The one thing I dislike about the Twin Cities media is that it is too limited in it’s scope. Our music scene is so big and so varied, that placing it under one umbrella and branding it all as local really does it injustice, and really limits what a reader or listener is exposed to.

There’s just too much great material out there that you need more genre classifications and more specialty outlets so that listeners have an easier time discovering great music.

If you start getting reviewers to review less from one ubmrella and get them more genre specific I think you will see less bad reviews and more support for the scene. A reviewer who reviews ‘local’ music is going to have bad opinions about some great music because of taste. However, a review you reviews ‘local punk’ music is always going to have at least a few things decent to say about every punk band they review.

That’s about it for me.
Charles

Hey Skelly, thanks the mention. Hopefully change will come to the scene. For what it’s worth, I’ve received only positive vibes from Borangutan concerning the scene. Hopefully more local reviewers can follow your lead!

~Ari

All I can say is, if some of you up and coming musicians would consider HIRING an L.A. trained professional to do some of your creative stuff, you might be surprised at how the local media reacts. The Twin Cities has one of the most vibrant local music scenes in the country.

It deserves recognition and it deserves well trained professionals to document it and turn out creative entertainment pieces.

Yes, I AM tooting my own horn.
I’m very good at what I do!
(And I am only eleven hours South of you)

Jeff Haas
Deep Freeze Films
Mansfield TX
972-352-3645

I just want local media/bloggers to put some of the past “glory days” to bed and work on contributing to some new “glory days”. Their jobs depend on it. Plus, seriously – the Replacements and the “Minneapolis” sound happened 30 years ago. Let’s move on, shall we?

Also, I don’t think musicians should hinge hopes on media coverage. With the internet, they can create their own news and buzz, by investing in some good old fashioned pavement pounding via the web and their social networks (virtual street team). The playing field been leveled as the old brick-n-mortar music industry is in shambles.

Anyone heard of Ok-Go? Right.

And, I don’t think the media in NYC always gives glowing reviews of its native sons, but yet everyone is chatting up bands from Brooklyn. What do they have going for them? They are bands with publicity savvy for days for one. A couple of them gain buzz, turning attention to their scene, and the boat rises for all.

The Twin Cities scene could collaborate and create a similar phenomena – Pushing a few bands with chops out forward, help them create buzz to help raise the boats of the scene. It really is a PR campaign at a 101 level if a few leaders where on the supportive same page.

I don’t believe the music media sucks per se, rather it’s very niche into the style and category of music everyone of their readers expects. It’s easy to get blogs and websites all talking about the same up and coming band in a category of music very familiar to its audience. Even easier when they support each other and cross-promote when they discuss the same type of band. This makes it incredibly difficult to start up a discussion or review of a different sounding band. The sites become less diverse, the readers less interested in other genres in the scene and we are left with a very mono-culture boring handful of music media outlets.

I would like to see more varieties of music reviewed and talked about. Minnesota is incredibly diverse in its performance makeup, and yet all you read about on various local music media sites are the same types of artists over and over and over again. There are plenty of talented musicians in many different genres that deserve the respect and discussion from their local music sites, yet aren’t receiving any.

Just my 2¢.

@Skelly

People shouldn’t get so hung up on what City Pages or the Current likes. Yes, it is limited in scope. Yes, they pick some favorites. Yes, some people get on the bandwagon. But yes, that’s okay. If people want to discover a variety of music, they seek it out. Some people are not motivated to dig, so they trust the opinions of these easily accessible media outlets, who can’t cover every band. So if they can rise the profile of a token few, why are people defensive about that? Why not say “Hey, good for Solid Gold. They’ve been working hard for more than a decade toiling in the local scene without much traction until recently.”

Why are people haters? Or jealous?

Bands can’t live and die by City Pages or the Current. They need to make their own buzz. The internet has oodles of tools for which to do so.

Here are some. Zach Pentel, local SM expert and White Light Riots manager, wrote this article that was published on Mashable.

http://mashable.com/2010/01/04/social-media-tools-bands/

Get out there and make it happen. Don’t hinge your future on a small scope local hipster publication with very limited reach.

I think it really depends on what the mission is of each individual “music media”, and to be clear about it. The public in general unfortunately takes whatever is written as fact, so I think it’s necessary to tread carefully into the realms of opinion and critique/review. For an article to honestly be a critique or review, a non-biased (in regards to the band in question, not necessarily the genre) view is essential, otherwise it carries no valid weight to it.

This has been the problem with journalism for decades, so it’s not a Twin Cities-specific problem.

If a band/artist is lackluster (or worse), then that band needs to know. That’s part of the growth of an artist or group of artists.

If a band/artist is amazing, then spread the word about them, don’t snub them because they don’t fit in your world. As a writer of the music scene for whatever published work (zine, blog, radio, whatever), it’s not about YOU.

Personally, I’d rather have an honest (even brutal if it is to be) assessment than being snubbed for some friend of the editor who has a bedroom DJ “project”.

Too many bands to cover or give the time of day? Stop trying to cover every genre. Specialize, and then focus and coverage quality is attainable.

That or just let it all go. Music in general is going down the toilet anyway.

I feel Ari’s pain but I think he’s kinda missing the point. The truth is that 98% of the people in town never ever never ever read City Pages, Strib, music blogs or listen to the Current. If you really research it, that group has gotten so incredibly small, maybe NOBODY is cool enough to be in it any more. I know I’m not and I’m pretty fucking cool, at least my mom thinks so. So it’s a non issue. Some of the above writers are so right on, you have to ignore those critics, radio, retail and media people and take it straight to the people. IF YOU ARE truly great at what you do, you will reach them, if you aren’t reaching them, either you aren’t working hard enough or your music isn’t something they care strongly about. And I’m not talking about just your pals, just because your pals come see your band that doesn’t mean you’re good. But now more than ever artists need to ignore all these middlemen and realize that they are powerless, and the vast majority of people never listen to them or even know they exist. Just because they CALL themselves “alternative” doesn’t mean they ARE. City Pages is owned by a HUGE multinational corporation and has that same paper in many cities for 25 years. That’s not alternative. The Current is part of one of the biggest (non profit) corporations in the state and the DJ’s don’t even decide what they play and the program director was hired from out of town. Hm, not exactly pirate radio. These entities calling themselves “alternative” is like Castro calling himself “La Revolucion”!!! People who actually have money to BUY your music instead of steal it don’t read music blogs because they’re busy having JOBS and working and living. Unless you’re just out to impress a bunch of little hipster doofus student loan rebels who are going through their little 5 year music fan period then ignore that world and just get out there and play for the other 98%. Art isn’t democracy, none of us are owed anything. I’ve made a great living in music for many years doing everything from playing with Paul Westerberg to making a new age album for Target and I haven’t even cracked open a City Pages for 15 years, don’t subscribe to the Strib and I listen to my big fat Ipod, not the radio except the news.

Well put Kevin. Now read my blog (links above)

Although I have some friends that I would count as members of the Twin Cities music media, I would have to agree that it sucks. I first noticed this a seven or eight years ago when I was out in San Francisco. There was an incredible amount of coverage given to the local arts scene, music included. I think we do a pretty good job promoting the homegrown literary arts scene, thanks to the Loft, Intermedia Arts, MPR, KFAI, and others (disclosure: I’m part of that group). But most of the music media coverage I see here seems to be given to the national scene, or whoever is the hip artist of the month, then ignoring them the next month. This doesn’t help nurture people trying to create music and live in this town, which I think can be seen by the number of musicians constantly quitting and reforming bands, or the rumored curse of being on the cover of the City Pages.

I’ve seen my own husband completely worn down by the local music press, which seems to have blacklisted him. We do know that he’s been blacklisted from playing at Walker. No idea why, no explanation given. When he plays out of town, he gets great reviews and reactions. We can’t move–this is where we own a house, this is where our relatives are, and this is where I have a job that pays our health benefits. But my husband has less and less to do with music every month–it depresses him too much.

Hello,
First off- great topic! Second, I must preface this with a disclaimer: I’ve witnessed both sides as a musician and a member of local music media… I hope to inject a little something from both angles.

As a musican, I can’t b*tch about the amount of coverage we got per say (you can NEVER have enough though, lol)- we were lucky. However, there are a lot of other amazing bands/acts that could, who would be justified. As others above mentioned, we have a massive pool of talent here, and no one’s easily impressed, especially “in-print” critics/music journalists. Due to the fact that pretty much anyone can make a record now, coverage for local musicians has only gotten worse (regarding print media, social media is another story/saving grace!).

On the other side of the MSP Music tennis court, I worked as a music journalist for Twin Cities Music Monthly and PULSE. The reason I began writing was because I couldn’t understand why so many genious acts we played with were being ignored- acts like All The Pretty Horses, CXR, Electropolis, Revolver [aka Revolver Modelle, who at the time NO ONE wrote about] and many more.

I was incredibly frustrated watching the same mediocre bands get written about while several brilliant ones seemed to get the shaft. I got so p*ssed off about this that I scored a high-profile interview (thank you Dave Navarro) that I knew would ensure I’d get hired somewhere (in this case, Twin Cities Music Monthly) and used interviewing larger acts to ensure that I could review, interview and/or work in mentions of locals who weren’t getting the attention they deserved.

After a few years it became… To be perfectly honest, a bit much. On any given week, I had 16-30+ new demos/albums in que for review and I- as a freelancer who really 100% did it out of love- realistically couldn’t get to everything.

I did my best to keep track of local acts I found interesting. Even if I didn’t like a certain record, I’d still call the band up, cheerlead them a bit and encourage them to send me something down the line. Being in a band, I understood how important it was to let someone know you’d heard them, or at least received their package. That- in my mind- is just good manners, even if it is challenging to keep up with. But they don’t even do that anymore.

I think the bottom line is that most of these guys get overwhelmed, especially in this day and age. At the end of the day, they start feeling safer listening to what they already know. At the end of three years (and with minimal appreciation from bands), I’d started feeling that way myself, which is why I threw in the towel. I didn’t want to be one of those jaded, mean-spritied critics writing pissy reviews because I myself was burned out/disenchanted. ALso, I came to realize my hobby occupation was a conflict of interest; yes, I loved music and our scene that much, but I was writing about my competition!!!

In closing, I’d like to say something to each party:

TC PRINT MEDIA: I know things are difficult with papers going bankrupt as well as your pay and job descriptions changing, but don’t give up. Do something new! Stop playing it safe… Stop listening at home to bands you already KNOW and go out to see new bands. You get in most places free and you’ll bring a breath of fresh air to your publication that may get people re-interested in your paper again. Sell it to your editor like that, but keep in mind he’ll remind you that you still need to write about better known local or national acts to help attract a certain readership/advertising element.

BANDS: Know how to approach the media/print media. Understand that everything has changed: social media is key, but yes, still learn/know how to write a good old fashioned press release and send in a package that’s impressive/odd. Not as many people are sending hard copy anymore (from what I hear), so use that as an edge in the on-going battle for “in-print” attention. Also, make sure you do a FOLLOW UP phone call (or two if they’re spaced out a week), but don’t nag!!!

Last, the good news is that Skelly/Borangutan has picked up the torch and run way farther with it than I- or anyone else I’ve met on the media side- could hope to. Borangutan always seems to try to be fair and give voice to multiple genres/performers. I’ve been relieved to find and observe it in action and that someone- besides a band trying to get some action- has called attention to this issue.

The bottom line- whether it’s music or writing = SPREAD LOVE.
<3
Brooke

After being away from the Twin Cities for over 8 years and coming back to work on a film & music festival, I have been nothing but impressed. I’ve spent this time away from my home state living/working in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, which as we all know are full of talented musicians/artists. However, I will say that the Twin Cities music scene is a major force to be reckoned with and is most definitely comparable to these major cities. To be honest, what the Twin Cities music scene has that these other cities don’t — is that the market isn’t over-saturated the way I feel other bigger music scenes are. There’s so much opportunity here as a band/artist to really grow your fan base without competing against a million others that may sound/look like you.

This is just my humble opinion coming from someone who is re-discovering the city and it’s music scene again. I think the music scene here is GREAT!