From my experience in music journalism, I have written down the positives and negatives for those that are interested in adopting this type of journalism as a career.
The Positives Working as a Music Journalist
Interviewing some really cool people – Whenever a band is heading out to your country, you can expect, about a month before they arrive, that an opportunity to interview a member may arise, giving you the opportunity to obtain the latest goss. This is where the ‘Smart Phone’ comes in handy; you need to have that ‘new message’ notification for your e-mail really loud and ready to go 24/7, if you want to beat the magazines’ other top journalist to that interview with Katy Perry!
Free merchandise - Most of the time record labels will treat you with a sneak peek or send you a copy of the artists’ latest album a week before the big interview to create a more comfortable conversation with the interviewee. An album delivered right to your door and all you have to do is put it in the stereo!
Write it how it sounds – Don’t like Bieber’s new record? Well tell people! Music Journalism is a great way to tell a large group of people what’s hot and what’s not on the shelves at the local Sanity store. You can finally give that “underground” incredible record that no one has ever heard, the review and exposure it deserves with a five star rating.
Sweet seats – Usually two months before a big concert or festival, your friends may reverse their old ways of wiping concert tickets in front of your face, bragging that you can’t get tickets because it's “sold out”, because the magazine is about to send you on a mission to the concert with a free ticket and a +1 for a mate of yours to join you. That’s right, all you have to do is sit back, sink a couple of beers, enjoy the concert and write about the evening you had!
The Negatives of Working as a Music Journalist
Not a lot of money here – Although you get the opportunity to see some great acts for free and be the first to write about that awesome support act, money in Music Journalism is scarce. Unless you are writing for a big publication, such as The Rolling Stone (which in Australia, has almost 50% of imported news stories from the USA within its Australian version of the magazine) the likelihood of earning enough cash to kick back and live a rich lifestyle is a bit of a hazy dream. Some Music Journalists may make enough to rent out and afford the groceries, but in most cases, a second job is necessary.
Twiddling those thumbs for nothing – A lot of magazine publications will have you conducting interviews over the phone. You may have to sit there like an owl, all day and into the night waiting for a call that never comes, to later find out that some PR agent forgot to notify their artist that an interview was supposed to even take place. This CAN be common and can only end with a shrug of the shoulders.
Expectations of Professionalism – Editors take mistakes seriously. There are certain grammar rulings, accurate word counts and strict deadlines that must be abided by. If you send an article to the editor that isn’t exactly a “clean copy”, riddled with misspelt words and falling 50 words short of a precisely needed word count… expect to hear about it! There may not be a second chance for your article, it may get scrapped at the last minute and replaced by something else if it doesn’t appear to be up to editor standards.
My Entry to Becoming a Writer and Music Journalist
When I was a young boy I was interested in all sorts of things; bicycles, cubby houses, bike jumps, footy and all things relating to an outdoorsy kind of lifestyle.
Having said that, things haven’t changed much, but if you were to walk up to me when I was 10 and tell me I’d grow up to have a passion for typing on a keyboard all day I would’ve flipped it.
My love for writing came when I hit about 14; I bought a guitar and paid for some lessons. It was during those lessons that my teacher, Justin, decided that he would put together a compilation album featuring all of his students from the past year or so…
The songs that were to be on this student album were to be “originals only”. Heck, this meant within a month I had to produce a song, written by myself, for Justin to record.
I wrote some lyrics and added them to my guitar chords and met up with him at the end of the month for a lesson of recording. I did it all in the one day (should I say, “hour”) and he gave it back to me the following week.
The song sucked, the lyrics sucked, the recording sucked, from each guitar strum to every vocal melody the thing…sucked!
I formed a band, ditched guitar lessons (when I thought I knew enough of the basics) and years later, I was fortunate enough to be playing at pubs, clubs, youth centers and every little dodgy gig from the Central Coast to Brisbane.
The band was all that I really felt was going good for me at the time and only a month before my 19th birthday the band decided to split and head in different directions.
So there I was one year out of school, with no direction, just taking days as they came. I wanted to continue writing, which I knew I loved to do but I also was trying getting my name out to as many people possible. All I knew then was as long as I was writing, I was happy.
A Rather Unlikely Way of Landing the Job
In January 2009, a few months later, I was browsing the local shopping center when I heard a voice shout “Sean!” I turned around to see a formally dressed man standing by the wall of the complex. I had never seen this guy before in my life so I reluctantly said “…yeah, that’s me” he continued the conversation by saying “Hey mate, my names Kevin Bull, editor for Reverb Magazine, can I ask you a quick question?”
Reverb Magazine is a Central Coast to Byron Bay received publication that’s focus is music.
Kevin went on to say “My neighbor tells me your band has busted? Is this true?” I told him that he was correct, so he replied “Okay, well I’m about to run an article in the magazine about you guys splitting up and I needed to know if it was true…”
After a solid 15-minute chat to this “Kevin” guy I had just met, our conversation turned to me chancing a shot at working for and contributing to his magazine.
I took the opportunity that was given to me on that day in January, and two and a half years down the track I have turned my life into a barrage of reviewing gigs, interviewing artists, late night to early morning deadlines and a coffee addiction. I have fortunately found my nesting.
If you would like to become a journalist in this field, my advice would be to:
- Acquire a love and feel for all sorts of music ranging from different genres.
- Start writing reviews on some of your favorite artists gigs and albums, get a feel for writing about music.
- Create your own writing style, just keep on writing, don't think for once about checking someone else's review of the album your writing about - make it yours!
- Gather up your articles and try your luck at local magazines and editorials.
- If you have such a love for writing, turn it into a career with a distinguished bachelor degree in communications.
Join the Conversation