We’re looking for informed, savvy, music-loving writers to publish reviews, essays, interviews, and more with PopMatters. We will consider the applications of all music writers with a deep love of music and knowledge of its history. Our writers come from all walks of life and we look for talent more than past publication experience, although that certainly doesn’t hurt.
PopMatters, est. 1999, publishes for posterity, and our work is indexed by the ProQuest Database, so the articles published on PopMatters may be referenced by future readers and academics through libraries worldwide.
Writers take on what their time and interests allow, but once a requested assignment is agreed to, an article is expected. We are particularly looking for people that plan to contribute a few times a month or more.
Album reviews are at least 500 words and go beyond a mere run-down of tracks or simple yes/no judgment, working instead to provide smart cultural analysis aimed at a sophisticated reader fluent in music culture — and again, with a mind toward PopMatters‘ future readers. Track/video reviews for Mixed Media are 150-200 words.
Music essays (min., 1,200 words, no max.) provide writers the opportunity to approach a variety of music topics, past and present, from any number of angles.
We also welcome playful “lists”, e.g., The 100 Best Post-Punk Songs; Ranking the R.E.M. albums, and we’d love to hear your ideas for lists.
Whether revisiting music that has been unjustly forgotten or ignored, critically analyzing the catalog of a particular artist, or doing a cultural study of a particular theme, our feature essays provide writers with the opportunity to showcase their talent to an international, media-savvy audience of more than 1 million unique readers monthly (and growing).
If interested, please apply via Submittable. Describe your background, and include two recent music-related writing samples, as well as a list of your 10 favorite albums of the year.
Please use the subject line: PopMatters Music Application
Note: PopMatters is a wholly independent magazine of cultural criticism, est. 1999. Our mission is to educate readers and document our period on the cultural timeline. We publish for posterity. PopMatters is a highly respected magazine because of its ideals and its fine writers and editorial staff. However, such high ideals are not monetarily rewarded in today’s publishing climate. For this reason, we can offer you an excellent publishing platform for your quality work and our social media efforts – but for now, we are unable to pay you for your articles. Even the editors are currently volunteering their time. We are presently a 100% volunteer organization with all advertising revenue supporting our basic expenses. Writers retain ownership of their copyright on articles, so they can use them for books and other projects. Their essays are indexed in ProQuest, as PopMatters is educational in our mission.