Page 158 - 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
P. 158
glasbena kritika – nekoč in danes | music criticism – yesterday and today
we consider purchasing – knowing full well that some of them may be ficti-
tious, produced on behalf of the seller. As Tim Page has highlighted,
some of the record reviews on Amazon are startlingly erudite, but
they are in the minority. Still, for better and worse, there are few gate-
keepers, people to guide a curious reader toward writing that will be
both authoritative and as open-minded as possible.42
However, I only get to see feedback of this kind once I have opened
the page offering a product such as a recording, so I have already ex-
pressed a certain degree of interest in it. In blogs, vlogs and social media,
I encounter content without knowing beforehand what it will be. Here a
much broader range of people can be reached. As Elena Alessandri et al.
have pointed out,
[s]ome have suggested that while print media devote less and less space
to professional arts coverage, non-professional blogs and message
boards are luring the audience away from professional criticism.43
This is because “in the age of peer opinion sharing and quick communi-
cation channels it is not clear what place music critics’ judgements still hold
in the classical music market.”44 Christopher Dingle concurs with this and
goes even further when pointing out that
the advent of Facebook and, particularly, Twitter has taken criticism out
of its privileged domain as a specialist activity and enabled the general
public to give individual responses to performances based on personal
experience rather than perceived qualification.45
Already in 2008 Doug Freeman saw blogs and other webpages as an
ever-increasing danger for music criticism and its formal outlets:
Online sites and individual blogs are gaining increasing critical influ-
ence and force within the music industry, a reality perhaps most evi-
dent in the recent foldings of magazines like Harp, No Depression, Reso-
nance, and Bluegrass Now, which have either closed shop or switched to
42 Ibid.
43 Alessandri et al., “Consumer on Critique,” 2.
44 Elena Alessandri, Antonio Baldassarre and Victoria Jane Williamson, “The Critic’s
Voice: On the Role and Function of Criticism of Classical Music Recordings,” Fron-
tiers in Psychology 13 (2022): 1, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.925394.
45 Dingle and McHugh, “Stop the Press?” Of course, at the time of writing the influence
of Twitter (now known as “X”) may be waning, yet there are enough other platforms
competing with it, ready to take over its market share.
158
we consider purchasing – knowing full well that some of them may be ficti-
tious, produced on behalf of the seller. As Tim Page has highlighted,
some of the record reviews on Amazon are startlingly erudite, but
they are in the minority. Still, for better and worse, there are few gate-
keepers, people to guide a curious reader toward writing that will be
both authoritative and as open-minded as possible.42
However, I only get to see feedback of this kind once I have opened
the page offering a product such as a recording, so I have already ex-
pressed a certain degree of interest in it. In blogs, vlogs and social media,
I encounter content without knowing beforehand what it will be. Here a
much broader range of people can be reached. As Elena Alessandri et al.
have pointed out,
[s]ome have suggested that while print media devote less and less space
to professional arts coverage, non-professional blogs and message
boards are luring the audience away from professional criticism.43
This is because “in the age of peer opinion sharing and quick communi-
cation channels it is not clear what place music critics’ judgements still hold
in the classical music market.”44 Christopher Dingle concurs with this and
goes even further when pointing out that
the advent of Facebook and, particularly, Twitter has taken criticism out
of its privileged domain as a specialist activity and enabled the general
public to give individual responses to performances based on personal
experience rather than perceived qualification.45
Already in 2008 Doug Freeman saw blogs and other webpages as an
ever-increasing danger for music criticism and its formal outlets:
Online sites and individual blogs are gaining increasing critical influ-
ence and force within the music industry, a reality perhaps most evi-
dent in the recent foldings of magazines like Harp, No Depression, Reso-
nance, and Bluegrass Now, which have either closed shop or switched to
42 Ibid.
43 Alessandri et al., “Consumer on Critique,” 2.
44 Elena Alessandri, Antonio Baldassarre and Victoria Jane Williamson, “The Critic’s
Voice: On the Role and Function of Criticism of Classical Music Recordings,” Fron-
tiers in Psychology 13 (2022): 1, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.925394.
45 Dingle and McHugh, “Stop the Press?” Of course, at the time of writing the influence
of Twitter (now known as “X”) may be waning, yet there are enough other platforms
competing with it, ready to take over its market share.
158
