A Vital Discussion with Freelance Journalists

It's tough out there so I spoke to several writers about their current experience

Welcome back to Music Is The Answer… I’m frazzled at the moment, doing a lot of late nights and one particular new project I’ve launched is keeping me ultra busy. But I’m enjoying it, so all good.

**Before we go any further, I really want to ask you to please make some time to read the piece below. Not only was it a lot of work but, more importantly, it’s imperative that people out there understand what is happening for music journalists and how they can be more supported. A lot of us work in isolation with little support and I cannot emphasise enough how much a bit of validation now and then can keep us from spiralling into darkness**

This edition is extra special. As a long serving journalist I often think about how we could be given more space to express ourselves and share our own stories/experiences. I know this is happening more and more through social media and newsletters etc… but actually being interviewed and invited to speak about our experiences at length still doesn’t happen very often. I’ve even had thoughts about organising a mix series that only platforms music journalists. We spend so much time writing about, or critiquing music, it would be amazing if we had a space to share mixes too…

Anyway, the point of this edition is to put the spotlight on a number of my peers in this game. Why? Because it’s bloody tough out there and I wanted to share a few stories/insights so that, hopefully, there will be more awareness about the often stark situations a lot of us are finding ourselves in. I’ve had to adapt multiple times since I started writing for a living; shifting from print to online, 24-hour news reporting, learning basic HTML, learning the nuances of each new publication I wrote for, shifting into copywriting, social media editorial and content, video, basic graphic design, audio editing, radio, brand strategy and identity and so on. It’s been pretty constant.

More recently, along with many others, I’ve been contending with the decline of (music) journalism and the increasing lack of decent pay. This, along with overworked editors either not responding to emails, or not being as compassionate/attentive as they could be, and the demoralising, endless chase for invoices to be paid on time, has led to a underlying feeling of despair and, at times, grief for the amazing career I once had.

Knowing there were others in the same boat as me, I felt duty-bound to reach out to others and share their experiences here. Not so much as a cry for help, but more as a means of raising awareness. I’m not sure how many people out there realise 1) how much duress a lot of writers are under and 2) how critical it is that we do everything we can to support and preserve journalism as a craft. It is shifting into new spaces and changing a lot, and I have continued to adapt - as have others - but that doesn’t mean it’s been easy and most days feel like a battle just to get out of survival mode.

Below are snippets from a cross section of writers I spoke to about their experiences. I asked the same set of questions to each person. What you’ll find is not a collection of negative “Poor Me” stories, but the realities of being a music writer in 2025, along with suggestions on how things could be made better and some positive insights, too.

Please please take time to read through the whole piece. I’ve also published each of these interviews in full, simply click on the journalist’s name below and it’ll take you to their full transcript. What a bunch of legends!

Alice Austin
Joe Muggs
Kate Hutchinson
Thomas Hobbs
Tracy Kawalik
Martin Guttridge-Hewitt
Christine Ochefu
Niamh O’Connor
Sean Adams

Thankyou to each and every one of you for your openness and honesty for this piece. It’s been a shock to the system to experience how much things have been changing in recent years, and I know we’re not alone - i.e. a lot of other industries are dealing with rapid change and increasing economic depression.

For me, sharing these insights and experiences is absolutely vital.

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How's everything going for you at the moment?

JOE: Professionally, pretty solid. Having the fabric book published last year was a big jump in profile for me, so that’s helped a lot, and I’m incredibly glad of it because on other fronts I’ve never felt more precarious.

KATE: I’m on the hamster wheel of music journalism that is under constant threat of being kicked over. Erm, I'm actually the busiest that I've been in a while – I’ve been launching a new audio series, writing more features, starting a Substack, doing copywriting and bios, and hosting Q&As, the usual triple (sextuple??!) threat of stuff – but I’m also probably the most unsure I’ve ever been about making ends meet. I’m 20 years into this job now and I love music and the community that live music and DJing and radio gives me but I feel the creeping dread pretty much 24/7.

ALICE: It really depends what day you ask me that question. I have work right now, and I'm excited by it, but often I’m like, “What's next?” Something always comes through, but working for yourself it’s easy to get in your head.

THOMAS: Okay but could be better.

TRACY: Creatively, I feel electrified. There are a lot of seminal artists releasing phenomenal records alongside rising multi-hyphenated talent who are all warping boundaries, experimenting, and genre-bending to a maximal. More than that, what's exciting is that many of those people are engineering music with dancers in mind. Given the state of the world, so much of the music, art, and movement right now carries critically important messages - to educate, empower, and elevate. Subcultures are on tenterhooks, and grassroots venues that shaped the blueprint and sonic identity of the city are under threat. For me, it feels more urgent and inspiring than ever to document and preserve these histories before they're gone.

MARTIN: Surprisingly, things are in a good place work-wise at the moment — despite what the music and culture journalism landscape looks like, people still want proper stories and there are still outlets commissioning proper work.

Against my expectations, bouncing back after the decimation of Covid was pretty swift and has — so far — been long-lasting. I also feel it’s important to make clear here that while most of my work is in music and culture, a sizeable minority covers other topics.

CHRISTINE: It’s ok, I’m probably doing much better than most but that’s mainly because I no longer exclusively cover music in my writing or even brand/market myself as a music journalist anymore. The bulk of my work is now focussing on tech, finance and travel niches rather than music writing.

NIAMH: Up and down but that’s freelance writing for you. I have zero financial stability and consistency with the amount of work I do every month as a freelance writer, but that’s my own fault as I have (sort of accidentally) ended up pursuing one of the most precarious career paths ever. But at the moment I’m trying to be more proactive and confident in navigating the erratic pattern of my income and work. You gotta get your feckin’ ass up and work, as Kim Kardashian once said.

SEAN: Given world events, it’s going as well as can be expected. Slowly uphill with a lot of friction.

What are the main challenges you're facing?

JOE: Well I just had my last monthly paycheque from a retainered writing job that’s been a big chunk of my income for the last five years (in fact it really saved my bacon in Covid, landing right at the end of 2019. It wasn’t without warning, and I had been starting to feel the regularity was getting stifling and want more flexibility, and it’s fun being back on the pitching train, so it’s definitely a double-edged sword… but definitely scary. I also fight a constant battle with mental health, mainly extreme anxiety – I’ve just been diagnosed (at 50!) with ADHD, which turns a lot of things upside down, I’m still waiting for the medication appointment, so in one sense, between the waiting and the perplexity of processing the news it’s more uncertainty, but in another it at least gives me useful grist of the mill of sorting out my working practices, understanding why I excel or fail at certain things and so on.

KATE: We're in a very tricky place, and that's just the media all over. It's hard to get eyeballs on things; budgets are squeezed. You have to do twice as much work to make just as much bank. It’s really quite alarming when you think about how experts in their field who've been doing a job for 20 years can be earning less than they were earning 10 years ago, myself included.

There's a lot of content. We're drowning in it, but what we're lacking is context and perspective. People are always asking me, still, where can I find new music? What new podcast should I listen to? There's a hole in the matrix and an inability to find things and trust social media and streaming curation. I think the job of the music journalist is to be a filter and I think we need filters now more than ever, whether that's a newsletter or a radio show. I do think there's still an important place for respected voices to tell you, “This is the good shit and this deserves attention.”

ALICE: My clients have less budget. The thing with freelance writing is, I'm always pitching. It’s almost always my idea, I don’t get approached for commissions very often. So I think the biggest challenge is trying to constantly drive this forward. It is always my responsibility to come up with ideas and be tuned in. I would love to have more editors come to me, but that's just never really been the case. I think most freelance journalists would say they are the ones to push it and ask for it. One exception was Duncan at Mixmag, who basically launched my career. It was a real tragedy when he left, because he always put me forward for stuff. It was so amazing just to get those emails in my inbox with subject lines like: “Tour with Charlotte de Witte??”

THOMAS: Budgets have taken a hit, partly due to the economy and also maybe because of the rise of AI. It means the copywriting and more commercially-angled writing gigs (including artist bios), which used to be the bread and butter for so many freelance writers, are now so much harder to find. I am therefore hustling harder, having to go to unconventional places to find commissions, and generally finding all the effort it takes to be a great culture journalist doesn't add up to the total pay; it means considering full time work (probably outside of journalism) and freelancing maybe only occasionally is becoming a more welcoming idea.

TRACY: Cash flow is a huge obstacle and staying afloat. Work is steady, but pacing it is a constant balancing act. I’ve definitely been guilty of saying yes to too many things out of fear that there won’t be more work down the line, then scrambling to figure out how to deliver. A lot of magazines and online publications are struggling too to make ends meet so invoices are sometimes paid late, or pieces are now commissioned for less, because it's that or no commission. Ultimately that creates problems like “I won’t be able to make my rent”.

MARTIN: Authenticity is always a big struggle — trying to ensure you’re covering projects, people and places that deserve coverage, rather than those that are heavily PRd and manage to secure their coverage because they have the budget to run media campaigns and employ teams to win spotlight. Journalism should not be another arm of marketing, but often risks becoming just that because of how easy, cost effective, and nice it is to be given perks like free hotels and flights.It’s particularly difficult making sure we are supporting grass roots, independent, DIY, and smaller stories. But these are the areas that really need support.

Beyond that, devaluation or total loss of many significant platforms, bringing overall page space down in the process, is a worry — combined with staff redundancies on a massive scale, there’s now much less room available to publish well paid work and a far greater number of freelancers than when I started out in the mid-2000s.

CHRISTINE: Keeping a steady inflow of work (which takes consistent marketing), juggling multiple commissions, trying to be strategic about growing my business. However if you asked re music writing specifically it’s probably finding places to take ideas in general! I don’t think people really understand the extent to which publications, even ones that are still surviving, have slimmed and/or deprioritised their music commissioning arms, which is a real shame.

NIAMH: I am finding it extremely challenging to secure a stable income. I can’t seem to land a consistent freelance part-time/full-time job or a retainer(s) for love nor money.

It’s possibly the result of having a portfolio career in journalism, copywriting and running events. I think some people (corporate companies where I’ve applied for copywriting jobs) are put off by the many different roles I’ve had in the music world over the last decade. But in my opinion, if you’re freelance and working in music, you gotta spin a few plates in order to make a living.

SEAN: Bandwidth is the main challenge. Running Drowned in Sound as a weekly newsletter and podcast on my own, alongside managing musicians (Charlotte Church and The Anchoress) and doing comms consultancy work as well as some lecturing is a A LOT. There’s tonnes I should be doing each week to promote my writing and monetise it and chase for new opportunities but it’s hard to do it all.

How about your music writer peers, do you have much insight from them and are they facing similar issues?

JOE: Oh yeah, it’s terrible out there. I stay in touch with people from all levels of the industry, from established peers to amateurs/students who I mentor and advise, and there’s nowhere that anyone is feeling confident and safe.

ALICE: I don't have anywhere near enough contact with other writers. I have joined something called Women in Journalism, and I'm a mentee for Women in Journalism Scotland, so I have a mentor. She's called Hala, and she works for Al Jazeera. She's helped me a lot with troubleshooting and aiming high.

THOMAS: It seems to be a similar feeling to my own. I think, in particular, the writers from working class backgrounds are feeling like endangered species, because we simply don't have the family wealth to dig into to keep us going. Many of us are just about making freelance culture and music journalism work. It's a struggle for sure.

TRACY: For the most part, I think we’re all fighting the same fight.

MARTIN: I think overall these issues are universal. I’d say everyone I know seems to acknowledge the problems I’ve highlighted above (and those mentioned below). Probably loads more but I can’t speak for others.

CHRISTINE: I don’t go on social media like Twitter (X) much anymore, which is maybe emblematic of the problem. But the lack of work I see circulating on the social media I do go on speaks volumes. I don’t really know anyone who is making the bulk of their income or work in this niche currently, and a lot of other writers are reallllly struggling or moving into other lines of work that maybe has a music crossover, which I think can be really rewarding for some people.

NIAMH: Apart from you Marcus, I rarely talk to my music writer peers, at least in real life! My default presumption is ‘Everyone else is fine’ i.e. not facing any challenges, so I rarely ask anyone how they’re doing, even though I know I could easily drop them an email or a DM. But I just don’t do it!

SEAN: It got really hard for writers to get paid about 15 years ago and it seems to have become near impossible to make it as a writer any more. There are so few staff roles and so much music editorial has been cut. I recently started The Association of Music Editors so we can try to pull together people running publications, podcasts and zines - it’s been nice to find some solidarity.

What would say are some of the deeper issues/catalysts behind the challenges you/other writers are dealing with?

JOE: Continued cost of living ultimately, in particular the fact that rent/mortgages mean it gets ever harder to pursue passion projects for their own sake / take lower paid jobs because they’re worthwhile or fun / jump at offers of trips. AI slop is clearly an issue, mainly in that it’s upsetting industries everywhere and will likely lead to a lot of bullshit that tries to undercut existing press for ad money etc. I’m less pessimistic than many, I’ve seen so much generic rubbish and tech trends come and go, I do think we’ll emerge from this latest hype cycle, the value of real people telling real stories and making real judgements will still be apparent. But it only adds to the uncertainty and turmoil.

KATE: I think part of the thing that squeezes the joy out of interviewing is how increasingly tightly controlled big interviews tend to be these days – publicists think nothing of sitting on a call, or of asking for questions upfront. (There’s no stopping the former, sadly, but I refuse to do the latter). It changes the whole dynamic. There’s very little room for smart, incisive profile interviews and what we’ve moved towards is a widespread lean into fandom. Fandom has kind of eclipsed cultural criticism, and that trickles down into everything from writers only wanting to write about what they like, or want to be associated with, to stans tearing down writers on social media for having an opinion (even a balanced one) about a pop star.

My concern about music journalism – and this has been happening for the last 10 years – is that when music publications close, you lose a training ground. And what happens then is a huge quality gap opens up between young journalists coming through and the established people who used to write for places like NME, Q, and all those other music publications that aren't with us in the same way anymore. Those used to be the places, for all their reputation, that made people good. You’d get amazing news training working on the NME news desk, for example. It was vital. I don't know if that exists in the same way anymore.

There’ll always be music journalism, but I worry about the quality. As music becomes more and more something people don’t actively participate in - it’s just there in the background - we need music journalists to argue why it still matters. Without that, music just becomes wallpaper.

ALICE: I think AI has a lot to do with it. I think people can create, for example, artist bios quite easily without paying a writer. Obviously, the cost of living. The cost of living crisis is insane. In our scene, nobody has any money, and everybody's feeling that. So no one has the budget to pay the writers. Sometimes I wonder if people are even reading words, I don't even know? For me, it's my craft and you have a few people who understand that and understand how important it is to have somebody write fresh, original content.

For example, yesterday I interviewed someone for their bio, and I had to interview them to understand them and feel them. When I interview people, I absorb them and then I can write about them with authority, and I can capture their essence. I don't think that many people understand how important that is. If you want to write a bio, or if you want to have an interview, or, have someone write an article about an artist, it can't be done by chat GPT, it just can't.

THOMAS: The general economic downturn, for sure, and places continuing to pivot to video or short form content despite the fact there's a big demand for long form writing. I feel classism is still prominent too, particularly in terms of prioritising writers who can afford to live in a major city. Someone who comes from a lot of wealth and opportunity will get a column due to their high social media currency from living in London or New York, perhaps, while someone who grew up with a single mother and little hope is conversely expected to fight for every byline. It makes little sense, because the readers really need empathetic writing right now, which makes working class writers so important.

TRACY: Budget for sure; across the board. Like I said before, the artist and label might have to kick in major cash now to make a cover happen because the magazine doesn’t have it - everyone on the shoot might be paid less as a result. Other magazines don’t want to sell out and be packed with ads so they are commissioning less, or having to be creative.

Everyone’s trying to push their passion and preservere, all the mediums involved, but as a result - someone further down the line might have to compromise harder and make far far less. I’ve personally written a few times for a significantly reduced rate because I want the publication to keep going or support the artist.

MARTIN: I believe we get the media we pay for, not the media we deserve. The number of people willing to pay for the information they consume daily has been in constant decline since I started writing professionally, and this bites harder by the year. There’s an expectation that we have to produce high quality work otherwise the remaining audience tunes out or starts shouting about media being useless, yet we have fewer and fewer resources to actually produce this.

As a feature-focused writer, it’s reassuring there’s little chance of being able to automate jobs that require you to be present on the ground or conducting long, in-depth interviews. For the time being anyway.

All that said, trust in our profession is in the gutter and has been for a lot longer than ChatGPT has been a thing. And the worst part is I totally understand why. Discussing media with friends is painful because, like them, I see how some outlets sow discontent, fear, resentment and — at their worst — hatred.

Despite my double-barrelled last name, I grew up on an estate in West Yorkshire, and have very strong feelings around opportunities for writers from lower income and less visible backgrounds. Sadly, journalism is not alone in this — all creative sectors are becoming harder to succeed in without a safety net. It’s bullshit.

Overall, the trajectory means homogeneous voices, views and ideas are dominant, which do not represent the diversity of the population as a whole. In turn, this feeds more distrust of the media by discrediting our claim to represent different demographics. It’s a vicious cycle.

CHRISTINE: I mean where to start… But a major thing I would attribute is unfortunately audience engagement. I think a lot of former listeners-turned-readers are now listener-turned-viewers; people, especially younger fans who are prioritising short form, clippy soundbite social content rather than written work, at least regarding music anyway. Which is a shame because that sort of content is often intended to be top line, quite lightweight and superficial, and not nearly as in depth as traditional press. What people don’t realise from this is that social media prioritisation is in turn changing artist priorities. I can think of at least two major artists top of my head who have forgone their typical press rollout in favour of social street interview type press, when there’s no chance they would have done that 5 years ago even. Also, cue rant about shrinking budgets, loss of print media etc etc :(

NIAMH: Not enough budget for anything, I guess. I have a feeling people/platforms are not in a strong enough financial position to commission work for writers but that’s just a feeling I have, I can’t speak for them of course.

I think that if spoke to other writers more often, I’d be able to give a more detailed answer. In a nutshell, however, I think the deeper issues stem from a lack of opportunities and money to go ‘round.

SEAN: The music industry has rarely advertised with music media and that pretty much stopped when YouTube got massive around 2012 and the big money in the industry focussed on Spotify vanity metrics. Even music podcasts aren’t really backed by the industry that it serves but will happily spend £1000s on PR people who massively outnumber writers. With the new grassroots levy (£1 on millions of stadium and arena tickets) the industry has an opportunity to save music journalism and put some infrastructure in place that’s mutually beneficial to the ecosystem, rather than just ploughing money into adverts on Meta and Google, much of which ends up in the pockets of far right extremists.

What are some of the methods you've employed to navigate the current music writing landscape?

JOE: I’ve always jumped at opportunities even if they seem outside my “wheelhouse”, I now realise because of ADHD need for stimulation. Sometimes it’s been disastrous and it seemed chaotic early on, but ultimately has left me with a kick-ass CV and a lot of personal and professional resilience. Between copyrighting, studies, and things I do for fun as well as my professional work, I have worked across academia, performing, high arts, DJing, radio, finance, health, fashion, charities… And after a while you see how all feed into the others, learn underlying lessons of common practices around people and communication that work in almost any scenario etc.

ALICE: One thing is, I don't beat myself up if I feel like I haven't done anything huge in the last month. I'm very good at not being horrible to myself when I've had a quiet period. I always have work in some form.

I've learned that, as a freelancer and a creative, you never know what's around the corner. So you might be having the world's shittest week. For example, when I moved to Glasgow, I was like, “Great, I'm gonna have to start again. It's gonna take ages to get interesting work.” And then I just sent a pitch to the Guardian, one of hundreds of pitches that have always been ignored or rejected. 15 minutes later, I got a response saying, “This is our word count, have you got a photographer?” That was a huge ambition for me. And within two, three weeks, I had this article in The Guardian that was getting shared a lot. You just never know.

THOMAS: Moving into more unconventional places to get copywriting commissions. Building up good relationships with labels, so they can rely on me for artist biographies that go beyond Wikipedia page. Writing across subjects, too. If you only write about music, you are lessening your experiences and becoming smaller minded. You are also lessening your earnings potential and, with the cost of groceries so high, that's something you don't want to do.

TRACY: Honestly? Hustling. Tenacity. I’ve always been freelance. I failed high school English, barely graduated, and moved here from Canada over 15 years ago. I fell into writing after my dance career ended—both my hips had to be replaced.

In the interim, I managed bands, worked bars, curated live music nights and pop-up shops for Soho House, taught first wedding dances, worked backstage at fashion shows, opened a punk rock shop in Camden, and ran a blog called Push Pony, where I somehow ended up interviewing everyone from Elton John, Pam Hogg, and Ralph Steadman to Soho’s neon king, the late Chris Bracey of God’s Own Junkyard. All driven my an incalculable love and magnetism towards subcultures and bold characters.

The main thing is that kept me in the game and still does, outside of being a good storyteller I guess, is hunger and endless hustling.

After that, be adaptable. Be open to cross into different subject matter, alternate realms of writing - bios, film, TV, press releases - take your ideas and expertise outside of music publications and apply it to sport, travel, culture, art magazines. Friends running bars might need copy or socials, they might have a tequila brand that needs a copywriter… hustling.

MARTIN: Understanding the tools available to you is vital.

Although I’m not currently using tech like ChatGPT, I can see how this can be a valuable resource for gathering information quickly — all of which needs to be thoroughly fact checked, of course. Having said that, Otter, which uses AI to transcribe interviews, has been a godsend and part of my office for years now. Albeit in its early days it was riddled with issues around accents, something that can still be a problem and casts a light on how biased technology is.

Not really a recent change, but I think it’s important to know that the skills journalists have go well beyond writing itself. Over the years, I’ve been hired by music venues, labels, culture businesses and art galleries to advise on tone of voice and oversee media strategy. It’s been a really nice change to take a break from writing.

Basically - don’t be snobby and insist “but I’m a journalist”, but do be picky and think about various strings can tie together.

I’d also say giving myself a break and trying hard to escape imposter syndrome has been invaluable. And just taking breaks in general!

CHRISTINE: The one I have hinted to throughout- diversifying! Honestly it’s necessary. In the same way in previous times music writers adapt, maybe getting jobs at labels, focussing more on marketing, I always think it’s important to do the same. Another thing I suggest is again seeing how your writing can support other music related avenues, like organisations, charities, venues etc. I am not saying there is no audience for music press at all, that’s not true. But the traditional avenues are slimming, and you can’t sell something there’s minimal audience for (or this will at least be much harder).

NIAMH: One method I’ve employed is that I do not pitch interviews, reviews (or anything really) to publications unless I receive an email from the editor asking for ideas (like pitches for DJ Mag’s Emerging Artists, for example). I get these ‘we’re open to pitches’ emails in my inbox every few months, which are helpful.

Otherwise, I do not send pitches. This is a time-saving method I’ve employed to navigate the current writing landscape. In the past, I spent a lot of time crafting pitches, particularly for artists and music culture based in Ireland and Athens, as I’ve lived part-time in both locations. However, I rarely pitch anything anymore because almost all my pitches go unanswered, so now I don’t pitch (to save time and emotion lol).

SEAN: I’ve tried to find myself a unique niche of mapping the future of music, making a lot less recommendations and using my critical skills to analyse tech whilst helping uplift changemakers and campaigns. I’m not trying to create something for the music industry but work that informs and educates music fans about how they can be more ethical and supportive supporters of artists and independent labels and venues.

How much support do you have from others (writers, friends, family, organisations)?

JOE: Lots, but I have to remind myself to take it. Since having a shitty year last year due to various of the death, decrepitude and sorrow that middle age throws at you, I’ve been in “rebuild” mode, and a lot of that has included remembering that phonecalls are actually good, video calls with someone you are on proper friendly terms with better, and catching up with people in person even more important still. When so much of our life is online and the hustle keeps us jumping from work task to work task, we all need to make so much more effort to make sure that support networks are robust **IRL**.

ALICE: Oh, God, I think none. I feel like if I do have a win, sometimes I don't even really want to share with my friends, because maybe they’re not feeling so good themselves. The Guardian article, I went ham with that, and everybody was very supportive, but everybody could see, that was an achievement. But day to day, generally, I don't have anyone to bounce or speak about my work with. All I have really is people from the outside admiring my career and thinking it looks like it's going really well. That's lovely to hear, but it's interesting how different it is when you're on the inside. I’d love to revel in my achievements but as soon as I get something out there, I’m proud for a few minutes, and then I’m like, “What's next?”

THOMAS: Little to none. Self-made.

TRACY: Over the decade I’ve been writing, I’ve been taken aback so many times by how incredibly supportive editors, artists, PRs and other writers are and I feel like I’ve formed really tight bonds with a quality crew over quantity of people.

At first that’s not easy knowing whose got your back. But I’d say it’s been crucial for me as a freelancer in order to succeed and get to where Im at.

MARTIN: My family and fianceé are incredibly supportive. Just don’t ask us when the wedding is, please. Friends are great, too, although most still seem to think my job is just a lot of fun and travel, largely unaware of the challenges, stresses and strains encountered day-to-day.

I don’t engage with many professional organisations, sadly, but this is something I would like to do more of. NUJ doesn’t seem to offer enough value for money to freelancers which is a shame, but I’m happy to stand corrected on that.

As an aside, I'm very keen to begin organising drinks for other writers in and around Manchester to see how we can work together or at least support each other. It’s been a long time coming, just like this free entry Sunday party I’ve been banging on about doing since stopping club nights 10 years ago (give or take!)... others should do the same I feel.

CHRISTINE: If this is in terms of monetary support then I am completely independent. But in terms of emotional support there are other writers I’m able to sound off if I have a problem. Organisations that claim to give writers support (and I would like to state that I strongly support unionisation despite what I am about to say) are generally WOEFUL indeed as per my experience. I actually think we could do more with some niche specific unions personally, and would love to hear from anyone who thinks the same…

NIAMH: My friends and family are so encouraging of me to keep doing what I’m doing and that has really helped my confidence in writing.

Other writers too, can also be so complimentary about an article I’ve written and I hate to admit it, but I kind of depend on external validation in order to keep going with writing. I cling on to compliments and positive feedback for dear life! So support for my work means a lot.

SEAN: Very little tbh, it’s one of the reasons for setting up the association of music editors. I really believe in collective power but the robot overlords want us all to compete like nodes in an attention economy.

How could music writers be supported more... especially within the arts/music? I'm curious about the positives. What's going well for you at the moment and what's exciting you about music writing?

JOE: Money obviously: grants for grassroots websites / zines etc. Government, brands, academia, any other established forces need to be supporting us with platforms and opportunities that say in the loudest, clearest way possible that humans matter, criticism matters, commentary matters, writing is part of the infrastructure of culture. I’m working on a way to campaign on this, watch this space.

ALICE: People prioritise social media, and that's video content mostly now. People could start really thinking about the value in the written word and what we were talking about earlier -capturing the essence of somebody is unrivaled. The general public do read bios. They need bios. We are documenting moments in dance music history, and I would like to see more value placed on that. Just because you can't see the millions of views racking up, doesn't mean it doesn't have value.

THOMAS: More free mentorship programmes. More editorial fellowships that guarantee working class writers positions at national newspapers. More grants.

MARTIN: Rates should be higher and move with inflation. Most are pretty stagnant. I get there’s less and less money but crazy to think so many have remained the same over the last five years given the economic realities.

Music and culture as a whole are struggling with financing, but I see very few grants available for writers supporting these areas in comparison with other related professions. Not sure this is realistic, but more funding routes would definitely be welcome, especially for younger writers and those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

CHRISTINE: It depends on what we mean by support, and who we attribute responsibility to do that. Like I could say better pay, more opportunities and commissions, further investment in development and crafting. But who holds the keys to make that happen? I will say that there are people whose deductive job it is to support the writers they’re working with, that’s editors and publications. A lot of them could start by holding the same standards of work appropriate practice with freelance writers that they do (or at least should do) with staff in-house, or actually following their own work safety guidelines. Some practices that I’ve faced whilst writing with major publications have been abhorrent, and I don’t intend to keep quiet about my experiences.

NIAMH: I’m sure grants are helpful. I applied for a grant last year and didn’t get it but I’m glad I tried. I learnt a lot about the application process and lost my mind several times along the way but it was a good challenge. Maybe more grant opportunities for writers could be a form of support. But I feel like that’s a watery answer to the question. I think it’s because I don’t know the answer to that one either, aside from grant opportunities.

SEAN: Basic stuff like bringing back link pages, making little digests of work you enjoy, amplifying social posts of other music orgs, and also not being a race to the bottom dickhead that rips off others people’s work or does a bad job of writing about music. I hope lessons have been learnt about people rushing to be first rather than doing their best work (I felt like music journalism died when people rushed out Radiohead album reviews within four hours of release).

I'm curious about the positives. What's going well for you at the moment and what's exciting you about music writing?

JOE: Ahh it’s a brilliant time in some ways. Aside from the fact I’m privileged enough to have a profile where people still come to me with fun projects and I do have breathing space to go out on a limb with wacky ideas of my own, there’s a lot to be optimistic out there. The number of young, articulate commentators out there on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram etc is dizzying, the idea that commentary and curation is somehow degrading is pure nonsense, and if we provide ways to connect and opportunities to use those skills, I think the future is bright.

ALICE: It’s endlessly exciting to know that I can enter a community that interests me, and get to know the people within it and share their stories and build connections. Those communities aren't going to stop growing. They will always be there. The fact that I can always follow my curiosity is something that I'll never get bored of, and I don't think there's anything that will stop me. Maybe even if I stopped getting paid, I'd probably still do it. I would just probably have to get a boring job I don't like. It's almost like it's way beyond a job. Frankly, it's like my life’s purpose to meet people, to connect with them and to share their stories.

THOMAS: I think I've been on a good run of artist profiles for five-six years now. These have touched every genre and it's precious how there's a lot of editors who trust me to go deep with an artist. I am excited by the blogs and the newsletters that exist outside of corporate leadership, too. I think they represent the future of our form.

MARTIN: I love my job completely. So that’s a big win!

I feel incredibly privileged to be doing it, especially after all this time. Although I’ve met some highly questionable individuals, I’ve also got to know some amazing people across the world and their commitment to culture and humanity is inspiring. Focusing on retainers I’m interested in has been a good move, reducing the number of ‘cold pitches' I need to send out in order to cover my financial commitments.

Having been based in Manchester for the past 20 years plus, the city is supportive when it comes to arts and culture, but still lacks the big industry of larger hubs. That may sound negative, but to me it’s a positive because hierarchies do not exist in the same way, experimentation is everywhere, and people are incredibly enthusiastic about coming together. This keeps you motivated.

Above all else, though — there’s so much good music around, and I love music.

CHRISTINE: This is counterproductive to your question, but what’s going well is discovering a world outside of it! I’ve changed to writing a lot about tech, travel and finance which is really rewarding, particularly travel writing. This often allows me to exercise the same creative muscles that music writing does, and similarly has a large overlap subject wise with music. There is such a world outside of music I’m afraid, one that tends to pay much better and be really invigorating. I would encourage other writers to explore other passions they have in their work, which I have been led to do. For example - shameless plug! But I’m in the stages of finishing my novel too, which I definitely wouldn’t have even thought about if not propelled by my start in music writing.

NIAMH: I enjoy every opportunity I get to write for Pioneer DJ/AlphaTheta’s platform The Bridge, and thankfully I’ve had a few opportunities to do so! I started contributing to The Bridge in 2023 after you introduced me to the editor Ryan Keeling. Since then, I’ve written a few long-form forensic articles about DJ culture, careers and tips. I usually throw myself into the research and writing process and obsess over things a bit. It’s probably because I love sharing knowledge about DJ stuff and the music industry and want to do my darned best to do so in the most accurate and accessible way. Plus, the feedback from Ryan is always on-point and I don’t feel l crap afterwards or think ‘Wow I’m actually a shite writer, in fairness.’

SEAN: I feel like I’ve really found my moral compass and sense of purpose over the past year. I’m really enjoying bringing a lot of my more resistance politics thinking into my work and seeing it resonate. I’m also glad to see people move to Bluesky to try to make it work as a platform. I’m reassured to see more and more people choosing platforms to host their sites like Ghost rather than Substack. I’m excited to see more people experimenting with podcast formats and video ideas like Sarah Gosling’s Instagram gig guides.

Big question, but, if you could wave a wand and magically solve the issues we're facing, what would be your targets for positive change?

JOE: As above, really, just institutions VALUING good writing and critical thinking. Also solidarity, and ability for those with good ideas to find each other, but again I’m working on that…..

KATE: I think editors are in a really important position right now. They should be more aware of how tough it is for freelancers, and I believe they have a duty to look out for their freelance writers in a way they maybe didn’t before. It’s more important than ever for people in full-time roles to be conscious and compassionate about the conditions freelancers are dealing with. I keep hearing stories about writers not being responded to, being ignored, not being paid properly or on time. And post-pandemic, I think we should be putting much more emphasis on empathy. Not just care about the content, but care about the people creating it. Freelancers are fearful about being disposable, so why do some editors continue to act entitled?

ALICE: I would love all creatives and all artists, wherever they're from, whatever their backgrounds, to have freedom to create. It is massively unfair and unjust how the creative industry is skewed towards people who have money. I was in India in November and December with Red Bull to write about grime artists. One of the things that struck me the most was was there's this producer in Mumbai called NaaR and he's so talented. He's pretty much India's first grime producer. What really struck me was how he can't fulfill his creative potential because he has no time, because he doesn't have the money, so he has to work in a call centre. And I just imagined what he would be creating if he didn't have to do that.

THOMAS: Just a fairer system. Higher pay, more diversity, freelance writers getting paid on time, more working class creatives in powerful positions, and a thriving independent scene that's detached from corporate solipsism.

TRACY: I know I’ve said it a lot but investment into these important and iconic publications so we can all keep creating powerful and inspiring work together.

Theres eye-watering money on one side of the industry and so so so many people who pushing with nothing but heart and pure dedication to their craft and music on the other side.

MARTIN: Given social media is our main way of sharing work, the closed nature of these networks and algorithms dictating what is seen and by who, is incredibly unfair and should be changed. I’ve argued for more control over these platforms since the early days of Facebook, this did not happen and here we are. Simply put — they should fall under the same laws as publishers, which would make a big difference.

More collaboration between freelancers would be nice and could support the creation of platforms that set out to be fair to contributors because they are run by them. I’m lucky to write for publications I think treat me relatively well, but this is not always the case and hasn’t always been the case in the past.

CHRISTINE: One would be recapturing disengaged readers, and showing new audiences the value of music writing. The audience are the nucleus to me so tailoring to their changing needs and preferences is important. If no one’s reading the work then you could say it’s a masturbatory exercise (hope people don’t bite my head off for that but it’s to be considered)… again, I don’t think readers no longer exist, but the way we as writers work with them is going to have to change, which takes a lot of thinking to achieve.

NIAMH: I’d probably magic up targets for independent publications to hire more staff and cover more music. There’s definitely more music than there is journalists and reputable platforms right now.

I think I’d also create more opportunities for writers to work with brands. Then writers could lend their storytelling skills to whatever campaign a brand is working on. It’s very capitalist of me to suggest that idea and far from anything ‘underground’ but I do think that working with a brand that has actual money would help supplement a writer’s income.

SEAN: Move 10% of the live music industry’s advertising & marketing budgets into independent music press and podcasts. Increase arts funding but ensure 50% of any advertising is spent with cultural titles rather than flung at billionaire broligarch platforms.

Any advice for emerging freelance writers?

JOE: You know what, I’m going to repeat verbatim what I said when I was asked recently for advice for DJs and curators… “Ignore the big picture. Find the tiny details that obsess you and you can’t let go of. Get distracted. Mess around. Take the road less traveled. Careerists will always shoot past you up the status ladder, but they miss the good stuff. If you spend time really digging into what you love, you’ll find the uniqueness that will not make things easy but will eventually bring you longevity and creative sustainability.”

KATE: One of the ways I think freelancers can thrive in this day and age is thinking about what format is best suited to the story you want to tell, not just what publication. One of the best things you can do as a freelancer is develop consistency (= reliability) and that is really hard when you're not getting responses. An editor at The New York Times once told me, “you can't turn down five ideas”. So if you're sending somebody five ideas in an email you know they can't turn down all of them. They've got to take one because turning down five would be pretty crap, right? That's hard in itself, coming out with five ideas and just doing that consistently. Find the regular slots, pitch regularly to them. Keep at it and just keep doing it. Keep sending ideas.

ALICE: Follow your curiosity. If something piques your interest, send a message, have a phone call, find out more. If you’re feeling a tug towards a certain place, go if you can. Following my curiosity has opened so many doors to me, even though I didn’t know what was in store on the other side.

And the boring part… I have no doubt that there are writers out there who will succeed because they can write about music beautifully. But I think it's about finding something that can financially support you while you get your feet off the ground. Honestly, finding a not too demanding remote job that can support you, so you can then go and take the opportunities you need to take, is probably the most practical step you can take to becoming a freelance music writer. There's no way I would be where I am today if I didn't have some flexible work throughout my career.

THOMAS: Create something you own and try to fill a hole in the artform. Make people anticipate your work. And never let someone tell you you can't achieve. But also be smart. Ensure you have a good range of copywriting projects to underpin your freelance music writing. You need a strong foundation, especially in 2025. Don't hustle for the sake of hustling, as it will age you and make you tired. Only do this if you can do it efficiently and in a way that truly pays you for the effort you are putting in.

MARTIN: First and foremost, be nice, be honest, be genuine and be respectful. And don’t beat yourself up due to rejections — writers tend to have quite thin armour, which is ironic as we work in an industry that shies away from positive feedback and is 90% “sorry, not for us this time”. Focus on the parts that are going right.

It’s maybe basic, but diversification is everything - for example, not being closed to straight copy jobs and get a foot in with other journalism specialisms. This can happen naturally because of the opportunities music journalism presents us with and the fact music and culture do not exist in silos — I’ve stumbled and staggered into wider arts, travel, food, climate and architecture editorial for major platforms.

CHRISTINE: Diversify your portfolio. I think the unfortunate truth is that a lot of music writers, or maybe creatives in general, are thinking far too much about their own interest in a particular line of work rather than if there’s the buyer for it. What I suggest here leans to the ikigai principle; think audience first. It may be useful to think about leveraging your own vehicles for getting your writing out rather than relying on traditionally important publications, whose influence and presence is changing (some might even say, diminishing) every day.

NIAMH: I find that working on my own can be quite isolating and can lead to what I call ‘The Vortex.’ The Vortex happens after I’ve been alone for a couple of hours, deep into a draft. When I sit back and read over the draft, I swiftly spiral into The Vortex, thinking ‘This is the biggest load of schlop I’ve ever written’ and then it’s a quick mental descent from there, plunging further into The Vortex.

That’s when it’s time to leave the house or wherever you’re working from. Go outside, touch a tree, pet an animal. Going to the Big Tesco in my area makes me feel normal again. Something about all the shiny and colourful things everywhere help to reset my mind.

SEAN: Find some work that pays you well in another field whilst you develop your skills. Trust your passion. Experiment. Learn how to make short form social video to promote your work - for inspiration: see Sophia Galer Smith and Taylor Lorenz at the talking video’s end of the spectrum and Polyester Zine at the voice over b-roll end of things. If any title or org takes more than 30 days to pay, learn your rights, add interest, call them out to warn others. Value your work and collectivise if you need to.