Interview with Owen Morawitz of The Pitch of Discontent
Today’s Sub Pub interview is a little different from previous interviews.
Not completely different, of course. Like the other interviews, this one is with a fellow Substack newsletter publisher: Owen Morawitz of The Pitch of Discontent.
But the focus of this interview is different: subscriptions – including paid subscriptions – to his newsletter and other newsletters.
If you’d like to be interviewed on these subjects – or about your newsletter or Substack in general – please contact me.
Tell us a little about your newsletter.
I have a weekly newsletter called The Pitch of Discontent with a focus on alternative music and culture. Each week, I highlight some of my favourite artists and new music of all different genre persuasions and I publish that roundup every Monday. For subscribers, I do an extra newsletter every Thursday which includes more substantive “deep dive” content like retrospective essays and lists on some of my favourite records, films, features, and more.
What do you think people see in your newsletter that might motivate them to be paid subscribers?
I've been doing freelance music journalism in fits and starts for over a decade now, and I think in our current moment it's very easy to give musical discovery over to a mindless algorithm. Now, there's nothing inherently wrong in doing that, but I do think the value of my newsletter comes down to personal curation. I like to think, rather narcissistically anyway, that I have decent taste in music, but that I'm also really open to new sounds. So, if I come across something that's outside of my regular wheelhouse, but really engaging and well performed, then I want to feature that in my curation and get that into other people's inboxes.
What do you see in other Substack newsletters that motivates you to be a paid subscriber?
I'm subscribed to a bunch of different newsletters, and I would say that the common theme among them is personality. Whether it's political reporting, books, music, or online ephemera, I'll give someone else my hard-earned money if they give me something that no one else can. I think that's the powerful thing about the newsletter-subscriber model.
In choosing Substack newsletters to subscribe to, do you focus on newsletters with subjects related in some way to your newsletter?
Yes and no. I follow a lot of other music writers on Twitter and subscribe to their newsletters, because I usually find a lot of genre overlap in things that I'm interested in, but also because they're fantastic writers and they inspire me to do better. That said, I also sub to a whole bunch of other non-music related content as well.
As a publisher or as a subscriber, do you feel Substack should improve anything regarding subscriptions?
I like how streamlined and easy to use Substack is as a platform. I'm not really trying to do anything too crazy with my newsletter, so for me and my audience, it gives me all the options I need. That said, I like how active the developers are in the community, and it bodes well for future developments on the platform based on how people are actively using it.
Do you have any advice for other Substack publishers who offer paid subscriptions or are thinking of doing so?
Well, I'm a very small publisher and my newsletter has plenty of room to grow, so I'm not sure if I have any sage advice for would-be newsletter writers. Find your niche, write consistently, and use your voice in a way that drives you every day. Easy, right?
Is there anything you'd like to add?
Thanks for having me!