New Music Biz 101: Music Reviews
posted in: Features
The easiest way to convert someone to become a fan of your music is by receiving a third party recommendation. Just think about how you discover new music? An awesome album review, or a friend’s endorsement of a song typically results in you taking a listen, right? There are ways to make these third party recommendations happen more often so lets take a look at a few of them.
Pay-Per-Review “ There are programs that exist out there that allow you to send in your music (with a fat check) and get a professionally written review of an your album. Billboard Discovery is a prime example. Here is a list of pros and cons for this type of service:
Pros
- Association with a big brand in music
- A professionally written review by a respected industry writer
- An unbiased opinion of your music (in theory)
- Additional content for your EPK or one sheet
Cons
- Reviews like this cost almost 400 dollars!
- Is it really unbiased? Some of the reviews we’ve read seemed a bit fluffy.
- Will a review that is paid for be respected?
The Fan Re-Direct “ There is a quick an easy way to get your fans more involved. It’s important to harness them at the proper time and engage them in an appropriate fashion. One example is when someone emails you or messages you via social media telling you how much they love your album. A great way to respond is by thanking them and asking them to post their comment as a review on Amazon, iTunes or wherever applicable. Now here are the pros and cons:
Pros
- Over time, this will result in a large number of reviews of your album
- Improve the conversion process of future sales
- Makes your fans feel like they’re apart of something
Cons
- May be difficult to encourage your fans to take the time to actually write the reviews
- Some fans may feel as though you’re asking a lot of them.
These are just a few strategies to increasing the third party recommendations of your music! Let us know if you have other strategies that have worked for you!