Joe Muggs

Learn more about Joe and his work via his Instagram.

How's everything going for you at the moment?

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.

What are the main challenges you're facing?

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, just in time for my income from places like Mixmag and RA, whose money came from events ads, to dry up). 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 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. We’re also trying to keep theartsdesk.com afloat, after 15 years, it’s do or die time to make it profitable and future-proofed, we’ve done a crowd-fund which has been great so far, but now we’ve got to shit or get off the pot with the redesign and marketing. Uncertainty, uncertainty, uncertainty….

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

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.

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

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.

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

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. And although I’m very sensitive to rejection or failure, I quickly learned to build coping mechanisms on that front, learning that most people don’t care about my failures, and cultivating above all a reminder to myself that “those as don’t ask, don’t get.

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

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**.

How could music writers be supported more... especially within the arts/music?

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.

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

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.

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?

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…..

Any advice for emerging freelance writers?

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.”