If you think that you can’t write for music magazines just because you can’t play the guitar or the violin, you would be wrong. Most writers for music magazines are mere aficionados of music, and are not necessarily musically inclined. In fact, some music publications prefer non-professionals as they can talk to a layman audience without condescension.
Writing for music magazines requires only two things: The ability to write and a fondness for music, regardless of the specifics. It is commonly thought that music magazines cater exclusively to instrumentalists, but this isn’t always the case. Singers, songwriters, performance artists, music teachers and even sound technicians are great audiences for the music-driven writer.
Biographical Sketches
One of the best ways to make a living writing for music magazines is to write biographical sketches. This means learning everything you can about a particular musician — from a rock star to a piano teacher — and writing a sketch based on their expertise, philosophy and methods. The great thing about biographical sketches is that you don’t have to conduct an actual interview, though it’s a plus.
How-To Music Articles
Whether you’re an accomplished musician or just a dabbler in some of the smaller stuff, music magazines are always looking for writers who can deliver how-to articles. Even if you aren’t a musician at all, you can write an article about how to appreciate Beethoven or how to enjoy your child’s piano recital. Music magazines typically like how-to articles with carefully defined steps so that their readers can follow your explanations with ease.
Music reviews can be found in all kinds of magazines, but music magazines tend to run more than all of the others combined. Your best bet in this arena is to locate magazines specializing in the type of music you like, whether it’s classical or heavy metal. Write your reviews from an objective standpoint with as much information about the band or artist as possible.
Instrument Reviews
If you are a musician or a connoisseur of instruments, you might want to review different types of guitars, pianos, violins or trumpets. This can be a difficult aspect of music magazines to break into, however, because you need to have used the instrument and know why it is better or worse than others. The good news, however, is that you don’t have to buy each instrument — simply try them out at your local music store.
The final type of writing for music magazines that I want to discuss is the personal essay. In other publications, this form of writing has gone the way of the Do-Do bird, but music magazines still enjoy publishing them from time to time. Can you write a poignant essay about your first experience playing the Clarinet or a provocative piece about seeing Janis Joplin play live? If so, this might be your ticket to the music freelancing business.
