July 19, 99

THE PERKS OF A MUSIC CRITIC

I' ve been reviewing albums since early 1997 when I started in my first magazine job as Managing Editor of RUSH. Truthfully, it's one of the wonderful little perks of being in the press...

See, unlike other editors who get passed little envelopes filled with cash at presscons so that the artist of the presscon will be featured in the editor's column/section/newspaper/mag, I am a nobody in the eyes of publicists. They won't suck up to me and ask if I can write about their "alaga".

But on the other hand, I've established enough of a rapport with most of the recording companies here to be able to confidently call them up and say:
"Hey, gimme some CDs to review for the mags I'm writing for."

Presto. Free music for the music junkie.

Of course, I have to make an effort to feature EVERY album I get. At the very least make sure there's an effort to get music fit for the market of the mag I'm writing it for.... hence B*Witched for CANDY mag, RED HOT + RIO for Cosmopolitan Philippines, New Radicals for PREVIEW maybe...

In some mags, I hear, the editors make you return the CDs to them after reviewing. IN my case, I get to keep them since I am usually the one who personally follows up the recording companies... and the editorial staff only needs the album covers for the publication. Excellent arrangement, I must say.

Nothing beats this afternoon I walked home with 15 new CDs in my bag, most of them from artists I liked.... Heaven.

So my advice to you is this: if you like music, find your way into a situation where you can review albums for publications.

Sure beats having to pinch your pennies when you walk into a Tower Records outlet.

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