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Music Critic Promises to Tweet 1,000 Record Reviews

by Leila Brillson on June 19, 2009 at 07:35 AM


"All that a music review does now is reinforce an opinion somebody already has," music writer Christopher Weingarten said at the 140 Character Conference, an event in New York that addressed Twitter's effect on music and culture. He went on to say, "If it doesn't fit into 140 characters, it's not worth saying." Weingarten has written for some big-time musical publications, like Rolling Stone, The Village Voice and Fader, but according to him, this time next year, he'll be looking for a new job.

The reason, says the glib writer-now-tweeter, is crowd-sourcing, Web 2.0, and the abundance of blogs. Combined, those factors have made music so accessible that critics are racing to keep up with their audience. Additionally, he points out, writers and publications are focusing more and more on one genre (a dedicated rap blog, for instance).

Weingarten is, in his words, trying to bring back the "why" in record reviews -- in 140 characters. Instead of just describing what he is listening to, he's explaining why he is listening to it (all via his Twitter account, of course). Example reviews read,

Jonas Brothers/Lines, Vines and Trying Times: A rasp, a cute FM-rock toe-dip, subliminal swears, there will be life after Disney. #6.5, #406

Marilyn Manson/The High End Of Low: Eclectic, I'm-gonna-devour-you-oh-yeah-the-world-is-ending love jams. #7.5, 346

Both are rather poetic for single tweets. Weingarten promises to post 1,000 reviews to his Twitter project "1000TimesYes" by the end of the year, which seems probable because he is already in the 400s.

Weingarten suggests that we use Twitter to write substantially about records rather than about mere trends, keeping our minds (and ears) open to more than just the popular. But, as he says, don't expect to be paid for it. [From: TheLMagazine.com]

Tags: music, reviews, top, twitter, web 2.0, Web2.0

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