Who killed the (non-white, non-male) music critic?: a wee rant

Whining about how blogging killed the radio star, er, I mean the professional critic, is getting to be a tiresome sport.

Nonetheless, a panel called "Death of the Critic?: A Roundtable on the Future of Music Criticism in the Digital Age," hosted by my long-time colleague and friend Ann Powers at USC's Norman Lear Center a couple of weeks ago, caught my eye.

The panelists were mostly veteran writers attached to at least one print publication. As the more "credible" critics, they usually assess what those wacky kids are doing on the internets. I didn't get a gander at the talks, but I can guess that since it is no longer cool to trash blogs, someone must have followed the common-sense talking points below.

Is writing about art & pop on the internet better or worse than in print? There be good blogs and cringe-y blogs. Eventually, you only find time to read the former.

The amateur v. professional thing? Well, the hallowed writers of (rock) music criticism weren't really  inverted-pyramid professionals -- that was supposed to be the whole point of rock journalism. Hip hop writers were supposed to break the mold set by rock writers. Jazz writers, on the other hand, might as well be string theorists.

Is everyone writing about the same thing? Nope. Just as the mp3/MySpace revolution means more and more specific subscenes and more experimentation among some fans, the bloggyverse allows you to find someone writing about every genre and every scene.

Has the shrinking space and consumer report trending of criticism in mainstream (and even alternative) print outlets pushed a lot of longer-form, more idiosyncratic writing to the web? Duh.

Now, this discussion rarely mentions race or gender. Because the market and media pressures are all supposed to affect us the same. But they don't.

Ernest Hardy's talk at the panel hit a lot of my sore spots. He minces not:

It’s as though Pitchfork fucked Vice and now their smug, smarmy progeny are building new plantations atop the rapidly eroding topsoil of access and cultural power.

He calls blogs kept by veteran writers and other passionate writers "slave shacks" where "the music and the criticism are still jumping."

And he hits the entrenched institutional issues in the head. It's not just the economy, stupid, it's about who is doing the choosing, who editors picture as either the knowledgeable or versatile writer when it comes time to assign (which of course, creates a self-fulfilling prophecy: writers who are assigned different stories in different outlets look more "reliable" to yet more editors).

And remember, as more newspapers simply pick up a lot of material from wire services, syndicated and parent chains, it disproportionately amplifies the influence of those people with steady critic gigs.

Ernest writes:

the real problem, much like with the Republican Party, isn’t just the low and shrinking number of people of color; it’s in the mindset that makes the erasure of some and the elevation of others so reflexive and natural as to go barely noticed or commented upon except by those being squeezed out, and their voices are very easily dismissed, their perspectives are undervalued in the first place.

In other words, the black & brown (and female) who bitch about not getting assignments -- despite having decades of experience -- are just bitter race/gender warriors. Of course, no one will say it. Because it would hurt to call our colleagues/bosses racist or sexist.

It's all very complicated, the same sort of pipeline issues you see in a lot of fields (journalism, academia, arts, science).

Class issues aside, it is still more likely that women and non-whites have to think hard about entering careers that require long apprenticeships and rarely deliver work that pays well steadily. Even for those of us who develop the ambition and learn the career path, we are less likely to have support networks and access to resources that allow us to make it through. And are more likely to be knocked off track by life issues -- family, health.

When I was a teen, my dream job was to write at the Village Voice. I never had the nerve to push my way onto an internship there (nor could I afford to work for free). When I did start working for an alt weekly after college (SF Weekly; Ann was my first editor there), I lost momentum after a few years for a lot of reasons -- I was still insecure about my talents, I got sucked into graduate school, I got tired of writing the same "Latin rock" story and did not know where to go next.

My music & arts criticism career has been start-and-stop through the past twenty years. Because I've had too many interests, because pitching is exhausting, because I get distracted by the need to pay the mortgage, because I've wondered if I didn't have better things to do.

And I can't say I have it figured out yet. But my own story aside, I am shocked at just how few women and brown/black people are out there. Ann is by far the most recognizable female pop music critic, because she has maintained a presence in major outlets (Spin, Village Voice, NY Times, LA Times). But for the average reader of writing about music, naming five other prominent women music critics takes some work.

There are a handful of Black music critics in major outlets (oh Kelefah Sanneh, how I miss you!). And I am glad for the return of Danyel Smith to Vibe. But now that Ramiro Burr is out at the San Antonio Express, I dare anyone out there to name a Latino music critic whose work you regularly read (Leila Cobo at Billboard is more like a business reporter in my book). Raquel Rivera is up-and-coming, but people only think of her when it comes to reggaetón, a "minor" genre. Oliver Wang or Jeff Chang aside, Asians aren't even on the map.

Want another marker of how crazy this all is, and proof of Ernest's point that we have in fact devolved? Check the TOC of the just-released "Best Music Writing 2008." Out of 32 essays, I count 3 5 women (sorry for the mistake, Daphne!), and maybe 3-4 nonwhites (sorry, there's about a dozen folks here I can't identify racially for sure). The also-ran list, which Idolator ran in four parts, does a wee bit better.

On yesterday's Soundcheck, Nelson George avoided the racial tally altogether, chanting the "quality" mantra. Which is legitimate, but the question is, how did the "quality" pool get to have so few writers who are not whiteboy music geeks? (This last said descriptively -- I have loved too many whiteboy music geeks, in print, in friendship and more).

The 2007 edition did a little better gender-wise, as did the 2006 edition, edited by Mary Gaitskill (?!) and Daphne Carr. Color-wise? A drop better too.

So we plug away, look to own our presses (or blogspots, or typepads or wordpresses). There's nothing else to do.

Comments

[Daphne Carr]

Hi Caroline.

Thanks for taking the time to blog about this.

Actually, there are five women represented in the book this year. I agree that this is a bad situation, but the thing you should understand about the Best Music Writing series is that it is a book of reprints, and therefore reflects the very problems you outlined above - that editors must assign, edit, and pubish articles by folks before I can get to them. I read hundreds of publications and thousands of articles and pay serious attention to bringing in new and different voices to the anthology. I have a commitment to this as a feminist and am always actively engaged in breaking down definitions of "best" writing that assume a universalist, faux objective stance espoused most often by those in power (to protect their power, no doubt). I am interested in great writing from new subjectivities. Please feel free to forward me any worthy articles for future books. I extend that invitation to your readers as well: [email protected] . Greil Marcus is the guest editor next year.

You are mistaken about the number and quality of female critics, I am happy to announce. I run a listserv for women music writers, GirlGroup, that has 469 members (please join) including Vivian Goldman, Evelyn McDonnell, Jalylah Burrell, Caryn Brooks, Amy Phillips, Kandia Crazy-Horse, Daphne Brooks, Molly Sheridan, Kerri Mason, Maura Johnson and many many others. They're fantastic writers and it's a great discussion group. We're celebrating our fifth year this year.

Other folks who aren't on our list but worth checking out are below:

Sia Michel
Amanda Petrusich
Danyel Smith
Melissa Maerz
Jenny Eliscu
Nekesa Mumbi Moody

There are literally hundreds more, and I can go on naming them if you like. It's important that we understand that these women are out there working hard and writing important narratives about popular music. Support them, write letters to the editor praising their work, comment on their articles, email them privately to encourage them. You and I both know how much that helps. This can be a lonely business.

A final thought - as a feminist I believe that an important part of making art is locating your subjectivity but also being actively engaged as an actor for progressive narratives. Like bell hooks says, feminism is not something you are, it's something you do. Otherwise we end up with scary tokenism, and let me tell you that I am not interested in filling up the book with 34 pieces by any kind of Sarah Palin. I believe even heterosexual white men can be feminists and write amazing, necessary, informed stories that tell the histories forgotten by their predessesors, and I count those folks (Carl Wilson and Jody Rosen are two from the book who come to mind immediately) as part of the good project. It's important to support guys like them as well, because folks like Jody are the ones who understand that they have power and that with that power they can help bring other, new progressive voices into the mix. By mix I mean published, paid, read and respected. That's the rally cry, no? I'm there with you.

[Caro]

Hi Daphne, thank you for your informative and thoughtful note.

My comments on the BMW series -- which I love -- were not meant to be a slam. You're right, it reflects the problems inherent in the industry as a whole. That was my point, really.

And I am happy to be corrected on the prevalence of women, in the series and in the industry. I know there are in fact lots of women out there. I never questioned the quality of women writers. I have been a big fan for many years of many of the folks you mention. As well, I am excited to see names I don't know on your list. Homework for me!

But ask the average music nut to name women writers without looking it up, and I can guarantee you they'll be hard pressed to come up with a handful they'd read in the past six months.

I would argue that while the absolute numbers are good, the visibility and perception has gone backwards from the 80s and 90s. Does that point to some underlying, invisible sexism that is even harder to battle? Methinks so.

Love, love, love Carl and Jody and their work, and yes, the efforts of feminist men. Like you say, it's about what you do, putting the pedal to the metal and all that.

Thanks again, and will join the listserve!

[Daphne Carr]

Def. not taken as a slam, no worries. This stuff literally keeps me up at night so I'm glad that it is getting discussed.

As for average music fan who reads and like women authors, we have some catching up in that regard, since most of the major histories and "great stories" of popular music have been written by male authors and folks who read music journalism tend to read the books too, not just the articles. That's why it is so important for me that Ellen Willis's memory and works make it into the mainstream of rock criticism history. She was there first, best, and (for me) most inspiring. She left the biz when she lost her edge on how to relate pop culture to larger cultural and political issues, but not many folks want to or can do that. The challenge is to stay forceful, informed, and on target for a whole career! Ann, Nelson, Greil, Joan Morgan and others are good examples. It's hard.

As for contemporary magazine journalism - it's pretty safe, and that's sad. This is a lament of mine that makes me feel like an old person. But I see you have things like Bidoun in your roll over there, and that is a magazine I think that "gets it" (to borrow a phrase from Obama) in terms of serving print audiences in an online era. I would also say Stop Smiling "gets it" for their audience, but I might be biased as the former music editor there. Also praise to Wax Poetics - there's a magazine that knows its audience and has great writers.

This year I spent a lot more time with the big glossies because I was wondering what was going on in that big prestige/long format world, and while the writing was fantastic (oh, the editing!), the subjects were often safer and more historical. It's a bit scary because even Rolling Stone is running very few music features these days, so the question really becomes, who is publishing well-edited pieces by new authors in long format on contemporary musical figures?

While Pitchfork has been called hegemonic and does frame the discourse around indie rock, I think it's a bit false to paint them as the contemporary monolith. They don't get THAT many hits, and once outside the weird world of music writers they are relatively unknown. I taught undergrads last year and in both classes I would say two students were rabit P4RK readers, and the other 20 had no idea what they were talking about.

Final thought - invisible sexism. A friend of mine told me that he overheard a coworker complain that pointing out gender difference was "feminist" and that we were past that point. I agree with you - we live in a deeply backlashed world that mistakenly thinks gender/sexuality/ethnicity/race
discrimination are over because they are nominally illegal (we both know how bs that is!) and that therefore nothing more needs to be done. Well, it does and sexism certainly pervades the industry now as it did back then, if for different reasons.

I've heard hip hop and rock writers alike wax nostalgic for that period you discussed as the golden age of serious, politically engaged cultural criticism - a moment when the music and the writing aligned. We're not in an age like that now, much as I long for it. The question of what to do is one that perplexes me endlessly. Mentorship, support, encouragement, helping out good writers, encouraging good editors, having mag subscriptions, reading great blogs are good ways. Encourage smart people to write books! Put together an anthology! I say that knowing that not everyone has access, but Rock She Wrote is what got me into this business, and every kind of music writer should have their own Rock She Wrote. Perhaps there's an anthology of great Latin music writing waiting to be put together?

[Caro]

Daphne, wow, so many tasty thoughts to chew on!

Big fan of Wax Poetics and Stop Smiling (may be time to add them to the roll). Fader too.

Thanks for the push to do more. As you say, lots of worthy project need to see the light of day.

[hypotheek service]

I agree this is really interesting and helpful report, provided data explained in this report is reliable and true.