The panel sponsored by National Arts Journalism Program at Columbia University. The panelists were Michael Azerrand of emusic.com, Amy Phillips, Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio, Knox Robinson of The Fader, Anthony DeCurtis of Rolling Stone and Tracks, and Brandon Wall of prefix magazine. The moderator was Sasha Frere-Jones of The New Yorker.
The event started 15-20 minutes late, and that was after they made the general public wait at the door while working journalists and journalism students were given special seating privileges. Hmmm, the panel had 2-3 graduates of the J-School and except for the band member were all professional writers. I should have anticipated that they would believe that blogging helped instead of challenged them professional.
Since I last posted on the subject of blogging after listening to the Charlie Rose Show, this post will just include bullet points:
- Amy Phillips also writes for Pitchfork. Amy Phillips uses a different writing style when blogging. Her posted IM conversations are supposedly really good. She was the only panelist to really express the immediate satisfaction you get when people read and respond to your own thoughts and words.
- Anthony DeCurtis was older than the other panelists. He represented the “old guard” that values the value and responsibility of the media to be a filter.
- Knox Robinson represented the “new guard” and doesn’t want anyone to be his filter on experiencing the world of ideas. I agree with lots of what Robinson believes, but he spoke too much compared to the rest of the panel.
- Frere-Jones said music critics often talk to each other in some sort of a feedback loop. Feedback loops are often blamed for disconnects between writers and their audience. Bloggers are often criticized for talking among themselves, navel gazing, inside jokes, and links to their friend’s websites.
- Free music and photos drives the online audience just as much as good, informative writing.
- I wonder how many former zines publishers now have a blog?
- Cred is still doled out by the establishment rather than the underground.
- B-dance = 1) Swarming bees; 2) the buzz created by a good pr campaign; 3) the rapid rise of Arcade Fire.
