The Pop Corporation

Ed Sheeran has said that he doesn’t see the point in music critics. You might think that this is going to provoke some kind of butt-hurt response from us, given that this is a place for music criticism.

Well, largely, there’s a point to this notion, given that people have Spotify and YouTube now, so if they hear about a new release from one of their favourite bands, they can go right ahead and listen to it at the same time as a critic can. Once upon a time, critics used to get releases before anyone else, so they could give everyone the heads-up before anyone had actually heard the thing.

In Rolling Stone, he said: “Why do you need to read a review? Listen to it. It’s freely available! Make up your own mind. I would never read an album review and go, ‘I’m not gonna listen to that now.’”

When you have writers who make a name for themselves by being dreadful negs about everything, it’s difficult to disagree with Sheeran’s notion. However, that doesn’t paint the truest of pictures does it? And besides, ‘criticism’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘negative’. What it should mean is that someone’s listened to a body of work and applied critical thinking to it, both good and bad. Fawning praise can be ‘criticism’.

One of the best things about critical thinking in music writing is that it can frame a musician’s work in a different way, enabling the reader to think differently about what they’ve heard. A good writer can make you reconsider your thoughts about a band or artist. You thought they sucked, and then all of a sudden, it’s framed differently in your head and you start appreciating what you’re listening to anew.

Music criticism is a different discipline to writing a hit song, so it’s kinda weird that they’re seen as bedfellows at all, even though they’re so closely linked. You can be a fan of writing without being a fan of the thing they’re writing about.

However, the trick missed here is what good music criticism and writing actually serves. Readers young and old can learn about music history through a piece, and maybe a little theory or back story, enabling a richer listening experience, or at least, something briefly interesting for the duration of reading it and it’s back to your Fruit Corner on your lunch break.

Another thing that Sheeran hasn’t mentioned is that – at least on these pages at least – is that music critics can dedicate as much time to those bands and musicians being criminally ignored or just starting out. We’ve received many very lovely messages from musicians with new releases, thanking us for giving them some exposure while the bigger publications focus on the already famous.

And maybe that’s the point? What’s the use in music criticism when it only focuses on bands you’ve listened to death and already aware of their latest LP? Maybe the broader point is ‘what’s the point in writing criticism about Ed Sheeran?‘ That’s not to say his music isn’t worthy or anything like that – it’s more a case that, when Ed Sheeran releases a new LP, it’ll get listened to by fans and radio stations either way, regardless of what a music journalist thinks. Right?

It’s like critics who focus solely on U2, Coldplay, Beyonce, Foo Fighters, Fleetwood Mac, or whoever – sure, there’s brilliant deep-dives and thorough, revealing interviews to be had – they’re fun and all that good stuff – but when you get to a certain level, the only interesting ugliness you ever see feels PR approved. As interesting as that can still be, music fans tend to rabidly want more things to listen to, because journalistic and audio algorithms can see us getting trapped into familiar habits and, you have to wonder if the great digital expanse and endless choice has frozen a lot of, say Bruce Springsteen fans, into only listening to Bruce Springsteen and other classic and related rock.

So, what’s the point in music criticism? Well, if the critic at all cares about music, the listening experience, the culture and everything else, music criticism is at it’s most valuable when it’s sharing something you haven’t heard before, or helping you to reframe your habits. If crappy music editors will only let you write yet another hagiographic piece on David Bowie, then maybe you should also consider writing throwaway bits for your personal blog to reengage yourself with new things, your own writing and aiming things at a more niche audience who is equally as nerdy as you are?

Music criticism – it probably matters exactly as much as your average Ed Sheeran LP, and what that means is for you to work out.