Music publications are still very important in curation. Sure, you don't need to put money down on a record before listening to it anymore, but just because we have a universe of music available to us through streaming doesn't mean that all of those options are good. Albums are usually at least 35 or 40 minutes, and there are far more albums being released than movies, so it's still impossible to listen to them all.

The Quietus in particular focuses on highlighting artists far outside the mainstream that people might not otherwise notice amidst the sea of new releases on Spotify. We might not need reviewers to cover the new Drake album, but what about Horse Lords? Decius? There's a slim-to-0% chance I would know about these artists were it not for The Quietus. That said, I agree that print is a tough business to be in these days, insofar as every independent publication has it tough.

I don't understand the comparison to a reaction video on youtube, since you even acknowledge that it has a different purpose. A better point of comparison would have been Anthony Fantano, since he does video reviews, but honestly if he published transcripts of his videos I'd probably prefer to read them.