Ethics of whoring?

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I write about music as a freelancer. Some folks who run an online record store (eBay) are building a website, and they want to buy content from me.
Is there a way to do this and be ethical? I still consider my primary career goals to be in journalism, but this'll pay pretty decently and having more money on the side can be helpful.
Still, it feels skeezily close to a conflict of interest, and I'd like to avoid that. Any other music writers got anything to say one way or another?

― js (honestengine), Thursday, 29 June 2006 14:59 (nineteen years ago)

Are you gonna get paid to hype records, or simply to describe them honestly/objectively?

If it's the former, that's between you and your conscience (but a venal sin at worst).

If it's the latter, then I don't see the problem...

― fuckfuckingfuckedfucker (fuckfuckingfuckedfucker), Thursday, 29 June 2006 15:03 (nineteen years ago)

The latter is what I told 'em I'd be doing. And basically, I'd only be turning in reviews on albums I liked. Which actually makes me feel shiftier...

― js (honestengine), Thursday, 29 June 2006 15:06 (nineteen years ago)

Don't sweat it. Get paid. And if y're worried about yr journalistic reputation, you don't necessarily have to put yr byline on the website, do you?
Plus, TONS of journalists (not just music j'lists) have dabbled in PR work. EVEN HEMINGWAY.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 29 June 2006 15:07 (nineteen years ago)

Don't do it! You will feel dirty and cheap! But by all means, give them my number and e-mail address.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 29 June 2006 15:09 (nineteen years ago)

E T H I C S O F W H O R E
it's the ethics of modern whoooores

― Doctor Casino (Doctor Casino), Thursday, 29 June 2006 15:18 (nineteen years ago)

> Don't do it! You will feel dirty and cheap! But by all means, give them my number and e-mail address.

Me, too, please.

― pdf (Phil Freeman), Thursday, 29 June 2006 15:19 (nineteen years ago)

selling out was the best thing i've ever done in my life

― flëétwøöd måçk (jaxon), Thursday, 29 June 2006 15:42 (nineteen years ago)

Check out emusic for an example -- loads of respected (by me!) freelancers writing about the records you can get on there. Admittedly with a subscription site part you could see it as all part of the service, so maybe not quite the same thing.

― alext (alext), Thursday, 29 June 2006 16:22 (nineteen years ago)

Publishers don't buy ethics ... they buy content and talent. The rest all depends on what you're comfortable with ... never forget that money is green.

― O'Connor (OConnorScribe), Thursday, 29 June 2006 16:31 (nineteen years ago)

That means you can trade it for pot!

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 29 June 2006 17:10 (nineteen years ago)

:-D

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Thursday, 29 June 2006 17:15 (nineteen years ago)

pffffffffffffffffffff. What is this garbage? Either you want to be a writer or not. Write or don't write. Nobody gives a shit. "Content" or "journalism": there's no fucking difference. If you are seriously asking this question then there is no hope for you as a writer anyway. Just give up now.

― everything (everything), Thursday, 29 June 2006 17:16 (nineteen years ago)

I kind of don't see the ethical problem here...? You're not being asked to lie, are you?

― Jesus Dan (Dan Perry), Thursday, 29 June 2006 17:20 (nineteen years ago)

No, but when working for newspapers, this sort of thing is totally verboten, at least in my experience*. And I was vaguely worried about trying to get more "real" journalism work while doing this.

*(At the Free Press, I can't take a cup of coffee from a source ever, even if it was years ago that I wrote about them. I can't accept any swag, I can't take free tickets, I can't write about anyone that I've had any sort of informal relationship with, I can't register with a political party... I've had to sign agreements like this in the past with places that I've freelanced for, and I thought that this was getting near to the line, so I figured I'd query the ILX hive mind).

― js (honestengine), Thursday, 29 June 2006 17:51 (nineteen years ago)

Holy shit. If this "Free Press" makes such demands of fucking free lancers, they better be paying you like $5/word and providing full medical benefits. I think they're just yanking your chain, dude.
In Canada, it's not uncommon for tv news anchors (okay, they're not really j'lists) to enter politics.
YOU YOURSELF HAVE AN UNALIENABLE RIGHT TO BE AS COMPROMISED AS YOU WANT. Your work as a journalist, however, should be on the up and up, but if an editor can't tell the difference, then they're a fucking asshole and should be fired.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 29 June 2006 17:56 (nineteen years ago)

What respect does a music writer command anymore anyway?

― Whiney G. Weingarten (whineyg), Thursday, 29 June 2006 20:05 (nineteen years ago)

[Shrugs] Come up with a pseudonym.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Thursday, 29 June 2006 22:20 (nineteen years ago)

[Shrugs] Come up with a pseudonym.

Even Byron Coley hadda fill his cake-hole once inna while.

― Shoes say, yeah, no hands clap your good bra. (goodbra), Friday, 30 June 2006 01:36 (nineteen years ago)

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