#163: Omnivorous Tastes
Omnivorous Tastes
I’m Todd L. Burns, and welcome to Music Journalism Insider, a newsletter about music journalism. I highlight some of the best stuff I hear, read, and watch every week; publish news about the industry; and interview writers, scholars, and editors about their work. My goal is to share knowledge, celebrate great work, and expand the idea of what music journalism is—and where it happens. Questions, comments, concerns? You can reach me anytime at music.journalism.insider@gmail.com. And if you’re not already subscribed to the newsletter, you can do so at musicjournalisminsider.com.
Today in the newsletter: Interviews with freelance culture writer Quinn Moreland, Sonny Rollins biographer Aidan Levy, and music copyright expert Richard Osborne. Plus! Reading recommendations, a bit of boogaloo, and much more! But first…
Damn Daniel
Source
Reading List
- Brian Hiatt uncovers what it’s like to be a pop songwriter
- Terry Matthew explains how Spotify turned dance music into dance muzak
- Molly O’Brien interviews music writer Jacqueline Codiga
- Niamh O’Connor shows how to start an internet radio station
- Eli Winter writes movingly about life as a touring musician
- Ciaran Thapar argues for the cathartic potential of music-making
- Will Groff reports on a Tennessee bill banning drag shows and its impact on country music
- Kieran Press-Reynolds details his internet
- Justin A. Davis on the impact of “state abandonment” on Atlanta rap
- Miranda Reinert takes a look at the state of music journalism
Lede Of The Week
“Every so often we—those invested in the world of writers who are verified on Twitter thanks to the music reporter job they had in 2015 at a local publication that no longer exists—have to discuss The Negative Review.” - Miranda Reinert
Q&A: Quinn Moreland
Quinn Moreland is a freelance culture writer. She is a former staff writer at Pitchfork, where she worked from 2015 to 2022. Her writing has appeared in The Nation, Bookforum, and more. In this excerpt from our interview, Quinn describes how she organizes her work.
After I put in my notice at Pitchfork, I began sifting through 7 years of files and was horrified to find that I lacked any organizational structure beyond a screenshots folder. There were a few years at Pitchfork where I was in charge of sending out other people’s interviews to be transcribed so I had a jumble of unlabeled audio files, it was hideous. Now I can’t shut up about digital organization—do it now before it’s too late! I bought a new laptop after quitting because mine was on its last legs. I also did an extreme clean of my google drive so now I have folders for invoices, freelance work, Pitchfork work, etc. In the physical realm, I have a to-do list planner and a separate planner for more general notes.
What’s one tip that you’d give a music journalist starting out right now?
Think outside the box when coming up with interview questions. Unless you are very lucky, your time with your subject will be brief. Don’t waste it asking the same things everyone else does. While some contextual questions are often necessary, try to approach them from new angles. Do your research, read every interview with that person you can get your hands on and go from there. Try to decipher what topics make them light up and build off those.
Read the full interview with Quinn here.
A Cause Worth Supporting
From Quinn Moreland:
I have yet to visit the Woodstock Farm Sanctuary (someday!!) but their Instagram makes me very happy (and very sad). My vegetarian family sometimes sponsors a turkey for Thanksgiving and they mail you a delightful postcard with a glossy pic of the little guy. Animals are, like, a constant good in this cruel world. They give us so much, it’s nice to return the favor.
Check out all of the causes highlighted by folks I’ve interviewed.
Worst Party Trick Ever
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Podcasts!
- Patrick Hicks has launched the new podcast Good Measure
- Niko Stratis explains Napster on You’re Wrong About
- Lauron J. Kehrer chats about Queer Voices in Hip Hop: Cultures, Communities, and Contemporary Performance on New Books in Music
- Switched On Pop explores the history of the response song
- Water & Music discusses building a creative AI community
Q&A: Aidan Levy
Aidan Levy is a lecturer in English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. Aidan has a new book out called Saxophone Colossus: The Life and Music of Sonny Rollins. In a review, Ben Ratliff of The New York Times called it “a brimming and organized compendium, something to keep returning to like Rollins’s records.” In this excerpt from our interview, Aidan explains his research process.
Years of interviews, archival trips, combing through thousands of articles, constant listening. I saved a lot of research material on my external hard drive, which spontaneously crashed one night. A data recovery specialist was able to recover everything, but I lost a lot of sleep. The lesson: Back up your files!
How did you go about writing the actual book?
After I got to a good point in the research process, I wrote it in chronological order, every day until I got to the end. I also cut about 250,000 words from the first draft. Editor Michaelangelo Matos cut another 70,000 or so. He’s a terrific editor, also a great writer with omnivorous tastes.
Read the full interview with Aidan here.
A Cause Worth Supporting
From Aidan Levy:
Music Workers Alliance (MWA) is doing important work to ensure a sustainable future for music workers. Without music workers, there can be no music journalism. From their mission statement: “MWA is an organization of, by, and for independent music workers. MWA’s shared purpose is to empower music workers, by engaging in collective action to create a community where music is valued financially and culturally, and music workers benefit and achieve dignity in our lives.”
Check out all of the causes highlighted by folks I’ve interviewed.
Stuff You Gotta Watch
Stuff You Gotta Watch celebrates music journalism in video form. This week’s column is by Ana Leorne.
Warning: it’s quite possible that you won’t be able to sit still while watching Matthew Ramirez Warren’s We Like It Like That. The main culprit is its subject: the cultural melting pot that gave birth to Latin boogaloo.
The tale begins in 1960s New York City, when this vibrant and pivotal genre helped define an entire new generation of Latinos, weaving a tight and exciting fabric which would prove fundamental for the evolution of urban sounds. Fusion is at the center of boogaloo; the proximity to the African-American community not only offered an insight into fresh beats and bold chord progressions, but also validated a burning quest for identity affirmation, despite the economic exploitation many of these musicians would endure throughout their career.
Several legendary names linked to boogaloo, such as Joe Bataan, Johnny Colón, and Pete Rodriguez, feature in the doc, highlighting this coming-of-age in social, political, and cultural terms. The extraordinary result was the creation of a safe space for self-expression that combined tradition and innovation, the sacred and the profane, the past and the future.
[Editor’s Note: Full disclosure, I worked with Matthew on a documentary about Eddie Palmieri.]
Real Scenes
- Christina Hazboun on the women of South West Asian and North African electronic music
- Kieran Press-Reynolds on corecore
- Ayomide Olaniyan on fuji music
- Michael Corcoran on Black radio in Austin
- Philip Sherburne on trance
Trivia Time
What was the first book published in the 33 1/3 series?
Pivoting to Video
- HipHopMadness goes deep on hip-hop album covers
- Sound Field digs into the history of battle rap
- Rob Scallon visits the man with the world’s largest guitar pedal collection
- Adam Neely explores the Nintendo-fication of jazz
- Grady Smith makes an apology
Good Luck, Everyone!
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Q&A: Richard Osborne
Richard Osborne is Associate Professor of Music and Creative Industries at Middlesex University. His new book is Owning the Masters: A History of Sound Recording Copyright. “It has long struck me as unjust that recording artists have not been copyright owners,” explains Richard. “I wanted to find out the reasons why this has been the case and what the consequences have been.” In this excerpt from our interview, Richard explains the research process.
It was daunting. Copyright is a complex subject that generates hundreds of lengthy documents and reams of analysis. I originally intended to look at UK law only but Simon Frith rightly suggested that I should look at the US as well. This more than doubled my task, as not only did I have less knowledge of American copyright law but it also works in a fundamentally different manner to copyright law in the rest of the world. Ultimately, this task was worthwhile as this is a subject that needs to be assessed across territories.
What are a few tracks / videos / films / books we should also look at, in addition to your book, to get a better sense of the topic you’re writing about?
There are some hip-hop and grime tracks that deal directly with owning the masters, including “We Made It (Freestyle)” by Jay Electronica ft. Jay-Z, “No Problem” by Chance the Rapper ft. 2 Chainz and Lil Wayne, “100% Publishing” by Wiley and “Angel” by Little Simz. It is telling that all of these pieces of music are by artists of colour, as black musicians have traditionally been the victims of poor music deals and the biases of copyright law, but are now using their knowledge of the business to claim their rights. Prince was a pioneer here, proclaiming that he was a “slave” because his record company, Warner, owned his masters and eventually making some headway in his desire to own his work.
Read the full interview with Richard here.
A Cause Worth Supporting
From Richard Osborne:
Help Musicians is an independent UK charity for musicians. As well as having various funding schemes it provides support for musicians in need, including help during the pandemic.
Check out all of the causes highlighted by folks I’ve interviewed.
Academic Calls
- Call for Papers: Music and the Internet Conference [Submissions due March 3]
- Call for Proposals: DC23: After the Pandemic [Submissions due March 13]
- Call for Articles: ViewFinder Issue 122: Digital Humanities [Proposals due March 13]
- Call for Papers: Cultural Intermediaries in the Nineteenth-Century Music Market [Submissions due March 15]
- Call for Papers: The Expertise of the Musical Amateur [Submissions due March 15]
- Call for Papers: Horizons of Punk: Punk-Rock Scholarship and its Methodologies [Submissions due March 15]
- Call for Papers: EUPOP 2023 The Darkness Within [Submissions due March 17]
- Call for Papers: Context Conference: Contextualizing Equity and Inclusion in Music [Submissions due March 17]
The Closing Credits
Thanks for reading! In case you’ve missed any special features, I’ve published a number of them in the newsletter, including articles about music journalism history, what music journalism will be like in 2221, and much more. You can check out all of that here.
I also do a recurring column in the newsletter called Notes On Process. The premise is simple: I share a Google Doc with a music journalist where we go into depth on one of their pieces. It hopefully provides an insight into how music writers do their work. You can check out all editions of Notes On Process here.
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Trivia Time Answer
The first book published in the series was Dusty Springfield’s Dusty in Memphis by Warren Zanes.
A Final Note
Thanks for reading! I make playlists from time to time. Check them out if you’re interested. And full disclosure: my day job is at uDiscover Music, a branded content online magazine owned by Universal Music. This newsletter is not affiliated or sponsored in any way by Universal, and any links that relate to the work of my department will be clearly marked.
Feel free to reach out to me via email at music.journalism.insider@gmail.com. On Twitter, it’s @JournalismMusic. Until next time…