Jessica Hopper, operating under the name ‘Fan Landers’, has a fun (if occasionally brusque) new advice column at the Village Voice blog. Dealing in the main with questions from aspiring musicians, the column keys into some interesting issues amongst a fast-changing musical landscape.

If you must make a record, do it at home for cheap, throw it up on Bandcamp, and email the link around. Don’t be vain and commit effort to pressing a record for a band that doesn’t tour or draw. Maybe it’s your band’s fault, maybe you’re boring, but maybe you are awesome and it’s just wrong place wrong time. Most of the time, music is a fucking crapshoot. At best.