do dem people get real paid or is it pro bono?

I seem to remember hearing somewheres that it's unpaid at first (save for free records and the attendant record co "swag") but can lead to being paid down the line.
Don't take that as gospel, though.

Couple years ago when I was still freelancing they had a call for writers on the site with some pretty ridiculous "audition" criteria. I wrote to ask if it was paid and never got a response. Wasn't too broken up about it, to tell the truth.

How many writers can they need?

They're paid in indie coochie. Ryan allows them to use the phrase "I write for Pitchfork" at bars and near merchandise tables.

That's pretty low to have struggling would-be writers go unpaid for their work.

Keyword: would-be.

Eh, there's no money in entertainment journalism. Especially music since there's several dozen magazines overcovering every single aspect of and scrambling for every crumb from the pie that represents an art form that's less and less of a viable business at the corporate (ie, ad-buying) level.

You wanna make money as a freelance journalist? Cover golf. The Buick Open was in town last week and Golf Magazine dropped $250 on one of our sports writers to talk with Tom Leyman for like 5 minutes to get some quotes for an equipment issue they're doing.

Incredible.

except 'round this part of the world.

The only music magazine we have is Rollingstone Australia. There is seriously a gap in the market that someone is going to capitalize on real soon and get real paid...

We had that. It was called Juice and it was (for the most part) great (3 or 4 6 page features per issue!). But it went under even though it still covered a lot of big bands. The market here just isn't big enough for a quality magazine covering mostly non-mainstream stuff.

Even RS isn't doing so great - the last time I saw it's distro numbers they were way down on what they had been 5-10 yrs previously (admittedly, not helped by the fact that it tries to please everyone and of course pleases no one except the clueless)

there's a really good new one that just came out called Kicking Against the Pricks. The first issue had interviews with the dirty three and rowland s. howard, so naturally, it won't do very well. It's either based in Brizzy or Melbourne, i'm not sure. It's only like 3 bucks.

With a name like that it just has to be quality. Now I just need to find a copy of it

From what I understand, they pay, but it's not a whole hell of a lot. More as a courtesy thing than something people live off of. Mainly people wrrite for them for the exposure. Same goes for things like Rockpile, Magnet, etc.

Swiatecki can tell you how much CMJ paid...

Whiney, hijack...

Saw the write up on Parts and Labor in the latest Magnet. Cool.

Also, you know Matt and Fletcher Johnson from Brooklyn?

hold up, you dont get Rip It Up or Real Groove?

cos shit, were a smaller country but at least we got a couple of big mags + local zine shit

all we get is RS and zines, i'm pretty sure. There's a few really low key publications though.

Let's just say the quoted rate was respectable, but the accounts payable department must resemble a gang of dyslexic chimpanzees strung out on crystal meth.

My attorney is hard at work on this front.

Ouch.