The web runneth over with sites dedicated with music news and music industry debate, but if you're an avid reader, then you know that there is often conflicting information to be found. How do you know when to take a music website at face value and when to take it with a grain of salt? Find out how to become a smart music news consumer and evaluate music industry related news and advice from websites (including this one!) with a critical eye.
What's The Story - The News or The Writer?
In the music business, there are people who successfully meld self promotion and delivering useful, reliable information. They are few and far between. There are many more people who use the guise of being a source of music news or music career guidance as a conduit for their own self promotion. You can usually spot them making extreme statements based on flimsy evidence, trying to provoke a reaction or in every comment section on the web, picking fights - just because.
Self promotion and good information can coexist, but if you think a writer is most concered about an ego boost, get your grains of salt ready.
Are They Trying to Sell You Something?
Many legitimate music industry experts sell their coaching/advising services through their websites. That makes sense. However, some people pen articles making impassioned declarations about the future of the music industry and what every musician must do to survive - and it just so happens that their prescription for musicians involves using a product/service in which they have a financial interest. Funny, that. Be wary of people trying to convince you that buying their product is going to be your ticket to the big time in the music biz, even if their argument is presented as an article rather than a sales pitch.
Do They Claim to Have All The Answers?
Anyone who tells you that they have a foolproof plan for you to make in the music industry or that their way is the only way things get done in music business is lying. Period. They may be too arrogant to know they're lying or they may consciously be lying to you. Doesn't matter. Either way you slice it, it's just not true. If they don't allow for other opinions, then you can construe that they are uncomfortable standing behind their ideas and justifying them. If they aren't comfortable in their knowledge, why should you be?
Are They Really Saying Anything?
Are you coming across statements that are big, but empty? Take something like, "music is no longer a series of notes that reverberates in our ears. It is now the heartbeat of our existence. We must always remember that as we approach the modern music consumer." I just made that up. It means absolutely nothing. Yet it's the kind of statement that tends to gain a lot of traction on the web. If you can't restate it and explain what it means to you in your music career, it's not that useful. That doesn't make it harmful, but avoid getting so bogged down in that kind of stuff that you don't end up taking any real action.
Make Up Your Own Mind
There are tons of great resources online for music news and music industry advice. Use these resources to build up your overall understanding of how the industry works and the nature of current industry debates. To get the most out of music sites, however, read everything with a critical eye and apply the things that make the most sense to your music career. You're likely to find your best plan contains a little bit from columns A, B and C, and you can only benefit from seeing things from as many perspectives as possible. But remember, in the end, your own best plan for making in music is likely to come from you.
