Best Music Writing 2012

well whiney was rantily defending her on twitter last night so maybe they're even on-side with her pitiful behaviour here

btw contributors got an email last night saying the book was cancelled (duh) so obviously the vice story galvanised her into getting it together to type the couple of paragraphs that had been beyond her for a year

dunno whether people who actually shelled out cash got an email or what it said w/r/t where their money is

interviewed here for an occupy site:

http://attheheartofanoccupation.blogspot.com/2013/07/daphne-carr.html

i love michael gonzales (today on facebook. hopefully he won't mind):

"After having my work cited by the Best Music Writing series three years in a row, I finally made the final cut with my Complex.com piece "Why Heavy D Matters." Over the last year I've inquired about the book, but none of the judges seemed to know what happened to the project or the editor. Of course, this isn't a race issue, but I'm sure if my Black ass had disappeared with $17,000, a whole lot of somebodies would've come looking for me a long time ago. I'm just sayin'..."

Pretty reprehensible behaviour - the no-contact/drop-off-the-earth thing, not fucking up the Kickstarter plan.

but hey she's nice and smart! so it's ok!

lol whiney's argument is such pisspoor wagon-circling

the sooner content farming wipes out pathetically delusional fucktards like him the better

The problem with failing at your Kickstarter is that it should resolved privately, a message from Kickstarter saying "you didn't fulfill your obligations, return the money now thank you" instead of this stupid public tar-and-feathering

Kickstarter doesn't give a shit - they're a for-profit company that's busy making millions off a sagging creative economy.

What was the band that Yancey S. and his buds wanted to support that started the whole company anyway?

xp So is Factor, tho

Kickstarter doesn't pretend to be anything other than a conduit. Idk if you raise the money and fail to fulfil your obligations, you takes yr consequences

seeing some stuff on twitter indicating she's just sent a note to donors saying they'll be refunded?

Yeah I was just noticing that.

email sent to backers ten minutes ago

I'd like it if the consequences were a quiet "return the money pls" instead of Twitter rants, whispers of "drug problem?" (Deakin), fucking VICE magazine. Anyway

she intends to pay back all backers out of her own pocket

http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/222036/daphne-carr-says-shell-repay-backers-of-fizzled-book/

This is a big disappointment :( :( :(

i forgot i backed this until i just got the apol email. the weird climate around this thing got a bit much, but i wonder if w/o the vice story or at least some sort of public pressure she'd have been able to overcome the mental block of having to admit failure. the frustration wasn't that it flopped (that's a disappointment, but eh -- the finances never looked right on this thing) but rather the lack of any communication. & if you don't communicate, people are going to make up stupid theories. that's just how they work.

retrospectively i'm disappointed because i signed up for a tote, which would have been nice. but i didn't even remember i signed up for a tote, so i can't be _that_ angry about it.

plus since i signed up for the tote i've gotten at least two free totes as promo schwag, and i have lots of bags honestly. it's just a bag.

This is only one of the Kickstarters that I've funded that hit its goal and never delivered. This is how Kickstarter works, and it's worked this way for four years. I'm sure Daphne is more upset and under more stress about this than I am about my $30.

And hey: she's going to send out the list of official selections, which has value by itself. That's all I was looking to get out of this.

i understand why some were quick to project, but i think the reason most critic-types (myself included) were being quiet about this is because someone they were friendly with did something that was fucked up, embarrassing, and also concerning. whiney aside, it's rare one responds to that by being really loud on twitter, either to defend or complain about what happened.

also while 17k was missing, most people only gave $20-25 bucks, so it's not like there was a lot of individual financial impetus to raise a stink.

“I have done the number crunching and given my current revenue streams it should take about three years of monthly payments to backers.”

This is honestly the only part that bugs me. I didn't contribute, but as someone who put together an anthology (that Daphne contributed to, btw), I feel like you don't get to spend that money (in my case, an advance from Da Capo) on food, rent, Netflix, weed, etc. You put it in its own bank account and use it for project-related expenses only. If this project never went anywhere, that money should have just been sitting there untouched, ready to be sent back to the donors.

I'm just bummed I won't be getting a batch of dirty limericks about dc Talk.

^ yes. (xpost)

People say this as if she's making a huge sacrifice: She intends to pay back all backers out of her own pocket

People gave her $20 and $30 and $500 and she put that money into her pocket. So it makes sense that she would pay them back out of it.

I do feel sad for her if she had already paid various other co-editors etc, and is now having to repay that as well.

So, the money. The $15k that I had hoped for was money I knew I needed to produce only the intellectual property for the title -- editorial stipends, administrative staff, and payment of reprint license. To my grave error this was not a realistic number -- the reality is that it would take another $10k to produce that property, and another $10k to produce and publish a book. I had intended to raise additional funds in pre-sales, but as the project stalled I thought it dishonest to move forward in any way with money.

I have no idea what percent of the money was paid out/pocketed, and I'm not suggesting people shouldn't be wagging fingers (esp if they lost money), but considering editors aren't complaining about not getting paid, it does suggest she didn't run off with the wad.

from these failed kickstarter stories it seems like smaller-scale stuff like this only works out if you basically make everyone work for free until you ship. if you allow any overhead expenses at all, they tend to eat up the cash before you can actually produce product.

The culture of vice magazine and tweeto-da-fé can get pretty gross but yknow what $17k is a lot of money that might have stayed disappeared without said culture

Then again why do I need to have an opinion on this man I'm turning into treezy

from these failed kickstarter stories it seems like smaller-scale stuff like this only works out if you basically make everyone work for free until you ship. if you allow any overhead expenses at all, they tend to eat up the cash before you can actually produce product.

also, thinking pre-sales will save you ignores the fact that kickstarter donations ARE basically pre-sales

Re her reference to "dishonesty", disappearing for a year and spending that money was somehow honest? I and others emailed her politely long before the Vice article came out and she ignored the messages.

She was occupied

oh for fuck's sake. the descending of the vultures here is and remains really gross and I am disappointed in basically everyone for doing it

who wins here: 20-year-olds who fancy themselves the crit game Julian Assange; other 20-year-olds who can afford another six-pack now. who loses here: basic assuming of good faith?

^^

Tbf per curmudgeon a simple response might have indicated good faith

This whole thing is a bummer tho I liked these

katherine otm obv

a silent year's grace isnt good faith enough, shame on all u kneejerk vultures

The culture of vice magazine and tweeto-da-fé can get pretty gross but yknow what $17k is a lot of money that might have stayed disappeared without said culture

this is basically the thing, isn't it?

I feel like you don't get to spend that money (in my case, an advance from Da Capo) on food, rent, Netflix, weed, etc. You put it in its own bank account and use it for project-related expenses only. If this project never went anywhere, that money should have just been sitting there untouched, ready to be sent back to the donors.

for all we know what she has already spent - which she's going to be paying back - was used on project-related expenses. I seriously doubt the money came in and she just kicked back and did no work on the project, engaged no-one else to work on it, did nothing towards the setting up of the publishing company that would have required money, etc etc etc.

also ppl come on $17k is not _a lot_ of money. not when u can step up your game and make $94k with bennies.

xp-to-self
like, it seems like she planned badly and then it made her full of terror and panic and she couldn't think about it and so on. But I doubt she realised how badly she'd planned until she was quite some way into producing the book, a process which will have eaten up a lot of the money.

"like, it seems like she planned badly and then it made her full of terror and panic and she couldn't think about it and so on. But I doubt she realised how badly she'd planned until she was quite some way into producing the book, a process which will have eaten up a lot of the money."

exactly, but what I'm seeing isn't this but "look at this writer who absconded/made off/took off and ran with $17,000!" (all paraphrased actual tweets) or, y'know, "I can just see her lying on a bed of cash in Zuccotti Park."

for all we know what she has already spent - which she's going to be paying back - was used on project-related expenses. I seriously doubt the money came in and she just kicked back and did no work on the project, engaged no-one else to work on it, did nothing towards the setting up of the publishing company that would have required money, etc etc etc.

That's why communication is good. If she had been open about her struggles, way more people would have her back. Lots of participants in this drama don't know Daphne well enough to presume good faith.

oh for fuck's sake. the descending of the vultures here is and remains really gross and I am disappointed in basically everyone for doing it

Speaking as someone who has never met Daphne but who tries really hard not to be a snarky internet vulture asshole, the reactionary fury of some of the people who have Daphne's back is completely bewildering.

some of these posts are a lock for best disingenuous point-missing of 2013 (plz donate to my kickstarter)

"a simple response" is never so simple tho. Daphne: ...it has taken additional time to write to you, but I hope you understand that this was due to a sort of panic about how to save the title." This is so familiar. The feeling that "it still could happen!" is always there and it's a major step to have to write to backers to say "we've run out of money and I don't know what to do" because it basically is an admission that you're on the hook for 17K

"Now that the circlejerk crit circle have co-signed her to be the nicest and most reliable person ever, her radio silence is nothing in retrospect!"

i'd bet that personal level of outrage towards daphne carr (including demanding one's own $20 back) correlates strongly with self-identification re personal fiscal responsibility

@ sean, speaking from personal experience, the people I know who've received a grant to "make a thing", and that thing is not made, and the money needs to be returned, that money was spent 100% on expenses and rentals and labour, not spent on Netflix. I guess it makes sense that punters would assume that you automatically get a lobster dinner upon receiving a grant but that has not at all been my experience.

quick question and honestly not looking to add fire to this: does anyone care enough about this project to want to take the baton and run with it?

Forks

WhineyForks E-Pub Limited

Maybe dude from Animal Collective has some free time

amanda palmer seems to have a grasp of this kickstarter thing

M@tt for thread MVP

silly question I know but has anyone seen the list of selections that she promised for last September?

aaaaaahahahahahha

In the meantime, another writer compiled this list for RBMA: http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/magazine/best-music-journalism-2013-jason-gross

I don't agree with more than a few of the picks, but if you really want an aggregated list of music writing from last year...

it is now 2014. is it even remotely possible anyone will care about the best music writing in 2012 anymore?

in 2022 the anniversary-driven internet content economy will probably be primed for it

Bear in mind that the 2012 edition actually collects writing from 2011.

Damn, I made Jason's list!

congrats

Thanks

I'd have liked to be singled out for something less experimental and more analytic/journalistic, but still, cool

I didn't believe it when she promised the list of selected writing would appear in first week of September - because I don't believe it ever will be delivered.

who the fuck cares

2012 was like a decade ago it doesn't matter.