Tag: Music Blogging

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Editorials News Writing Tips

Do you know who reads your music blog?

Music Journalism, Music Blogs, Music Writing, Journalism, Blogging,

Building and retaining your audience begins with understanding who is clicking on your site.

Search the name of virtually any artist or group on social media, and you are bound to find people discussing that act. Opinions on music are a dime a dozen, and when it comes to bands, everyone already knows their value is worth even less that. Young music writers around the globe cut corners on a daily basis to be among the first to cover the latest news about the biggest acts in their area of interest. It doesn’t matter if their site has few to no visitors or if much larger publications beat them to the punch, they want to ensure that their readers learn the latest breaking news directly from them.

But who is the audience for the average blog, and who visits websites for news before scrolling social media?

Music publications, especially those lacking funding, rarely build their audience through coverage of talent that is covered by every other zine, blog, or Twitter feed in the world. Music publications gain readers by delivering the stories no one else can. They earn trust through curating a profoundly entertaining and highly engaging conversation around music that they believe deserves recognition.

Covering everything that is popular in music will satisfy people, but it won’t captivate them. If you want people to continue coming back, you need to seek out the stories no one is telling about the musicians that everyone will want to know six months from now. Your job is to hook people with music made by others. There is a finite amount of people who read music sites, and the vast majority are using the same hook to lure readers. Why do that when you can stand out? Why offer what everyone else offers when you can be the alternative?

When you align yourself with artists on the rise, you align yourself with dreamers, and that is – in many ways – your audience. You want people who listen to music and dream of lives not yet lead. You want to provide the soundtrack to their next great escape, and you want to tell them why it’s going to change their lives before they even realize what is happening to them. You want to be a source of discovery, not regurgitation, which continually introduces new sounds and ideas into someone’s life. If you can accomplish one or both of those things, you can make a reader for life. Better yet, you’ll create an ambassador for your work that helps carry word of your writing to places you’ve yet to reach.

So, who reads music blogs? People just like you. People who think the radio is dead and the music they hear everyone else enjoying is stupid, dull, or just plain awful. Be yourself and readers will find you. Do what everyone else is doing, and they will pass you by in search of a more authentic voice.

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Business Advice Editorials Industry News News

How media sites inflate traffic stats and why it never works out

Sites raise money and gain access based on traffic, but the numbers can be deceiving.

The beginning of 2019 has been hard on writers and creatives at a number of the web’s most recognizable sites. Between recent cuts at Buzzfeed and Vice, not to mention a number of smaller publications, estimates show at least 2,000 people lost jobs in media over the past six weeks. Some analysts are referring to these losses as a ‘bloodbath,’ and many expect more downsizing announcements in the near future.

The explanations for the cuts run the gamut from restructuring to cost-cutting. Either way, traffic most likely played a role. Everything related to online media companies boils down to traffic, especially for businesses who rely on outside investors to keep their properties afloat.

To gauge traffic, most investors and industry analysts rely on ComScore, a company dedicated to measuring media online. Faking a score in their system is practically impossible, but some forward-thinking media conglomerates have found a way to game the service’s measurements, at least in the short term, to raise their value.

As Tim Pool explains in the video above, digital media companies adjust their traffic and engagement by acquiring clickbait-heavy platforms and folding that audience into their brand. Here’s an example of the kind of articles these sites generate, which you’ve probably seen promoted at the bottom of articles on numerous media sites:

Articles like these offer little information, but boost engagement by requiring numerous clicks to view their content in full.

Between the clicks and added traffic, media companies can boast big numbers for their community of sites without having to show the performance of individual publications. Big numbers attract big investors, and investments keep the lights on.

Believe it or not, there is nothing illegal about this approach to promotion. The numbers are legitimate. The deception lies in how sites describe what pulls in readers. Here’s an example:

Let’s say a media conglomerate buys a clickbait-heavy site to boost its numbers. The conglomerate may claim their audience turns to them for news and essays on culture when in reality their audience is driven by articles like, ’25 celebrities who had plastic surgery.’ The investors would need to sift through the data for all sites to determine whether or not the company is lying, which requires time and money most do not want to sacrifice.

Over time, however, the truth about most sites comes out. Whether through internal investigations or a drop in traffic that the conglomerate cannot explain away, investors and readers inevitably see through the deception of inflated numbers. Even if they don’t, a number of services have emerged in recent years that can separate real and fake engagement into easy to read reports that anyone can follow.

The cuts we are seeing in media right now are bound to continue unless this trend changes. The problem is that few, if any sites have found a way to generate a committed audience large enough to draw the investment capital needed to build a media empire through legitimate means. When Facebook boasts a potential audience in the billions, what incentives do investors or advertisers have to work with sites whose monthly audience lies in the hundreds of thousands, or even millions?

But there is a catch-22 to the entire affair that will inevitably need to be addressed. Facebook and similar social media platforms are the primary way people consume news and media, but those services rely on countless third-party publishers to create the content users click. Without investors and ad sales, those publishers will go under, which will leave social media giants to generate news and content on their own.

Something has to give. The only questions are, what will it be and when will it happen?

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Editorials News Writing Tips

A beginner’s guide to writing about music

The world needs people who can write about music with style and grace. You do not need to have the sharpest wit or the best economy of words, and you definitely do not have to know everything about every artist working today. As long as you have a perspective on the music you hear that can easily be expressed, not to mention a desire to share that perspective, then you more than qualify for the job. 

Writing about music is not glamorous. The likelihood of anyone making a career in music writing has always been slim, perhaps even less likely than becoming the next great musician, and the number of opportunities for full-time employment are shrinking more with each passing year. Most writers quit within the first five years if not sooner. Those who don’t either find success or develop the skills needed to convince themselves someone, anyone, gives a damn about what they have to say.

In fact, the only reason that anyone should even try writing about music is because the act itself interests them. If you’re curious about how your opinions will be received, or if you want to know if you have what it takes to grab a stranger’s attention, then writing about music is a good place to start. All financial shortcomings aside, you’ll rarely have more freedom or opportunity to explore the many colorful personalities that popular this planet than you do when writing about music. It’s a chance to explore life in the shoes of rock stars and nobodies alike, not to mention those of the people who support them. It’s an opportunity to see all the world has to offer and to understand the price of becoming more than what you are now. 

Best of all, it’s free (at least at first).

If you’ve made it this far and you still want to write, then congratulations. You may actually have what it takes to do something worthwhile in music writing. The only way to know for sure is to create. 

In the simplest terms, that’s all you need to get started. You need to create. Find something you’re passionate about — a song, an artist, an album, a tour, a concert, a label, a trend — and get every thought you have about that thing out of your head and onto the page. It doesn’t have to be pretty or witty or even coherent. Just get your thoughts in front of you and take stock of what you have to offer. Review your words, correct your grammar, and slowly begin piecing everything together in a way that forms a clear thought.

Writing, in this instance, is not unlike sculpting something out of stone or clay. Your thoughts are the giant block you start with, and with each edit you begin to form something meaningful. You may make mistakes, but everyone does. What matters is how you respond to mistakes, and whether or not you allow yourself to give in to that little voice in the back of your mind that claims you’ll never create something as great as the vision you have in your head.

And that, my friends, is the challenge all young and veteran writers must face each day. We all must decide to ignore the voice telling us our work isn’t worthwhile and press on, writing more and continuously searching for exciting stories we wish to tell. The kicker is that no one vanquishes that voice for good. It will be there each and every morning, regardless of what happened the day before. It is the greatest foe of any writer, and the only person capable of making it stop — even for a moment – is the writer.

If you can do all that, if you can write about what interests you and ignore the negative voice in your head, then you can worry about the basics of navigating the music business. That, surprisingly, is the easy part of this whole process.

Step 1: Start a blog. Don’t worry about buying a URL or setting up a visually engaging site. Find somewhere you can post your work and make it your own. Tumblr, for example, is a great free option.

Step 2: Write often. Reviews, stories, etc. Write whatever you want, find where your interests lie, and then write about them further still. 

Step 3: Once you have a body of work there are three ways to move forward. You can either begin pitching content ideas to Editors, launch a proper blog of your own, or join forces with other young writers. Figure out what works best for you and chase it with all you have in you.

Step 4: Make friends with publicists, labels, and bands. Email links to the talent you cover, as well as their representatives. Pitch coverage ideas by sharing proof of similar work you have done in the past. Ask people what they need or want from the media and help them achieve it (without being dishonest in your work). Make yourself known as a person who delivers, and work will soon follow.

Step 5: Promote your work. Share it on social media, yes, but don’t stop with a single post. Look for forums, subreddits, and other areas where your content may be appreciated. Search the subject of your work online and send links to your content to other people expressing interest in that same subject. Be aggressive, but also be kind. Don’t force your work on the world.

Step 6. Write more. Network more.

Step 7: Repeat.

The hardest part of writing about music is getting started. If you can do that, which you can, progress and recognition will soon follow. 

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News

We need more (quality) music journalism

Music journalism matters more now than ever before. At no other point in history has there been as many artists vying for attention or as much music being released on a daily basis. The need for someone to make sense of it all, to separate the good and the bad through critical assessment and keep fans informed with the latest developments, has never been greater. 

Some people argue otherwise. Digital pundits will tell you that social media has replaced the need for music blogs and publications because nowadays everyone has the ability to connect with their favorite artists directly through one or many platforms. You can see tour dates on Facebook, understand personalities through Twitter, and see inside an artist’s day-to-day life via Instagram. You can also interact with talent in real time thanks to broadcasting tools made available on all three of the aforementioned platforms.

That argument makes sense for people who only really care about the activities of a few artists, but what about everyone else? Between updates from friends and family, not to mention surviving and thriving in the real world, who has time to keep up with everything that every artist or group they enjoy is doing on a daily — or even weekly — basis? And what about discovering new talent?

Music journalism matters. A great article can create new fans, develop careers, or — in cases such as the recent revelations about R. Kelly — destroy the fandom surrounding problematic talent.  Music journalists, as well as bloggers, vloggers, newsletter authors, and zine makers (they do exist) possess the ability to shape the future of the industry. The methods of getting their stories and opinions out has evolved, but their purpose has not. Music writers are the gatekeepers to the future of entertainment, and they exist to not only assist in shaping pop culture, but to keep it in check as well. 

The power wielded by music writers has been weakened in recent years due to an influx of amateurs scheming to make career for themselves rather than the talent they love because the barrier to entry is virtually non-existent, but that trend won’t last forever. Between smart speakers in homes and the rise in popularity of streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music, people are spending more and more time with music. The desire to find the next song or album or talent that will change lives has rarely, if ever, been as prevalent in society as it is at this very moment. Anyone unable to help is or will soon be ignored. Audiences know inauthenticity when they encounter it.

What the world needs now is three-fold. The world needs people knowledgable of music who can express their thoughts and opinions in an interesting way, as well as people who can tell an engaging fact-based story about musicians. The world also needs people who can do those things through the most popular platforms of our time. Blogging is not and should not be the only approach those who wish to discuss and dissect music take to reach an audience. In today’s world, a story is only as great as the audience it is able to reach, which means creators need to be willing to take risks. Writers will always be able to write, but that might not be the best way to help artists. Instead, writers should take their work and turn it into videos, or tweets, or podcasts. Maybe they need to do all three of those, in addition to posting a written version. 

There are hundreds of millions of people around the world paying for monthly music streaming service subscriptions, as well as hundreds of millions more accessing similar services for free. Not all of them are interested in deepening their understand of music, but most are, and many do not know where to turn for original content. With hard work and flexibility, a new generation of music journalists could easily make a name for themselves in an increasingly crowded marketplace. The only way to do that, however, is through well-written, fact-based content. Anything else is just fluff, and the world has enough of that.

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News

Advice All Music Writers Should Follow in 2019

The music business in 2019 would be virtually unrecognizable to the music business of 2000. In less than two decades the industry we all love has undergone an extensive transformation that has emphasized access rather than ownership, created a glut of festivals, and brought into question the necessity of quote/unquote ‘music journalists.’ When algorithms can predict success better than even the most gifted ears, and everyone with an opinion can share their thoughts on social media do we have a need for full-time music writers?

The answer, as always, is yes. There may be more people talking about music than ever before, as well as more way to access music, but that does not mean the quality of conversation around the art form is at its peak. As long as great artists are creating impossibly catchy songs that ultimately never receive the praise or support they deserve there is still work to be done on the part of music journalists. There is and will always be a need for people to amplify the voice of artists on the rise, as well as a need for experienced listeners to help those short on time make useful discoveries.

While there is a lot to be said for how music blogs and publications can better themselves in 2019, there is also quite a bit you should be taking it upon yourself to do to get ahead. What follows are three tips to keep in mind as we begin to navigate the uncertain months ahead. The future is always unpredictable, but there is a lot you can do right now to increase your chances of a better tomorrow. If you have any questions, email me: james@haulix.com.

Storytelling matters now more than ever

There was time not long ago when the vast majority of music blogs created just two pieces of content: Reviews and news. The reviews were written hurriedly by young critics trying to make their name by praising or trashing talent, while the news often amounted to little more than copy/pasted press releases tweaked just enough not to be outright plagiarism. Some of this content was good, but most was immediately disposable.

Some of those sites still exist today, but most have died due to an inability to grow their audience. If the content your creating is immediately disposable then the same can be said for your site. If, however, you can find a way to create unique content that no one else can offer then you may be able to set yourself apart.

To do this, we suggest telling more stories. Find an artist you believe in, regardless of popularity, and tell their story. Tell your story about telling their story. Tell the story of their fans and why they choose to care about this artist instead of the other million-plus in existence. Find an angle that interests you and shares it with the world. Take chances. Maybe what you uncover isn’t necessarily new or groundbreaking information, but as long as it is honest and well-written, it will entertain.

Maintain your archives, both public and private

Here’s a nightmare scenario most writers never consider: What happens to your content in the event a hacker attacks the site(s) where you contribute? What happens if the owner of that site suddenly loses interest in the publication and deletes it? What happens if for whatever reason your content disappears before you or anyone else thinks to save a copy elsewhere?

The answer is always the same: Your content is gone forever.

In 2019, there are no longer any acceptable excuses for failing to maintain a personal archive. Too many sites have gone under, and too many people have complained over social media about now permanently lost work for you to fall in line with those who the easily avoidable mistake of not keeping track of your work. After all, who else do you expect to do it? No one cares more about your career in writing than you, so you must be the one to look after and ensure its legacy.

In addition to saving your work offline, we also suggest you maintain a catalog of links to the currently active content you consider to be your ‘best’ work. Services like Contently make this easy and cost-effective. Again, there is no excuse for your archives being a mess. Get it together!

You need a website

Every time we create a post offering advice to individual professionals we make it a point to emphasize the need for a personal site. It doesn’t matter if you own a blog with a hundred contributors or you contribute to a hundred blogs, every single person trying to make it in the music business should have their website. The reasons why are as endless as your imagination, but the main reason is that you need a place where you and your work can be the focus of everyone’s attention. You need a place where your absolute best work is displayed, as well as a place where people can learn more about you and whether or not you are available for freelance work. A personal website can be anything you want it to be. Just make sure you have one.

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News

Who reads your music blog?

Music blogs are plentiful, but who reads them?

Search the name of virtually any artist or group on social media, and you are bound to find people discussing that act. Opinions on music are a dime a dozen, and when it comes to bands, everyone already knows their value is even less. Still, young music writers around the globe cut corners on a daily basis to be among the first to cover the latest news about the biggest acts in their area of interest. It doesn’t matter if their site has few to no visitors or if much larger publications beat them to the punch, they want to ensure that their readers learn the latest breaking news directly from them.

But who is the audience for the average blog, and who visits websites for news before scrolling social media?

Music publications, especially those lacking funding, rarely build their audience through coverage of talent that is covered by every other zine, blog, or Twitter feed in the world. Music publications gain readers by delivering the stories no one else can. They earn trust through curating a profoundly entertaining and highly engaging conversation around music that they believe deserves recognition.

Covering everything that is popular in music will satisfy people, but it won’t captivate them. If you want people to continue coming back, you need to seek out the stories no one is telling about the musicians that everyone will want to know six months from now. Your job is to hook people with music made by others. There is a finite amount of people who read music sites, and the vast majority are using the same hook to lure readers. Why do that when you can stand out? Why offer what everyone else offers when you can be the alternative?

When you align yourself with artists on the rise, you align yourself with dreamers, and that is – in many ways – your audience. You want people who listen to music and dream of lives not yet lead. You want to provide the soundtrack to their next great escape, and you want to tell them why it’s going to change their lives before they even realize what is happening to them. You want to be a source of discovery, not regurgitation, which continually introduces new sounds and ideas into someone’s life. If you can accomplish one or both of those things, you can make a reader for life. Better yet, you’ll create an ambassador for your work that helps carry word of your writing to places you’ve yet to reach.

So, who reads music blogs? People just like you. People who think the radio is dead and the music they hear everyone else enjoying is stupid, dull, or just plain awful. Be yourself and readers will find you. Do what everyone else is doing, and they will pass you by in search of a more authentic voice.

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News

Be your own archivist

Last month, as with many months previous, the world lost a great music blog. The name does not need to be repeated here because the site and everything it ever contributed to the scene it supported has already been scrubbed from the internet. The reason for this could be one or more of many things, from costs to a pure desire to be done with music blogging altogether, but regardless — what’s done is done, and it cannot be undone for any amount of money.

Websites, like anything else, are not infinite. All music blogs will eventually cease operations, and in time the people responsible for their hosting fees will inevitably choose to save a few bucks and delete their site for good. When that happens, all the site’s content will be erased, and everyone who contributed will lose any proof of their work having ever happened. The world will keep spinning, bloggers will keep blogging, and those who gave up their time to help build a community will have nothing to show for their work.

Instances like this happen all the time in music, as well as other areas of business. Contributors and employees place the burden of documenting and preserving their work on their employers only to realize the error of their ways after it is too late to make a change. Bands and artists face something similar. Many performers believe their dream of performing will never stop, so they never think to keep all the little things that serve as proof they put in the work, saw the world, or otherwise lived their life. When the bubble of popularity bursts — and it always does — those careless performers are left clinging to fading memories of moments now long gone. People don’t care because no one remembers what was done, nor is there lingering evidence it mattered.

Maybe you don’t care about remembering everything you did, but you should be concerned with your ability to prove your level of experience. This is why maintaining a personal archive of accomplishments and passion projects is so immensely important to your development as a professional. You have to be able to show your work, not to mention your talent, on a moment’s notice. Relying on someone or something else to track your activity is lazy and a foolish. Others may benefit from your work, but at the end of the day your work is and always will be most valuable to you. Don’t take it for granted.

There is a market for this kind of thing. Over the last several years some companies have begun promoting tools and services designed to preserve digital content for future use/reference. These businesses may be tremendous and well-intentioned, but they are still an outsider to your personal journey. Use them if you like, but you should also keep offline archives as well. Save each story or accomplishment that matters to your own device, as well as an external storage device, just so that it exists regardless of what happens online. The internet is unpredictable, as is all technology, so you need to go to great lengths to ensure the continued existence of your creative output.

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News

What to do when someone writes about your music

Gaining the attention of blogs and their readers is no easy feat, especially for unsigned talent with little-to-no history. You can write the best songs and have the most beautiful videos, but if you do not know how to network and pitch yourselves no one will ever learn about your talent. Once they do, however, there will only be a small window of time for you to capitalize on having won a moment of their attention, and this afternoon we’re going to learn what you should do in the hours after first receiving media attention.

1. Take time to celebrate, but realize there is still a lot left to accomplish.

I was never in a band that became popular enough to appear on sites like Absolutepunk or the like, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t spend many nights wishing one of the influential tastemakers of the scene mentioned my efforts in their publication. If your music/video/album gets covered, celebrate! You’ve taken yet another step towards your goal of a career in music, and while it’s certainly not enough to pay the bills, it does serve as a potent reminder other people in the world care about your art. Don’t take that for granted.

2. Tell everyone in the world about the news (and ask them to share it).

This one probably goes without saying, but the unwritten rule of exposure on music outlets is that the band featured will publicly share and/or promote the publication’s content once it’s live. Don’t just share the link to stories with fans, but ask them to share it as well, and don’t be afraid to request they comment on the post if time allows. Sites that see a bump in traffic or discussions from coverage of your band are more likely to cover your music again in the future because they believe there is a value to your content that other unsigned acts cannot provide. To show them that value you will need the help of your fans, and it’s up to you to sell them on sharing your work.

3. Engage the comments section, but don’t antagonize them.

If the reason you’re reading this post is that the first article that was ever written about your music just published you need to understand the response in the comments section may be very slow at first. As much as sites love to help expose young talent, people are not always quick to comment (especially in a positive sense) about something they are unfamiliar with. A great way to combat this is to actively participate in discussions taking place in the comments section of articles about your band. Answer questions for people, offer insight into your creative process and generally speaking do whatever you can to be a decent human being that is open to criticism. It’s not that difficult, but it can make a world of difference in how quickly people become engaged with your art.

4. Say “thank you” and/or support the publication that wrote about you.

You would not believe the power the phrases “please” and “thank you” have in the music industry. From labels to bands, publicists, and everyone in between you would be hard-pressed to find anyone who thinks they hear either of those phrases too often. People tend to do as they please and take what they want without giving much thought to the process behind it all, but you can stand out from the countless unsigned artists of the world by voicing your appreciation to the sites that give you space on their front page. It does not have to be anything formal, but it should be sincere. People remember those who are kind to them, and they’re far more likely to want to work with you again in the future as a result.

5. Don’t be afraid to begin teasing your next announcement.

Once people learn about your art it’s very likely they will want to know everything they can about your current efforts. Using social media and the comments sections on posts about your work, take a moment to tell people about everything else you have going on while your name is still fresh on their minds. They might not buy the album or see the tour you’re trying to promote, but at least they’ll know of it and will have the ability to share that information with others if such opportunities present themselves.

6. Offer to send the site/writer more music. 

Has the site that covered you written about your latest album? Have they been to a show? Did they see the last video? Make the most of the attention you’ve earned and offer to deliver more material as soon as possible. Any positive response your initial article receives will increase the likelihood of the site picking up more coverage in the future.

Want more industry advice? Follow Haulix and writer James Shotwell on Twitter!

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News

10 lessons from 10 years in music writing

Time flies when you’re chasing your dreams, and I’ve been running after mine for ten years as of this week. It was March of 2008 when I first launched a music blog of my own, and in the time since I have accomplished virtually everything I initially set out to achieve. This is both wonderful and terrifying, as I still have a lot of life and career left, but I try to look on the bright side of life whenever possible.

The last decade has provided countless learning opportunities. Some arose from natural growth, while others were caused by mistakes made on my part. Through it all, I tried my best to remain humble, calm, and open-minded to the possibility that I had no idea what I was doing (because I didn’t). That decision made all the difference, and as I look toward the future, I’m hoping I can apply the lessons learned from the last ten years in my everyday life. You can do the same if you so desire. Here is the list:

1. Don’t be a dick (aka the golden rule)

2. Grammar matters (kind of)

3. Everybody talks

4. Networking will get you everywhere

5. Always follow-up

6. Your peers are watching

7. No job lasts forever. Change is the only constant.

8. If you’re in it for the money, you won’t be around long

9. Write every day, especially when you don’t feel like it. Even the best writers fight resistance on a daily basis

10. Leaking album or tour information is not the same as breaking news.

I could go on, but if you can follow these rules, you will go far.

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News

What happens when you steal someone’s work?

We live in the age of content overload. It is impossible for most people to keep up with a single feed, let alone multiple accounts across numerous platforms. Add to this the thousands of websites publishing tens of thousands of articles, each vying for the almighty click, and it’s no wonder people in 2018 would still believe people might not notice plagiarism. After all, nobody has time for everything.

Professionals never plagiarize. Professionals believe their purpose is to create, so they would never think to copy the work of another because it could never be a fitting representation of their own creativity.

The amateur, however, lacks this mindset. The amateur wants to create and impress at the same. They take on more than they can handle and refuse to disappoint. They mean well but lack the ability to follow through on their commitments because they have not yet developed the skills needed to do so. They also haven’t been able to realize and/or admit this to themselves.

Here’s the reality of plagiarism in music writing in 2018…

Every music publicist worth working with has become a master of Google alerts and traditional online research. There is not a single post about their clients they cannot find because proving they got coverage for their client is crucial to their continued success. In short, they see everything.

When a new post appears that resembles or outright steals from another post, that publicist then contacts the author of the original post, as well as their editor. Together, those three decide how they wish to proceed.

There are three ways these situations tend to be handled:

1. No one does anything and the plagiarized post remains up.

2. The editor of the offending site is contacted and made aware of the situation, thus transferring the responsibility of taking action to them and their site.

3. The alleged plagiarizer is contacted directly, often by the publicist who discovered the similarities or the editor of the site whose content was stolen, demanding answers

Of these options, the second method of response tends to be the most beneficial. Once the editor of the offending site is made aware of the problem they typically remove the plagiarized post and confront their writer. More often than not, the offending writer is then removed from the site’s contributor pool.

…But the fallout does not end there.

The music industry is small, and the music journalism community is even smaller. It is not a lie to say everyone knows everyone, even if they don’t know them on a personal level. As soon as plagiarism allegation arise the offender – otherwise known as the plagiarizer – may find it difficult to continue pursuing their work in music writing. After all, what site would want to work with someone who steals other writers’ work? What publicist or label or artist would want someone incapable of creating original content to cover their latest release?

Many who plagiarize claim they did so not out of a desire to mislead, but rather to make their deadlines and otherwise please those who demand they produce content. While this reasoning is understandable to an extent it does not make stealing okay or otherwise acceptable. It is far more professional to admit you are incapable of meeting a deadline or otherwise finishing something you were assigned than it is to lie about how you completed the work. Lies will get you nowhere in the business. Just don’t it.

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