My experience with "Indie Music Album Reviews". WTF

as shitty as it was in the first page or two i have to say that a promotional sort of thing as mentioned in the above post would be pretty useful for people moving further into this decade. as it is right now labels are maybe unnecessary for some artists and simple promotion is all that will matter. just a thought.

guys, what's happening here? you can't write anything these days even on the internet without people getting their lawyers...

 

paying for reviews?

 

 

... is this for real?

  On 4/15/2013 at 5:26 PM, vamos scorcho said:

as shitty as it was in the first page or two i have to say that a promotional sort of thing as mentioned in the above post would be pretty useful for people moving further into this decade. as it is right now labels are maybe unnecessary for some artists and simple promotion is all that will matter. just a thought.

 

 

Thank you! This is exactly why I decided to start Go Forth Records. I was in bands myself for years and the last thing I wanted

to do was self - promote even when we released a CD. I just wanted to get back in the studio. My thought was I could help out with that stuff. Toss out some emails, do some light advertising and help out the bands anyway I could.

I am absolutely lovin' this watmm drama.

 

Good job team!

 

Best Regards,

 

Jon Don

It's definitely the thing that 'killed off' cubus (that's probably too harsh a phrase as it's not actually dead, more rocking in the corner of the room of an abandoned house feverishly rambling to no-one) - a complete lack of knowledge or platform to promote our work. On the last album we spent almost 3 years working on the thing, but aside from putting up on here and a couple of other music forums I was completely stumped how to get the music out there - so erm, didn't! ( It was this album by the way ). Hell I'd definitely pay for a service that promoted our work if it was actually got the results - if not financially at least would be nice to see it being talked about

keyword: results

 

it makes no sense to spend 3 years working on something without it having a chance in the market alongside the same hype train that promotes so on and so forth especially in this day and age

 

there is a definite process to follow however, website, fanbase, etc

 

i know nothing about this

Edited April 15, 2013 by vamos scorcho

  On 4/15/2013 at 7:24 PM, vamos scorcho said:

keyword: results

 

it makes no sense to spend 3 years working on something without it having a chance in the market alongside the same hype train that promotes so on and so forth especially in this day and age

Yeah, absolutely man - It's not like we ever expected any kind of fame or glory from it (well maybe when we first started it as naive teenagers back in '98 !), especially with being such a niche genre of music, but after that album with the amount of time put in to it compared with what seemed to come of it we started to question the point of continuing the cubus project. I mean it's always been a hobby for both of us, but as you get older and work and other life pressures take more and more of your time you start to wonder if the hobby is a little bit of a waste of time - especially if you cant really do anything constructive with it ...

 

And like you say in this day and age the whole market is completely saturated, I haven't the slightest idea how you're meant to get noticed.

 

TLDR - What the bloody hell are you meant to do with your music nowadays ?

I promote my music by keeping in touch with people in the scene and emailing bloggers when I've put something new out. This doesn't make me an instant star or anything close to it, but my fanbase is slowly growing, I just passed 40,000 plays on Soundcloud, and I've had the honour to work with an ambient label that's quite respectable. Being released next to giants from Kompakt feels very nice after a decade of the people in my real life showing no interest whatsoever in my work.

 

Am I making a living off this? Far from it, but I'm able to cover my web hosting, Soundcloud account and occasional indie games with my sales, which is cool. And as I keep putting music out (because I can't help myself) my sound gets better, and people take me more and more seriously.

 

For a lot of commercially-oriented EDM stuff, the "market" is definitely saturated and almost nobody is going to be able to break in because the big guys have it all sewn up. But if what you're putting out has something special about it, if you've got something original and genuine to say, and if you keep in touch with people, things will slowly snowball.

I know it may seem outlandish to pay for a review, but this is actually pretty common in the music business.

An artist or label is more likely to get a review in magazines & even in small indy zines if they pay for an advert in the magazine.

 

Next time you pick up a magazine see how many adverts have been taken out by the bands that have been reviewed in that issue.

 

Not that I endorse this practice but in my opinion this is just 'business as usual'.

Edited April 18, 2013 by igloos unlmtd

  On 4/18/2013 at 4:36 PM, igloos unlmtd said:

I know it may seem outlandish to pay for a review, but this is actually pretty common in the music business.

An artist or label is more likely to get a review in magazines & even in small indy zines if they pay for an advert in the magazine.

 

Next time you pick up a magazine see how many adverts have been taken out by the bands that have been reviewed in that issue.

 

Not that I endorse this practice but in my opinion this is just 'business as usual'.

ergo, anyone that does pay for these reviews are clearly very easily duped.

ergo, the "music business" is complete bullshit, run by total cunts.

  On 4/18/2013 at 7:10 PM, BCM said:

ergo, the "music business" is complete bullshit, run by total cunts.

bam

  On 4/18/2013 at 7:10 PM, BCM said:

ergo, the "music business" is complete bullshit, run by total cunts.

 

pretty much sums it up... even on the indy side of things i could hardly ever be bothered with it.

 

one thing the record label / website guy is missing above in his template is the 'one sheet' / hype sheet for the albums. it's that thing that a label writes for every album to send to distributors then distributors send them to the shops.. They are also sent to websites & magazines, etc...

 

they are quoted in every review & are pretty lame in general. you know :

 

'The band recorded this album out in the desert at midnite wanking it to a perfect crescent moon to get such an original vibe. Everyone's face melted three times but that wasn't enough for Radiant Skunk who really pushed the limit on their third album. Steve Jeffry the band's vocalist pissed on the master tapes then rinsed them kerosene. The results are astonishingly gorgeous.'

 

I'm sure there are many generic templates on the internet that can be used...

  On 4/18/2013 at 8:25 PM, igloos unlmtd said:

'The band recorded this album out in the desert at midnite wanking it to a perfect crescent moon to get such an original vibe. Everyone's face melted three times but that wasn't enough for Radiant Skunk who really pushed the limit on their third album. Steve Jeffry the band's vocalist pissed on the master tapes then rinsed them kerosene. The results are astonishingly gorgeous.'

 

lol

  On 4/19/2013 at 1:13 AM, BCM said:

 

  On 4/18/2013 at 8:25 PM, igloos unlmtd said:

'The band recorded this album out in the desert at midnite wanking it to a perfect crescent moon to get such an original vibe. Everyone's face melted three times but that wasn't enough for Radiant Skunk who really pushed the limit on their third album. Steve Jeffry the band's vocalist pissed on the master tapes then rinsed them kerosene. The results are astonishingly gorgeous.'

 

lol

 

  On 4/5/2013 at 8:10 PM, th555 said:

It's ridiculous, but what's even more stupid is that bands are falling for it. Good job on trying to get the word out.

 

 

 

This.

 

we are all aware that the music industry (an its corresponding media) is struggling but this is bullshit, no label/artist could get anywhere/make a living with dumbass moves like this.

 

 

good on you for revealing it.

  On 4/14/2013 at 10:25 PM, muncadunc said:

Alex, it's fantastic to see that you do that. That's exactly what artists would want to be seeing from an indie label promotion-wise.

 

But if you don't want people to think your label is sleazy or a vanity label, then don't pay for Facebook fans. Don't pay for album reviews. Don't be affiliated in any way with blogs that take money from artists for reviews. These are things people look for when they are trying to figure out whether your label is legit or not.

 

 

 

facebook ads are actually really good for reach- good for announcements of latest releases etc and getting people to like your page so they can be updated but that it different to paying for a review.