Spamming for Reviews?

ExittheLemming wrote: Does it undermine or compromise our objectivity?    -  No, unfortunately it largely doesn't (for me at least)--  I say 'unfortunately' because honesty is a good way to never hear from the artist again.   But that's fine, they learn a lesson and you retain some integrity. Should we just treat it as a compliment to PA's credibility in the Prog World and acknowledge that marketing and entrepreneurial zeal = internet hosted enthusiasm?    - Yes, we should. If you were an aspiring artist or record company, why would you target an amateur music appreciation site c/f a professional publication to garner reviews?    -  Any publicity is good publicity, especially from some dog&pony show like this  .

Edited by Atavachron - March 07 2015 at 22:43

^ oh the problems of the good reviewers.

 The trick is to be a sh*tty reviewer.. and see how few review requests you get

I get a few requests asking me to review music. Not as many as I used to, but still a few.

Raff is absolutely spot on about the nature of the business. Ours is genuinely one of the very few major outlets where the reviewers actually buy a copy of the music they are writing about. That is what makes this site so special. We are fans, first and foremost.

I do not agree to review all of the requests I get, but I do agree where I have formed a bond with the act, or genuinely feel I will enjoy the music, and provide a useful service in helping such an act gain much needed publicity, and I do not think there is anything wrong with that. I do, though, always make it very clear to readers that I am reviewing a promotional copy given to me, because at least that way, the reader can be satisfied that I am honest in my endeavours. I hope so, anyway!

There is a fine line sometimes between a sort of spamming load of requests sent out for a blanket coverage of reviews, and a band genuinely thinking the reviewer will like what he or she hears and contacting them accordingly, and the longer you are on the site, the better you get at identifying such requests. As with Thomas, I would say that any tech extreme metal or far out fusion act would, really, be wasting mine and their time by contacting me. I have got far better in recent years in saying, if I would not buy it to try myself, then I will not get a freebie simply to review and give publicity. Such is not my role here.

^ well said

yeah. That is the part I have enjoyed the most, riding proudly on Raff's coatails, is getting to meet the musicians in person. Wonderul people.Of course I am nothing more than 'Raff's husband' but once they find out that I am the one fun to hang with and get sh*t-faced with they naturally gravitate to me, not my more famous half.

However the best of those I've found are not looking for plaudtis and back-slapping but good critical thought. One the of the bands Raff and I have got closest with actually thanked us for NOT liking an album of theirs and explaining why. I think they came to like us, even respect us more, for simply telling it as it was. 

ExittheLemming wrote: Raff wrote: PA is an exception among prog websites in that people usually review albums they have bought themselves. On most other sites, people review promos sent by the artists or their labels. Once again Raff, I accede to your knowledge of practices and behaviors on other Prog sites but this is probably the main reason I continue to visit only PA i.e. the very idea of 'staff' being distributed this month's promos for review I find frankly, repellant.

Well, this is how a lot of people - especially before the advent of Bandcamp, Progstreaming and their ilk - were able to discover new music without spending a fortune. Speaking from a personal point of view, I have discovered quite a few gems through my activity as an "official" reviewer for a number of prog websites, and I have helped some excellent bands and artists gain some well-deserved exposure. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement, and I am very sorry that, at the moment, personal circumstances prevent me from continuing. I certainly don't see anything repellant in that, but each to his/her own.

I personally prefer reviewers who write about albums they've stumbled across flipping through old vinyl in record stores or stuff they've found online in some weird crevice of the internet - reviews that reveal something about the person's journey in music. Doesn't have to be included in the review per se, but when the writer has built up a proper amount of them, you see a pattern emerging. That's why I keep asking people to look at the reviewer and his/her words instead of the sports part of the equation ie ratings and rankings. 

PA is an exception among prog websites in that people usually review albums they have bought themselves. On most other sites, people review promos sent by the artists or their labels. Those promos (which nowadays are often in digital format, but not always) are generally sent to one or two people who will make them available to the reviewing "staff". So, specifying in a review that the album was provided by the band/artist would sound very odd to the majority of readers who are familiar with the practices employed by other sites.

ExittheLemming wrote: thanks for your honesty Raff. An interesting post. You clearly have more experience of what internet presence Prog currently has than I. Given your description of the current market, I can understand why you might feel we should nurture and promote new artists on PA. However, I'm not entirely sure that's ever been a stated function of the site. Perhaps this is something that needs to be addressed or discussed amongst the members?

no it never has been.  But that never stops us, nor should it, from championing groups personally that we think the knuckleheads should be checking out.

The site itself is a different beast. It plays no favorites. We catalog them. That is all it has ever done, all it will ever do.


Edited by micky - March 07 2015 at 06:53

Meltdowner wrote: ^ What if the reviewer wanted to spend his/her hard earned cash, but the artist offered a copy

you pay them anyway.  I damn near got in a fistfight with a artist recently who tossed me (literally ) me a copy of their latest and when I later tried to slip him a Andrew Jackson for it, he declined, so I went bad Micky on him and he finally relented.