“EW” Editors No Longer Find Music Entertaining On A Weekly Basis

Brian Raftery | November 28, 2006 1:43 am

Conflicts galore in this post, but what the hell: Is it just us, or has Entertainment Weekly considerably downsized its music coverage this year? A few months ago, they shuttered the four-year-old Listen2This music supplement, and this week’s Gwen Stefani cover is only the third music cover of 2006; unless the Clipse are named Entertainers Of The Year in the year-end issue, this is looking to be one of the magazine’s least music-intensive runs in years* (compare it to 2003, when Bruce Springsteen, Dixie Chicks, 50 Cent, Dave Matthews, Clay Aiken and Britney Spears all landed on the cover). And while their reviews section still commands a decent-sized piece of real estate in the back of the mag, they’ve yet to find a full-time music-critic to replace David Browne, who left in April.

So what gives? Has the fracturing of the pop world made it harder to find an artist who moves copies on the newsstands? Or is EW simply letting film and TV dominate its editorial mix?

Also: Would it help things if Matthew Fox and Jessica Alba put out a doo-wop record?

* We’re not counting movie and TV tie-ins like Dreamgirls or American Idol covers–only issues in which a musician is featured for an actual album release or tour.