BONUS TRACKS: Why Pitchfork (and Other Music Media) Matters

It was stunning this week to hear that multimedia corporation Condé Nast is “evolving our Pitchfork team structure by bringing the team into the GQ organization,” whatever the hell that means. Some talented music journalists, including editor-in-chief Puja Patel, lost their jobs, and the optics of the company’s music coverage being moved under the umbrella of a men’s magazine are … not great. You can read the nuts and bolts of the news in this piece from Variety, but to get to the heart of the matter, to understand what this means for music fans and makers, I urge you to read this opinion piece from The Guardian.

Music criticism has evolved over the decades, as well it should, right along with the music business as a whole. It’s no longer exclusively the province of men trying to outdo each other with meanness and a put-on kind of sneering cool. But capitalism has proved to be an even more sinister gatekeeper, demanding that writers cater to clicks and deliver “content” that nurtures the bottom line rather than deeper thought. Some corporately owned music and culture publications — storied names like Variety, Billboard, and Rolling Stone, all owned by Penske Media Corporation — are hanging in there. And independent outlets like No Depression are swimming in the same sea, forever trying to do more with less and survive on passion. In the end it’ll be up to music lovers — not corporations — to keep this kind of journalism alive and contributing to the cultural conversation. (Here is where I must point out that you can subscribe and/or donate to ND or advertise with us to help ensure our continued survival, ahem.)

What Pitchfork does, and what ND does, and what other music news and criticism outlets do is to help build and maintain community around music. You might disagree, sometimes vehemently, with a critic’s take on your favorite album, and that’s OK. As long as there are writers and readers talking about music and thinking about it and sharing it, we’re helping the music — and the musician — do the job of keeping us connected and reminding us of our humanity. Maybe that doesn’t make anyone a whole lot of money. But some things are more important.

As we celebrated the life and message of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. this week, it’s striking to think about how much of his message was carried via music. There were the well-known songs of the civil rights movement, of course, but also songs and chants that passed through crowds at marches and other actions that helped galvanize people and shift the culture. Even today, music is a powerful medium for change. Former No Depression editor-in-chief Kim Ruehl traces how music carries the message then and now in this piece for Folk Alley, and it’s accompanied by an hour of Folk Alley’s weekly radio show dedicated to songs of change.

Nashville Scene has published its annual Country Music Almanac, which looks back at the year that was but also ahead to what’s coming ’round the bend. There are a ton of great stories to spend time with, including an interview with Brothers Osborne, a peek at record label plans from Black Opry, 10 artists to watch, and the view from a wide range of country music journalists and historians, including myself, Through the Lens columnist Amos Perrine, and writer Rachel Cholst. You can find all of those stories and more right here.

Being a musician is already hard enough in the real world, but now technology is presenting all sorts of new challenges, including one that took a lot of folks by surprise when they read this piece in The New York Times. Music streaming fraud is the term for a practice of online pirates hijacking an artist’s song, quietly changing the title and artist name (but not the song itself), and using bot accounts to monetize it for themselves. Check out this fascinating story about a humble hobby band who found their songs renamed and royalties rerouted, and what it took to put things right.

WHAT WE’RE LISTENING TO

Here’s a sampling of the songs, albums, bands, and sounds No Depression staffers have been into this week:

The Pernice Brothers – “Who Will You Believe,” the title track from their new album, coming in April
Will Hoge – “End of the World,” from his new album, Tenderhearted Boys, coming in April
Marcus King – “Fuck My Life Up Again”
Tony Trischka feat. Billy Strings – “Brown’s Ferry Blues,” from Trischka’s new album, Earl Jam: A Tribute to Earl Scruggs, coming later this year

Superchunk – “Everybody Dies”
Lola Kirke – “My House”
Della Mae – “No Rain” (Blind Melon cover)
Josh Fortenbery – “Sewing the Same Seam”
Wilco – “Meant to Be”

We Were Promised Jetpacks – These Four Walls
Adrianne Lenker – “Sadness as a Gift,” from her new album, Bright Future, coming in March
Wes Hoffman – “A Minute to Breathe”
Lucia Stavros – Burn You Up
Lucero – Among the Ghosts
Paper Wings – “Is It True,” from their new album, Listen to the World Spin, coming in March
Dawn Landes – “Hard Is the Fortune of All Womankind (1830),” from her new album, The Liberated Woman’s Songbook, coming in March