By Lewis Hannah
In its early days, the world of music journalism was relatively simple. Talented writers with a sharp style, or with strong, perhaps over-bearing opinions, would write reports, sometimes reviews, or opinion pieces, or maybe even have the interview with the big heavy hitter in their current music climate for a print magazine.
The birth of the internet, and the rise of social media, hasn’t just opened the realms of possibility and participation for music journalism, if anything those barriers have been more or less wiped off the face of the earth. If you are that much of a music geek, and are really dedicated, you can start and build your own platform to discuss music, new and old, or any potential music-related gossip. So, what separates today’s journalistic climate from the past?
How social media opened Music Journalism
Due to the readily accessible nature of the internet, virtually anyone can access platforms such as X, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. In recent years the last two have become huge platforms for people to start on, often focusing on short form content, designed to grab your attention span in seconds, but not be too long where attention starts to waver. Platforms like YouTube are home to more long form content, though these apps have also begun to present shorter content in the form of “YT Shorts”. Anthony Fantano, AKA “Theneedledrop” built his social media presence on YouTube, uploading reviews of the latest music releases, which has delivered him the reputation as one of social media’s most famous music journalists.
The array of content can differ so wildly for a multitude of reasons. Typically, many creators whose output pertains to music tend to have a specific ‘niche’. This can take many different forms. Typically it can be a genre, like an entire page dedicated to rave music or metal music, or on a specific performance style. NPR’s “Tiny Desk” concerts are built on the idea that music performed in smaller, more acoustic-led environments, leads to a more raw and authentic musical display. It’s an idea and niche that has been hugely successful, some of these concerts have gathered tens of, if not hundreds of millions of views on Youtube alone.
@Johnnospsychradio:
Meet Kai Johnson. Kai, like me, and maybe you reading this, is a big music nerd. Like, massive music nerd. Kai in particular, loves his psychedelic and prog rock music. This passion for the abstract, so alluring to the some in the social media world, led to the creation of johnnospsychradio. Built on Instagram and TikTok, the psych radio aims to build a community for those who have a similar interest in the world of psychedelic and progressive rock. Kai’s content ranges from snappy and short videos, highlighting songs that fit a certain mood or time, to sometimes informative content, such as discussing how Japanese jazz legend Masayoshi Takanaka used to be in a prog rock band.
Recently, the psych radio has been going through a tier list of different psychedelic and prog rock records, requested by viewers of the page. A key element of social media is the level of participation for all involved. In addition to people like Kai who are able to build platforms, the viewers of these pages can offer their opinions, and even contribute to the making of the content. It serves to add to the community aspect of social media accounts like Kai’s psych radio.
All this got me wondering. With the rising wave of social media-led music journalism and content, are the now old-fashioned and traditional forms of Music Journalism fading away? Well, I got a few words, and a verdict, from the psych radio creator himself.
Click above to hear Kai Johnson explain why print music journalism is yesterday’s news
