How Music Journalism Can Survive In The Digital Age

Gone are the glory days of well-known magazines like “Rolling Stone” or “NME”. The digitalization is forcing music journalism to change radically.

It all went great. Record labels could keep musicians for decades in line because they financed the expensive vinyl production. The albums were advertised on displays and in magazines. It was the golden age of Rolling Stone, first published in 1967, and the New Musical Express in Britain which exists since 1952. And it was the era of journalistic legends: Hunter S. Thompson, Lester Bangs, …

These prospering years endured until the mid-90s. Back then, the fans got rid of their record collections and bought these fantastic new silver discs. What a move by the industry: They sold us the same product twice. So the music business didn’t only get ridiculously wealthy but also fat and lazy.

Maybe that’s the reason why the industry didn’t saw doomsday coming. In 1999, Napster changed the world forever. Two years later, Apple released iTunes and put the final nail in the CD’s coffin.

Curse And Blessing

Shortly after the disruption hit the music business, the magazines began to realize the changing world too. As…