• by Steve Smith  @popeyesm, January 13, 2012

What can you say about the latest Raya Brass Band, Shakira or Ladysmith Black Mambazo music releases in 140 characters or less? Well, it goes something like this: “Two disks of South African a cappella suggest you CAN have too many friends (Ladysmith Black Mambazo). Or, “If the Streets’ Mike Skinner chugged drugs at a rave and tried to save the world with metal (Shakira). Or, “Bouncy, punchy, throbby NYC accordion/drums/horns raise Balkan bathhouse ruckus” (Raya Brass Band).

That is what will pass for most album reviews from SPIN as the magazine brand moves the bulk of its music reviewing to Twitter @SPINReviews. The SPIN staff announced this week that it hopes to cover more than 1500 releases this year alone by reducing the traditionally long-winded and adjective-laden album review to a 140-character burst of evaluation. The aim is to cover more music, with the existing staff of eight in-house reviewers and a dozen freelancers, the company announced.

More to the point, SPIN says its new approach is a response to the democratization of evaluation on the Internet and the new channels of distribution. “The value of the average rock critic’s opinion has plummeted now that a working knowledge of Google can get you high-quality audio of any record, so you can listen and decide for yourself whether it’s worth a damn,” Senior Editor Christopher Weingarten writes. He argues that a considered 140-character blurb often can be as revealing as a 1000-word review, and likely more fun to read. They say that the new policy allows the magazine and site to keep readers apprised of most new releases, but focus their deeper critical efforts on about 20 albums each month that will get the full treatment in a new section called SPIN Essentials.  

SPIN has gone through a series of editorial changes in the last year. In June, Editor in Chief Doug Brod and Publisher Malcolm Campbell both left the company as Jeff Rogers joined as digital general manager. New editors, including Weingarten, have been brought on. The company has been emphasizing a cross-platform strategy. Its mobile apps -- especially the iPad SPIN Play -- have proven very popular. Meanwhile, the print magazine will be reducing its frequency from monthly to bimonthly with a reduction in rate base from 450,000 to 350,000.