Page 156 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2024. Glasbena kritika – nekoč in danes ▪︎ Music Criticism – Yesterday and Today. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 7
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glasbena kritika – nekoč in danes | music criticism – yesterday and today
in print, yet moved quickly online and stopped operating as a print medi-
um many years ago.
Like in most other areas, the digital revolution has been a massive
game changer in the field of music criticism. It has affected what might be
called formal and informal music criticism, giving opportunity for the lat-
ter to arise in the first place. This section will look at the review practice of
an Irish online journal before presenting two examples of informal discus-
sions of a recital and a movie on social media which – according to my hy-
pothesis – are more and more likely to inform music listeners (and movie
watchers), to the detriment of formal reviews.
GoldenPlec is an Irish online music magazine that was founded by two
friends in 2002. It produces some interviews and feature articles and has oc-
casionally engaged in event curation, yet its bread and butter are album and
live reviews, covering popular, traditional and classical music performed
or released in Ireland or featuring Irish artists. Popular music receives the
most attention, while classical and traditional musics are covered less of-
ten. At the time of writing, recent live reviews cover artists such as Dep-
eche Mode, Peter Gabriel and Bruce Springsteen, as well as Mozart’s Così
fan tutte and the “New Music Dublin Festival” of contemporary art music.35
Recent album reviews focus exclusively on popular music.36 On their web-
pages the two editors explain GoldenPlec’s basic modus operandi as follows:
Team members do not receive a wage and everyone works voluntarily on
items they put themselves forward for. [...] GoldenPlec is currently main-
tained by a team of 5 deputy editors, 52 writers and 25 photographers.37
In “ca. 2018” the journal had ca. 250,000 monthly page views and
100,000 monthly visitors.38 Not only are the writers and other content pro-
viders not paid, there is also not really a budget – apart from occasional ad-
vertisements on the webpage, the journal generates virtually no income,
and GoldenPlec’s two founding editors developed the webpages themselves.
Most of the 52 writers cover popular music; events or albums are only re-
viewed if one of the writers expresses an interest in doing so – since no
wages are paid the editors cannot commission anyone to write a review.39
35 “Live Reviews,” GoldenPlec, https://www.goldenplec.com/live-reviews/.
36 “Album Reviews,” GoldenPlec, https://www.goldenplec.com/album-reviews/.
37 “About Us,” GoldenPlec, https://www.goldenplec.com/about-us/.
38 Ibid.
39 The information in this paragraph stems from an interview with Michael Lee, Gold-
enPlec’s classical editor, which was conducted in Dublin on 3 March 2023.
156
in print, yet moved quickly online and stopped operating as a print medi-
um many years ago.
Like in most other areas, the digital revolution has been a massive
game changer in the field of music criticism. It has affected what might be
called formal and informal music criticism, giving opportunity for the lat-
ter to arise in the first place. This section will look at the review practice of
an Irish online journal before presenting two examples of informal discus-
sions of a recital and a movie on social media which – according to my hy-
pothesis – are more and more likely to inform music listeners (and movie
watchers), to the detriment of formal reviews.
GoldenPlec is an Irish online music magazine that was founded by two
friends in 2002. It produces some interviews and feature articles and has oc-
casionally engaged in event curation, yet its bread and butter are album and
live reviews, covering popular, traditional and classical music performed
or released in Ireland or featuring Irish artists. Popular music receives the
most attention, while classical and traditional musics are covered less of-
ten. At the time of writing, recent live reviews cover artists such as Dep-
eche Mode, Peter Gabriel and Bruce Springsteen, as well as Mozart’s Così
fan tutte and the “New Music Dublin Festival” of contemporary art music.35
Recent album reviews focus exclusively on popular music.36 On their web-
pages the two editors explain GoldenPlec’s basic modus operandi as follows:
Team members do not receive a wage and everyone works voluntarily on
items they put themselves forward for. [...] GoldenPlec is currently main-
tained by a team of 5 deputy editors, 52 writers and 25 photographers.37
In “ca. 2018” the journal had ca. 250,000 monthly page views and
100,000 monthly visitors.38 Not only are the writers and other content pro-
viders not paid, there is also not really a budget – apart from occasional ad-
vertisements on the webpage, the journal generates virtually no income,
and GoldenPlec’s two founding editors developed the webpages themselves.
Most of the 52 writers cover popular music; events or albums are only re-
viewed if one of the writers expresses an interest in doing so – since no
wages are paid the editors cannot commission anyone to write a review.39
35 “Live Reviews,” GoldenPlec, https://www.goldenplec.com/live-reviews/.
36 “Album Reviews,” GoldenPlec, https://www.goldenplec.com/album-reviews/.
37 “About Us,” GoldenPlec, https://www.goldenplec.com/about-us/.
38 Ibid.
39 The information in this paragraph stems from an interview with Michael Lee, Gold-
enPlec’s classical editor, which was conducted in Dublin on 3 March 2023.
156
