Critics. Schmitics. Who Needs 'Em?

If you ever needed confirmation about how quickly things are changing in the music industry, you need look no further than an article written by music critic Ann Powers in the Los Angeles Times about the Raconteurs’ decision to release its new album, Consolers of the Lonely, to critics as well as the general public on the same day. This follows similar moves by Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead that, in essence, eliminate the critic from the initial discussion of a CD.

This has caused consternation amongst those who write about music professionally. One of the hallmarks of the rock era (at least up until now) is that critics get CDs early so their reviews can appear the day of release. Some writers fear that this will blow up in the bands’ faces and surrender a valuable source of marketing for releases.

What a load. And I say this as someone who wrote professionally about music for a quarter century. It was hard to imagine that our readers took us critics seriously even ten years ago; to imagine they do so today is almost laughable. We find out about new music now through friends, blogs, B2B networks, ripped CDs, mp3s, MySpace and Facebook. When you buy a CD at Amazon.com, an algorhythm plays critic, offering other, similar titles to the one you just added to your virtual shopping cart.

Today, with the end of the blockbuster era, where new releases would sell millions of copies during its first week of release amidst a blitz of hype from advertising and reviews, it seems that musicians are no longer dependent on that first week’s sales – and marketing hype.

I always disliked the old approach. Faced with reviewing an album in two days, you listen, hoping to find something to write about, any hook to hang a review on. Quite often, that first review doesn’t really express how you feel about an album once you have lived with it for a couple of weeks and let the songs come to you on their own terms, not a deadline.

That doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for good criticism and considered commentary. But a review should be a beginning point for a discussion, not the end of the subject. Wouldn’t you rather read a review after you have listened to an album and formed an opinion rather than read it to find out if your favorite critic liked it or not? Powers appreciates this, too, realizing how many times she has deemed an album a reject before she really had the chance to live with it.

Andrew Sarris, a New York film reviewer who wrote many years for the Village Voice and now for the New York Observer, always asked his readers to read his reviews after you saw the picture, not before. That way, the reader gets the most out of what the reviewer is trying to say.

In the Web 2.0 world, we are all critics, and we will be better for it.

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Hi Leland,

On behalf of XL Recordings and Warner Bros Records, many thanks for your fascinating piece on the changing nature of the music business and reviewing ... .. thanks also for plugging “Consolers Of The Lonely” ... .. if your readers would like a good quality, non-pirated, preview clip, a widget of the promo video for “Salute Your Solution” is available for fans and bloggers to embed at http://www.theraconteurs.com/widget.html

Regards,

WEB SHERIFF