I’m almost certain that anyone who submits to GOM has aspirations of fame and fortune, or at least earning a living with their music. I also believe it is the goal of reviewers here on GOM, such as myself, to try to guide these hopefuls in the right direction. Below is advice that I feel any artists should take regardless of their chosen genre of music.
Is your track ready to be heard by an audience? When I say audience, I don’t mean your friends, family, and band mates. Audience here is referring to the general public, reviewers here at GOM, DJ’s, record execs, etc, and etc. The truth is often a bitter pill to swallow. It is often hard to separate your ‘artist pride’ from your own ear. Evaluate your own music very carefully. Evaluate it closer than you would another artist’s creation. Evaluate it with the thought in mind, “If I were not affiliated with this group, would I invest money into it?”.
If you feel you can honestly stand behind your creation, its time to let others evaluate your work. The reviewers here at GOM are not compensated for their time or talents. They are involved with the process of reviewing music because they love music. No reviewer will ever set out to hurt you or your career. We are not here to entertain you, give you false hope, win your favor, or get on your good side.
When a reviewer from GOM or anyone with an opinion gives you their time to evaluate your work, you should be thankful. Is this saying, “bow down to the high and mighty reviewer”? Not at all, but you should consider what comments were made on your work and how you can improve that work. If your only response to a reviewer is defending your work and complaining about the review, maybe you did not need a review at all. Perhaps you have already gone platinum and have the perfect song; if so, why submit to GOM anyway? Obviously, some artists only want praise for their work, not a review. As the motto says, “Rolling Stone costs too much”, and we do not do things like that here at GOM.
Are you sure you are in the right genre? If you put your track in the rock genre, be prepared for a review from a rock reviewer. If you have submitted under alternative, be prepared for that as well. Your ‘new age’ masterpiece is not going to fly with a reviewer who doesn’t care for that genre of music, so put your music in the right place.
In closing, understand that GOM and its chosen reviewers are here to help. We want you to be great. Unfortunately, not everyone is. Take your review and grow from it instead of getting angry and firing back insults to the reviewer.
