Music Critics are usually seen as a lesser important part of the music industry, thought to be always causing controversy, putting a damper on an artist’s success, or just simply not necessary – which is partially true as music is, of course, subjective.
However, like a lot of other professions such as teachers, part of being a professional critic comes with needing a lot of experience and previous work. Look at Anthony Fantano, debatably the most influential critic of the past decade in many ways. With a major in liberal studies focusing on journalism, political science and communication, it’s clear that to become someone who’s highly regarded for their opinions, it takes a lot more than musical knowledge to reach his level. He speaks about his experience in an interview with Brandon Stosuy:
“I used to work in radio for an NPR station and did college radio and a music show. I used to write for NPR Music and ran a music blog. I was trying to get my foot in the door of the industry in a certain way.”
It’s this way of working in both musical and journalistic environments that helped him hone his craft.
This being said, as being a music critic is vastly a freelance profession, qualifications or formal education isn’t always necessary. Even for being posted by renowned publications, this isn’t always what they’re looking for. Nate Patrin talks about his experience with being published by, probably the biggest music magazine, Pitchfork:
“I didn’t go to journalism school or even have a significant college education, so the way I managed to get educated… is to listen to a ton of music, read writing about that music, reach out to the people writing about that music, and basically do as much work as you can to find your voice and work out your ideas.”
The most important things to work on are your skills as a journalist, and as Nate says the best way to achieve this is via repetition. Other skills less directly related to your work, like people skills (necessary for understanding an artist’s insight or for interviewing), ethical standards (important to evade copyright and legal issues and to respect the integrity of the work they’re commenting on), and networking abilities (the key to make connections in the industry and increase your audience), are all arguably more impactful for your career than a degree or major.
More typical skills to be a music critic include strict timekeeping, researching, and a good understanding of the English Language. You also need to remember, while you’re writing your reviews, to keep it human. At the end of the day you’re a person commenting on another person’s work, and no-one wants to feel like they’re listening to a robot summarize a piece of art they’ve put so much effort into. This is another duty that you have as a critic – how harsh or forgiving you come across. This means you must understand the context, the environment, and the reason you’re writing the review. An essay about a college students first assignment should never have the same tone as one about an established artist’s 7th studio album.
Work as a music critic is a tight balance between reviewing music you personally enjoy and putting out reviews of trending music to stay relevant as a public figure. It requires a lot of research beforehand that isn’t simply listening to the music, including looking into the artists evolution and past work, primary research such as interviews to understand their thought processes and influences, and secondary research such as the history behind the genre. Another reason not to just review music to your taste is to keep objectivity. On one hand it’s normal to have a field you’re knowledgeable about, but you also have a duty as a critic to expand your horizons and understand music as a whole to make your reviews as eclectic as possible.
It’s helpful to remember that as a critic, you review music for others, not yourself. There’s a grey area when it comes to professionalism within reviews, a good example of what one redditor called “pretentiousness and rabble-rousing” is in Pitchfork’s review of Kid A by Radiohead:
“I stared entranced, soaking in Radiohead’s new material, chiselling each sound into the best functioning parts of my brain which would be the only sound system for the material for months.”
This is good essay writing, but leans too heavily into a personal, subjective experience which doesn’t prove to be good critical material. By being a critic, you look through the perspective of a reader, what they might get from the review, and how it relates to the music.
Over the past decade or so it’s become apparent that being a music critic has become a profession that puts you in the forefront of an audience rather than writing for a magazine or other publications. This also gives you more duties, like to support the artists yourself rather than leaving the responsibility to your publication. This could involve spotlighting more underground artists instead of bigger albums. It also forces you to engage with your audience and give them a voice as well, which helps with interaction and engagement.
Being in the spotlight creates more opportunities for legal issues. Last year, lead singer of Falling in Reverse Ronnie Radke sued Anthony Fantano for “defamation”, claiming that he spoke about him “with malice aforethought and/or engaged in fraud, malice and/or oppression”. Fantano won this lawsuit using California’s “Anti-SLAPP” law (strategic lawsuits against public participation). While not being a case directly related to the music, it shows that with platforms such as YouTube and other social media sites being the main place to find review content, and gaining popularity being easier than ever, It’s very easy to be put in the forefront of legal issues.
It’s also necessary to be mindful of the fair use act when quoting certain lyrics or using certain songs as reference. It’s legal to quote a lyric or two, or use a few seconds of a song, but even this can create copyright infringement, leading to a takedown notice or demonetization. Platforms like YouTube aren’t meant to allow you to use any amount of time of music, although a small clip may go undetected by their algorithm.
The process to become known as a music critic is very similar to that of any other career in the arts, with some important things to consider:
– Portfolio: Having a collection of all your previous work – reviews, other essays, interviews, etc., is not only important to understand your improvements, but is handy to have in many instances, such as sending your work to a publication, starting a blog, and to see where any gaps may be in terms of variety of the music covered.
– Networking: Attending industry events, music conferences, and networking opportunities are essential to building connections for when you have a good portfolio under your belt and want to start getting recognised. The Musicians Union, ADE, and BBC Introducing are all great places to start. Connections can also be helpful to expand your knowledge and to get advice from people higher up in the industry.
– Promoting Yourself: Unlike being a musician and getting your songs featured on the radio or another source, being a critic is very much a lone career path with little help from others. This is where it’s important to develop a style that sets you apart and keeps your audience engaged. Things like keeping a regular posting schedule on your blog, interacting with your audience and listening to their ideas, giving them something to look forward to, and having “more important” events like yearly tier lists or round ups can all give the audience more gratification.
Even with limited ways of self-promotion, there are many ways to work up the ranks. Even starting at school level, getting involved with your school’s radio or a review society are both good starts. I saw one person at Leeds Conservatoire started their own Instagram page, where they would review other students’ music for free. These are relatively short reviews, but it gives both the critic and the musician ways of getting their work seen, and especially in a smaller community it’s easier to find music to critique.
The natural progression after this would be Freelance Work, either reviewing bigger artists music and making money off a blog or subscription service, or allowing smaller artists to commission you to review their work. This is a more sustainable practice and can be done via social media or websites like Fiverr. It’s up to you to understand what direction your career is going in, and whether you want to stay independent or become a regular reviewer for a publication.
This would also be a more sustainable practice as you would earn a salary, however it opens the door for more ethical and financial issues. For example, Pitchfork has been seen to delete certain older reviews that don’t reflect current popular opinion, which you may not want to happen to your work. They were also recently folded into GQ, a men’s magazine, which has laid off many reviewers and proved that even when employed, being a music critic is never fully reliable work.
Being a freelance writer can come with many personal issues. Having to create and work by your own timetable can be challenging, and the worry of not knowing if a piece of work is going to earn you any money can be debilitating, which is why you have to love your job and create your own motivation to hit deadlines. On the flip side, if you’re a bigger more influential critic, dealing with the weight of your influence is also hard, knowing that however harshly or nicely you talk about an album will impact others’ perception of it and could hinder how well the album performs. This means you must be confident with your work and believe it’s as objective as possible. You also need to let go of any bias, any grudges you may have against an artist, and stop yourself from overexaggerating anything even if more flamboyant language helps you to get more clicks.
A lot of people also start to realise that if they’re not always enjoying the music, being a critic isn’t for them. Becoming a critic means objectivity, and if you’re not suited to the journalistic aspect you can lose interest.
Another less documented struggle of being a critic is juggling your journalistic career with others. Most critics are part-time if not freelance, which makes timekeeping even more difficult. It’s also common for critics to be musicians as well, which are both underpaying jobs. You might struggle with envy when reviewing other artists work, wanting your music to be as good as theirs, which can impact how kindly you speak of their music.
In conclusion, being a music critic is a tough career to get into, with many struggles such as freelance work, balancing a schedule, bias, self-promotion, and development opportunities. But it can also be a really rewarding line of work, being able to interview your favourite artists, sharing your passion with others, and getting recognition from your peers.
