friends, i am mailing and dropping off vinyls the next couple of days.  and as a capstone, i thought i might share some thoughts on why consuming longform art is important.  a bit long winded on this one, maybe in homage or protest, but it seems timely.

a lot of you might already know this, but yesterday i learned that Pitchfork sold to GQ magazine, supposedly laying off most of their content writers and suspending the music review portion of the publication.  there is an interesting op article in the Times about the merger that substitutes the divisive hype Pitchfork occupies for an encompassing, perhaps even definitive perspective of the review site as an encyclopedia of music.  Pitchfork, in publishing diverse reviews of diverse music from a diverse team, exists as an encyclopedia of contemporary music, and as such, an alternative to the algorithm.  it is a textbook of genre and, most importantly for my point, a journalistic alternative to the Spotify playlist.  

we all know at this point why smartphones are bad for us, i won’t linger, however i want to highlight what i find most poignant in this merger, if not only the ironic collapse of an encyclopedic journal into a legacy men’s magazine: it is the hyper personalization of the art world that relies on subhuman interaction.  while Spotify wrapped is a blast and most certainly has usefulness, this sort of gateway of art consumption collapses a much broader world of diversity into the subjective, fed back to its users.  and while tantalizing, it has some mode of isolationism to it, and does not seem to account for the network of being that we are, collectively and individually.  i am pieces patched together of Erin’s love for Kathleen Murray, Russ’ love for the National, Stu’s love for Turnover, Leeland’s love for Radiohead, my dad’s love for Floating Points, John’s love of Kanye, Grace’s love of LDR, Stephen’s love of Leith Ross, Adrian’s love for Natalia LaFourcade, the Kindred bathroom’s recapitulation of Dopesmoker, Hap’s intro to LCD Soundsystem that has me convinced of the value of the unremembered 80s, Will’s rec of Music for Airports, Lloyd’s rec of Chat Pile, the OKContemprary’s install of a JJJJJerome Ellis score, a shared love of Nothing Is Sound with the Hiroshiges, and a vast array of reviews/articles read from Pitchfork’s brilliant, at times snarky, writing staff.  i want desperately to review the influence of my friends, not that of an AI’s interpretation of me.  

emotional toll aside, platforms like Spotify can result in the depreciation of the art world due to subnetworks of faux relationships.  again, while immensely useful, streaming services are not free of fault in regards to the collapse of sites like Pitchfork and (keep reading) Bandcamp due to user convenience.  whether it be music, news, or friends, social media has the illusory effect of elevating autonomy while also subduing it through the suggestion of relationship between things and people, rather like a parent might for a child, albeit without consent, rather like a dictator might for the proletariat.  historically, in regards to hyper-object/subject-ivity, purveyors of the collapse or eradication of diverse journalism and art are almost always power seekers, and, as we look forward, these mergers can be omens of fascist sentiment.   let’s hope that GQ leaves the Pitchfork archive’s unscathed.

rest assured, i am not here to call smartphones or social media fascist (lord knows there is enough nonsense on the dark web to self-justify unhelpful paranoia), but i do want to acknowledge the effect these things have on the arts.  journalism suffered a large hit in 2023 due to social media prevalence.  likewise, the online distribution platform Bandcamp, a haven for independent musicians, was sold a few months ago to Songtradr, a music licensing firm that sells sound bites of music to, largely, advertising firms.  Songtradr, of course, laid off the majority of the content creation staff and issued some vague statement of financial justification.  the sin, again like Pitchfork, being the justified reduction of the diversity of human voices in favor of the presumed inevitable: big business will buy everything and art programs in schools will die.  all the while, Spotify is shrinking its artists’ profit share to egregiously minute proportions, putting money in the pockets of executives while boasting a “for the artist” aesthetic.  

ok. so Pitchfork and Bandcamp are all but gone and Spotify sucks and TikTok makes us anxious and not everyone can buy a fucking turntable, we get it, but what do we do?  well, as you might guess, i have a some ideas, and i’ll share them with you, i hope that’s alright:

in 2024…
1.  buy 1 piece of music, preferably from an artist’s website or live concert, Bandcamp, or a record store.  how we spend is very powerful, and direct spending is almost always the best, rather than third parties like iTunes, Amazon, or Spotify.
2.  read a few proper articles about the art world, whatever your preference, from a publication such as the NY Times, Pitchfork, NPR, or a journal steeped in the arts.  the clicks on these articles are tracked, just like social media is tracked, and it does have a positive effect on keeping these publications alive.
3.  share your interests with a handful of close friends directly, in person or via direct communication such as text, email, or dm.  too often are thoughts and ideas reduced and dismissed as “everyone has a right to their opinion.”  yes, we know, but that does not inherently make you a snob, or wrong, or elitist, or drama.  relationship and art are inseparable, share it with friends!
4.  lastly, maybe every month-ish at least, try listen to music not on a streaming service.  this can be radio, physical product, live music, online concerts, or intentional listening at a listening bar.  your attention is immensely valuable, and giving it over to other mediums can have not only a positive effect on keeping publications alive, but it can have a positive effect on you (see Neil Young’s bit on streaming quality).

i know this is quite the entreaty, and that there are many things contending for your time (the least of which are my emails).  but, to be honest, you are all already supporters of the arts, and i take that very seriously, and so you are the exact audience i want fired up about these things.

the responsorial will arrive on your doorstep this week, and i am glad for the timing.  while the album will be on Spotify, and i made an Instagram to promote music, and i recanted my analog only ethos (originally these updates were going to be physically addressed and mailed to everyone), i think using these technologies intentionally are perhaps that much more effective in shifting the zeitgeist of media consumption.  whatever the medium, consume longform, with friends and with intention.  thanks for reading, and for your consideration, respect, and support of all things culture.

cheers friends,
david

here is an expanded list of the links i used:
-jjjjjerome ellis’ website
-bandcamp
-vinyl junkies online store
-nytimes arts section
-pitchfork review section
-npr music section
-jazz 88.3 website
-fivespace discogs store
-casbah website
-tiny desk series
-longplay hifi website