I generally agree with him, except in the part that his taste is better than everyone elses.

Where he's on the mark is that most internet writers are shitty writers without editors. 90% of blogs are about the author, not the subject.

I liked it, but you knew I would.

man, what happened to you?



Anyway, Derris is correct - the up side of getting your news from Twitter I guess is the immediacy of it, and the lack of filters, but then that can be its downside as well. A world with no professional journalism whatsoever is not something to be excited about.

Whiney's point would be alot stronger if CMJ's filter and quality of reporting/reviewing had been much better than that of the slightly above average blog.

I still think there will always be a market for quality journalism...quality is a key word though.

yep

Professionals who can tell truth from bullshit, have news judgment and the wherewithall to go back and double/triple check the accuracy of what they're putting out there and the determination to stay with stories and beats while Mr. John Q. Twitter is at home watching "American Idol."

Yeah, there's a lot of those in any newsroom you'll ever see. A ton more than you could muster at the largest blogger/Tweet-up ever.

Look, I'm not saying Twitter doesn't have value - we use it regularly for info dispersal and as another way to have a ground-level view of what's going on in the world. And it's obviously making a big difference in Iran where, as Derris noted, the government has given all legit unbiased media the boot.

But don't confuse the issue. You said journalists killed journalism, when that couldn't be further from the truth. Management and bean counters didn't explore new ways to make professional reporting economical in a paperless world. Two completely different questions.

You say that like journalists weren't fighting the "management and bean counters" tooth and nail as they tried to streamline costs in line with diminished revenue streams.

Journalists were certainly part of the problem. Too many of them had a resistance to any change and seem to believe that their product is a form of art that shouldn't be messed with by the business types and that they have a higher calling than generating profits for the owners of the publishing company. Its intellectual arrogance and if you want that type of control, start your own blog.

There's plenty of blame for the business types too for a lack of strategic vision, timely regiggering of their business model/product offerings, and reinvestment. But to the extent that any of them showed any vision, career journalists fought the changes.

rock critics? rock critics?!


boohoo, he's going to be out of a job soon. Time to grow up and get a real job.


I don't need no "rock critic" to tell me what's good. I'll sample something and decide for myself. At most, all I want is a RIYL.

No surprise here, I think he's wrong and is coming from an elitist pseudo-luddite perspective. But people more thoughtful than Whiney or I have already had this debate.

For Whiney's side, see Cass Sunstein's The Daily We

For the considered counterpoint, see Jack Balkin's (in my opinion more-correct) response What I learned about blogging in a year

They were talking about blogging killing journalism and Whiney's talking about Twitter killing music criticism, but it's the same conversation.

it;s understandable why rock critics want some style with their substance, though. if you have substance, then people will go to you for "just the facts, ma'am." if you've got style, you can become the taste-maker, rather than the taste-reporter - and that's the kind of power that rock critics (especially the egotisical asshole types) really want.

Nice speech, Whiney. But no shoutout to Obner?

Aren't we the indie rock snobs and blog supporters that are putting him out of a job?

it's always a little cringe inducing when a dude dressed in head to toe indie rock gear complains about how awful indie rock and it's guitars are. oh no! white people and guitars! (i realize it's a hip hop t shirt, but i stand by what i said)

music reviews have always been kind of silly, something to read at the back of the magazine. But I hope there will always be a place for long form music journalism.

wait are you telling me there was a twitter conference? my christ

Hey man, that's Christopher R. Weingarten, maaaaan

how many times you think he practiced that "crowdsourcing killed punk rock" line in front of the mirror

we talking 'bout practice, not a game . . . practice

Director's commentary: Wrote that entire part in pen, on the back of my notes, in response to the guy from Business Week who went on 20 minutes before me.

paperthinballs

People like him / pitchfork style writers (geeks) are the death of music criticism. No one wants to read something written by someone they wouldn't bother talking to at a party.

In fact, more than anything else, I don't think anyone wants to read about music any more, period.

This is a myth. Quality print publications are going to be around forever. All these guys signed their own death warrant when they jumped ship to digital media, rather than taking the chance to really do something with the printed word. WHOOPS. Now everything is transient and throwaway!

The only reason most music magazines went down the shitter is they ended up doing nothing but heaping praise on EVERYTHING. Articles these days are all just for band publicity / photo ops (if they ever were anything else).

Why would you want to be a music writer anyway? I don't get it. It's like a step down from sportswriter. At least some sports writers have balls and some insight into what they're writing about. I haven't read a music writer that wasn't just a shoulder bag carrying tagalong who never quite got good enough at the guitar to join a band.

I see what ya did there. Man that was clever. Why do you hate Modest Mouse so much?

Mick, your alpha dude universe doesn't encompass the whole coral of ponies people wanna ride. There are in fact plenty of parties where Whiney dudes make the party, let alone get talked to.

Jesus FAIL. Is this really how you're gonna roll? Did you even watch the video?

I didn't see him asking for any sympathy. He actually made the point himself about how people can just sample an album themselves.

If anything I felt he showed excitement about new technology and music even if I disagreed on some of his points.

"my grandma fuckin' uses google - it's easy!"

awesome