Wow. What a wake up on a wet Tuesday morning in the Manawatu. Thanks for the article. This is indeed dire. And factual. And bloody frightening. I’m not a journalist. Just a little sometimes writer with a social anthropological eye and a music gig lover and this has alarmed me.
Ha thanks Anna Sophia. I've got some positive stuff coming, including a list of all of the best music journalism that happened this year. It's definitely there - but you need to really commit to find it. Thanks for reading!
Another incredible piece Chris. Clear eyed, salient view of a terrifying issue for NZ art and media.
The Canvas stuff hit me particularly hard. When my friend, and incredible musician Reuben Winter (Totems, Caroles, Milk, Roidz, + 100 other acts) died, Canvas gave me the opportunity to write a feature about him and what he meant to NZ music scene. It was a beautiful opportunity to share the music of my friend which I loved so much to a huge number of mainstream NZ readers who would not have otherwise heard it. It is very sad that those kinds of stories look very unlikely to be published again in Canvas.
But one thing that doesn't get a mention in your article, but I thought might be a small patch of bright light in these times is Radio. We have such an amazing student radio network that do an amazing job of profiling up and coming acts. Especially Bfm is a godsend that provides a platform that would otherwise leave bands playing to themselves in the garage. And Radio New Zealand also do an awesome job of profiling local acts, and doing deep dives into their work and what it means.
Just thought I would point that out! There is still hope out there and we should support it!
Thanks mate, appreciate your kind words. I'm going to point this out in a more positive piece coming up - RNZ does incredible work, and there are bits and pieces happening all over the place. You really need to go digging to find them but I'll shine a light on them soon...
Incredible peice, as always. It must have been a hard one to pen. The irony of the death kneel of arts/music/entertainment journalism and stories is that this is exactly the content we, as humans, need right now. Everything we are fed on MSM is almost always a terrible tragedy, politics (but never the local body politics that matters and impacts my direct life, rather NZ politics of the same story over and over or US politics that really we only engage in for the LOLs and rage bait). If it bleeds it leads and all that. But we need something that actually fulfills it's, uplifts us, gives us a distraction, actually makes our lives better. That's what's really sad. I 'discovered' (read: came late to the party) on Fazerdaze thanks to your work and holy hecker it's been a great addition to my live - something to enjoy and get excited about. If it wasn't for this publication, I would never have found it thanks for algorithms that feed me what I listen to not what I want to. Substack might be the answer - a home to media people care about, or even a collective home for a group to write for. Dunno. What I do know is that it's broadly sad but it's not dead. Long live the journalism.
I'm sooo glad you found Fazerdaze by reading my lil newsletter - that makes me very happy! How good is her new album? It's been on heavy rotation here. Just gives me such good vibes...
I'm still treating Substack as an experiment. I'd love for it to grow up and replace what we had, or at least offer an alternative. And there are signs that's happening. I love that I have a direct line to readers, that I get to say what I want straight from my brain to yours without editors and a masthead hanging over me. It's growing and evolving. But I also wonder if it can handle all of the voices that keep signing up. How many newsletters can one reader really handle? And how many paid subs till they're maxed out? It's definitely working for some ... but I guess the jury's out for the rest of us.
I also broke and left NZ Musician 2 weeks ago. I had been doing the job of multiple people at once without any real breaks or relief for too long. I feel like I'm letting down entire groups of musical humans that will now not get talked about much much less, and who knows what the future will bring in terms of my own work life. Just getting over being burned out, taking it slowly, with a side of being very very sad.
Oh Silke, I'm so sorry. I don't think you need to feel bad about that. You need to do what's right for you, always. And that burden doesn't rest entirely on your shoulders - there's a whole bunch of people and organisations that need to stand up and work out how to fix this.
Well, I tried. It was great for the better part of 15 years or so, and I tried a ton of different things to make it work, but in the end, it wasn't work you could just leave behind, it was always with me, every night, every "holiday", I mean, I worked through every spell of having or being locked down with covid, any sickness, right after surgery - no breaks, ever. Constant anxiety because I didn't manage to do everything, letting people down, the onslaught of terrible publicity emails that offer interviews but don't provide a beep of the music (and artists pay thousands for a service that doesn't promise any results but expects a bunch of people to work for free)
Oh I am so sorry I just realised it isn't! I am so indoctrinated into seeing irrelevant listings at the bottom of a page, if I see listings I assume they are. Having an existential moment now.
But the three pieces listed from your body of work are 1. a woman is groped at Woodstock from 2021, the iMax building from 2021, and finally review of Coldplay. So, Substack is still going for the most eyeball grabbing stuff not the most recent.
Ahhh yep you're being fed my most-read pieces. Someone linked to that Woodstock story back in like 2022 and it got like 40,000 views. Not sure who or why. And the iMax piece is what kicked all of this off! I cover almost exclusively music and the industry now :)
Ah, going viral! Well I found you through the Bulletin and shall keep an eye out from now on as I absolutely agree, not enough entertainment journalism. As for theatre reviews, pretty much gone. I work for Theatreview online and if it wasn't for that mahi, most productions would have no online presence they didn't generate for themselves. What a world we live in...
Wow. What a wake up on a wet Tuesday morning in the Manawatu. Thanks for the article. This is indeed dire. And factual. And bloody frightening. I’m not a journalist. Just a little sometimes writer with a social anthropological eye and a music gig lover and this has alarmed me.
Ha thanks Anna Sophia. I've got some positive stuff coming, including a list of all of the best music journalism that happened this year. It's definitely there - but you need to really commit to find it. Thanks for reading!
Another incredible piece Chris. Clear eyed, salient view of a terrifying issue for NZ art and media.
The Canvas stuff hit me particularly hard. When my friend, and incredible musician Reuben Winter (Totems, Caroles, Milk, Roidz, + 100 other acts) died, Canvas gave me the opportunity to write a feature about him and what he meant to NZ music scene. It was a beautiful opportunity to share the music of my friend which I loved so much to a huge number of mainstream NZ readers who would not have otherwise heard it. It is very sad that those kinds of stories look very unlikely to be published again in Canvas.
But one thing that doesn't get a mention in your article, but I thought might be a small patch of bright light in these times is Radio. We have such an amazing student radio network that do an amazing job of profiling up and coming acts. Especially Bfm is a godsend that provides a platform that would otherwise leave bands playing to themselves in the garage. And Radio New Zealand also do an awesome job of profiling local acts, and doing deep dives into their work and what it means.
Just thought I would point that out! There is still hope out there and we should support it!
Thanks mate, appreciate your kind words. I'm going to point this out in a more positive piece coming up - RNZ does incredible work, and there are bits and pieces happening all over the place. You really need to go digging to find them but I'll shine a light on them soon...
Incredible peice, as always. It must have been a hard one to pen. The irony of the death kneel of arts/music/entertainment journalism and stories is that this is exactly the content we, as humans, need right now. Everything we are fed on MSM is almost always a terrible tragedy, politics (but never the local body politics that matters and impacts my direct life, rather NZ politics of the same story over and over or US politics that really we only engage in for the LOLs and rage bait). If it bleeds it leads and all that. But we need something that actually fulfills it's, uplifts us, gives us a distraction, actually makes our lives better. That's what's really sad. I 'discovered' (read: came late to the party) on Fazerdaze thanks to your work and holy hecker it's been a great addition to my live - something to enjoy and get excited about. If it wasn't for this publication, I would never have found it thanks for algorithms that feed me what I listen to not what I want to. Substack might be the answer - a home to media people care about, or even a collective home for a group to write for. Dunno. What I do know is that it's broadly sad but it's not dead. Long live the journalism.
I'm sooo glad you found Fazerdaze by reading my lil newsletter - that makes me very happy! How good is her new album? It's been on heavy rotation here. Just gives me such good vibes...
I'm still treating Substack as an experiment. I'd love for it to grow up and replace what we had, or at least offer an alternative. And there are signs that's happening. I love that I have a direct line to readers, that I get to say what I want straight from my brain to yours without editors and a masthead hanging over me. It's growing and evolving. But I also wonder if it can handle all of the voices that keep signing up. How many newsletters can one reader really handle? And how many paid subs till they're maxed out? It's definitely working for some ... but I guess the jury's out for the rest of us.
I also broke and left NZ Musician 2 weeks ago. I had been doing the job of multiple people at once without any real breaks or relief for too long. I feel like I'm letting down entire groups of musical humans that will now not get talked about much much less, and who knows what the future will bring in terms of my own work life. Just getting over being burned out, taking it slowly, with a side of being very very sad.
Oh Silke, I'm so sorry. I don't think you need to feel bad about that. You need to do what's right for you, always. And that burden doesn't rest entirely on your shoulders - there's a whole bunch of people and organisations that need to stand up and work out how to fix this.
Well, I tried. It was great for the better part of 15 years or so, and I tried a ton of different things to make it work, but in the end, it wasn't work you could just leave behind, it was always with me, every night, every "holiday", I mean, I worked through every spell of having or being locked down with covid, any sickness, right after surgery - no breaks, ever. Constant anxiety because I didn't manage to do everything, letting people down, the onslaught of terrible publicity emails that offer interviews but don't provide a beep of the music (and artists pay thousands for a service that doesn't promise any results but expects a bunch of people to work for free)
Keep up the good fight Chris, us folks here will keep reading your thoughts
Thanks Grant - appreciate that!
An interesting and thought provoking read. And ironically at the bottom of this page, outside of Chris' control, three clickbait articles listed. BAH.
Thanks Maryanne - where and how did you see this clickbait? On the Substack app?
Oh I am so sorry I just realised it isn't! I am so indoctrinated into seeing irrelevant listings at the bottom of a page, if I see listings I assume they are. Having an existential moment now.
I get it :)
But the three pieces listed from your body of work are 1. a woman is groped at Woodstock from 2021, the iMax building from 2021, and finally review of Coldplay. So, Substack is still going for the most eyeball grabbing stuff not the most recent.
Ahhh yep you're being fed my most-read pieces. Someone linked to that Woodstock story back in like 2022 and it got like 40,000 views. Not sure who or why. And the iMax piece is what kicked all of this off! I cover almost exclusively music and the industry now :)
Ah, going viral! Well I found you through the Bulletin and shall keep an eye out from now on as I absolutely agree, not enough entertainment journalism. As for theatre reviews, pretty much gone. I work for Theatreview online and if it wasn't for that mahi, most productions would have no online presence they didn't generate for themselves. What a world we live in...