[Diatribe] Why Paste Magazine Died
I wasn’t planning on blogging this week, but I just found out that Paste Magazine, based in Decatur, has ceased its print publication, and I’m guessing there won’t be much else left after that. I hate to see this mag go, because at one time long ago it was fairly decent, but I have to say that I’m not very surprised this happened, and from my perspective, it was nobody’s fault but their own. I didn’t want to pile on them when they were struggling, because as much smack as I talk to other music journalists around here, I don’t want people to actually lose their jobs or anything. But now that Paste is done, I’m going to explain exactly why they have sucked so hard recently. I have absolutely no idea what their monetary situation was, but I’ll outline the reasons I feel Paste failed, and if other print mags happen to come across this, they might want to pay attention because they could be next.
Top 3 Reasons Why Paste Failed:
1) Old People shouldn’t be in charge of covering music for kids.
Now, I’m sort of slitting my own throat on this one as I’m not exactly getting any younger, and I’m sure people who want to make music journalism a career will hate this, but it’s true. A few months ago I received a promo email from one of Paste mag’s high-up dudes, shilling for some local band. I listened to the band, and they played the most cliche’ hard rock garbage, which no one has actually cared about for at least twenty years. I thought, if this guy that helps run Paste really believes in this band, if he is willing to spend his own time backing this particular group, just exactly how out of touch with what’s happening in music today is this guy and Paste Magazine on the whole? And that was their biggest problem; Paste had become so out of touch with the music scene it was covering. They were evaluating music based on ideals that were obsolete and anachronistic. As much as they were pioneers in a lot of different ways, they were cavemen when in came to gripping the current music climate.
Now, there are certainly logistical problems to letting kids run a mag. For instance, it is difficult to find people who possess both the knowledge of current styles and sharpened writing skills. But that’s exactly what talent scouts should be looking for, and as soon as they find them, they should be looking for the next ones to replace them. Instead, these institutions are typically run by a small handful of people, lost in their own bubble, slowly racing towards inevitable irrelevance. Sure, there are exceptions, really great music writers who have weathered plenty of eras well, but for the most part, people who are getting paid the most for music journalism by older institutions are by and large older journalists who could easily be outmatched by a kid in his pajamas in his parent’s basement.
The heart of it is this: If you are not putting an immense amount of effort in keeping up with current trends, you will be left behind.
2) Inconsistent voices will be ignored.
Even when Paste was more in tune with what was going on, they were always terrible at discerning the good from the great. Nobody could possibly count on Paste’s numerical values of reviews, because there was no cohesive rhyme or rhythm to them. It felt like there was a whole bunch of different people all tossing around opinions randomly. It may seem that in theory being democratic about the many voices inside your institution will reach an even-handed, median voice, but in practice it doesn’t work. That is one of the biggest reasons blogs have taken over, because most of the time they contain a singular voice. There are lots of music journalists who I read regularly that I rarely agree with in terms of music taste, but I can always count on them being consistent with their evaluations, and thus I can make sound assumptions based on their work. Just having a hodgepodge of opinions is beyond useless for the end user. One of Pitchfork’s biggest achievements is managing their writers and numerical grades. Even though hundreds of different people write their reviews, you can always count on Pitchfork to have a reason for their tone and number grades, whether we disagree with them or not.
The only big institutions that will survive this print-tumbling era will be the ones who develop and maintain a consistent voice.
3) Music journalism isn’t as important as it used to be.
This is another one that my many music journalist friends won’t want to hear, but you ignore it at your own peril. Before anyone with the slightest bit of resourcefulness and access to the Internet could download any record they wanted, there was a need for gatekeepers to inform the masses what was worth their dollar. But now, aggregators and torrent site’s top lists do a better job of efficiently communicating the best new music then 99% of music journalists out there. With so much music being created, and attention spans of readers diminishing, there just isn’t that much demand for long-winded, deep-digging album reviews. People want to know whether they’ll like the record or not, plain and simple. Now we may all want to harken back to a simpler time when music journalism came with it a certain amount of status and honour, but today most paid music journalists are nothing more than concealed publicists, pandering to their ever decreasing amount of ad revenue. We may all wish that people couldn’t steal music, and that everyone who wants to could stay employed, but you can’t operate a business on wishful thinking.
The economics is this: Demand is shrinking, and supply is growing exponentially. If you don’t understand this, your music mag will fail, and even if you do understand this, your mag will still probably fail.
- Posted by Davy Minor on September 1, 2010 at 7:42 pm
- 10 Comments
This Week In Atlanta Music
I’m taking a little break from the virtual world, so I’ve compiled two weeks worth of concert recommendations. Talk to you in the fall.
Monday, August 30:
Black Panther Party, XO, Swingset, Hannah Barbarian @ 529
Thursday, September 2:
Arlo and the Otter, Ken Spivey, White Light Forest Choir, Free Ticket @ Wonderroot
The NEC, Thank God, WYMYNS PRYSYN, Siamese Twin @ 529
Le Castle Vania, RRRump @ Drunken Unicorn
Friday, September 3:
Attention System @ Dragon Con
Saturday, September 4:
Mark Kroos, Zach Tilley, Wowser Bowser @ Wonderroot
Wednesday, September 8:
Crystal Castles, Bear In Heaven @ The Masquerade
The Runaway Five, Warning Light, Young Again @ Eyedrum
Thursday, September 9:
El Ten Eleven, Baths, Nigredo @ Drunken Unicorn
Friday, September 10:
Lyonnais, Sin Ropas (members of Red Red Meat and Califone), Father Murphy @ 529
Saturday, September 11:
Autolux, Gold Panda @ The Masquerade
Tealights, Jeffrey Butzer & the Bicycle Eaters, Night Driving in Small Towns @ The Earl
Takenobu, Blee’s Company @ Highland Inn Ballroom Lounge
Bird Names, Quiet Hooves @ Under The Couch
Sunday, September 12:
Sleepy Sun, Balmorhea @ The Earl
Richard Buckner @ 529
- Posted by Davy Minor on August 30, 2010 at 2:50 am
- No Comments
Other Sound 2010 Schedule
The Other Sound Festival, spanning all across Little Five Points on Saturday, October 2nd, just released their schedule. Check it out:
STAR BAR MAIN STAGE
6pm What Happened to Your Fire, Tiger
7pm Book of Colors
8pm Little Tybee
9pm West End Motel
9:40pm Author’s Apology
10:15pm The Charges
11:15pm Abby Go Go
12:15am Skin Jobs
STAR BAR DUNGEON
6:30pm Walk from the Gallows
7:30pm Starfighter
8:30pm Buffalo Bangers
9:30pm King Congregation
10:30pm Tornado Town
11:30pm Odist
FIVE SPOT
8pm The Gonzo Orchestra
9pm Weapons of Audio
10pm Oryx and Crake
11pm GPWFLY
12am Omelet
CRIMINAL RECORDS
5:30pm Mermaids
4:30pm A Fight to the Death
3:30pm The Wild
2:30pm Back Pockets
JAVA LORDS
4:00pm Platonic Sex
5:00pm The Falcon Lords
- Posted by Davy Minor on August 27, 2010 at 3:56 am
- No Comments
[Mp3] Kid Stuff: “Acid Revelations”
Party bands aren’t exactly my cup of tea, but there’s no denying that, over the course of the last year, Kid Stuff have emerged as the city’s premiere outfit for making a crowd dance. If you’re looking for something fun to do tonight, they will be bringing their style of spectacle to this month’s edition of Laser Beam Kitty at the Highland Inn Ballroom Lounge. Here’s a preview, an impressively dynamic booty-shaker:
Kid Stuff : “Acid Revelations”
- Posted by Davy Minor on August 27, 2010 at 3:42 am
- No Comments
[Stream] Oryx & Crake: “Oryx & Crake”
Oryx & Crake’s buzz-generating debut record drops this weekend, but thanks to the miracle of bandcamp, you can go listen to it and snatch up a digital copy right now. If you’d prefer a physical version, be sure to stop by their record release show at The Earl with Venice Is Sinking & Books of Colors Saturday night, which is certain to be a fun show.
- Posted by Davy Minor on August 23, 2010 at 6:35 am
- No Comments
[Videos] Nameless Goatfarm Festival (All The Saints, Balkans, Abby Go Go)
Last weekend’s throwdown at the Goat Farm was definitely a fun one. Local videotaper Iflimbands got a ton of killer vids from the day, so here are a few to check out, and then dive on in to his youtube account to watch the rest:
All The Saints:
Balkans:
Abby Go Go:
- Posted by Davy Minor on August 23, 2010 at 6:02 am
- No Comments
This Week In Atlanta Music
Best shows in Atlanta August 23 – 29:
Monday:
The Wild (acoustic), Fellow Project, Go Sell Drugs, Bong Kong @ WonderRoot
Thursday:
Pillage & Plunder, Controlled Storms, Laetres @ Highland Inn Ballroom Lounge
Friday:
Chromeo, Holy Ghost, Telephoned @ The Masquerade
Gobble Gobble, Nomen Novum, Dog Bite @ Drunken Unicorn
Sound Tribe Sector Nine @ The Tabernacle
Sonen, Kid Stuff, The Fabric @ Highland Inn Ballroom Lounge
Saturday:
Oryx and Crake (Record Release), Venice is Sinking, Book of Colors @ The Earl
Sound Tribe Sector Nine, The Disco Biscuits, Big Boi, more @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
Sunday:
Adron (dunch set) @ The Earl
The N.E.C., Abby Go Go, Untied States, Ocha La Rocha @ Drunken Unicorn
The Disco Biscuits @ The Tabernacle
- Posted by Davy Minor on August 22, 2010 at 10:38 pm
- 1 Comment
[Mp3] The Back Pockets: “Australia”
Atlanta’s The Back Pockets do a brand of music somewhere between punk, gypsy, and folk, but unlike most musicians that occupy that spectrum, this band brims over with creativity, concocting songs that are masterfully artful but easily accessible and not at all pretentious. While I understand their live concerts, which I have not yet had the occasion to experience, are quite the spectacle of a show, their latest studio work, Blissters N Basements, which they are giving away for free, is really great as well. Here’s the lead track from the record, and be sure to download the album below:
The Back Pockets : “Australia”
Download Blissters N Basements
- Posted by Davy Minor on August 18, 2010 at 7:31 pm
- 2 Comments
