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Music Reporting with Rebecca Rankin
Host/Videographer "RapidFAX", MuchMusic
Rebecca wrote this section
for SNN while she was a host/videographer for "RapidFAX"
at MuchMusic. In August 1999, she made the move to VH-1
, the American music channel, where she's a journalist on the
show The Daily One.
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MuchMusic has a pretty relaxed approach to the traditional rules
of "journalism" but that is not to say that we take
our interviews any less seriously. In fact, the conversational
style that we use to conduct interviews means that we actually
have to know the subject matter -- and the subject -- all that
more thoroughly. That means that the who, what, when, where and
how questions are often not enough. If an artist has a passion
or outside interest, or even an adamant dislike for something,
we have to know about it because THAT is the information that
makes for great interviews. |
 Rebecca
Rankin shares her perspective on music journalism. |
All that said, it can be difficult to read into an artist
or a group if you only have CD and biography in front of you.
Other press interviews are good to read but never fall into the
trap of stealing other people's questions.
Instead, research should be based around trying to think about
what the audience would really be interested in and that means
staying away from the obvious.
Here is a short list of how I would prepare for an interview:
- LISTEN to the cd and read the lyrics in the liner notes if
they are available. Liner notes offer amazing insight into artists:
Who do they thank? Do the lyrics make sense or do they just use
words that happen to rhyme? What art work or pictures do they
use? Who produced the album? And who actually wrote the songs?
Pay particular attention to guest appearances. For example, if
Oasis lists another artist on one of the songs, you can bet they
have a bit of a relationship and that is interesting.
- Take a look at other press that they've done and tv interviews.
But don't take this too seriously because people act differently
with every interviewer and every day is different.
- Write down some stock questions -- basic obvious ones. Then
come up with two or three things that are a little different.
Stock questions are ones that you could ask basically anyone
and ones that are out of the ordinary are ones that YOU want
to know after doing your research.
- Always look at the videos (past and present) of the artists
you're interested in and check into who directed them. Perhaps
the artist directed the videos themselves and that opens up a
whole other can of worms.
- Be prepared to let the artist go off on a tangent and even
encourage it if they get on to an interesting topic. This is
becomes a little tricky because the audience wants to know what
they think not you. So do lots of nodding but try not to talk
over them.
- Finally, relax. Just have a conversation. Don't kiss up to
the artist but try not to offend them either. It will all work
out, believe me, IF they like you. If they don't, it always makes
for good t-v, so you really can't go wrong.
Good luck! I can testify that journalism is a really rewarding
career if you're a curious person. I've always been very interested
in others people especially if they have a reputation for being
difficult - what made them this way anyway?!
See ya,
Rebecca Rankin
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