Recently, Facebook decided to ban Australians from sharing or viewing any news articles on their platform, and in the process banned a wave of media publications’ pages while they were at it. It’s an ugly battle between the Australia government and Facebook regarding the country’s proposed bargaining call, which you can read about here.
Caught in the crossfire, however, were a lot of pages by companies that aren’t considered to be general news – such as music publications, charities and even Turntable Thoughts’ Facebook page (for a time). A heavy blow was dealt to the Australian music journalism scene due to the click-heavy nature of the platform and how much ad revenue was lost from it.
Given that Turntable Thoughts wouldn’t even exist without of the influence of these blogs, I’ve decided to compile a list of my favourites down below. These are all sites that have influenced and taught me in one way or another. So go subscribe to their newsletters, follow their socials and give them all the support you can!
Also, here’s a more comprehensive list of independent Australian music publications from the good people over at Purple Sneakers.
Cool Accidents
Website | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Tik Tok | Mailing List
Cool Accidents was the first publication to commission one of my pitches (along with 2(!) more) so I may have a vested interest in seeing them grow. Though the reason I did pitch to them in the first place was because of how much my musical interests aligned with theirs.
A large part of my early writing career was based on the writing that I’d read off the site. It’s embarrassing to admit but a lot of my early content was based heavily on Cool Accidents’ own content. So if you’re a fan of my stuff, then you owe it to yourself to check them out!
Ben Madden (benmadden.net)
Website | Twitter | Instagram | Tik Tok | Mailing List
Speaking of Cool Accidents, I wouldn’t have gotten as confident in my writing as I have without the help of their staff writer – Ben Madden.
Over on his blog, he covers new/underappreciated artists at a breakneck pace (literally one per day) and through his writing I’ve been put on to way more Australian artists recently than I can count. What I love about his work is how Ben is able to concisely recount an artist’s journey, instantly bringing me up to speed on where they are in life and what brought them to this point in their career (eg: a recent favourite of mine).
He’s also given me a lot personal advice on how to bring my writing to the next level. So not only is Ben a great writer, he’s also an all-around solid bloke. Go show the guy some love and support!
Music Junkee
Website | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Tik Tok
Whenever I think of Music Junkee, the first word that comes to mind is “intimidating”. Not in a bad way though! It’s just that I’ve always been so impressed by the quality put out by the publication that I can’t help by measure myself to their standards.
Take this Lana Del Rey career analysis for example. Reading it for the first time felt like I stumbled across a treasure trove filled with loot whose value I could barely comprehend, all I knew is that I had uncovered a level of writing and contextual study that I can only hope to reach one day (which would also mean I’d stop relying less on awkward metaphors lol).
Go give their writing lots of love and attention!
Pilerats
Website | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Mailing List
It blows my mind how Pilerats is largely run by a single person (although I could be wrong so don’t quote me on this). So, I have a huge amount of admiration for the work that Hayden Davies puts out.
Covering music from all over the world, Turntable Thoughts covers music on the same scale but thoroughly lacks the work ethic that the team behind Pilerats has. The blog’s scale is impressive and the quality of writing in it only deepens my respect for the publication.
Have a read of their article and be sure to sign up for their newsletter!
Turntable Thoughts 