Where Truth Went to Die: The Slow Death of Music Journalism in the Age of Engagement Farming

From Editorial Clarity to Algorithmic Clutter There was a time when music journalism wasn’t afraid to cut close to the bone. Writers with a spine wrote not to appease or pacify but to document, dissect and call out the industry’s rot before it spread. Music reviews weren’t boxed into metrics of virality or aesthetic cohesion, and editorials were weapons, not just web content formatted for SEO. That time, tragically, has passed. With the shift in how media is monetised and consumed, the motivations behind music journalism have been warped beyond recognition. Now, editorial spaces are littered with empty headlines, pseudo-progressive echo chambers, and gossip regurgitated through curated grids for maximum engagement. The problem is systemic. Music journalism hasn’t evolved, it’s eroded. In a desperate scramble to survive in a content economy, even the loudest voices have been muffled. We are left with whispers where there once were calls to arms. Substance is diluted to appease ad buyers and algorithms alike. Outrage becomes a tool not of activism but of reach, and if a headline can’t be condensed into a digestible meme, it rarely gets the time of day. There are still journalists daring to take risks, putting their reputations on […]

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