Sea of sound: digital media that holds its own
Nick Tabor
Issue date: 2/7/08 Section: Arts
In the wake of Web 2.0, print journalism is fighting for its life. Almost every major newspaper in the country now offers the same content on their websites, for free, as they do in the physical copies, which cost money.
But at least newspapers are still hanging on. Music journalism lost that battle a long time ago.
When the "Village Voice" was acquired by New Times Media in 2005, they quickly fired the great Robert Christgau, the self-proclaimed (and widely acknowledged) "dean of American rock critics" - and the magazine has sloped steadily downhill ever since.
"Rolling Stone" sank into the gutter before today's college kids were old enough to read it. "Spin" and "Blender" are basically trash.
Online-only music magazines, or webzines, have taken over as the dominant format.
Every music nerd's scorn notwithstanding, "Pitchfork Media" (pitchforkmedia.com) still wields more influence on the indie music world than any other publication. "College Music Journal" (cmj.com), "Drowned in Sound" (drownedinsound.com), "New Musical Express" (nme.com) and "Tiny Mix Tapes" (tinymixtapes.com) also bear mentioning.
While physical media is almost universally superior to digital media, I prefer these webzines over traditional magazines.
Of course it's nice to get the content for free, but that's not the only reason. Webzines can report breaking news that gets outdated too quickly for print publications, and with unlimited Internet space, webzine writers never need to worry about article length.
But does the digital format cheapen the reading experience?
I don't think so. Good writing holds its ground no matter where it appears. If Web 2.0 poses any threat to music journalism, that threat comes in the form of music protocols like Last.fm and MySpace and free download services like BitTorrent. And they don't threaten to "cheapen the experience" - they threaten the market for music journalism instead.
Case in point: "Stylus Magazine," likely the best pop music publication in the world, was shut down in October when its editor-in-chief decided to call it quits.
But at least newspapers are still hanging on. Music journalism lost that battle a long time ago.
When the "Village Voice" was acquired by New Times Media in 2005, they quickly fired the great Robert Christgau, the self-proclaimed (and widely acknowledged) "dean of American rock critics" - and the magazine has sloped steadily downhill ever since.
"Rolling Stone" sank into the gutter before today's college kids were old enough to read it. "Spin" and "Blender" are basically trash.
Online-only music magazines, or webzines, have taken over as the dominant format.
Every music nerd's scorn notwithstanding, "Pitchfork Media" (pitchforkmedia.com) still wields more influence on the indie music world than any other publication. "College Music Journal" (cmj.com), "Drowned in Sound" (drownedinsound.com), "New Musical Express" (nme.com) and "Tiny Mix Tapes" (tinymixtapes.com) also bear mentioning.
While physical media is almost universally superior to digital media, I prefer these webzines over traditional magazines.
Of course it's nice to get the content for free, but that's not the only reason. Webzines can report breaking news that gets outdated too quickly for print publications, and with unlimited Internet space, webzine writers never need to worry about article length.
But does the digital format cheapen the reading experience?
I don't think so. Good writing holds its ground no matter where it appears. If Web 2.0 poses any threat to music journalism, that threat comes in the form of music protocols like Last.fm and MySpace and free download services like BitTorrent. And they don't threaten to "cheapen the experience" - they threaten the market for music journalism instead.
Case in point: "Stylus Magazine," likely the best pop music publication in the world, was shut down in October when its editor-in-chief decided to call it quits.
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