The Career Profile of a Music Critic

By: Emily Eade

Date: Spring Semester 2021

Throughout my life, I knew I wanted my dream job to be something involving music. When I was twelve I saw the film ‘Almost Famous’ and that changed my whole life. From that day on I have wanted to be a music critic. I have wanted to follow in the footsteps of Lester Bangs, Cameron Crowe, Ben Fong-Torres, Legs McNeil, and many more music critics, but to follow in their footsteps one would have to know and understand everything about music. It’s not just an industry of cool, it’s much more than that. To be a music critic you have to see and feel the music in ways that others can not.

In the previous paragraph, I mentioned wanting to become a music critic. Let me tell you what music critics do. Music critics are people who love and understand everything about music and create a living out of it, by combining their love for music with their studies in journalism. Based on The Oxford Companion to Music, the definition of music criticism is, "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres.” This means that music critics interview musicians and bands and review their live performances, recorded albums, and music news for print or online media. These critics are just writers with a love for music and have an in-depth knowledge of music. Music critics may cover certain genres or in a broad range of music.

The following paragraph addresses some of the more prominent music critics over the years. Some music critics that have influenced me are Jane Scott, Cameron Crowe, Ben Fong-Torres, and Lester Bangs. Jane Scott was an influential music critic that worked locally at the Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Ohio. Scott was most known for being the first major known female rock critic, while also being the oldest in the field that was mostly dominated by men. She wrote about musicians and bands from legendary The Beatles to famous Cleveland local Michael Stanley. Scott was known for going to every rock concert in Cleveland whether it meant her being in a crowd with people her own age or in the middle of a mosh pit. Cameron Crowe is known for not only his films, but for being a 15-year-old writer for Rolling Stone Magazine. Ben Fong-Torres is a music critic most known for working for Rolling Stone Magazine. Torres interviewed hundreds of musicians like Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, George Harrison just to name a few legendary musicians that Torres had interviewed. Torres even wrote some books based on his experiences on tour with bands like the Eagles, Little Feat, The Doors, and the Grateful Dead. Lastly, Lester Bangs was a legendary rock critic that wrote for Creem magazine and Rolling Stone. Bangs was mostly known for his major influence in the rock music criticism scene, where he was one of the pioneers. Bangs wrote intimate accounts that always declared the unrealistic, but the beautiful idea that music can save our lives, while trying to tear down the high expectations that musicians are special people. It should be clear from the preceding examples that the field of music criticism is really quite eclectic.

It seems that throughout the years more and more people have wanted to be professional music critics, yet cannot get a job. These people all start off the same way with their love for music and writing, plus the yearning for a job to do exactly that. Although at the moment the job outlook for a music critic seems pretty good for what is known as a dying field, it's still pretty hard to become a professional music critic these days. The profession of a music critic is nearly impossible to find a full-time job in, where most music critic jobs are freelance and/or part-time. These critics start off with writing for a local magazine, or newspaper where they write about local bands and performances. As time goes on these music critics can advance and go on writing for bigger and better publications. Based on the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, within the span of ten years (2019- 2029), the job growth for all writers and authors is declining by -2%. That means the combination of writers and authors are having more losses than gains. This shows that the future of music critics could possibly be at stake. Based on Careers in Music, the average salary of a music critic is $52,600 a year, yet the salary range can be somewhere around $10,000 to $221,000 a year. This shows that the field itself can be quite profitable if one is able to gain access to it. The combination of good pay and moving in the same circles as rock stars and famous people, is a definite draw to the profession.

Most people start their journey to becoming a music critic by recognizing and combining their love and passion for music and writing. The start of being a music critic is not the easiest with most of the career being based on luck. Music critics start from the bottom working for local prints, broadcasts, blogs, or podcasts and make their way up to national prints, broadcasts, blogs, or podcasts. Some people want to do their music criticism in print for a newspaper or magazine. Some of the most popular national prints are Rolling Stone Magazine and Billboard Magazine. The most common job in this field are music critics working for a blog or podcast. Some of the most popular national blogs are Pitchfork and Consequence of Sound.

In the field of music criticism there is a diverse and intriguing world of music, the eccentric personalities, and the glamour makes for an intoxicating lifestyle and career choice. Music criticism is the love and passion of music and journalism combined together as a career. Throughout the years there have been many influential music critics that have blessed the music scene from the nationally known critic, Lester Bangs to locally known Cleveland critic, Jane Scott. Without these music critics, this career wouldn’t have survived or been a goal in the eyes of many people like myself. This career may be at stake, but it is still loved and followed by many people out there.