A new era for digital media continues to evolve with the launch of Hearing Things, a new “worker-owned music and culture platform” in the vein of Defector and Aftermath. This new digital magazine was founded by Andy Cush, Ryan Dombal, Julianne Escobedo Shepherd, Dylan Green, and Jill Mapes, five former staffers and writers from Pitchfork who came together to form something new after mass layoffs and restructuring at Condé Nast earlier this year. Hearing Things was created to be “a bulwark against the bullshit” and give its contributors “the freedom and expertise to delve into the art we love (or absolutely do not love!) in a way that furthers the conversation instead of just regurgitating it,” according to the site’s mission statement.
Hearing Things will have album and song reviews in addition to investigative reporting or more “second day pieces” rather than a traditional news section, Dombal tells The A.V. Club. Readers can also expect more live event reviews, because “that’s where a lot of music fans are really spending their money now. Probably way too much money in some places,” he says, pointing to a piece by Cush about the ongoing Ticketmaster issues. “[There’s] not a ton of… critical writing about live shows,” he adds. “So we felt like that was a nice place to kind of step in and be like: Is this concert enjoyable, is it worth the money?”
The founders are focused on building a community around Hearing Things. One of the early subscription perks is commenting, which is an attempt to “bring it back to basics” so that the writers can “talk to people who really care about what we’re doing.” Proposed future perks include virtual listening parties and even in-person events in New York like Q&As with artists and music writers. “[It] seems like a kind of a quaint idea, but I feel like that intentionality is really missing for music,” Dombal explains. “And we want to bring that back, and meet like-minded people at the same time.”
Moving forward, the founders of Hearing Things envision publishing digital cover stories and perhaps even putting their work in print: “some sort of zine-y element that we could take some of the best stuff from the site and put out in a physical form,” Dombal shares. But for now, they’re focused on “trying to build up this audience of like minded folks that… see us as people and not necessarily just like this institution from on high. We’ll be doing the writing on the site, but we also wanna be approachable,” Dombal says, “and have people feel like they can get to know us, get to know our tastes and our style also.” You can check out the new site here.