Journalist Spotlight | Interview with Conor Lochrie, Deputy Editor at The Brag Media

Conor Lochrie, Deputy Editor at The Brag Media, shares his journey from Glasgow to Melbourne, driven by his passion for music. He emphasizes the importance of building a strong portfolio and how joining The Brag Media propelled his career. Lochrie provides insights into his demanding role, overseeing multiple publications and managing a team of writers. He reflects on his experience as a journalist, shaping his compassionate approach as an editor. He offers advice on pitching, emphasizing the need for realistic and detailed pitches, and expresses his desire for more original content. Lochrie also discusses the impact of social media on legacy media, the resurgence of print, and the enduring appeal of publications like Rolling Stone and Variety.

Could you tell me about your start in the media industry? I understand you hail from Glasgow and I was wondering if you could speak on what brought you to these shores?

A love of local music! My dad raised me on the great Flying Nun Records bands of New Zealand: The Chills, The Bats, 3Ds. In university, I listened to a lot of The Beths, Marlon Williams, and Fazerdaze. Growing up in Glasgow, where music means so much to people (Glasgow was the UK’s first UNESCO City of Music), I wanted to experience other great music cities of the world, and few have a better global reputation than Melbourne. The city didn’t disappoint. 

I didn’t move to these shores with the intention of becoming a journalist, but I feel very lucky that my life ended up at this point. Being paid to write about Australian and New Zealand music is a privilege. I started right at the bottom, writing for local music blogs, primarily in Melbourne, before working my way up. I felt it was important to build a strong and versatile writing portfolio, so I also wrote for UK and US-based publications covering music, film, TV, and more. I mostly wrote for free during those early days, just hoping that the hard work would pay off. 

In 2020, The Brag Media took a chance on me. Poppy Reid liked my writing and so I started as a freelance news writer, before being promoted to News Editor, Music Editor, and now Deputy Editor. Joining The Brag Media completely changed the trajectory of my career.

What does your role as deputy editor for The Brag Media entail? Could you give us a sense of your day-to-day schedule/responsibilities?

It’s a demanding but very rewarding role. I work across five publications (Rolling Stone AU/NZ, Variety AU/NZ, The Music Network, Tone Deaf and The Brag) and also work on Rolling Stone’s quarterly print issues. I’m part of a vastly experienced and knowledgeable editorial team with our Head of Content, Lars Brandle, and our new Editor-in-Chief, Neil Griffiths.

It’s my job as Deputy Editor to keep all of our sites updated, ensuring we’re always growing our readership and visibility as much as possible. My day starts early, around 7 am, covering the latest global and local news. As our sites cover a wide range of topics, from the music industry to the live circuit to Hollywood to politics, our mornings are extremely busy. I then handle our extensive newsletter network, which consists of sending out newsletters to thousands of subscribers each morning. Afternoons are usually focused on editing and publishing commissioned writing, particularly long-form interview features. If there are print deadlines that week, I’ll finish my day working on our Rolling Stone magazine under the guidance of our Print Editor, James Jennings, another person who’s seen and done a lot in Australian journalism. 

You’ve worked for multiple publications, and in multiple positions, prior to your current role. How has your previous experience as a journalist helped you as an editor?

It’s important that I act as a secure link between our editorial team and our news and freelance writers. I’ve been on the opposite end of what can often be an imbalanced relationship, so I like to think that makes me a compassionate and responsible editor. I know how it feels to spend hours preparing a detailed pitch, only to not even receive a courtesy email in return. I know how it feels to have impossible deadlines sprung on you out of nowhere. And I’ve had unnecessary edits made to my writing purely to boost an editor’s ego. I think a lot of full-time journalists and editors forget how it feels like to be starting out your career, trying to find inroads into a terribly tough industry. I’ve had some great mentors throughout the past seven years, and I want to be able to fulfil the same role for younger writers/journalists.

As an editor, what would you say is the ratio of commissioned versus pitched articles that you publish? And what makes for a good pitch? What do you hope to see more of – particularly for the different publications under The Brag Media?

I’m not going to sugarcoat it: we receive hundreds of pitches each week, and we can only accept a handful at a time. For just Rolling Stone AU/NZ alone, we’re getting pitches targeted at two countries, covering 4-5 distinct topics. When you then factor in our other sites, that’s a lot of pitches to consider. I do my best to respond to each pitch that comes through my inbox, but it often takes days, even weeks to get through them all. 

I think it’s so important to be realistic in a pitch. Don’t just email telling me you’re a huge Kylie Minogue fan and you want to interview her about her new album. That’s lazy. Make it clear to me that you’re the best person to interview an artist, or cover a big story, or write for one of our publications. Don’t be afraid to tout your achievements, particularly your bylines. You’re operating in an increasingly crowded field, so you need to stand out. The more detailed a pitch is, the better. 

For publicists, do your research. We have so many current series, particularly on Rolling Stone AU/NZ, that could potentially suit your artist. If you think someone you’re working with, for example, would make a stunning Rolling Stone ‘In My Room’ session (in which an artist records 2-3 songs from a location of their choice) emphasise this in your pitch. When a PR pitch simply just requests an interview with an artist, these pitches can often be overlooked. 

We receive a lot of pitches to interview big-name artists, but I’d love to see more original, non-interview pitches this year. Stories about music communities, classic albums, underrated/cult artists, the realities of trying to make it as a musician today, etc. We’re looking to expand our political coverage on Rolling Stone AU/NZ and increase our local content on Variety AU/NZ.

Could you speak on how social media has impacted legacy media and why there is a resurgence for print? Particularly when social media influencers are dominating online spaces, why do readers keep coming back to publications like Rolling Stone, Variety, etc?

I think we need to acknowledge how impermanent the internet is. So many of my peers have spoken out about how they were let go from their writing job, only to quickly discover that their articles and features had been deleted. It’s a similar story when publications suddenly go obsolete—hundreds of thousands of articles just disappear overnight. 

I grew up reading Rolling Stone and NME magazines, and I know this is an experience cherished by so many other music fans. Artists want to be in print, not just online. I interviewed an artist in October, and when I informed them that the resulting feature was going to be a 4-5 page spread in our magazine, they were so touched. We also have a genuinely world-class design team at Rolling Stone AU/NZ. Some of our recent covers have been stunning, from our inaugural Musicians on Musicians issue to our acclaimed Wiggles cover.

Finally, what advice would you give to young writers/journalists who want to make a career within the media industry? What did you wish you knew/could change when your career was just starting out?

Again, I don’t think it would be fair to sugarcoat my answer. Journalism was a competitive, tough field when I was starting out around 2018-2019, and it’s only grown more difficult year by year. It felt like there was news of another great publication closing almost every month in 2024. 

But I would urge young writers/journalists to maintain hope. Things in our industry won’t always be this bad, I genuinely believe that. Write often, for as many publications as possible. Start a Substack and promote the hell out of it on social media. Pester full-time journalists and editors for advice (I can be reached via email, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter/X). Establishing strong connections is so important in this industry.