aaron
08-04-2005, 04:16 PM
I plan to write articles much more often when I get the free time to offer up what little insight I may have in the way of magazine/webzines and other type things. To start things off this week I’m not going to pound a dead frog into the pavement here with things I have verbally expressed not liking but figured now would be as good of time as any to talk a little bit about reviews, reviewers, and publicity/labels getting reviews.
Now, I have been receiving albums via my mail for about the last seven years since I launched the site, through the course of these years many things have changed, some good some bad, but for the most part my daily routine finds me going to work, taking lunch, picking up my mail, eating lunch at home while I look over what new items I have in store for myself and for my reviewers. At this point most of the albums go into this huge stack of promos I have received lets say for the past month or so usually separated by genre or as much as I hate to say it, there’s a pile for “piece of crap” albums.
Before you go off about how can I deem an album a piece of crap without listening to it, lets take a little look at a class I had in high school called “Graphic Design.” In this class we were taught that the human eye buys products based on how stylish they may look. I’m sure not many of you have a certain shampoo you buy every time just because. A perfect example of this would be when I last bought shampoo, I picked the one that was bright green, with a not so ordinary bottle along with a kind of cool flip top so that when I travel my bag doesn’t fill up with shampoo.
Alright now that you know the basics behind buying, lets apply this to albums. Does anyone really think someone is going to want to buy an album where the cover looks like someone just dropped the messiest shit on a board and took a picture? It’s a turn off to your buyer. Think about it for a second, who is reality is going to walk into a cd store and notice that out of the corner of their eye. Well same goes for reviewing it, this pile of cds sitting in my room… rarely gets touched. If it does its because its getting too big and some of the albums need to find their way to the landfill. I know plenty of people who will design a quality album cover that will help sell your product for extremely cheap.
Labels among other people need to really consider spending a decent amount on the artwork that the band on their label is going to use. In the long run its going to make for a much better way for people to take notice to the album, and when you send out promo copies to magazines you may actually get a review or two. My pile of crap cds now consists of 57 albums. That’s a lot of your hard time and effort that I plain just don’t take notice to, and if I’m only one then you can only imagine how many other magazines are getting the same albums which somehow find the backburner and are never seen or heard about again.
Take some time, take some money, and make something that stands out; something that calls for the listeners’ attention. Be it a metal album with skulls and a crazy font for the band name that you cant read. At least its calling for the attention of a “metal” fan. Same goes for pop-punk, you’re looking for something more colorful and eye catching because its happy and should make you happy. It’s the little things here that go a long way, and albeit most of you probably don’t care much about this its something I think should be taken way more seriously than it has been, or at least that is evident by a lot of the albums I receive.
So to all you label runners, want to be label starters, unsigned bands, publicity companies, and anyone in between, take notice to these things and you could save yourself a lot of stress when it comes to getting the word out and getting reviews back in.
This is not to say that those albums cant be amazing, and some are amazing but since I get so much coming my way, its tough to get down to the nitty gritty and get them all reviewed if I cant remember what they looked like in the first place.
--Aaron
Now, I have been receiving albums via my mail for about the last seven years since I launched the site, through the course of these years many things have changed, some good some bad, but for the most part my daily routine finds me going to work, taking lunch, picking up my mail, eating lunch at home while I look over what new items I have in store for myself and for my reviewers. At this point most of the albums go into this huge stack of promos I have received lets say for the past month or so usually separated by genre or as much as I hate to say it, there’s a pile for “piece of crap” albums.
Before you go off about how can I deem an album a piece of crap without listening to it, lets take a little look at a class I had in high school called “Graphic Design.” In this class we were taught that the human eye buys products based on how stylish they may look. I’m sure not many of you have a certain shampoo you buy every time just because. A perfect example of this would be when I last bought shampoo, I picked the one that was bright green, with a not so ordinary bottle along with a kind of cool flip top so that when I travel my bag doesn’t fill up with shampoo.
Alright now that you know the basics behind buying, lets apply this to albums. Does anyone really think someone is going to want to buy an album where the cover looks like someone just dropped the messiest shit on a board and took a picture? It’s a turn off to your buyer. Think about it for a second, who is reality is going to walk into a cd store and notice that out of the corner of their eye. Well same goes for reviewing it, this pile of cds sitting in my room… rarely gets touched. If it does its because its getting too big and some of the albums need to find their way to the landfill. I know plenty of people who will design a quality album cover that will help sell your product for extremely cheap.
Labels among other people need to really consider spending a decent amount on the artwork that the band on their label is going to use. In the long run its going to make for a much better way for people to take notice to the album, and when you send out promo copies to magazines you may actually get a review or two. My pile of crap cds now consists of 57 albums. That’s a lot of your hard time and effort that I plain just don’t take notice to, and if I’m only one then you can only imagine how many other magazines are getting the same albums which somehow find the backburner and are never seen or heard about again.
Take some time, take some money, and make something that stands out; something that calls for the listeners’ attention. Be it a metal album with skulls and a crazy font for the band name that you cant read. At least its calling for the attention of a “metal” fan. Same goes for pop-punk, you’re looking for something more colorful and eye catching because its happy and should make you happy. It’s the little things here that go a long way, and albeit most of you probably don’t care much about this its something I think should be taken way more seriously than it has been, or at least that is evident by a lot of the albums I receive.
So to all you label runners, want to be label starters, unsigned bands, publicity companies, and anyone in between, take notice to these things and you could save yourself a lot of stress when it comes to getting the word out and getting reviews back in.
This is not to say that those albums cant be amazing, and some are amazing but since I get so much coming my way, its tough to get down to the nitty gritty and get them all reviewed if I cant remember what they looked like in the first place.
--Aaron