Member Since: 11/13/2011
Posts: 8,525
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NPR Exposes Billboards Shady Antics
Quote:
Billboard magazine used to be known as "the bible of the music business," a trade publication trusted for its straightforward analysis of industry trends. But an anonymous questionnaire that leaked online last Thursday has some readers questioning Billboard's journalistic skills and integrity.
The magazine regularly solicits reflections from music business executives. At the end of 2013, Billboard's industry survey included such sober questions as "What was the most important/influential/impactful event to happen in the music business [this year], and why?"
But many of the queries in the magazine's current survey, which was conducted via Google Doc and was meant to be seen by "a select group of top music-industry executives," read more as attempts at score-settling rather than paths to generating genuine reporting leads. Questions include "Who is the most devious executive in the music industry?" and "Which artist's private behavior belies his/her sterling public persona?"
The survey was taken down on Thursday after the deadline for responding had passed, but captures of its contents are circulating online.
An introduction to the questionnaire states that Billboard plans to publish the answers in the Sept. 19 issue of the magazine. This comes at a time when Billboard continues to attempt to rebrand itself into a music hub for consumers, with an ear for gossip.
Some of the survey's questions — and the often snarky tone with which they are presented — have generated particular consternation and ire, especially this one:
"Who do you believe:
Kesha
Dr. Luke"
The implied subject is a lawsuit the pop star Kesha originally filed in 2014 against her longtime producer Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald, which alleges that Gottwald sexually abused her; Gottwald filed a countersuit charging that the singer attempted to extort him in order to leave her contract. In essence, Billboard is surveying the court of semi-public opinion to weigh in on the claims, which include sexual assault. As the London-based industry website Music Business Worldwide put it, "Billboard is casually asking music execs to guess if a woman was abused."
Read the rest here
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Shameful tbh.
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