Decline of Music Journalism Highlighted at Hard Working Class Heroes Convention

Music critic Jessica Hopper.

Decline of Music Journalism Highlighted at Hard Working Class Heroes Convention

Over 100 artists and bands will perform over three days.

A seminar on music journalism titled ‘Will the Last Music Journalist Out Please Turn Off the Lights?’ will feature as part of this year’s Hard Working Class Heros Convention on 1–3 October. 

Featuring Jessica Hopper, Senior Editor at Pitchfork and author of The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic, Hugh McIntyre of Forbes, Dev Sherlock from Hype Machine and Blaithnaid Healy from Mashable, the speakers will discuss their work and what they think the future holds for music journalism.

The HWCH Convention, which takes place at the National Digital Resource Centre in Dublin, will also include discussions on state funding for bands, with contributions from Ciarán Walsh of Culture Ireland and Mark Crossingham of Universal Ireland, an interview with Rob Hallett, the former president of international touring at AEG, a workshop on video-making with Brendan Canty, and a discussion called ‘The Artists Talk Back’ with speakers including Michael Pope of Le Galaxie.

Hard Working Class Heroes main focus over the three days is the over 100 performances by emerging Irish artists, which take place in a variety of venues throughout Dublin including The Workman’s Club, MercantileThe AcademyBad BobsThe Grand Social and Hangar

This year’s line-up includes Lilla Vargen, Anderson, Ryan O’Shaughnessy, Third Smoke, Róisín O, Jennifer Evans, Buffal Sunn, Katie Laffan, The CEO Experiment, Not Monsters, Miles Graham, We Raise Bears, Rusangano Family, Inni-K, Sinéad White and The Journals.

Also this year, a HWCH tech focus will give a number of start-up music companies the opportunity to pitch their ideas and receive mentoring, and there will be demonstrations from Firstage, PressRecord, Muddy, Beatvyne and Cirquit.

Organised by First Music Contact, this is the thirteenth year of Hard Working Class Heroes which has previously featured the Delorentos, The Coronas, Fight Like Apes, Villagers, Lisa O’Neill and Hozier.

For more, visit www.hwch.net

Published on 16 September 2015

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