The history of music journalism dates back to the 18th century, when classical music reigned supreme. Publications at the time were mere recounts of performances, acting as summaries for those who weren't able to attend. Over the years, it's evolved into a multifaceted craft with niche sub-sections that each boast their own crop of domain experts. From reviews to features to oral histories, contemporary music reportage now comes in various forms.

Launched in 2001 as an independent, Australia-oriented site, Resident Advisor has become a leading name in electronic music journalism that has been shaped and informed by developments in local scenes. That's why, for the last feature in our special 21st anniversary coverage, we're shining a light on publications that are pillars of their respective communities. Each one of these platforms is independent, focusing on a particular region with specialised, scene-specific coverage. As community is a central component of RA's 21st birthday celebrations, there's no better time to honour the grassroots periodicals that continue to raise the bar for music journalism and inspire our team of writers and editors.

The Wild City

India's electronic music landscape has exploded in recent years as more homegrown collectives and artists establish parties, festivals and labels centred around local artists. What used to be a scene reliant on international bookings to draw crowds is now looking more inwards–a transition that The Wild City helped spearhead. Founded in 2011 by Munbir and Sarah Chawla, who also run Magnetic Fields Festival, the online magazine flies the flag high for music journalism in South Asia via in-depth interviews, news, reviews and features.

"Our effort has always been to not just represent the underground but also inform it," says editor Amaan Khan. "We keep a finger on the on-ground movements and conversations, look to our network of other tastemakers and early adopters, and, on better days, even dig into the corners of SoundCloud to find the odd producer that may not be getting connected to the prominent and sometimes insular communities of metro cities." Run with a community spirit, coverage is largely determined by the tastes of team members and their inclination to document future-facing stories and subcultures that are absent in mainstream media. "Consequently, we have been the first ones to talk about artists and cultural movers and shakers before they crossed over to the popular masses," adds Khan.

As a means of acquiring additional revenue to fund its editorial section, The Wild City expanded to become an events brand. But as Khan explains, that often raises editorial challenges. "We try to be selective with regards to which campaign we take on and don’t include any publicity content that we wouldn’t cover otherwise. That is to ensure there are no conflicts of interest in our coverage and it remains sincere and honest and relevant to our readership."

The site has been instrumental to growing the portfolios of up-and-coming writers, but it's always on the hunt for new voices. "In an ideal world, we’d have the resources to employ a diverse team of content creators and managers," Khan notes. "More writers/creators mean a wider taste reflected in the coverage … beyond what gets received in the inbox and what a few team members come across and have bandwidth to cover."

With South Asian music culture now vastly different from when The Wild City first launched, the team is currently reevaluating its content offerings. "Everything is still under discussion, but so far, our plans include amping up the quality at the cost of quantity and focus more on wider conversations," Khan outlines. "Emphasis will also be given to how the content is propagated, so we are connecting with the newer crop of readers." At the end of the day though, the publication isn't going anywhere. Transformation might be underway but it still remains sorely needed in a region where alternative music remains confined to upper and middle-class demographics. "Publications and journalists of wider music in India have to vie for a limited audience," Khan states. "And we need resources to make sure there is a diverse group of voices curating a publication without compromising on quality and integrity by chasing clicks or sponsorships."

Norient

Frustrated with exoticised coverage of emerging music markets, Norient was inaugurated in 2002 as a means of delivering authentic stories about artists outside of Western Europe and North America. What started as a website has since expanded into a label, festival, audio-visual gallery, publishing house and agency that has consistently shone a light on the intersection of politics, sound and socio-political issues.

The name Norient means no Orientalism, explains founder and director Thomas Burkhalter. "When I started, Western media would always see the developing world through the eyes of tradition; they always wanted to focus on the traditional instruments, the exotic things," he describes, noting how the majority of media used to view Africa, Asia, the Middle East and South America through the lens of the generic designation "world music." Burkhalter, however, says his core interest was "to see what kind of music comes out of these places."

Based in Switzerland with a global network of writers under its belt, Norient no longer exclusively focuses on emerging economies, but it remains committed to showcasing underrepresented voices across the world. The core team consists of just five people who work part-time. Despite its humble workforce, Norient has secured major accomplishments. An early promoter of subcultural goings-ons, it helped open doors for several of its artists. These include rapper and bounce artist Big Freedia from New Orleans, who performed at the platform's 2013 festival and is now featured on Beyoncé’s "Break My Soul," as well as South African MC Dope Saint Jude, who was part of the 2017 festival and had a track featured on the Netflix show Inventing Anna.

"Over the past twenty years, we've gotten more non-European, non-American writers to write for us but now we're trying to do the same for curation, to have people outside of the West handle our podcasts and festivals," Burkhalter explains. "We're trying to find a balance on how to spread the power of decision-making, which brings some challenges in terms of finding the right people, time and money." Being a passion project means Norient is constantly finding ways to work around limited budgets. "We're quite often on the brink where we are not sure if we can continue," Burkhalter says.

A veteran anthropologist, ethnomusicologist, AV artist and writer, Burkhalter has witnessed many positive changes in music media over the years and still believes there's a lot to be done. "I just hope that there will be enough music journalists and researchers who really take the time to go deep on stories and not only publish pieces that are timed to the market and releases," he says. "I also wish for music journalism platforms to support each other and feature each other's content on our respective pages."

Love Injection Fanzine

A time capsule of New York City nightlife, this print zine has been covering local club culture since 2015 with a focus on veterans, newcomers and behind-the-scenes players past and present. Founders and romantic partners Paul Raffaele and Barbie Bertisch, who run a label by the same name, are well-rounded vinyl and audio enthusiasts who have unwittingly become music historians, capturing underground developments with a tenacity that puts most reporters to shame. Their top priorities include documenting artists and collectives that are ageing out as well as lesser-known names who contributed massively to the scene but never received their due.

"What’s encouraging to us is that our list of subjects we’re interested in is as long today as it was when we started," the duo describe. "In the beginning, our coverage was heavy on legacy and the historical side of dance music, but as time went on, we got really inspired by younger communities so we now have a balance of newer and legacy names."

Influenced by RBMA's print newspaper Daily Note, which ran throughout the 2013 edition of the Red Bull Music Academy in New York, the zine was born as a way to fill crucial gaps in mainstream music media. "At that time, nobody was covering dance music in a zine format anymore, and I had always admired the local tone and freedom of punk and techno zines of the '90s like Under One Sky by Heather Heart and Adam X, promotional zines and newsletters like Mixmaster by Michael Gomes or the Vinylmaniac by Judy Russell and Manny Lehman," says Raffaele. "Most dance music press at the time focused on the hot European producers/DJs of the moment. I thought a lot about how the parties I went to and the people I looked up to, peers and pioneers alike, were not being covered."

In an age where media is consumed by engagement metrics, the duo unapologetically cover what they want, making the zine a product of their own musical appetite. Both DJ and hold day jobs, which grant them a degree of financial freedom to highlight their interests instead of what's trending. But as with any DIY project, especially one run by just two people, there's no shortage of challenges. "Distribution has been tricky," Raffaele and Bertisch say. "We’re not premium enough to be a 'magazine,' but not DIY enough to be a 'zine,' so people don’t know where to place us. We’ve previously worked with two of the bigger record distributors in Europe, but the relationships have unfortunately fizzled out–most likely because of the low profit margins and high cost of shipping from the US. It’s important for us to keep the zine as cheap as possible, so we’ll stick to that and wait for someone who sees value in helping us distribute it."

The zine prides itself as being an educational resource to punters and participants in inter-borough dance music, so even when time and budgets get constrained, there's never a question of stopping. "When money becomes an issue, we scale back in a way that still respects the commitment that we’ve made to continue doing this. Maybe we do black and white printing rather than colour, lower the page count, skip a month here and there. What’s most important is that we continue to do it."

Scene Noise

It's no secret that some of the world's most exciting club music comes from the Middle East. From mahraganat—a popular genre of Egyptian street music—to experimental hip-hop, the region's sonic palette is constantly evolving as more hybrid styles emerge. Cairo-based digital magazine Scene Noise has been chronicling each phenomenon over the years through reviews, features, news, videos and their own events that aim to elevate locals, acting as a unifying link between the region's disparate scenes.

"Genres like underground rap or shaabi [Egyptian folk music] weren't given any spotlight, so to be one of the first digital publications to capture all of these nuanced movements was something that we realised early on will be really important for the music scene," says founder and managing partner Timmy Mowafi. He notes how several careers have been launched thanks to the site–the best outcome a music publication can hope for. "If you ask any DJ or electronic producer in Egypt, and probably across the region what their first interview was, it was probably with us."

Part of MO4 Network, a family-run media entity and creative agency with no external investors, Scene Noise initially launched in 2013 as a section on CairoScene, one of MO4 Network's many publications. By late 2017, it became its own website, expanding its purview to the entire Middle East rather than just Egypt. Back in the day, "people weren't really talking about local artists," says Mowafi. "People would get excited about international artists coming to Egypt but no one got excited about the local scene so we started Scene Noise as a way to showcase what's happening at home." Its impact on the regional circuit is evident. "When people start seeing other Egyptians or other people in the region doing things online, it inspires them to start their own movement rather than waiting for attention from international platforms," Mowafi continues. "Since we launched, we're seeing more people adopt this DIY attitude."

Being part of a bigger company means Scene Noise has access to more financial resources than its peers—and it also raises certain editorial challenges. "Balancing crowd-pleasing artists with more niche, underground names is a continuous conversation between myself and my partners, who are looking at the site with more of a commercial focus," says Mowafi. "The way I see it is that if we cover big names like Solomon coming to Egypt, that will get people on our site and reading about lesser-known names." One thing all partners agree on is ensuring content stays clickbait-free. "We avoid the fluff pieces and try to focus on the music and culture side of things, I think that's something that's given us a lot of integrity over the years."

Despite falling under MO4 Network's umbrella, sourcing writers remains a perennial pitfall for the team. "If you're a music publication, you really want to have your core team be super passionate and knowledgeable about the scene," Mowafi explains. "We often get writers who are party animals who don't respect deadlines, or they're artists who often leave to pursue their own careers. It's hard finding people who are passionate about both ethical journalism and music so it is difficult to sustain writers within this space."

Pan African Music (PAM)

A central component of music journalism is contextualising sounds. Learning about an artist's production process, political atmosphere and software is often paramount to understanding their intentions and mood. Since its inception in 2017, PAM has prioritised socioeconomic and historical details in its portrayal of contemporary and older music from the African diaspora. From Kenya's metal scene to West Africa's endangered bird songs, the website investigates fringe genres through a holistic lens, including key background factors whenever relevant.

"There are a lot of emergent scenes that are not fully documented, so when a new movement comes around, like cruise beats in Nigeria, it's not readily available on major streaming platforms and the economic, social and technological background can be overlooked," explains publication director Julien Kourbatoff. "There are also so many connections to be made between contemporary music from the continent, the history and international trends, so we wanted to explore that with PAM." Its origins are similar to the other journalism ventures in this feature. Kourbatoff notes how detailed coverage and information about the continent's music history was largely lacking in earlier years, with the exception of OkayAfrica and occasional articles by majors such as Pitchfork, the New York Times and the Washington Post.

Based in France, it works with creatives in South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Senegal, Mali, Sudan and Zimbabwe, among other countries, to ensure its storytelling is authentic. "We want to nurture emergent scenes and independent artists early in their careers with in-depth journalism that can help audiences understand their story," Kourbatoff says. "We also want to be a digital archive of the great stories and perspectives on Africa's musical heritage from Fela Kuti to Papa Wemba and lesser-known figures like Kenya's Esther John or hiplife pioneer Panji Anoff."

PAM is part of IDOL, an independent digital music distributor, but it still faces complicated finances. Kourbatoff and his team are constantly chasing external partners, funds, grants, subsidies, foundations and brands that can help the site diversify its content.

Still, it remains a critical outlet concentrated on African artists and sees itself as a bridge between the African continent and the world. "We have a role in exposing Western markets to African music to help spread movements from Afrobeats to gqom to gengetone [hip-hop]," Kourbatoff continues. "If artists can get some streams off our playlists, if we can manage to continue building teams of local journalists and videographers, have a referential piece for an artist's career, or be a hub that helps the world understand its own music history, that’s the impact we’re looking for."