insta, make a podcast. How you choose to share your voice depends what you're comfortable with, & to an extent what is convenient. You don't need to be techy as such to start

Want to write for me at @popoptica? I’m REALLY interested to hear from writers who have less space online or who are covering genres outside the mainstream. Womxn, Black, people of colour, indigenous, LGBTQ+, older, younger…

I've also seen @OverblownZine & @WTHBlows were both recently looking for writers (I think)...follow a few blogs - they all usually have something on the site about whether they are open to pitches / looking for contributors

Learning how to pitch is really important. Lots of blogs will hand out pieces, or commission you on specific things, but pitching original pieces is a skill. You need to know how much to put in without giving it all away, & which are the best places to help you develop an idea

What else could I usefully share about music journalism and blogging?

(Just tagging @tipexxed in here as well as @pop_society as might be useful stuff in here for your student cohorts)