"I think it's important that there should be public, published attention paid to what we do. If there wasn't, we'd be the only art/culture form not paid that attention and I think it would devalue the work put into recordings and productions"

"but is this not possible from watching videos on you tube?"

No, because the design of youtube prohibits in-depth discussion of the music. Most youtube comments rarely elaborate much further than "Awesome", "that's great", "where can I buy your CD?", or at the opposite pole "that's crap", "your guitar's not in tune" or stuff nothing to do with the music like "that's a really bad quality camera you're using" or, if it's a female performer, "you're really HOT".

Hardly incisive stuff. I grant you, there are some music blogs that attract intelligent comment. That kind of conversation, debate and comment is very valuable. But it's not the same as the magazine-review model, which at least in theory allows for a lot for self-reflection: a writer ought to be more considered, and furthermore an editor can challenge the writer over their content.