Back to Work, People.

The Twin Cities Daily Planet recently published an article called Too Much Information? Music Criticism in the Digital Age, and while the writer, Megan Wiley, did a fine job with the piece, just as countless other writers have done a fine job writing the exact same piece in every alt-weekly across the country for the past three to five years, I can't help thinking everyone would be much better off if editors would stop running this stuff.  Half the reason print journalism is in such dire straits is probably that print journalists seem to spend most of their time writing about how the internet is changing everything -- some say it's cheapening things, and some, like Wiley, eventually conclude that there's enough room for everyone. Regardless, it's a whole lot of nervous (and public) hand-wringing about business models, essentially, rather than the thoughtful, highly informed criticism they're supposed to be able to do better than their web-based competition. As they continue to write about things that would be better covered in an editorial staff meeting, people who actually want to read about music are finding different sources. And it's becoming more and more difficult to blame them.