Are professional music critics losing their clout?
Faceless, no-personality, point-of-viewless music critics who think they are important because they write for publication X have lost their clout. Music enthusiasts, people with passion for sharing music and turning people onto awesome bands are not. More than just a ‘professional music critic’, this crew have a voice, an opinion, the time to spend wading through a lot of stuff they do and don’t like, and will talk about artists not because they’ll help boost circulation numbers of some outdated newspaper, but because they get off on turning people onto the jams. And more often than not, they are niche. They don’t want to impress the masses, they want to find music that talks to them, and EXPLORE. The relecant music people we all listen to have a name, an often justifiable point and in the olden days might’ve never had a shot at becoming a ‘professional music critic’. And they don’t just talk about music. They talk about the music industry not because its a paycheck but because they actually care. They debate with each other, they elevate their readers and want to make things better all-around.
See Matthew Perpetua, Ryan Catbird, Largehearted Boy, Nialler9, Song, By Toad, Destination: OUT, Dalstom Oxfam Shop, and many, many, many more. Who are your favorites?
