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Brianna Hernandez
English 1A #9120
Professor Adler
4/7/14

Inside the World of Music Journalism
A discourse community involves a group of professionals sharing a same interest. In order
to be a discourse community they must have a broadly agreed set of common goals, ways of
intercommunication between members, provide information and feedback to each other, possess
one or more genres for their goals, a language or lexis, and have members with expertise in the
degree of discourse. According to John Swales, We need then to clarify, for procedural
purposes, what is to be understood by a discourse community and, perhaps in the present
circumstances, it is better to offer a set of criteria sufficiently narrow that will eliminate many of
the marginal blurred contenders(The Concept of Discourse Community). Music Journalism
meets a majority of the characteristics for being a discourse community and should thus be
considered so.
Music Journalists have a shared goal of weeding out unpleasant music choices for its readers
and explain why exactly they had rated the artists new single or album. They also introduce the
reader to new musical artists. An example of such is given by Simon Jay Catling of NME
magazine:
This time, EMA shuts the door on personal recollections of youth and romance and only
one song here So Blonde revisits her familiar trashy lo-fi sound.
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Instead, the former Gowns vocalist deals with universal themes of privacy invasion and
technologys ever-growing influence on human interaction. Neuromancer attacks the
share-all culture of social networking (I know more than you do about the things that
you do), backed by a furious and metallic Nine Inch Nails rattle. Solace, meanwhile,
has a bass-heavy techno undercurrent, with Anderson singing We make constellations
out of fallen stars as though straining to see through the dense electronics. This shift to a
starker, machine-led sound is in opposition to EMAs easy way with a pop hook a
contrast thats most effective on Smoulder, where her melodies scribble over the
synthetic gridlines.
The rating of Erika M Andersons (EMA) album The Futures Void had been given an eight
out of ten by Peter Jay Chatling and had gone through a thorough analysis as to why. He goes
through the album track by track and informs the reader by using descriptive language and
comparing it to the works of other musical artists. He also brings up the past album of EMA and
explains how she had managed to recreate herself subtly from the other in order to form The
Futures Void. Even if the reader had never heard of EMA he gives a wide description on tones
throughout different tracks on the album to introduce the readers to her music.
Music Journalism has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members and uses these
mechanisms to provide important information and feedback. In an interview which I had
conducted with Amber Velasquez, a music journalism intern at LA Weekly magazine, she had
specified Music journalists communicate by phone, email, or meetings, only if they are within
the same company. You would not find a music journalist from Rolling Stone magazine
associating with a music journalist from Filter magazine. Unless the journalist from one of the
magazine corporations was a freelance music journalist (Music Journalism as a Discourse
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Community). So music journalists do communicate to others by various forms only if they are
within the same corporation. The reason for such is because if they share information and
feedback with other music journalists from other corporations their ideas will get stolen and their
sales will decline due to the information being irrelevant because of past usage. When music
journalists communicate to each other they do so to ensure they have valuable information to
place in the magazine. They provide feedback to each other to create stronger articles for their
magazine organization.
Music Journalists utilize and possess one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of
its aims and has a specific lexis. By using magazines, emails, and social networking sites, music
journalists extend their reviews beyond just one genre of communication. DIY magazine not
only tries to reach its readers through magazines but through posts on social networking sites
such as twitter, facebook, tumblr, and other sites. As in the article from NME above, Peter Jay
Chatling displays the lexis used within such an organization but dilutes it so the reader can
understand. Terms such as lo-fi and bass- heavy techno undercurrent are terms which show
the readers how a music journalists lexis differentiates from any other. Such terms would only be
understood by those in the music industry and those with a strong interest in music.
Music Journalists must have an expertise in this degree of discourse. In an article by Alastair
Reid, If you know about developments in your area before the national magazines do or can
offer an insight into a new artist's history then you're one step ahead of the game. Focus on these
key skills and qualities and when you turn up on your first day of work experience, as all
aspiring journalists must these days, you will be able to start without missing a beat (How to:
Get Into Music Journalism). To achieve the goal of introducing a new musical artist to the
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audience the music journalist has to achieve a knowledge about the musical artists history or just
have a knowledge of music history in general.
Stevie Chick, a music journalist of more than 15 years, had stated, I think it helps if you
show that you're savvy to the state of the discourse and the state of the industry. If you're just
writing stuff that's really passionate and saying this is why I love this band or this is why I love
that band, that's got a lot of function and a certain amount of appeal, but if you can show an
editor from the off that you understand how the industry works and you're not so easily taken in
(How to: Get Into Music Journalism) . While being a music journalist you can not merely write
about your opinion on the music but you have to back it up with history and facts of the musical
artist. Music Journalism requires you to effectively distinguish how the music differs from their
past work or how it shines compared to their or other artists work. With a knowledge in the
history of music, music journalists can also distinguish how the musical artists creation differs
from the other musicians in the past or how they sound similar to the musical artists.
Identity, Authority, and Learning to Write in New Workplaces claims, Given the
limitations of his actual authority-which conflicted with his desired authority- Alans refusal to
change his writing might have been one way of claiming the identity he wanted, one that
included the authority and autonomy to which he felt entitled (Elizabeth Wardle). Many music
journalists feel entitled to bring a new interest to their readers by writing or communicating with
them through different methods, however at times these attempts fail. There is plenty of conflict
surfacing to whether the music journalist is actually trying to inform the reader about a new
album or musician or if they are simply trying to just sell the magazine by just including bright
visuals and only a gist of a review. They do not fully inform the reader because the visuals attract
the readers attention rather than the review. In our ever changing society, more people dwell on
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visuals than written works, as with MTV or VH1. The music reviews are cut short while the
channels mostly consist of music videos which capture the audiences attention rather than having
someone sit and go through the album talking to the musician about the work.
Music Journalism meets all six criteria and is a discourse community. Music journalism is
becoming a more difficult career to be involved due to advancements in technology. Although I
originally would have liked to become a music journalist I am now unsure. After my research I
believe I do contain the eligible components to become one but I will try to look more into other
careers related to this industry. In my future I want to be assured that I have a stable career and
although that is near impossible during this era, I feel it would be extremely complicated if I took
up a career being a music journalist. Miles Keylock professed, Maybe the old romantic idea of
music journalism is over. But music writing is not dead. What most doomsayers forget amid the
overdose of hyperlinked clicks and disposable content is that intelligent music journalism does
still exist (Music Journalisms New Tune Missing A Beat). After coming across this through
my research, this is what led me to indecisiveness.