Why Music Journalism Matters

The Quietus' John Doran reflects on the demise of Pitchfork and whether music journalism is now destined to be a hobby or can writing/thinking/talking about music thrive in a reader-funded era?

DiS020 | S2: The Future of the Music Press EP12

In his widely-shared piece for The Guardian, this episode's guest John Doran, co-founder of the esteemed music publication The Quietus, wrote about the importance of music criticism:

"I think a good analogy for writing about music is like composing poetry about the weather. You could spend an entire lifetime writing verse about thunderheads and tornadoes and not come within a mile of creating something that was as literally sublime, but once in a while the writer will connect with the rhythms, the flash of lightning, the spatter of rain, and if they are really focused they will discover entirely new rhythms and be inspired to write something unique."

Beyond the beauty and power of words, this discussion with Drowned in Sound founder Sean Adams covers a lot of ground including:

• how Fela Kuti widened John's horizons and inspired a Guardian column that saw him taking a trip to Cairo to discover the emerging music scenes in Egypt
• Sophie's impact on artists like Charli XCX
• Poptimism and the domination of Taylor Swift
• what it signifies for counterculture when James Blake plays at Chanel parties
• the 'industry plant' nonsense surrounding the brilliant Last Dinner Party
• the impact of search engine optimisation on what the music press commissions
• a bit about the intersection of entertainment reporting with music writing
• We also delve into the essence of why music journalism matters

As with the rest of this season, the conversation also looks ahead to what the future holds, and whether there will be enough voice like Neil Kulkarni's (RIP).

Key Timings

03:40 Exploring the Definition of Journalism

16:38 The Impact of Populism on Music Journalism

29:01 Exploring Music from Different Parts of the World

47:08 The Interconnectedness of Music Scenes

48:49 The Influence of Algorithms on Music Discovery

01:07:19 The Importance of Diverse Voices in Music Journalism

About The Guest

John Doran is the co-founder of award-winning website The Quietus. He has written for a range of publications including Bang!, The Guardian, NME, BBC, Vice, The Wire, Metal Hammer and more. His "misery memoir" Jolly Lad is out now. You can hear his BBC Radio 4 series New Weird Britain on BBC Sounds. Watch his British Masters series for Noisey on YouTube here. You can find him on Twitter @JahDuran.

About The Host

Sean Adams founded Drowned in Sound, which recently relaunched as a weekly newsletter here. Alongside hosting, he does all the production on this solo project podcast and wrote a little more about the process here. You'll find him on all social media platforms as @seaninsound.