Spin to review albums viatwitter

Thu 12th Jan, 2012 in International News

After 26 years perfecting the art of music criticism Spin is introducing a new format for reviewing albums: twitter. Yesterday the hallowed publication launched @SPINReviews as a “considered reaction” to the changing face of the music industry.

Senior Editor Christopher R. Weingarten, explained the reasoning behind the site’s decision: “The standard music review, once presented as an imperious edict, has increasingly frayed into a redundant, gratuitous novelty in an era of fewer and fewer actual music consumers. Tight security on major-label albums (and practically no security on indie-label albums) often means you’re downloading a leaked album the same day as your favorite magazine or website. The value of the average rock critic’s opinion has plummeted now that a working knowledge of Google can get you high-quality audio of practically any record, so you can listen and decide for yourself whether it’s worth a damn…”

Spin intends to review 1,500 new records via twitter in 2012 and hope that their new approach will be “an argument-starter for virtually every album or EP or mixtape that matters.”

But fear not Luddites! Spin assures readers that their new 140-character reviews will not be at the expense of traditional long-form pieces – “a viable and under-appreciated medium” – which they’ll continue to publish 20 of a month.

Some samples from the @SPINReview so far (the two letter hashtag is the reviewer’s initials):

ENTER SHIKARI/A Flash Flood of Colour: If the Streets’ Mike Skinner chugged drugs at a rave and tried to save the world with metal. #KG#6

KEEPAWAY/Black Flute: Brooklyn/Wesleyan warehouse babies aim for Animal Collective but land in dubby, druggy, synth-pop swamp. #DB#5

So, do you think 140 characters is all you need to have your interest piqued ?