#188: Then Comes Everything Else
Then Comes Everything Else
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 hip-hop fashion expert Sowmya Krishnamurthy, Lesotho archivist Tseliso Monaheng, and data-centric journalist Chris Dalla Riva. Plus! A call for new Stuff You Gotta Watch contributors, reading recommendations, and much more! But first…
Look, If It Doesn't Hit...
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Reading List
- T.M. Brown writes about what culture looks like
- Olivia Giovetti opines on the radio station muting The Metropolitan Opera
- Natalie Weiner reports on the current state of Discogs
- Matthew Schnipper discusses record collecting in 2023
- Sonia Murray reflects on her work covering Atlanta hip-hop
- Evan Toth interviews Madeline Bocaro about her book on Yoko Ono
- Francesco Fusaro wonders if classical music rejects the body
- Elliot Aronow explores the classic victim / rescuer dynamic in relationship to artists and gatekeepers
- Hassan Hassan explains the rise of rural Middle Eastern music
- Laura Snapes celebrates acts that change up their live show
Lede Of The Week
“When you’ve seen a band play live 34 times, they can only surprise you so much.” - Laura Snapes
Q&A: Sowmya Krishnamurthy
Sowmya Krishnamurthy is a music journalist with bylines in Rolling Stone, Billboard, XXL, and many more. As an on-air host, she has appeared on MTV, MSNBC, and VH1, and she also hosted and programmed SiriusXM’s The Look Out radio show. This week marks the release of her first book, Fashion Killa: How Hip-Hop Revolutionized High Fashion. In this excerpt from our interview, Sowmya explains how she researched the book.
Fashion Killa was produced entirely during the pandemic. I spent one year delving into research: books (Dapper Dan: Made in Harlem, The Battle of Versailles, How Luxury Lost Its Luster, etc.), old newspaper and magazine articles from Vibe, Rolling Stone, etc. vintage music videos, documentaries, hours of hip-hop nostalgia interviews on podcasts like Drink Champs. After a few months, I started doing interviews. The first thing I did was reach out to OGs in hip-hop who know everyone; like Def Jam’s Bill Adler and journalist Michael Gonzales. They were instrumental in referring me to the next round of interviews and so on and so forth. All in, I had over 100 interviews for the book.
What was the hardest thing about the whole project?
Writing a book is easy—then comes everything else. As an author, you are in charge of so many aspects of the book from generating publicity to acquiring celebrity blurbs and licensing photos. I feel fortunate that my background in the entertainment industry is varied because I have had to leverage so many skills—and contacts—outside of journalism. I personally spend at least three to four hours on publicity outreach daily.
A Cause Worth Supporting
From Sowmya Krishnamurthy:
NPR is so important. Not only did they give us iconic Tiny Desk performances with Usher and Juvenile—that I watched at least 50 times— but balanced and reported audio is so necessary in the celebrity worship and clickbait of modern podcasts. NPR News is the first thing I listen to in the morning.
Check out all of the causes highlighted by folks I’ve interviewed.
Only 30?!
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Podcasts!
- Spencer Kornhaber and Marissa R. Moss joined Pop Pantheon to talk about country bros
- Bob Boilen said goodbye to All Songs Considered
- The new season of What Had Happened Was will feature Questlove
- Rock That Doesn't Roll, a new podcast about Christian rock, launched last week
- WXPN Local looked back with the founders of AllHipHop.com
Q&A: Tseliso Monaheng
Tseliso Monaheng is a writer, filmmaker, editor, photographer, music producer, video artist, and more. As he puts it, “yeah, coupla things.” Right now, much of his time is spent working on the Lesotho Rap Archive Project. In this excerpt from our interview, Tseliso explains what he’d like to see more of in music journalism.
Mmmm…more stuff written outside the album release cycles. More incisive pieces. I mean, music writing is not even a THING thing on the African continent, but people are making it work. From South Africa, to Botswana, to Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana—cats are finding new and exciting ways to tell stories about their respective scenes. So I’d like to see more of those people given platforms on international publications. They know their scenes better than anyone, and are best-equipped to tell the world about what is happening currently. We could potentially be in our '70s era right now, were the right cats equipped, financially, to tell these stories. Shoutout to the elders too—the era of Drum reporters, and cats like Burna Boy’s grandfather, Benson Idonije, as well as sistren such as Phiona Okumu, Maria McCloy, etc. They’re the reason I’m able to do what I’m able to do.
What would you like to see less of in music journalism right now?
Fuckin’ international publications flying dem ting in to tell stories that were big to us five, ten years ago, and speak about them shits as though they were brand new. That, and less editors ignoring pitches from African writers. Oh yes, I also need for these book festivals to acknowledge the on-line as a site of original thought, to respect it, and to greenlight panels by people who are doing the important work.
Causes Worth Supporting
From Tseliso Monaheng:
Oh man, I’m not sure whether they can be donated to, but I’d really appreciate it if people checked out, followed, and supported the work of two organizations: SheSaidSo and Women in Music. The South African chapters of these organizations are doing great advocacy work when it comes to creating opportunities for women and queer folk who are often excluded from the music industry.
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.
New York in the mid '70s was a rough place. "But," as narrator Richard "Rocky Horror Show" O'Brien says at the beginning of Once Upon a Time in New York, "amidst the ruins and squalor, a golden era of music was born."
This BBC Four documentary explores the social, cultural, and political context of the New York that gave birth to hip-hop, disco, and punk, catapulting an effervescent underground scene to worldwide fame. As venues like CBGB and Studio 54 became instant meccas for both musicians and fans, the new tenants of a "sophisticated city with a refined musical tradition" made sure New York maintained its reputation as a global trendsetter via an ethos that Lenny Kaye defines as "gritty urban realism."
Though the documentary is mostly shaped around testimonies from several key players such as Chris Stein, Richard Hell, Grandmaster Flash, Nile Rodgers, Tina Weymouth, John Cale, and Patti Smith, Once Upon a Time in New York also benefits from O'Brien's extraordinary narration and loads of archive footage.
Would You Like To Contribute To Stuff You Gotta Watch?
I’m looking for writers to contribute to the Stuff You Gotta Watch section of Music Journalism Insider. I pay $50 per column, and am looking for someone who is ready to celebrate music-related films of all sorts. (Feature film docs, web series, old segments from defunct TV shows, etc.) I’m also open to shaking up the format if you have a great idea. Interested? Respond to this email with your three favorite music documentaries (and why), two things you’d like to feature that haven’t been mentioned in the newsletter previously (and why), and any other info you think I should know.
How Do You Do, Fellow TikTokers?
- @cdallarivamusic wonders whether country musicians are all that country
- @abigyesandasmallno weighs in on the Jann Wenner controversy
- @sonnybabie celebrates Black country artists
- @pablothedon does some music math
- @gee_derrick discusses millennial melancholy
Trivia Time
Punk poet Ian Hayes-Fry and Paul Barrett of The Sinyx were responsible for producing what influential skinhead music zine in the mid '80s?
Bits, Bobs
- Bob Boilen is launching a new radio show
- Drowned in Sound turned 23 last week
- Louder Than Words will take place next month
- Treble is turning 20 this month
- Barnard and Columbia have acquired the JET magazine digital archive
What Else Do I Have To Say?
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Q&A: Chris Dalla Riva
Chris Dalla Riva is a writer, musician, and senior product manager at Audiomack. Chris’s writing, much of which can be found on his newsletter, Can’t Get Much Higher, is often data-driven. In this excerpt from our interview, Chris explains how his approach has changed over the past few years.
A few years ago, most of my efforts went toward pitching ideas. I could not get anything published. It sometimes felt like publications were being invented just so they could reject my pitches. Since I've built up a bit of a reputation, I can spend much less time pitching and more time working on actual projects. Still, there are times when I can't find a home for an idea that I have. But since I have my own newsletter, I can always fall back to publishing there if all else fails. That actually happened recently. I pitched the idea of writing a history of song titles to a few publications. Most people thought it was too niche, so I just published it through my newsletter. It ended up getting coverage by the Morning Brew and becoming one of my most popular newsletters to date.
What would you like to see more of in music journalism right now?
I'd love to see more coverage of minority and women artists. Criticism is definitely still plagued by its obsession with "male geniuses." I try to be inclusive when I recommend music in my newsletter. I could do much better, though. Beyond that, I'd also love to see more people using data to inform their writing. Not everything in music is quantifiable—nor should it be—but there are often stories that people tell themselves that can be easily debunked with public data.
Academic Stuff
- New issues: The Musical Quarterly, Voice and Speech Review, Rock Music Studies, Analytical Approaches to World Musics, Popular Music and Society, Ethnomusicology Forum, and Music Theory Online
- Call for Proposals: Prince On Screen: Images and Ideology [Deadline: November 15]
- Call for Submissions: Reembodied Sound 2024 [Deadline: November 17]
- Call for Papers: Archiving Irish America: Music, Dance & Culture [Deadline: November 17]
- Call for Papers: Journal of New Music Research: The Future of Digital Music Editions [Deadline: December 15]
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
Hard As Nails ran between 1983 and 1985 (and was covered in NME and Sounds).
Some Final Notes
Thanks for reading! And thanks to James Lamont for their Trivia Time question. I make playlists every single week. Check them here! 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 X, it’s @JournalismMusic. Until next time...