Stereogum soldiers in the age of streaming and artificial intelligence

If you’re an indie rock fan of a certain age, this is the name Stereogum It is likely to evoke strong emotions. The site was launched on January 1, 2002, on a whim, said the site’s founder, Scott Lapatin. Edge. Originally, the focus was almost entirely on this early staple of the music blogging era Discover music And publish MP3 files. “It was the early days of Windows Media Player and Real Player,” Scott recalls. Today, the site focuses on music journalism and has just relaunched to keep pace with a media landscape sweeping by artificial intelligence.

Lapatin has been with Stereogum From the beginning, he watched the world of music and media rapidly change around him. Although he sold the site in 2006 and watched it change hands several times in the following years, he bought it back from the previous owner in 2020, making it the most popular bastion of independent music journalism online.

After nearly 24 years, the site is making some of the most significant changes since it stopped hosting MP3 files. Some of these changes, like the new backend, are largely invisible to readers, but Lapatin says the new site loads faster and has fewer errors. The site has undergone a facelift, with a dark mode, and is shifting its focus towards subscriptions.

Clearly, Lapatin says, “the biggest change is live streaming.” Stereogum He predates Spotify by several years, so the novelty of posting a song, which you probably can’t hear anywhere else, was enough to help him build a strong following. “In the early days, it was like the rule was no interviews and nothing else,” he says. “Now I have a team of professional music writers, so there’s a lot more context and insight.”

What prompted the site’s recent revamp, however, was not streaming music platforms, but was largely driven by artificial intelligence. “Google’s shift to AI search cut our ad revenue by 70 percent. Before that, deprioritizing links on Facebook and A post announcing the relaunch of the site. Even beyond the general outlook, Lapatin argues that AI reduces the usefulness of these platforms. Every time he logs on to Facebook, he says he’s bombarded with videos, “like Ozzy coming back from the dead and hugging a little girl. It’s hard to believe that these platforms are allowing themselves to become garbage dumps.”

He was also clear in our interview that while he is sure that AI has its place, that place does not exist Stereogum. “I’ve never used it for anything creative and none of our writers have used it for anything like newsgathering or writing,” he said. “It’s certainly annoying to compete with AI-generated articles…but it’s true.”

Like many other outlets, Stereogum It is shifting towards a subscription-focused model. (Edge Launched its own Subscribe (Program in December of 2024.) As ad revenue dried up and AI overviews crushed search traffic, many sites looked to their dedicated fan base to help keep them afloat. There’s been some limited backlash, Lapatin says, but “we hope our audience understands that, to get what they feel is unique from Stereogum, you know, they need our support.”

He points out that while people have become accustomed to getting everything online for free over the past 25 years, people are accustomed to paying for music magazines. In the 90s, you had to go into a store and pay for a copy of CMJ New Music Monthly. Stereogum It will still offer some content for free, but “there’s a certain percentage of readers that we need to pay to survive. We need to pay our writers,” Lapatin says.

He knows there are a lot of places competing for your subscription dollar these days. Websites, podcasts, and subreddits are all shifting to a paid subscription model. “We think there’s a future for music writing done by humans, and to be clear, there are a lot of places doing it,” Lapatin says. “There are like great newsletters and other independent sites.” But he points out that many of the major music publications are owned by giant conglomerates. He doesn’t think those outlets are always at the forefront. “I think a lot of people don’t realize that the amount of music journalism they see these days is paid for secretly or isn’t done fairly.”

Lapatin says his goal has always been to work transparently. He wants Stereogum To feel like talking to a friend who goes to shows and telling you about the cool stuff on Bandcamp. Ultimately, he wants to build a connection with readers, help them find good music, and do it with personality. And that human element is key because, he says, “I never discovered anyone from the world Algorithm“.