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The “Complex” Issues Faced By Music Editorial

Complex

It’s early 2023. (We know it’s 2024, but we believe in time travel. Just come along.)


It’s early 2023. You hear an album you can’t get out of your damn head, so you need to
scour the internet in search of people’s comments and thoughts about this masterpiece
you now hold as your own. Don’t worry, we’re just like you, you maniac! Luckily, you can
look forward to Pitchfork’s polarizing review of this project that is near and dear to your
heart. And if the project itself is polarizing, or misunderstood by.. ahem.. “certain
audiences”… you can be sure that NPR’s ‘Louder Than A Riot’ podcast will have meticulously researched takes on the…

Complex

Wait. ‘Louder Than A Riot’ has been discontinued???

It’s Fall 2023. (I’m sure it isn’t hard to follow what we’re doing now, but just in case. It’s a time thing!)

A new Hip-Hop album is hitting the airwaves HARD. You see takes all over Twitter, you
see it in everyone’s Instagram stories, and it’s #1 on every chart imaginable. All of the
massive publications have covered it in their own individual ways, but you want
something a bit more grounded and music-heavy. Then you remember your reliable
source for music reviews that actually review the music! You type in Okayplayer in your
browser’s search bar (because you’re in Incognito Mode and it isn’t in your history)

and…

Wait. Okayplayer is laying off their entire editorial staff???

It’s 2024. No really, it is.

In the span of two months, we’ve lost Pitchfork, Vice, Complex (as we know it) and other
music-based publications to the everchanging whims of corporations and their bottom
line. This is a devastating blow to responsible media, as nuanced music editorial and
writing will be crammed into a much smaller breadth of outlets, with a much smaller scope of view.

This, however, is not the end. We here at Deadbeat know that the death of one thing is the start of something new.

This shift can symbolize the end of music journalism being tethered to corporate greed,
idealism, and overall input when it should ALWAYS be about the art and the artists. That
is what Deadbeat is all about. Everything we do will stem from the creative space in
which music lives, using the soundscape as the roadmap to the future of music editorial, artist-centric releases, fandom, and all things in between.

So we ask you this: Will you let music journalism die? Or join us in building something real from the ground up?

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