Resident Advisor stopped reviewing?

127

u/rockmus 6d ago

Resident advisor really lost its importance as a community hub, when they shut down the comment section instead of just moderating it a bit.

20

u/Effective-Pay200 6d ago

The scene needs proangelwings

6

u/Lopsided_Discount883 6d ago

🤣interview with them was so funny

-2

u/Lopsided_Discount883 6d ago

If they were in the social media age they would probs be an influencer

51

u/ImpressivePlace9274 6d ago

i agree the comment section was a massive loss and i wish they could've found a way to keep them open. But as someone that was p prolifically commenting in that era of the site, the last 2 years of them being open were fucking grim and frankly started to become unusable/not very fun any more. the whole reason they shut them down was because it basically became flooded with rank sexist/transphobic/racist comments and they just couldn't moderate it properly with a small team of people. defo agree they should've probs tried to invest money in moderation. But also get why they shut them 🤷‍♀️ regardless of that, stopping revewing music is fucking insane and so bad for the culture imo. i know a lot of people hate critics but its such an important part of music culture and is a huge loss (even if only a handful of people were reading them in the end or w/e).

35

u/rockmus 6d ago

I was also very active in there, and you were absolutely right that really bad comments started flourishing in there, but it also seemed like they never even tried to moderate it. There were also some legitimately interesting discussions like when they reviewed fiedel’s Berghain mix poorly, and they actually made an interesting argument for why it didn’t work as a mix-cd. That caused a lot of debate, and honestly that’s why we need criticism. It is to lift the music so that we can debate it. When you are shutting down the comment section, you are basically robbing the music from one of its most prominent features, which is reflection and debate.

…and I also miss really fun trolls and lol-comments like the one who wrote that “finally someone is getting there dream of being fisted to can’t get you out of my head live fulfilled” under the announcement of kylie Minogue playing in berghain. The idiocy of a comment section also has its beauty.

9

u/Ryder52 6d ago

Tbh moderation is difficult/often subjective and can be expensive if you're paying people to do it (which you generally should). I completely understand the business decision to save themselves the bother if it's causing problems. They probably also noticed people were increasingly using other platforms to discuss releases, like reddit/ig/rym/SoundCloud etc.

5

u/rockmus 6d ago

Well add that to the neverending list of business decisions that fucked up our community.

-1

u/Ryder52 5d ago

Easy to say when you're on the other side of it and not the one having to make those decisions

4

u/source_uncertainty 5d ago

I am still bitter about this and will be forever. The scene genuinely lost something good when the open dialog there was shut down.

21

u/Alan_Bumbaclartridge 6d ago

That was really a lesson in letting the internet be what it is, instead of what you want it to be.

RA were too blinkered by their own self importance, they wanted to be the arbiter of the “scene” instead of an invaluable forum for people to congregate and discuss it, they wanted to impress a version of the music onto itself that never fit and wasn’t real and it was summarily rejected by everyone who mattered.

Also I’m absolutely not anti woke or any of that shit but they had such a focus on identity politics and the people behind the music instead of just pushing exciting new music, that people finally gave up on them.

And I’m glad, they’re a ticket company who got too big for their boots, fuck them.

14

u/Waste-Following1128 6d ago

RA actually started out as a party pics site pre-social media. Basically lots of lots of photos of people clubbing. A bit of music coverage alongside it (progressive house) but the main focus right from the very start was "the scene". Laughable really

6

u/Alan_Bumbaclartridge 6d ago

Didn’t know that, that’s interesting. I only started using it in 2009 I guess

2

u/DJBigNickD 6d ago

Remember Don't Stay In ?!!

There were some less than flattering photos of me on there from over 20 years ago. Haha! Good times.

15

u/ImpressivePlace9274 6d ago

i agree with the first/last bit of what you said. but the identity politics thing is funny to me lol. i love reading about/finding new music from more diverse artist and hearing their stories-the issue imo was more that they just stopped reviewing the shit djs were acc playing and doing like crossover pop stuff(?) that had no bearing in dj culture. if tey still just reviewed sceney dance music that was doing/about to do the rounds in clubs across loads of different scenes id still be on there every day. i used to go on there to dig not read about the new robyn album lol

9

u/Alan_Bumbaclartridge 6d ago

Totally, I think it's great that they introduced people to a world beyond the US+Western Europe, but the focus shifted from the music, to the people. By all means over-index on music because it's from new communities/people/etc but the music still has to be the focus

3

u/_shaftpunk 6d ago

I see this opinion every time RA is brought up but I never read the comment section. The few times I scrolled down after a review it was always just a bunch of boneheaded takes or some misogynistic shit.

1

u/rockmus 6d ago

Well I guess you could decide, not to give a shit then, if it was something you didn’t use. But please tell me more opinions about stuff you—by your own admission—has no knowledge or interest of.

1

u/JDBZZZ 5d ago

this 🎯

0

u/Glass_Insurance_2373 6d ago

how can such a thing erase 25 years of work?? Y’all should learn to put things more into perspective, especially considering they keep bringing value daily to the electronic music scene on a scale that not many can match

1

u/skipsfaster 5d ago

It’s hard to build things and easy to break things

51

u/DJBigNickD 6d ago

Unfortunately people don't want to pay for genuine music journalism anymore. So magazines, websites need to rely on adverts & paid partnerships etc. This means any negative reviews or less than gushing praise can impact revenue.

Have you seen an issue if DJ Mag lately? It's 90% adverts.

What about the latest Art of DJing in RA? It's an advert for headphones basically.

It's a sad state of affairs. But if people don't want to pay for journalism or genuine music critique then we're not gonna get it.

6

u/Lopsided_Discount883 6d ago

Bit harsh on the art of djing but… the quality of web design is p incredible tbf

9

u/DJBigNickD 6d ago

Generally Art of DJing is decent. But I was specifically talking about the most recent one. It literally says it's published in partnership with a headphone company!! It then has a whole bit in it the DJs sing the praises of said company.

1

u/HippoRealEstate 6d ago

It's literally one question :D

2

u/Lopsided_Discount883 6d ago

The aphex and skee mask ones were also great

14

u/Alan_Bumbaclartridge 6d ago

I agree with this but I don’t think RA have put out much worth reading for a while, vs someone like Crack Magazine who are way more consistently on the pulse of new music.

RA most often felt agenda driven or like people writing about their mates to me

19

u/Double_Key7579 6d ago

this sounds like a limited POV tbh, coming across strongly from someone who abandoned ship a while ago based on your other comments. (and fair enough - they fell off a cliff 2019-23. it was circling the drain.) I dont see too much agenda/insular writeups from them these days, they knocked it off when they got rid of Lynch, Ryce and Wei. the covers and long reports on Open Ground, Skee Mask, Keinemusik, SA allegations, Art of Soundsystems have gone back up in quality noticably

Crack you can argue have lost a ton of ground with generic pop covers and ended reviews too. you can make the case both ways for both publications

8

u/Ryder52 6d ago

Glad I'm not the only one who has noticed the positive turnaround under Gabe Szatan

It is an incredibly difficult time for anyone trying to make a non-social media-based platform these days

2

u/Alan_Bumbaclartridge 6d ago

absolutely right that i haven't read RA for the last few years, i gave up in that period, particularly the nadir around 2021

5

u/Double_Key7579 6d ago

it was a shitshow for sure. not sure you can confidently say its not done anything worthwhile if you stopped reading though, if you see what I mean

5

u/Alan_Bumbaclartridge 6d ago

Yeah it’s a fair point, I had assumed it was a one way descent tbh

1

u/IIlIIlllIIll 6d ago

Want vs can. I want to, but I can’t afford to.

1

u/skipsfaster 5d ago

I’d pay monthly for real scene journalism with a comment section to keep the editors in check

10

u/dvn_grhm 6d ago

they still do those monthly round up of new music articles, but still wish they posted stuff regularly. going to be kind of weird at the end of the year when they make best of lists and have hardly mentioned anything in the list

11

u/authortitle_uk 6d ago

I wouldn’t be shocked if they were cutting costs

12

u/johonyloo 6d ago

Yeah this. They would pay writers (a very small amount) for reviews but it's clear that eventually the juice wasn't worth the squeeze

-2

u/Recidivist67 6d ago

They make a cut from every single ticket sale on every event listed on their website. Basically free money, rolling in every single day. They should be minted.

15

u/Ryder52 6d ago

Lol it is absolutely not "free money". Ridiculous comment

Obv the the vast majority of the money goes to venues/artists/promoters etc. (who are all massively struggling too). RA can't lift fees too high without putting themselves out of business (or else artists/promoters would go to other platforms) or threatening the sustainability of the scene.

What they take will need to go to hosting/server costs, development costs, web security, staff, events, business rates, etc. which all add up to a lot too.

It is very difficult trying to run a business in this day and age when we're all facing the cost of living crisis, but doubly so when you're trying to run one in the arts/entertainment sector and support a scene at the same time.

9

u/authortitle_uk 6d ago edited 6d ago

Yeah but I wonder if reality matches that. They probably spend a lot on running costs, staff, promo events, etc etc. I have no inside info but it would not surprise me if they’re not as profitable as you might think

2

u/akk21 4d ago

RA is completely independent, no VC backing, no investors. RA takes the 'service fee' off of tickets. All ticketing companies take service fees - Dice, Shotgun, etc. That's how they... make their money??? It's a ticketing company... RA has more than 100 employees, what do you think pays for their salaries?

Other ticketing companies have no Editorial and no independence. RA has both. Those are just facts.

1

u/Recidivist67 4d ago

That wasn't a negative I think they definitely deserve their cut it's an invaluable website for me. But with the amount of events on you'd think they'd be minted.

3

u/akk21 4d ago

nah I think that's a misconception. it's rare to have an independent business in the music industry these days. If an average event is selling 500 tix and the service fee is 10%, let's say, and each ticket costs 15EUR on average, the company makes 750EUR - part of which goes to server costs etc. So you get less than 750EUR from that event. Most events on RA are unticketed. That revenue + any revenue from ads on the site, maybe some brand deals, goes into paying their overhead - salaries, other staff costs, rent in London, New York, Berlin, Melbourne and wherever else they have offices.

In a climate where companies in the music industry, especially platforms like Bandcamp, Nina, Soundcloud, and Editorial platforms have struggled to stay independent and have had to sell, I think it's important to highlight this.

9

u/hrdass 6d ago

The reviews have featured pay to play reviews for years now without any mention when they’re doing advertorial, so good riddance. It’s been a complete trash publication for a decade

5

u/source_uncertainty 5d ago

Absolutely agree RA is completely washed and has been for a very long time. Glad people are actually talking about it here. Last time I made a comment like this in a thread here it was deleted by a mod.

7

u/lucidgroove 6d ago

Do you have any evidence of this?

10

u/hrdass 6d ago edited 6d ago

Yes. I have been sent Correspondence from RA to multiple label owners I know detailing packages and pricing, one of whom did it. This has come up on here before and for whatever reason RA always denied it. Everyone in the industry knows though.

ETA: and the downvotes on my comments apparently show their their disinformation campaign on this subject is still working!

1

u/ImpressivePlace9274 5d ago

interesting.any acc screenshots u can share or owt? . even if its redacted or w/e this would be an insanely huge story in terms of integrity in journalism. like actually illegal l ol

1

u/comp_a 3d ago

This makes a lot of sense, I always found it weird that the tone of all their reviews seemed to just be either “generally positive” or “very positive” (i.e., given RA Recommends).

They never seemed to pan anything.

2

u/OkAnalyst6394 2d ago

This is emphatically wrong. Would love to see your evidence

-1

u/Used_Currency_2667 5d ago

Sorry but that’s total bollocks, no music reviews have ever been pay to play.

1

u/hrdass 5d ago

Aaaaaand here we go again 😂. It would be one thing if some players reached out and cut a few quiet deals with RA- it’s another to have the marketing team cold emailing people with available packages, and then to go out and flat deny it all on social media, honestly and truly hilarious (and sad!!) that you guys are still out here peddling this 🤣

2

u/apaloosafire 5d ago

I was talking about a similar topic in another thread. It’s honestly so sad to me that music journalism has basically died off the last 5-10 years. I think I enjoyed the “cultural” feeling of reviews and interviews, maybe it helped me place where artists fall in genres or boundaries. I feel like reading a lot of reviews helped to define my music taste as well, you might get which artists are inspired by what and movements/aesthetics are being developed that interest you.

I guess I would parallel that with “mono culture” dying as well, same with the film world or most media I guess at this point

5

u/Inglejuice 6d ago

The whole concept of published music critique is basically dead now. People just want to circle jerk over their favourite artists and when presented with any criticism (either professional or just in the online discourse) they castigate the person making the criticism for doing so.

1

u/ivanezzz 5d ago

Really funny how that works. We've moved far away from centralized mainstream, zeitgeist and canon, which you'd think would inspire more free thought and fresh perspectives. But instead, everyone is now in their own algorithmic bubble and viscerally opposed to criticism and other points of view.

1

u/Junior_Bike7932 5d ago

Thank god

1

u/SeparatedI 6d ago

I don't think there's been any official statement but my impression is that they were getting a lot of bad feedback from their reviews where they gave a negative score. Notably the Rebuke track they trashed a bit a lot of people got upset about because it was making the rounds even though it was a very basic tune. So after that I guess they didn't want to deal with the bad press anymore

8

u/Double_Key7579 6d ago

they stopped scores like 8 years ago so it surely isnt this

Resident Advisor stopped reviewing?

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