Penises, Butts and Gossip: Why Modern Music Journalism Sucks

By Lueda Alia on Alueda.net

My social media feeds are full of rants (and often snarky comments) from frustrated people in the entertainment industry. What worked so well for many years suddenly doesn’t seem to work anymore. Distribution of music has never been easier (Soundcloud, BandCamp, Spotify, Rdio, Pandora, etc.) and there are more publications, magazines, and blogs than ever before. Why, then, is it so difficult to secure artists and brands the exposure they deserve?

Well. The past two weeks, publications have been busy publishing articles on Kim Kardashian’s butt and Lorde’s “feud” with Diplo regarding his “tiny penis”:

The Guardian

Taylor swift ‘booty’ diss by Diplo inspires Lorde’s wrath

Spin

Diplo Disses Taylor Swift’s Butt, Lorde Follows Up With the Perfect Comeback

The Huffington Post Entertainment

Lorde Totally Owns Diplo After He Disses Taylor Swift on Twitter

Rolling Stone

The Everything Index: Kim Kardashian’s Pavlovian Posterior Experiment

Fact Magazine

Diplo Prompts Gross Taylor Swift Kickstarter; Gets Shamed By Lorde For His ‘Tiny Penis’

CNN Entertainment

Make fun of Taylor Swift? Not on Lorde’s watch

Billboard

Lorde Perfectly Disses Diplo After He Insults Taylor Swift

NME

Lord explains her Diplo ‘tiny penis’ comment





NY Daily News

Lorde defends Taylor Swift, disses Diplo’s “tiny penis” on Twitter

Fox News Entertainment

Katy Perry’s boyfriend Diplo disses Taylor Swift’s butt; Lorde disses Diplo’s manhood



Grantland

Asses of Fire: Why Kim Kardashian’s Magazine Shoot Failed to ‘Break the Internet’

Stereogum

Lorde Clarifies Comment About Kim Kardashian’s Butt

NME

Lorde says Kim Kardashian cover of Paper magazine is ‘pure heaven’

VICE

Getting to the Bottom of Kim Kardashian’s Alien Appeal

Time Magazine

Kim Kardashian’s Butt Is an Empty Promise

I could go on for hours with similar examples, but you get the point. Instead of using these platforms, which reach millions of people, to promote and reward deserving individuals for their skills and talents, the relentless pursuit of advertising revenue has pushed us to cover gossip about butts and penises.

We get it. Kim Kardashian has a huge ass, and Lorde made fun of Diplo in a hilarious way! And that’s a great way to get people to click on your website! Great, now writers and journalists are using wasting their skills writing about ludicrous and irrelevant stories, and all is well!

It’s easy to poke fun at these publications for struggling to adapt to technology and the internet. In order to remain relevant and make money, they have opted to become TMZ-esque because it’s easy and it works. But I can’t see this being a long-term solution, because all of these publications are becoming mirror images of each other and nothing more.

One of these days, we will start to care about journalistic integrity once more. We will begin to write stories that deserve to be shared with the rest of the world, and we’ll reward people who have earned the exposure through hard work and creativity and not through their fame. But that day is not today. And thus, everyone (artists and publicists included) needs to adapt the way they work in order to succeed. Stay tuned for my next article, which offers suggestions and advice for navigating the current landscape.

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