PopMatters is an international magazine of cultural criticism and analysis, which has been independently owned and operated since its inception. With the mission to educate as well as entertain, our scope is broadly cast on all things pop culture and we are the largest site that bridges academic and popular writing in the world. We provide intelligent reviews, engaging interviews, and in-depth essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, sports, theatre, the visual arts, travel, and the Internet. We publish for posterity. Our content is indexed in academic databases via ProQuest. Since 1999, PopMatters has been providing smart readers with sharp, entertaining writing on a wide range of topics in pop culture, offering a refuge from the usual hype and gossip.
To learn more about PopMatters’ founder, Sarah Zupko, read this Barbara Flaska’s interview “Why Pop Matters…” , from RockCritics.com’s archives.
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Information about PopMatters staff is on the Staff page.
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Details about submitting essays, reviews, and interviews for publication consideration are on the Submissions page,
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PopMatters reviews music, film, television, DVD, books, comic books/graphic fiction, and video games. Please use the following mailing address for sending product, media kits, and press releases.
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PopMatters cultivates smart writers from the world-at-large. Our staff ranges from the multiple-degreed and/or well traveled, to young writers of high caliber, to ‘seasoned’ folks who punch the 9-5 clock, regardless of what type of degree, if any, they may hold. PopMatters recognizes that creative, compassionate intellectuals reside at all levels of society, in all types of societies, and we value their ability to provide intelligent, entertaining cultural criticism in the form of thoughtful, magazine-style essays. Many of our writers are called upon for their opinion by notable members of the media such as the BBC, NPR, MSNBC, Radio Australia, and VH1. Publications such as USA Today.com, Alternet.org, and Imdb.com regularly pick up links to PopMatters articles and post quotes from PopMatters writers. Our articles are also indexed by all English language Google News sites and by NewsNow in the UK.
Naturally, this value for our staff and our content extends to great respect for our readers, who also hail from many parts of the world, are inquisitive and savvy, and bring many experiences and expectations to this magazine. Our intent is to reach the broadest possible audience with intelligent and thought-provoking writing that is often not readily available within the mainstream mass media.
Among those readers, Entertainment Weekly has listed PopMatters as one of its favorite popular culture websites. Music critic Jim DeRogatis has said that “writing as thought-provoking, engaging, insightful, witty, and just plain ol’ fun as much of the fare on PopMatters is a rare and wonderful thing, and it should be treasured.”
PopMatters has been profiled and/or name dropped in all of these reputable sources: BBC, New York Times, The Times (London), The Guardian, Slate, Salon, Entertainment Weekly, Financial Times, NME, CBC, Variety, The Globe & Mail (Canada), Scotland on Sunday, Daily Telegraph, Chicago Sun-Times, USA Today, Newsday, Boston Globe, Baltimore Sun, and Curve among others.
PopMatters had a partnership with Tribune News Service, whereby PopMatters produced two nationally syndicated newspaper columns weekly, distributed to US metro dailies via the TNS wires: “Sound Affects”, zeroes in on the week’s top topics in music; and “The Riff Report”, a weekly music news column penned by PopMatters’ music staff.