pitchfork is dumb (#34985859340293849494 in a series.)

in terms of casting I was thinking more along the lines of the fact that even if you are horrifically talented, there are thousands of other people as talented as you. (Obviously the comparison between writers and, I don't know, Broadway chorus lines is a bit more complicated -- for that matter, "A Chorus Line" is rather applicable here! -- but the underlying concept is the same. Given that which talented person makes it over the other thousands of talented people is more or less a matter of luck, your entire trajectory depends on dozens of lucky breaks executing themselves perfectly, all while never, ever being able to forget your marketability (vis-a-vis age, your resume trajectory, whether the roles you chose to take on [where 'chose' is 'passed an audition finally'] were smart moves, etc.)

maybe some of us are tired of white dudes serving as the default arbiters of culture? just a thought

i didn't stop trying to make a living writing music crit bc i was frustrated about representation. i stopped bc i was frustrated that i didn't have money in my bank account. i don't know how the color of the faces of the ppl who made it would've changed that equation.

Kinda annoyed that this anon dashsnowden ding-dong is trying to turn what I wrote into something about some kind of P4K vs SPIN thing. I answered a question on Tumblr about my personal reasons for choosing to no longer write for Pitchfork. The reasons being, I felt grossed out by a lot of their practices and even a little bit bullied and I had access to other outlets that I felt better about writing for (because I didn't feel restricted by the editorial staff and all of them paid better). ONE of these places was SPIN. I knew my Tumblr answer would be analyzed and probably shared and misread by a bunch of people (which is why I tried to chill out on my usual cheap shots) but thought, "Hey, I'm in a position as relatively comfortable freelancer to speak on this thing and maybe that can be constructive or helpful to some people out there." It isn't pro certain publications propaganda. It's about what Pitchfork couldn't do or doesn't want to do and why I didn't like that atmosphere. My story is similar to a lot of people's experiences with Pitchfork, I think. There's a trail of writers who wrote for them, got "bigger" or gained more access and haven't returned.

I have been freelancing full-time since 2011. I am 29. I have a Literature degree from a mediocre liberal arts college. Before freelancing full time, I taught English to at-risk kids and worked overnights at a Borders. Then, I managed a Borders and then, a used bookstore and wrote for fun and the extra money it afforded me. I "went for it" in 2011. lived in New Jersey so I could train it into the city (and not pay NYC rent or live in that terrible city), did a little networking and established enough connections that I have been doing pretty well since then. I moved back to Baltimore this year. I make about 3k a month freelancing for a bunch of people (almost all of my writing is linked on my Tumblr so you can see my workload). My rent is $800 because I wanna live alone and I spend a ton of money on weed and my injured-for-life dog that means the world to me. I do all right. It's possible. And I am a pretty huge asshole who has burned a lot of bridges!! Nevertheless, I am halfway out the door on this writing thing because it's super unstable, duhhhhh.

it's fine -- be concerned about that if you want. i just don't think it's related to this conversation. the problem would still exist 100% no matter who those 3 ppl were. maybe you'd feel better about the problem, but it would be the exact same problem. xxp

thank you mordy for finally bringing this thread into popcorn.gif territory

xp What about Nitsuh? Kelefa? Ann Powers?

it's absolutely related to the conversation, but okay, whatever, keep on keepin' on

nitsuh and kelefa are not writing about music primarily anymore. ann is it.

BUT WHATEVER, I'M JUST BEING HYSTERICAL ABOUT THINGS THAT DON'T MATTER AT ALL, SORRY EVERYBODY

"i can't feed my kid bc there aren't enough well-paying music crit jobs for me to ply my trade, but hey, at least the writer for the new yorker is a woman"

i don't know about that term "hysterical" maura. i think it's sexist?

Ugh that is so not the argument I am making here, but please feel free to keep missing my point. Jesus Christ.

What is Nitsuh up to these days?

He's still writing for NYMag, just not as the music critic.

the point that is missing here is that women, too, are worried about paying rent, and byline parity isn't an abstract issue for them but a thing that directly affects whether they are able to

ding ding ding

xp Good for him. I admire Kelefa for making that transition.

I think there are more women in UK music journalism but nothing close to parity.

This is also why the real (albeit very partial) victories over racism and sexism represented by the Clinton and Obama campaigns are not victories over neoliberalism but victories for neoliberalism: victories for a commitment to justice that has no argument with inequality as long as its beneficiaries are as racially and sexually diverse as its victims. That is the meaning of phrases like the ‘glass ceiling’ and of every statistic showing how women make less than men or African-Americans less than whites. It is not that the statistics are false; it is that making these markers the privileged object of grievance entails thinking that, if only more women could crash through the glass ceiling and earn the kind of money rich men make, or if only blacks were as well paid as whites, America would be closer to a just society.

(thx horseshoe for the ref)

miss the days when record critics were mostly geeks women wouldn't look twice at so they collected records instead

Lol Mordy. Okay, whatever you say. Let's just keep on keepin' on.

I don't know why you're trying to turn this into an argument between the working-class guys just trying to make it, man, and the elitist leftist women who just want frivolous things like jobs and paychecks and the ability to not be career failures

Because he's trying to prove that he's not a sexist!!!!

POINTING OUT INSTITUTIONAL BIASES IS THE REAL BIAS

it's not about wanting to make $500,000K a year and be all like gold teeth, grey goose, it's about the fact that (I really like the publication and don't really know the writer but nevertheless) even gigs like personal-advice essays for teenage girls who read Rookie go to dudes with stuff like "The 50 Hottest Women in Tech."

er, on their resume, that is

(that said, some publications are actually very good with parity, including, germanely to this discussion, both Pitchfork and Spin.)

um, i'm not the one who was like "yeah, there are no jobs for anyone and also sfj is a man!!!" someone in this convo has an axe to grind and it isn't me (well, it's also me, but i didn't bring it up)

lot of tedious concern trolling from Mordy itt

where is Ann Powers writing right now btw? don't really see her name as
much as I used to

NPR still I believe

I'm starting to feel like I'm letting everyone down by NOT having gold teeth

totally bringing Grey Goose over to Maura's tho

one of the rites of passage of 2013 ilx is learning to never argue with mordy

(I cannot in good conscience keep my display name given the turn in conversation)

my boss went to lunch, everyone get over here with some Grey Goose

think we've determined that the answer to how to break it in the music writing biz is to just become manager of a borders and live in hoboken, alright

ilx 2013: a mordy'd curiosity

i want to see the working class woman make it too

xpost

also 'dash snowden' is a pretty good portmanteau, gj

def

So Jody Rosen is now the pop music guy at New York magazine, I guess

critic. Not with Mordy on this

who even runs rolling stone anymore

is this the wrong thread for this?

http://pitchforkreviewgenerator.com/

I love that thing

this is a real weird left turn for the thread to take and but w/r/t female writers i mean you have jenn pelli and carrie batten at p4k probably making minimum wage but in a few years they could replace whatever male supervisor is on the rung above theirs. unless you know different than i abt p4k internal politics? i feel like someone could write a good thesis on this but I'm guessing in the past maybe rock writing was consumed primarily by males and thus became an attractive to a primarily male audience as a potential career? but i could be wrong or it could be a chicken and egg thing too. anyway lets face it the rising stars of music journalism are primarily women the pelli sisters and carrie batten and maria sherman and claire lobenfield of stereo gum i could go down the list. mauara i am a big fan of yours and i would really love to hear your thoughts on this?

ill cash out now but i am gonna keep reading this thread! sorry i'm anon. I'm not gonna be like "here's who i am" when i don't know who any of u are (except no trivia, maura, and chris weingarden). i'm sorry for kicking a hornets nest. esp sincerely sorry to no trivia bc i came in here ranting but it seems like i misinterpreted what he was even saying. that was shitty of me and I'm sorry.

listen, it's not that big a deal to be anon. but if you caught wind of this thread or this entire board via twitter, and decided to jump in anonymously here when you could've, y'know, tweeted these observations to the people you obviously follow, it feels a little sneaky self-aggrandizing. you don't seem like a bad guy, though, feel free to stick around the board, or come back at some point in a way that won't 'out' who dashsnowden was itt.

eh twitter isn't exactly conducive to the long-form writing that dashsnowden was doing

well those are the only 2 options, you got me

don't be self-aggrandizing and post anonymously on ILX; start a tumblr instead

guys, the Edward Snowden of Pitchforkpayrategate is already on his way to Hong Kong, he can't even hear us anymore