Is it worth it to be a music writer?

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I've spent the last x years of my life being asked "What do you want to do with your life?" and not knowing quite what to say. At various times the answer has been: astronaut, paleontologist, actor, cartoonist, musician, film director, film critic, human fly, superhero, whoever comes up with those bad jokes they put on popsicle sticks, or writer. Then a week ago I realized that the only thing I really wanted to be was a music writer.

No big revelation: I like listening to music, thinking about it, and writing about it. And I seem to be a fairly good writer. But I'm wondering if it's the most practical career choice. I mean, how do all you freelancers manage to make a decent living at it? Are there any good offline magazines left in the U.S.? And how do you get started, anyway? (I've noticed there are about 542,046 books on how to write screenplays, but apparently none on writing about music.)

So, should I go ahead and apply to beauty school or give rockwriting a try?

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Sunday, 15 September 2002 06:35 (twenty-three years ago)

Your story...touched me.

― Concernered Bitchporker, Sunday, 15 September 2002 06:36 (twenty-three years ago)

I can think of three or four "music critics" that no longer need day jobs: Neil Strauss, Greil Marcus, Michael Azzerad (only because of the Nirvana book), and Ryan Pitchfork (there was only so much money to be made in pure music critic Netzines, and my guess is he makes most of it - I write for him, but I have no idea how much money the site generates). I don't know if Simon Reynolds and Douglas Wolk have other jobs, or write for everyone they can to put the bills together.

It's something I love doing - putting forth my take on where pop music is going at any given time - but you'll never make a dime/shilling at it. No one does.

― Chris Ott, Sunday, 15 September 2002 12:27 (twenty-three years ago)

you could write part-time for the fun of it (and maybe get free CDs too) for a while and have another job for the income and if, after that, you really like it then I'm sure you'll find a way to get in (whether you'll be good or lucky enough to make enough money is another matter and talking to and seeing what other freelancers have written on ILX abt it is not a good sign).

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 15 September 2002 12:58 (twenty-three years ago)

If your really want to make a living as a writer and keep your love for music intact, I'd suggest that you try to write about lots of things - not just music. But if you just want to get started getting published, music's not a bad place to start since you already feel comfortable writing about it. Try your local alternative weeklies, student press if you're a student, local fanzines, start a fanzine or blog yourself, locally published larger newspapers and magazines and just work out in ever-widening concentric circles from there. The main thing to do to start out is just to get a pile of published work that you can show people.

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Sunday, 15 September 2002 13:37 (twenty-three years ago)

For the record: I've been doing freelance music writing (and also some writing about comics, for Publishers Weekly & elsewhere) for about five years, without an additional day job (although I'm currently not doing any, since I'm spending a year on a fellowship at Columbia, which is also why I haven't been posting much here lately).

I'd been at CMJ for four years (and doing a lot of freelancing, too) by the time I quit my day job. It's a really good life, but you have to work up to it (i.e. don't give up the day gig until you have to), and you have to be willing to work pretty damn hard.

― Douglas, Sunday, 15 September 2002 14:02 (twenty-three years ago)

Writing about music can be tough, as Ott said you rarely are going to get paid for it. It's not something your going to be doing for money, so if that's the goal, try something else. I write for fun, and to improve my writing skills. I love being able to write about music, seeing as there is a chance to get better and let people know about different things. I have been in 1 magazine, since I helped out with an article the editor was working on. I should be in 2 with an interview, but the magazine has been having problems, mostly personal with the editor. I wouldn't have gotten paid either way by the mags. If you like to write and want to continue then go ahead and do that. If it's for money, try something else.

― Kris Handel (mickyfu), Sunday, 15 September 2002 14:24 (twenty-three years ago)

doomie to thread!

― david h (david h), Sunday, 15 September 2002 15:00 (twenty-three years ago)

haha shut up david.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Sunday, 15 September 2002 15:39 (twenty-three years ago)

short form answer: no, nothing is worth it, go back to bed, forever.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Sunday, 15 September 2002 15:40 (twenty-three years ago)

Get a weblog, engage in endless banality and bitching at other weblogs, give in after you keep receiving weird fetish google searches.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Sunday, 15 September 2002 16:20 (twenty-three years ago)

I realized that the only thing I really wanted to be was a music writer

This is touching, and in the best possible way. Justyn, you're lucky you even know what you "want to be". How can you feel like you're getting the most out of life if you don't persue your dreams (insert note to self here)? You could of course attend beauty school while writing music journalism. Just don't start looking all primped and dandified, yuck.

― Sean (Sean), Sunday, 15 September 2002 16:37 (twenty-three years ago)

Short answer: NO.

I love music. I love writing. Being a music journalist makes me hate the two things in life that I love most. I keep saying that I'm going to quit, and then people talk me back into it.

I keep saying "this is the LAST thing i'm writing, then no more!" and then I will discover something that makes me want to do it one last time. And again. And again.

I find it really frustrating and I kind of loathe my own music journalisthood.

Maybe *I* should go to beauty school. Except I'd end up giving every person who came in the place a fringe. And jeez, well, dirty dronerock hair DENIES the whole concept of the beautician, doesn't it? Or do their stylist wives just keep them that way?

I don't know. I think I've become more embittered since becoming a "proper" music journalist. So really think about it twice before you do it.

― kate, Sunday, 15 September 2002 18:49 (twenty-three years ago)

Hey Douglas; that's great to hear. I actually meant to write Reynolds and David Keenan as they were twin killers at The Wire, but being on ILM I blanked and put your name in. Still, glad to know you don't have to suffer the 9-5! ;)

― Chris Ott, Sunday, 15 September 2002 18:51 (twenty-three years ago)

Justyn why not let beauty school skills help you pay the bills at first then slowly as you can afford to do so get more established as a writer. Its always a good idea to have something to fall back on. Maybe you can become the offical ILM hairdresser..

― brg30 (brg30), Sunday, 15 September 2002 20:01 (twenty-three years ago)

yeah I'll need a hair cut soon!

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 15 September 2002 20:07 (twenty-three years ago)

Odds are you're going to end up having to talk to musicians, so no.

― James Blount (James Blount), Sunday, 15 September 2002 20:14 (twenty-three years ago)

given that any idiot who has had a 100 word review published on Freaky Trigger or in Careless Talk Costs Lives immediately becomes "a PROPER music journo, struggling to get by in a recession-bitten industry.." you may as well take the same attitude and use it to your advantage. no, don't expect to make money from it.. let alone enough to live from.. it is certainly a recession-bitten industry but if you can write well you will get published and that will get you noticed by those with the power to dish out small bundles of payment.

everyone wants to be a music journalist because everyone thinks they know everything about music and they all want free cds.

there's nothing wrong with that, but if you want to be a music journalist because you have something to say that no one else is saying, and you can say it in an articulate and interesting way, then arguably you don't just *want* to be a music journo.. you *are* one.

and don't think of it as a job.. you're not going to be employed on those terms. it's not really something you can 'apply' for. think of it as a vocation in the same way any other kind of writing, or indeed, playing music is. even the most famous journalists i know struggle to pay the bills on the meagre incomes they generate from music writing. as a career choice it can be highly demanding in terms of time, stress and effort and woefully rewarding financially. these people continue to dedicate themselves to it more out of a perceived love for their art than anything else.. and perhaps a narcisstic devotion to seeing their own name in print.

ps. 'music journalists' are all pretentious horrible scum.

― Wyndham Earl, Sunday, 15 September 2002 20:16 (twenty-three years ago)

Even Peter Guralnick?

― James Blount (James Blount), Sunday, 15 September 2002 20:19 (twenty-three years ago)

especially him

― mark s (mark s), Sunday, 15 September 2002 21:26 (twenty-three years ago)

I've been doing this for five years, paid for four, full-time for 1.5 now. Combination of freelance/staffer/stringer.
There's money to be made, but not in the cool mags/zines. The double-edge is that anybody can be a music writer. Every opinion can be made to seem valid, but every writer is ultimately disposable, because there's always fifteen other kids willing to do it for cheaper or whatev.
More and more I take whatever non-music assignments I can get, b/c I don't want to wake up 35 in this bizz.
Once you get your foot in some ed's door (which can be done a million damn ways), the best advice I'd give anyone is to be reliable. Maintain a solid work ethic. Get your stuff in on time, esp. if it's for a weekly or whatever. Write well, of course, but given the choice between two writers of equal skills, most editors will remember who's respected deadlines and format, and hold that in slightly higher regard than who has flair or inscrutable taste in po/mo diddleysquat hair bands or what have you.
And for gawsakes, have some damn fun.
It's friggin' pop music, not foreign policy.

― E-to-the-izzo, Monday, 16 September 2002 05:17 (twenty-three years ago)

Note: I hate interviewing people. I've been on my college paper for eight months and I'll do almost anything to avoid doing interviews. I might be talking to Sleater-Kinney tomorrow and it's the first one I've ever looked forward to. (I had like a 30-second impromptu one with Le Tigre which was severely impaired by the fact that I'd been standing too close to the speakers and could hardly hear a word for hours)

Another thing I've wondered: What sort of degree would be useful for a career in music writing (aside from the obvious beauty school one)? Is it a good idea to study music theory?

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Monday, 16 September 2002 05:19 (twenty-three years ago)

No! Terrible idea. Do whatever degree floats yer boat - everyone needs a broader frame of reference than *just* music.

― Charlie (Charlie), Monday, 16 September 2002 05:29 (twenty-three years ago)

I would think studying writing/literature would be much more useful than music.

― Dave M. (rotten03), Monday, 16 September 2002 06:26 (twenty-three years ago)

Being a professional music writer was about all I ever wanted to do, which helped a lot in becoming one--nothing like staying focused. That said, I have been really lucky. Developing some editing chops and office/people skills early on meant that I've always had editorial/staff writer jobs and never had to support myself through freelancing (and my pay shows up in the bank every week--no small thing for most music writers, no matter how well paid). Having worked with good people at good publications and edited my own section at times, I've also rarely had to do stuff I didn't want to, i.e. no fawning profiles of boring artists I wouldn't otherwise listen to on a bet. I doubt if you've seen my byline anywhere, but I've made a most pleasant if sometimes meager living out of it.

So, yes, it's been worth it for me, but not all music writers can say those things. It has generally been my experience that the best magazines or publications generally pay the lowest--several of the top "contributed to" names on my resume pay less than we pay music writers at the secondary-market alt-weekly I work for now, and actually getting paid what you're supposed to is frequently a prolonged, frustrating, and fruitless enterprise. Also, just as most music consumers buy crap, a great many editors assign crap on that crap so as to ostensibly sell magazines. And guess who has to write said crap? And if you won't do it (assuming you can get an editor's attention in the first place), there's no shortage of writers who will.

But, of course, if you have confidence in your brains, your taste, and your skills, none of this is going to dissuade you anyway. The amount of selling yourself you will have to do very well may gross you out, but if you can do it long enough and well enough to get yourself established, you may have a little more control over your own destiny.

I also second the advice on professionalism. Meet deadlines and make sure your stuff is smart and stylish and clean. It's one thing to say you want to be a music writer--as has been pointed out, EVERYONE does--but it's another to actually put in the hours, the work, the research, the shows, the phone calls, the thought, it takes to be a good one and make it happen.

That said, only a few people do it well enough to do it forever, and most of those folks should probably be doing something else at this point anyway. At 38, I no longer write regularly write about music, and while I miss it sometimes, I think it was probably time for me to think about giving it up anyway. The hours aren't conducive to having a family, and it just becomes more of an effort to . . . I can't think of any way to say it except "adapt." I think you have to keep adapting yourself, at least to some degree, to the music and readership of new generations, even if those generations aren't your primary audience, and that becomes almost as wearying as the late nights and same-ol'-music-biz-bullshit year after year. As I said, people do it, but that's a whole 'nother level of committment.

― Lee G (Lee G), Monday, 16 September 2002 13:45 (twenty-three years ago)

you could write part-time for the fun of it (and maybe get free CDs too) for a while and have another job for the income

My approach in a nutshell. And it's been perfect for me. :-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 16 September 2002 14:48 (twenty-three years ago)

Yes, there is nothing more satisfying than writing something you like, or something which explains your life to you. Also no better way of finding out why you like something than writing about it.

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 16 September 2002 14:57 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah, and you will have to put up with bitter cunts throwing phrases like this at you, making you loathe your entire profession and by extension yourself even more than you thought humanly possible.

Wnat to get talked out of becoming a journalist of ANY kind? Talk to one for more than ten minutes.

― kate, Monday, 16 September 2002 15:09 (twenty-three years ago)

I must make a point of talking to everyone in my class for ten minutes and 1 second this year.

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 16 September 2002 15:12 (twenty-three years ago)

eight years pass...

Clearly it's worth it for 'Lucille Shields':

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