Professor Tyler Cowen asks. A commenter answers:
Music reviews are like restaurant reviews in that they serve to get you interested in something with which you are unfamiliar. A pan is useful only in situations where there is some preexisting interest in the album, and reading a pan of a completely unknown band is about as exciting as hearing somebody complain about a teriyaki joint two towns over.
Although the very next comment is probably also true:
Music reviewers have huge disincentives against negative reviews. The film critic who pans a film suffers no great consequences. The music reviewer who does so opens themselves up because both their career and their social life are likely to depend heavily on others in the industry like promoters and club managers.
No comment. None whatsoever. Not a word. Nope. Like I said, no comment.
