It's about the consumer stupid! (How To Write A Good Music Review)

Member Name: Mauri

Product:	How To Write A Good Music Review
Date:	17/05/02 (306 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun

Disadvantages: hard work

First thing let me say I don’t claim to be an expert on this, but I am opinionated and I so I’ll give all you lucky readers the benefit of my thoughts.

I have written half a dozen music opinions on Dooyoo reviewing CD’s and I have received a couple of crowns so I assume I have done something right at some stage, although I’m still not quite sure what that was!

In this opinion I will concentrate on CD reviews as opposed the other subcategories in Music such as concert or club reviews and musical instruments with which I’m not that familiar.

Let me begin by saying that, as with any review you have to have a clear idea of who your reader might be. In this case I will try to outline how you should write a music opinion for the most important user of Dooyoo or any consumer site ‘The Consumer’.


MAKING A CHOICE

Imagine you have just come in to a bit of cash or a record token or maybe you just get an urge once in a while, whatever the case you are ready to buy a CD! Further imagine that you are bored listening to your old greatest hits of ‘Brotherhood of Man’ or ‘Chill-Out Advert Themes’ and want to try something different, something new (to you at least) so as any discerning consumer you naturally turn to Dooyoo for advice.

Clicking on to the new music reviews list you see one that intrigues you by a group you’ve never heard say the ‘Psychedelic Temple of Goa’ (apologies if this group really exists) and here is the review you come across…

‘This record is great, brilliant. This band must be the best in the world and this record is their best ever. All the tracks are great; you can see they really know what they are saying. I would buy urge anyone to buy this even if it’s just for the hits included on it. Musically they can’t be matched by other groups, and all the controversy over the lyrics only m
ake the songs better…” (And so on)

This is not an actual CD review I have seen but I have read ones on Dooyoo, which are not very different.

As a consumer hitching to buy a new CD this review tells me nothing of use except that the person who wrote it thinks it is great record, but that very same person might also think that Bros. were the best thing ever or that Celine Dion is the queen of Rock! If this is the case I might be tempted not to take his/her advice so readily.

With this in mind I come to the first section of a review…


BACKGROUND

This doesn’t have to be a complete life history of all the members of the band and doesn’t have to include an in depth discography of all they have done. What this section should give you is an idea of what kind of music you are likely to expect from this band. Fair enough you do get an idea from the category it has been placed in; Rock, Indie, Pop, Jazz ect. but these subcategories are so diverse to be almost useless as a guide to what type of music they are featuring.

So if the ‘Psychedelic Temple of Goa’ is a Rock band are they Progressive or Metal? What groups would you compare them to, Nirvana or Status Quo? It might also be worth mentioning if any of the band members had belonged to other groups, for instance you might never have heard of the Foo Fighter but knowing that Dave Grohl the lead singer was once in Nirvana (a group you may have heard of) might give you a clue what to expect.

You might also want to include a little of your own personal preferences. If the band is a new wave punk band (that seem to be springing up all over at the moment) and you were a fan of the original punk bands this again might be useful to know for a potential buyer who may have stopped buying punk records in 1977.

Now that we have hopefully established some common ground with the reader and they have a fairly good idea o
f what kind of music we are dealing with lets’ start concentrating on the record itself.


THE CD

This should be the main part of the opinion and very different approaches can be taken. People tend to fall in to two camps some give a description of each track others give an overview of the whole record possibly highlighting a few important tracks and commenting generally on the music and lyrics. I must admit in the past I have ‘swung both ways’ in this regards, but I’m now of the opinion that a detailed track by track description is unnecessary and not all that useful, this is not true in every case but generally I now tend to give an overview.

So how do you do this?

Firstly before getting bogged down in the detailed analysis of lyrics try to describe the general themes or atmosphere that the record evokes for you. Is there a general point to the record? How does it fit in to other record trying to do similar things? Is there a concept behind the music? Maybe most of the songs are anti-war, about drugs or about love, whatever it is if you can concisely describe the essence of the music do it!

Now we come to the actual songs. As I said I don’t think you have to comment on each track but a full track listing is useful. It might be the case that the few tracks you do mention are not known by the reader but that one of the tracks on the record that you have omitted to talk about is known to them and would sway their purchasing decision (remember it’s all about consumers!).

If you are going to talk about some specific songs which ones should you include? The ones you liked best are a good start! Tell the reader why these tracks stood out for you. If the lyrics stood out why was this, give an example of what you mean but avoid reproducing the whole of the words from the song.

It is very important to give your personal experience here as well as any relevant information t
hat would be of interest; was there something peculiar to this track, were different recording techniques or effects used that made it stand out for you, maybe this is the track that hooked you in to buying the record so how does it compare with the rest?

Once you have mentioned your favourite tracks it is also worth mentioning any other tracks that have maybe been released as singles or that have been played on the radio a lot, again to try and connect with the reader’s own experience. Many times you hear a song on the radio and buy the record only to find that the song you heard is completely different in style to the rest of the album.

Don’t forget to mention any musicians or singers that might have guested on the record, after all you may never have heard of ‘Psychedelic Temple of Goa’ but the fact that Barry Manilow sings backing vocals on track 4 or that Eric Clapton plays the Banjo on track 7 might convince you to listen to the rest of the CD (or not as the case may be!).


GENERAL DETAILS

To finish things off give the details and information about the record. As I said before I would include a full track listing and I would also include a list of all the band members, and where the CD was recorded.

If you are writing about an older record that was first released on Vinyl don’t’ forget to mention any extra tracks that might be available on the CD version.

Mention also the Catalogue number and record label on which it is released, which might makes things easier if the record is not widely available. Don’t forget to quote a price (remember this can vary so state where you got it from.)


MORE CAN MEAN LESS

And now we come to the thorny subject of length- quantity of over quality. I don’t think there is a hard and fast rule about this; I have read some great music reviews that are about 500words and some dreadful ones that are 2000+. I
n general don’t be tempted to pad out your opinion just for the sake of it. Make what you say relevant to the purpose of the Opinion-giving someone the information they need to make a choice about buying the product. A lot of information about the artist is not necessary and while it might be useful can detract form the effectiveness and readability of the opinion. By the same token a detailed description of every track can have the same effect, remember that trying to describe music using written words is quite a challenge that not everyone has the ability to do effectively.

Another thing to bear in mind is that Dooyoo these days are trying to be more consumer focused so if you are after a Crown making your opinion too long or top heavy full of details not directly relevant to the purpose of the review will not help.

I personally tend to write music opinions around 1000-1500 words this I feel is enough for a ‘not too eloquent’ writer such as myself to write a fairly balanced review including some interesting background and relevant facts about the music product.


AND FINALLY…

I have concentrated of opinions about CDs but remember that the music category does include review of live performances, artists in general and musical instruments. If you stick to the general principles outlined above I don’t think you’ll go far wrong.

In the end there is no right or wrong way to do a music review, different approaches can work but whichever approach you prefer the most important thing is to make it informative, personal, and if possible enjoyable to read, not just from your point of view but from the reader’s as well. Try and connect with what the reader might know or like about the record and you are more likely to give them the information they need to make an informed decision about buying the product.

Thanks for reading and rating this opinion.

© Mauri 2002

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