Best Music Journalism: April 2015

This month finally brought the Columbia Journalism Review’s report of the Rolling Stone UVA story. As embarrassing as it was for the writer and editor to flunk Journalism 101, Rolling Stone’s decision that there was no need to discipline anyone involved in the story wasn’t just head-scratching but also another journo failing. If there’s no real culpability for screwing up a story like that, what’s the incentive for others to make sure that their other stories are straight? Though RS has continued to do quality work otherwise (one of their stories is included below), this sets a bad example for the scribing world in general. Beyond all the hang-wringing is a much bigger issue though: When a story like this turns out to be fabricated, it makes it even harder for victims who experience this horrible crime. Hopefully, this won’t make these cases harder to prove now.

In addition, Billboard has been hit with some layoffs which included a correspondent, editor-at-large and some of its marketing team. The good news for the publication, as the Adweek story notes, is that they came off a record week of online traffic for Grammy coverage just before that.

And despite this bad news, good work still comes out of the music scribing world, in all shapes and forms. Read on below to check out some of my highlights from the past month.

Lou Reed - Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Speech (Laurie Anderson)

If Lou himself had lived, he would have given a different speech (bits of dry humor mixed with gruff sober reflection). But other than Sylvia Reed, who else could give him such an apropos doff of the cap? Anderson has already written several wonderful articles about Reed since his death, and this caps it off nicely with some quotes and characters from his songs and nods to his friends, associates and heroes. Rest assured that Lou is now arguing with Lester Bangs for the rest of eternity.

How Can We Change the Face of Power in the Music Industry? (Aimee Cliff, Fader)

After Billboard published its “very white, very male Power 100 list,” it would be easy to be angry and cynical. Cliff suggest solutions to this problem: “It seems the best option we have are these talking cures: giving a platform to the people who have made their own in-roads into the industry, so that they can give the next generation the tools to make those roads even bigger.” There’s also worthwhile groups cited here to empower women like Diaspora, Women Of Tomorrow, Power Play Women. Spread the word about them and support them, and you could be part of a change too.

Inside Coachella (Donald Fagen, Rolling Stone)

Laughable that the ol’ Steely Dan codger didn’t know headliner AC/DC, but he gladly admits that he stopped following pop in the mid-’70s. Tour diaries are something that he and partner Walter Becker have been doing for years on their own site, but it’s been a while since he’s let the bile and cynicism fly so casually and publicly (and hilariously) as here.

The Samplers That Shaped Modern Music (Laurent Fintoni, FACT)

A techie wet dream. A comprehensive look at the samplers that were responsible for some of your favorite dance and rap songs – and great explanations as to why they drove musical innovation in those genres.

Revenge of the Record Labels- How Majors Renewed Their Grip on Music (Zack O’Malley Greenburg, Forbes)

Think that Spotify, iTunes, and Pandora have made the majors irrelevant? Think again. The remaining three big labels are happy with the way things are because they get HUGE payoffs from these sites to get the rights to share that music with the world. And the money for artists comes trickling down from the labels in small bits from these payoffs. The more things change, the more they stay the same, eh?

Is Bundling How We Finally Get People To Pay For Streaming Music? (Courtney Harding, Medium)

A former Billboard writer/editor has an idea or two about how to save the music biz: Hey Neflix, Add some music into your movie and TV offerings. Hey Apple, Add in streaming not as a monthly pay option but as part of a package. Harding is a media strategist now and judging by this sage advice, she earns her keep and then some.

Do you want poptimism? Or do you want the truth? (Chris Richards, Washington Post)

In music journo circles, there has been an ongoing debate between “poptimists” and “rockists.” Well, it seems like the potimists have won. But not without consequences. “When a pop star reaches a certain strata of fame... they no longer seem to get bad reviews. Critics become cheerleaders and the discussion froths into a consensus...” Richards is broadminded enough to note that pop fans aren’t just airheads (“(poptimism) rightfully recognizes the complexity of pop music”), but can’t help to worry that this shuts down discussion and drowns out doubters. Even Saturday Night Live saw the problem and made fun of it in their “Beygency” sketch a year ago.

“Woman” Is Not a Genre: Why the New, Female-Led Rock Revolution Is for Everybody (Jillian Mapes, Flavorwire)

Hey, it’s time for more “Women in Rock” magazine issues, right? Or maybe not. Mapes wisely points out that the cycle of excitement over different groups of disparate women seeming to take over rock every few years is a tired cliché that needs to be put out of its misery.

The Man Who Broke the Music Business (Stephen Witt, New Yorker)

Shawn Fanning usually gets the credit as the guy who “freed” music, but it was actually a well-placed tech geek named Bennie Glover who did it. Working in a CD distribution factory, he was the one responsible for some of the biggest leaks during the early ’00s.

Montage of Heck and the Impossible Kurt Cobain (Lindsay Zoladz, New York)

The film Montage of Heck had cartons of Cobain’s tapes at its disposal, but even after they’re paraded publicly and dissected, the subject is still something of a mystery. Then again, that’s just another reason why we’re still fascinated by him (and will be for years to come).

Honorable mention

Calabrian Tarantella: Trance, Drone and the Rituals of the Mafia (A.J. Samuels, Electronic Beats)
The Secret World of China’s Indie Music Scene (Alex Wilson, Faster Louder)
“Music was better back then”: When do we stop keeping up with popular music? (Ajay Kalia, Skynet & Ebert)
An Oral History of Legendary Hip-Hop Record Store Deal Real (Tam Gunn, FACT)
A (Nearly) Comprehensive Guide to the Music of Mad Men (Chris Molanphy, NPR)
Talent Vs. Buzz - the Push-Pull of Coachella (Ben Ratliff, New York Times)
Riot On Sunset- How punk and new wave resurrected Hollywood’s legendary Whisky a Go Go in the 1970s (Greg Renoff, Medium)
And Then the Colored Girls, They Walk Over: Lou Reed Works Blue on “Live: Take No Prisoners” (Jody Beth Rosen, Take It While It’s Hot)