PopMatters
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| URL | www.popmatters.com |
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| Type of site | Zine / Blog |
| Available language(s) | English |
| Owner | Sarah Zupko |
| Created by | Sarah Zupko |
| Launched | Autumn, 1999 |
| Current status | Active |
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater, visual arts, travel, and the Internet.[1]
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[edit] History
PopMatters was founded by Sarah Zupko, who had previously established the cultural studies academic resource site PopCultures.com. PopMatters launched in the fall of 1999 as a sister site providing original essays, reviews and criticism of various media products. Over time, the site went from a weekly publication schedule to a five-day-a-week magazine format, expanding into regular reviews, features, and columns. In the fall of 2005, monthly readership exceeded one million.
From 2006 onward, PopMatters produced several syndicated newspaper columns for McClatchy-Tribune. As of 2009, there are four different pop culture related columns each week.
PopMatters published four books in a series with Counterpoint/Soft Skull in 2008-2009 including "China Underground" by Zachary Mexico, "Apocalypse Jukebox: The End of the World in American Popular Music" by Edward Whitelock and David Janssen, "Rebels Wit Attitude: Subversive Rock Humorists" by Iain Ellis, and "The Solitary Vice: Against Reading" by Mikita Brottman.
[edit] Staff
While PopMatters doesn't actually employ writers, it does publish content from contributors located around the globe, based in six continents and numerous countries. Its staff includes writers from various backgrounds, ranging from academics and professional journalists to career professionals and first time writers. Many of its writers are published authorities in various fields of study.[2]
PopMatters also currently hosts an ever-growing number of blogs, including:
- "Sound Affects," a music criticism blog edited by Sarah Zupko;
- "Moving Pixels," a look at video game arts by G. Christopher Williams;
- "Peripatetic Postcards," a travel blog by Todd Joseph Miles Holden (tjm Holden);
- "Marginal Utility," essays on consumer culture by Rob Horning;
- "Crazed by the Music," discussions about and examinations of the music-business by Jason Gross;
- "Short Ends and Leader," a multi-faceted film blog by Bill Gibron;
- "Graphically Speaking," all things involving comics and graphic fiction, edited by shathley Q;
- "Notes from the Road," live event coverage, edited by Kevin Pearson;
- "Re:Print," discussion of everything books, edited by Nikki Tranter.
