In a recent rant, Swedish journalist Carl Reinholdtzon Belfrage heavily criticized how he feels that music journalism has reduced itself to storytelling without an ounce of analysis or criticism. Uhm, sorry, but what else is there left?
Without taking the bait and rant back, let me just say that I believe storytelling is all that remains of music journalism.
In these times, when it’s easier – and more informative than any review – to simply post an mp3 than writing about the song, the individual opinion on an artist is irrelevant. Furthermore, music is available in such abundance that it doesn’t matter what one critic thinks of a particular work in the same way as when a film critic does.
If I were to ridicule and stomp on, for example, Animal Collective, that text naturally becomes insignificant because there are thousands of stories that praise their album.
However, if I write a passionate feature story that paints an interesting portrait of an artist that I like but who isn’t well-known, that piece could put the music into context and make the reader become interested to listen.
I believe opinions, like ideas, are cheap. But context is invaluable.
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