I'm not sure where I stand on the state of music journalism. Sites like Pitchfork and Stereogum still cover a great deal of the "mainstream indie" press and mainstays like Brooklyn Vegan, Aquarium Drunkard or Bandcamp Daily are still providing great insight on a bit more of the fringes. Not to mention Nashville Scene coverage that always hits the spot for me (tho I could stand to have 10x more of it). I never really looked to sites like Rolling Stone or SPIN for my music coverage because they tend to cover music that isn't for me.

That said, there is a general feeling that music journalism is in a shake-y spot. Confidence in Pitchfork or Bandcamp sticking around for the long term is very low because of their parent companies. I understand that thinking but, for now, both seem to be chugging along just fine. Regardless, diversity is king when it comes to covering the arts! More is better! I read somewhere that 10,000 songs were uploaded to streaming per day. There's no shortage of music that can be covered if you wanna hear it.

Enter Hearing Things, a new independent music journalism destination. They've got a nice about page explaining where they come from and the ethos they are hoping to embrace but the gist it - a bunch of experienced music journalists started a new thing with the hopes of covering more things. The vibe is a bit like early Pitchfork days in terms of how casual it feels but all of the unnecessary snark seems to be replaced with wide-eyed optimism. Feels good!

I wish them luck and they're in my bookmarks for regular reading. Maybe you'll give them a spin too?