Jul 1, 2017 http://www.stereogum.com/1949874/ch...-mildly-negative-reviews-of-their-music/news/ Tom Breihan @tombreihan | June 30, 2017 - 9:25 am Last year, MTV News relaunched itself as an ambitious new journalistic enterprise, hiring a gifted, diverse, young roster of writers and giving them space to write long, sharp, considered pieces about a ton of different topics. (Full disclosure: A number of Stereogum contributors and friends of the Stereogum staff worked there.) It didn’t last. Earlier this week, as Varietyreported, MTV switched up its tactics, promising to target millennials by posting short-form video content and laying off many of their writers. And now we’ve learned one of the main difficulties in turning MTV News into a source for considered music journalism: Artists could put pressure on MTV to force the network to delete any articles that were even remotely critical. Our friends at SPIN just published a massive investigation into everything that happened at MTV News, and the most fascinating part of the story might be two anecdotes about artists who leaned on the network and got them to take stories down. First up was Kings Of Leon. The site published a short review of the band’s “Waste A Moment” single, calling it “almost aggressively anonymous.” In response, the band threatened to cancel its appearance at the MTV Europe Music Awards. The article was soon deleted, and MTV’s corporate executives put into place a new policy that the site would no longer post reviews that ran less than 500 words. According to SPIN’s Jordan Sargent, “MTV associated those kinds of blog posts with snarkiness and criticism, both of which were deemed detrimental to the network’s broader ability to work with artists who may be the subjects of such posts.” Something similar happened when the site published a concert review that discussed the “emotional disconnect” that the writer felt while listening to Chance The Rapper’s Coloring Book. Chance’s management, upon noticing the review, said that Chance would never work with MTV again. MTV again deleted the article. In an email to SPIN, Chance’s manager Pat Corcoran confirmed the story, writing: This was evidently a constant threat at MTV; the SPIN piece quotes an editor telling the staff not to cover DJ Khaled “unless it’s like, KHALED IS GREAT.” And, to be fair, that balance between pleasing artists and keeping editorial integrity is a constant internal discussion at every music publication that depends on access to artists — which is every music publication of any size, including Stereogum. It’s long been widely understood that this is how MTV works. But it’s still striking to see just how much control the site gave over to the artists it covered. And it’s especially surprising to see Chance, an artist who gets near-universal critical praise for everything he does, effectively admitting to putting the lean on.
Jul 1, 2017 "say nice things about me cause im a little b---- c----" what were these stupid fuckheads expecting when getting into the music industry? they want a safespace but publically promote their s---. get a grip you pooftas.
Jul 1, 2017 First it was the aftermath thing now this, ... Chance f---ing up. Honestly tho I get his nice guy persona is a marketing thing but it puts himself in a box to where if he does anything even slightly offensive he has to apologize for it. A month ago he liked a instagram fat joke and he went on radio to apologize for it, its not that serious guys like d---. If you think thats bad listen to what he did when I met him Spoiler I saw Chance the Rapper at a grocery store in Los Angeles the other day. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything. He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?” I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying. The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter. When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.
Jul 1, 2017 how could a company like mtv possibly be trusted to write honest reviews doe why even bother with this
Jul 1, 2017 is this real? he sounds like a f---ing freak. also if he was 'closing his hand' infront of my face i wouldve walked into it then gone "WHY THE f--- DID YOU HIT ME" before pumping the stupid c---- nose into his skull
Jul 1, 2017 I guess it's a good thing that this isn't the 90s and nobody actually takes into consideration MTV's opinions on anything I would hope so anyway