Review group idea

G

glynb

Balladeer
Starting out as an indie has many problems, obne of which is getting a review (CD or song) to publish on your site or use in promo material.

So I thought it might be an idea to link up with a small number of people in the same position as yourself (say no more than four artists) and each agree to do a review of the other members product. If everyone comes up with the goods then each person ends up with four reviews to get them started.

The benefit of this is speed, it can take months to get other review services to review your product, with a small group like this you can get some feedback with say a couple of weeks at most.

You also get some extra kudos for the reviewer by billing the reviewer's name and which band they play for etc. and push the reviewer's web site address.

The only flaw in the proposition would be if no-one liked your stuff ;-( but maybe people could be a little kind to each other as we're all in the same boat? Or just say 'sorry' can't get into this in which case there'd be no reciprocal review coming back. But the chances of this could be lessened if people get together who are in a similar genre, or at least have a wide ranging musical taste.

Using this method you could get some reviews in and ready to use/publish at an ealrly stage, maybe whilst you're waiting for the CD's to come back from mastering etc.

The group could agree on a foramt for the review and roughly how many words would be expected (so one person doesn't write 'war and peace' whilst the other writes a coupla lines)

I'd suggest keeping the numbers down to say 4 people per group as it would take some time to review someone's work and do it justice, 4 albums you could probably manage over the course of a week or so maybe.

So any views?
 
couple of thoughts... just playing devil's advocate...

1. One of the reasons reviews matter is that they come from publications with readerships. They are typically respected by the subscribers to that publication, and the review itself is useful for publicity.

2. Credibility, if you want to use these reviews in your press kit, the impact of having four stars in rolling stone vs. 4.5 thumbs up by Bob, from the other band, and Steve from another band, and Sarah from that other band, is very different.

3. Future music reviews every single track they receive. Every one.

All that being said, if you did this on a larger scale, say with a website, that had rankings, and in order to submit a song for review, you have to first review a song, and rate (numerically) a couple of other songs.

Further, you could have logins based on real emails, or ip logging to prevent folks from review their own material.

Just some thoughts... I think for the sake alone of improving music, and making better tracks your idea is very good.

Regards,

Rich
Radium Reactor
 
Thanks for the response Rich. You make some valid points.

Of course it's best to have reviews from respected sources. My issue was with the time it takes to get these back. One review site said 6 months waiting list for example, which means while you wait for the 'biggies' to come in your 'reviews section' on your web site or Press Kit looks, well...empty!

So my sugestion was just for 'something' to fill the gap whilst you wait for the 'real' reviews to come in. If I wait till my CD is ready, say in the Summer, then send it off it could be 6 months old before I have one review!

Credibility is a point, but mainly for industry professionals. It's not a case of trying to fool anyone, I think if you have Fred from such&such a band or Jane Doh songwriter says your album is good then its better than...well, nothing, or just your OWN opinion.

BTW - Who are Future music? Is this a free review service? How long do they take to come up with the goods? If you could let me have the URL I'll check them out. Are there any others with a fast turn around?

Thanks.
 
Yeah, press can be a bitch ... but if you are just going to have some nobody write a review you can use as press you might as well write it yourself and put somebody else's name on it right?

check out www.fourdegrees.org. they review everything they receive as well.
 
Yes and no

MURDOCKS said:
Yeah, press can be a bitch ... but if you are just going to have some nobody write a review you can use as press you might as well write it yourself and put somebody else's name on it right?
Click to expand...

Not quite, there is a difference. If I make up my own review and put a false name on it I am trying to deceive people. However, if a fellow singer/songwriter who plays live gigs and has their own site and career history reviews it and says it's good, then I am being honest and not trying to fool anyone. Not as good as a review in Rolling Stone admitedly, but a start at least.

MURDOCKS said:
check out www.fourdegrees.org. they review everything they receive as well. [/B]
Click to expand...
Thanks very much for that link, I had not come across them before, I've added them to my list of potential reviewers.

Anyone have any more?
 
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