Page 264 - 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. 264
glasbena kritika – nekoč in danes | music criticism – yesterday and today
of any kind is increasingly unwelcome at the digital-age paper.”12 Arts criti-
cism does not achieve the desired level of reader attention, which these days
is measured by the number of clicks. Newspapers are attempting to com-
pete with the new media by adapting to them and adopting their principles
of operation, but for print media this is a losing battle, since all they are do-
ing is renouncing their own characteristics as media. Ross points out that
this approach can also be problematic for print media from the business
point of view: no one is bothering to ask themselves whether the readers of
arts criticism, few in number though they may be, are not also the most loy-
al subscribers to printed newspapers, who expect to find criticism in their
daily paper.
A further point is that the internet has permitted a pseudo-democrati-
sation of criticism. These days anyone can write reviews and publish them
in their own blog. This means that the selection process that was once car-
ried out by newspapers when engaging critics is absent, with the result that
the reader is surrounded by a glut of opinions without any way of clearly
distinguishing their relevance. As a result, critical opinions are becoming
increasingly unimportant.
A similarly important role in the fate of arts criticism is played by capi-
tal, particularly in the period since the fall of the Iron Curtain. In the West-
ern world, the arts have become, first and foremost, business. More and
more often we are seeing that quality is no longer measured by aesthetic cri-
teria but by profitability, while popularity is slowly becoming the basic val-
ue criterion. “When hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested in a
celebrity artist such as Damien Hirst or Jeff Koons, it makes little difference
if a critic gives them a bad review,”13 says art critic John McDonald. Artists
with enough capital invested in them are simply not allowed to be anything
other than “excellent”, lest their “profitability” suffer. Serious criticism can
thus be unwelcome.
Tabloidisation is also present in this country. Even arts criticism has
adapted to an age in which almost every artist past the age of 35 is a “leg-
end,” when practically everyone is “iconic” and every singer who has ever
opened her mouth on an opera stage is an “opera diva.” The author of the
previously mentioned article about theatre reviews in Slovenia found that
12 Ross, “The Fate of the Critic in the Clickbait Age.”
13 John McDonald, “The Role of the Art Critic,” Raven, https://ravencontemporary
.wordpress.com/portfolio/the-role-of-the-art-critic/.
264
of any kind is increasingly unwelcome at the digital-age paper.”12 Arts criti-
cism does not achieve the desired level of reader attention, which these days
is measured by the number of clicks. Newspapers are attempting to com-
pete with the new media by adapting to them and adopting their principles
of operation, but for print media this is a losing battle, since all they are do-
ing is renouncing their own characteristics as media. Ross points out that
this approach can also be problematic for print media from the business
point of view: no one is bothering to ask themselves whether the readers of
arts criticism, few in number though they may be, are not also the most loy-
al subscribers to printed newspapers, who expect to find criticism in their
daily paper.
A further point is that the internet has permitted a pseudo-democrati-
sation of criticism. These days anyone can write reviews and publish them
in their own blog. This means that the selection process that was once car-
ried out by newspapers when engaging critics is absent, with the result that
the reader is surrounded by a glut of opinions without any way of clearly
distinguishing their relevance. As a result, critical opinions are becoming
increasingly unimportant.
A similarly important role in the fate of arts criticism is played by capi-
tal, particularly in the period since the fall of the Iron Curtain. In the West-
ern world, the arts have become, first and foremost, business. More and
more often we are seeing that quality is no longer measured by aesthetic cri-
teria but by profitability, while popularity is slowly becoming the basic val-
ue criterion. “When hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested in a
celebrity artist such as Damien Hirst or Jeff Koons, it makes little difference
if a critic gives them a bad review,”13 says art critic John McDonald. Artists
with enough capital invested in them are simply not allowed to be anything
other than “excellent”, lest their “profitability” suffer. Serious criticism can
thus be unwelcome.
Tabloidisation is also present in this country. Even arts criticism has
adapted to an age in which almost every artist past the age of 35 is a “leg-
end,” when practically everyone is “iconic” and every singer who has ever
opened her mouth on an opera stage is an “opera diva.” The author of the
previously mentioned article about theatre reviews in Slovenia found that
12 Ross, “The Fate of the Critic in the Clickbait Age.”
13 John McDonald, “The Role of the Art Critic,” Raven, https://ravencontemporary
.wordpress.com/portfolio/the-role-of-the-art-critic/.
264
