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I have friends who used to be in the music instrument journalism industry, and the common approach was to only review what they liked. They got a guitar or syn
by ratww 5y ago
I have friends who used to be in the music instrument journalism industry, and the common approach was to only review what they liked.
They got a guitar or synth that was bad? They would just tell the manufacturer they would rather not say something bad.
Of course, after a while readers started asking questions, so the answer was to review products from companies not advertising in the magazines.
- lazide 5y agoIt seems like this is a recipe for being hungry. The only products they reviewed were products that no one advertised in their magazine?
- ratww 5y agoNo, no, let me rephrase: they would give good reviews to everyone that gave them free stuff that was good. Customers asked "why aren't there any review saying a product is bad", so they started doing that with products whose manufacturers didn't advertise there or didn't give free stuff for review. They'd borrow, or buy a few Danelectro or Behringer pedals for $30 dollars just to make a bad review and "save face" to readers. Basically they got "token bad products" to save face.
- lazide 5y agoWow, that’s pretty good hah! (Well, in a misleading the consumer but quite clever way anyway) A decade plus ago I worked alongside a team of writers, and they always kept alcohol in their desks. I totally understand why now.
- ratww 5y agoOh, that's amazing, haha! You definitely need a bottle for when you get some terrible product and you know the manufacturer won't like that it won't get reviewed. Funny enough, the situation is even worse now: with YouTube reviewers, there's no more expectation of neutrality as with professional journalists in the past. So all quality reviews are praising products.