Elijah is a profound thinker and this conversations draws on his influential grime nights with Stormzy & Skepta, writing about music, DJing and to his Yellow Square instagram posts, which are a form of community-building journalism that act as prods and prompts that agitate thoughts into focus.
DiS021 | S2: The Future of the Music Press EP13
From his experience as a pirate radio DJ to running Butterz label & clubnights to being a musician and artist manager, Elijah considers yellow squares to be a former of journalism and the conversation explores the ecosystem that feeds into it and swirls around it.
In this conversation with Drowned in Sound founder Sean Adams, we discuss mediums and spaces, online platforms and club cultures. The conversation sways from curation as a form of journalism, the YouTube mindset, Twitter, 10 minute or 10 hour radio shows.
We also try to deconstruct the gatekeeper and the creative challenges facing people working in music, journalism and anything that involves publishing online. We also discuss the joy of Tumblr, yow electronic music in the UK clusters around its pirate radio, BBC media structures, and why not all clubs closing is a bad thing.
Quotes out of context:
“What’s the musical equivalent of a community note?”
“Some people say ‘I don’t make any money’. Well, what do you sell?”
“Imagine if a review is all the possibilities that the album lays down”
“It's one bit of work. With all these different mediums, but it’s just the language hasn't adjusted to, to serve that yet, you know what I'm saying?”
“…there's a hundred thousand, ten thousand histories happening at once. And that's like something that music journalism, the box, cannot fully capture.”
“People just think, ‘oh, that's their job to write about music.’ And it's like, no, their job is to sell advertising space wrapped around the coverage of music. That's what magazines have been historically. Right?”
Links
Please note, this conversation took place in November 2023.
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The joys of magazine-making with PROG Editor Jerry Ewing
What's it like to broadcast from a war zone?
Should music critics 'pivot to video'?
Why Music Journalism Matters
Is 'Traditional Media' Still Relevant for New Artists?
If $600 billion a year is being spent, why are so many publications closing?
Has music become a sub-genre of internet culture?
Shouldn't all music journalism be intersectional?
Lessons from two decades of crafting DIY Magazine
Why music needs to talk about the climate crisis
How will the music coverage of the future be funded?
Is music journalism's future in campaigning?
Introduction to S2: The Editor's Letter / Voice Note
DiS008: Live Music And Mental Health
DiS007: AI, AI, AI! UK Government's War on Copyrighted Music?! Beatles AI song! - Dr Hayleigh Bosher explains it all
DiS006: Women's Equality in Music & Glastonbury's pipeline with Vick Bain from The F List / ISM
DiS005: How music can embrace the power of AI with ChatGPT expert David Boyle
DiS004: Tune in, AI Out - the co-founders of Endel on music's potential futures
DiS003: TikTok, "Authenticity" and Music with Eleanor from Crystal Fighters
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