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oneyoudontknow
Cum insantientibus furere necesse est.

Joined: Sun May 21, 2006 6:25 pm
Posts: 5343
Location: Germany
PostPosted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 3:34 am 
 

There is a suggestion that I have and would like to know how other think about it.

A week ago or so I asked - for the first time - a band for a promo. They responded to me that in general they are given away only to magazines and the like, but they would send me one, because the review would be launched here. In my response I send them a couple of names of users of whom I know that they write for a magazine and post the reviews here, too. But, to be frank, there were not much names that came to my mind.

Suggestion:
A list in which those who write for magazines would be listed, which magazines this are and what kind of musical preferences they have.

By contacting a band it would be able to show them a couple of potential writers, who might be able to review they album/demo so that they could decide who might do the job best.

I can now be solved with a thread (sticky?) in the review section, but perhaps there could be more done in the legendary MAv2.

Opinions?
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Last edited by oneyoudontknow on Sun Aug 05, 2007 4:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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PiotrB
Metalhead

Joined: Sat Sep 03, 2005 8:48 am
Posts: 1963
Location: Poland
PostPosted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 4:37 pm 
 

good idea :)

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Noktorn
Metalhead

Joined: Fri Feb 11, 2005 5:31 pm
Posts: 1712
Location: United States
PostPosted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 4:40 pm 
 

Said it before in PM, but for the public, yeah, I think it's a good idea.
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JoeCapricorn
Needs to stop pissing off the mods

Joined: Thu Mar 02, 2006 11:36 pm
Posts: 107
Location: United States of America
PostPosted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 11:59 pm 
 

I said it before when I whispered it to my cat...

But I'll say it for all of you.

It's a damn good idea!
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Noktorn
Metalhead

Joined: Fri Feb 11, 2005 5:31 pm
Posts: 1712
Location: United States
PostPosted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 12:04 am 
 

It would be nice if MA could be more popularly accepted as a source for solid reviews. I guess the 'anyone can write' nature of it throws people off and maybe makes them think it's necessarily amateurish, but even the most barely acceptable reviews here are better than a lot of webzine reviews I've read.
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Derigin
The Mountain Man

Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2006 6:25 am
Posts: 5998
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 12:50 am 
 

Noktorn wrote:
It would be nice if MA could be more popularly accepted as a source for solid reviews. I guess the 'anyone can write' nature of it throws people off and maybe makes them think it's necessarily amateurish, but even the most barely acceptable reviews here are better than a lot of webzine reviews I've read.

I agree, though I disagree with 'anyone can write' reviews throwing people off. IMO, I get a better idea of what the album is from multiple reviews of the same album by amateur metalheads than I do from one professional webzine reviewer. In that way I'm more likely to get a nearly whole picture of an album than only one perspective. Not to mention that most metal bands are under-reviewed, even with the 'anyone can write' policy :/

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GuntherTheUndying
Crimson King, Eater of Worlds

Joined: Mon Apr 24, 2006 4:36 pm
Posts: 2833
Location: United States
PostPosted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 12:55 am 
 

I think it's a great idea.
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Noktorn
Metalhead

Joined: Fri Feb 11, 2005 5:31 pm
Posts: 1712
Location: United States
PostPosted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 1:30 am 
 

Derigin wrote:
Noktorn wrote:
It would be nice if MA could be more popularly accepted as a source for solid reviews. I guess the 'anyone can write' nature of it throws people off and maybe makes them think it's necessarily amateurish, but even the most barely acceptable reviews here are better than a lot of webzine reviews I've read.

I agree, though I disagree with 'anyone can write' reviews throwing people off. IMO, I get a better idea of what the album is from multiple reviews of the same album by amateur metalheads than I do from one professional webzine reviewer. In that way I'm more likely to get a nearly whole picture of an album than only one perspective. Not to mention that most metal bands are under-reviewed, even with the 'anyone can write' policy :/


Oh, I agree that a variety of amateur metalheads are a more interesting and informative read than 'professional' reviewers very often. However, I still think that there's a perception that 'professional' = reliable and quality. I think that a lot of people associate the 'anyone can review' system (which I personally support greatly) with Amazon.com and other areas where the reviews are unmoderated. Unfortunately, the only way to truly dissuade people of this thinking is for them to read it themselves.
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oneyoudontknow
Cum insantientibus furere necesse est.

Joined: Sun May 21, 2006 6:25 pm
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Location: Germany
PostPosted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 4:18 am 
 

Any opinion of a mod on this matter?

@ Noktorn: Were you able to get in touch with the band?
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Noktorn
Metalhead

Joined: Fri Feb 11, 2005 5:31 pm
Posts: 1712
Location: United States
PostPosted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 10:58 am 
 

oneyoudontknow wrote:
@ Noktorn: Were you able to get in touch with the band?


I sent them a message but got no response as of yet. No biggie; I just did a sweep of about 60 new bands and got 10-15 hits of those who are sending me promos, so I'll have plenty on my plate. ;)
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droneriot
cisgender

Joined: Sat Aug 28, 2004 1:17 pm
Posts: 10812
Location: Spahn Ranch
PostPosted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 12:30 pm 
 

People who write for magazines are commonly the least professional writers on this site.
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Corimngul
Freddled Gruntbuggly

Joined: Tue Apr 20, 2004 12:18 pm
Posts: 872
Location: Sweden
PostPosted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 1:13 pm 
 

oneyoudontknow wrote:
Any opinion of a mod on this matter?


I've never had any band give me that response. Admittedly I've never sought a copy to give to some unspecified other person for review either. If you show selections of your work they say yes or they say no. Or are you and Noktorn on the brink to forming a promo distribution central to provide numbers of willing members music to review here? That would work, I think. As for guaranteeing reviews both here and in zines, that's not feasible.

It's not like magazines don't get a fair share of promos anyway. I imagine that the bigger zines (the quality...) have some sort of arrangement with labels and promotion agencies to review their material and that there's only space for some random other piece which you then more or less have to guarantee is this reviewer's extra spot - even if it's an unusually uninteresting little ep. And demos get thrown at them anyway. Too many zines have an "almost famous" section just listing the band names.

And as droneriot hinted, the reviewing styles do differ quite a bit from this site and zines. There's no guarantee that a review fit printing is accepted here (or perhaps more commonly, at least for demos, vice versa).
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oneyoudontknow
Cum insantientibus furere necesse est.

Joined: Sun May 21, 2006 6:25 pm
Posts: 5343
Location: Germany
PostPosted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 2:57 pm 
 

I meant something different. As we have a good deal of users who are 'professional' writers for zines, why not offering the information of who is writing, as well as what the prefered genres are to bands who want their releases reviewed? What do we have to loose through this? It would support the MA in the sense that a lot of bands are rather willing to give promos to magazines and not to 'free time' writers.

What would be gained is that a presented pool of writers give bands the opportunity to contact them. These bands would gain more than they would through an ordinary magazine as the reviews would be posted here, too. Later the promos could be spread amongst the MA-users further; perhaps in the way Noktorn is doing right now, but perhaps a better can still be found.

A lot of people are looking at this site and hence the reviews will be read and in my opinion especially young bands are interested in responses from as much sources as possible. Following the line of though of Noktorn that the quality of the reviews here is better than at a lot of other webzines, the MA would gain a lot through this.

Why not using some transparency?
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Noktorn
Metalhead

Joined: Fri Feb 11, 2005 5:31 pm
Posts: 1712
Location: United States
PostPosted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 3:20 pm 
 

MA is only getting more popular and well-known every day, but it can still be enhanced. Many of the bands I contact don't know about the website or were unaware that their band had been submitted. This is a site that depends heavily on word of mouth, and I think that the way to really get relevant people is to make bands aware of it. Obviously, the newer bands are much more aware of it; for many bands, the first thing to do after releasing a demo is to make a page on MA. It's really possibly the best source of advertising in the metal scene today. Creating a pool of these 'professional' writers appears to be a good way to interlock the reviewers and bands more directly; as it stands, what's generally happening is people buying albums and reviewing them incidentally, as opposed to there being a direct connection in the first place.
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SitraAhra
Metal newbie

Joined: Fri Nov 24, 2006 2:46 am
Posts: 268
PostPosted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 5:02 pm 
 

Quote:
Many of the bands I contact don't know about the website or were unaware that their band had been submitted


Do you think it will change one day??? I really have big doubts about it.People in bands rehearse,have a lot of other things to do,not just siting under PC to get my band in M-A at any cost.

Quote:
for many bands, the first thing to do after releasing a demo is to make a page on MA


How to do that in reallity??? I think it sucks.The better way for my is discovering OLD and Unknown bands from 1977 to 1995 years.Artery doing great job,Drowned and so on... These newer bands earlier or latter apear on M-A pages,so I don't mind about that.For me the bigger problem is these forgotten bands from 80/90s.
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oneyoudontknow
Cum insantientibus furere necesse est.

Joined: Sun May 21, 2006 6:25 pm
Posts: 5343
Location: Germany
PostPosted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 5:12 pm 
 

SitraAhra wrote:
Quote:
Many of the bands I contact don't know about the website or were unaware that their band had been submitted


Do you think it will change one day??? I really have big doubts about it.People in bands rehearse,have a lot of other things to do,not just siting under PC to get my band in M-A at any cost.
No one expects that it will change from one day to another, but if there we will be able to receive a continous flow of promos, a lot of young bands will have their releases reviewed; not a bad thing.

SitraAhra wrote:
Quote:
for many bands, the first thing to do after releasing a demo is to make a page on MA


How to do that in reallity??? I think it sucks.The better way for my is discovering OLD and Unknown bands from 1977 to 1995 years.Artery doing great job,Drowned and so on... These newer bands earlier or latter apear on M-A pages,so I don't mind about that.For me the bigger problem is these forgotten bands from 80/90s.
You have no idea how this site is looked at in countries like Algeria for instance. The gratitude if you help them by adding their band or writing a review is overwhelming. We are talking here about reviews and not about submitting bands in general. So please stay on the topic and do not drift away into otehr regions. Thank you.
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BardInTheForest
Metalhead

Joined: Sat Sep 17, 2005 5:59 pm
Posts: 938
Location: United States
PostPosted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 6:56 pm 
 

I like the whole idea. I believe submitting reviews is part of the whole user "ranking" system as it is. Perhaps just making the user rankings visible on the review pages, or the number of reviews they've posted visible and/or things like that.
I think the most useful thing would be just a whole page of review counts, and a column for magazines/web-sites they write for... or something like that.

As for the demos/promos... How could we get a centralized reviewer database is the question I think being asked here... I think torrents are a great way for sharing promos/demos, or sites that provide free file uploading (site names escape me at the moment). Bands who use the file uploading sites generally just compress their albums into a .rar or .zip file.
So a site for reviewers with links to the torrents or file downloads would be pretty simple, easy to do, and it wouldn't cause any trouble taking up server space or whatever. Also, if bands themselves didn't put up demos/promos on torrents or a file uploading site, the MA reviewer (with permission from the band) who recieved their demo could upload it themselves and post a link to it on that page, and other reviewers could download it from there.
We sort of have that with the threads in the forums, but a centralized page would be nicer.

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Metalich
Metal newbie

Joined: Tue Oct 10, 2006 10:51 pm
Posts: 64
Location: United States of America
PostPosted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 9:55 pm 
 

Why even bother with reviewers to webzines or whatnot. One of the charms of M-A is it's independence of affiliations. It’s truly a voice of your die hard rank and file metal lover. I say we build it up with our own homegrown talent, and make this site its own force to be reckoned with.
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