here's my groovy youtube video for my song about The True Way (which I do suggest you get on today...
if you want to be God of your own universe)
So for this last round we get to judge/rank the four remaining contestants right?
It should be nice to get to judge instead of being judged this time around
Get ready for some long winded ranting!My criteria for judging other people's music goes something like this;
order of importance:1. My personal prejudices towards liking certain types of music and disliking other types of music. I think this is pretty much true for everyone, but unlike others I won't deny it. This also includes a certain "?" factor. Sometimes a song just works and it's hard to put your finger on why.
2. Melody.
3. Sound/Production. As I hope comes across in my recordings I like interesting productions. Bands like Pink Floyd, Radiohead, and Primal Scream are among my favorites not just because of their songs but because of the way their recordings sound. I'm not saying I can't appreciate simply recorded stuff - but I have a general preference for recordings that try to take the listener on a bit of a trip not just with the song itself but also with the sound of the song. I'm a big fan of using "the studio as an instrument." That said... over-production can be a problem too and often less is more. Getting the right balance is hard.
4. Performance, most obviously
vocals. I give people a big pass when they dislike my songs as The Chocolate Chips because I know the vocals can be very off putting for many people - most people can't really get past not liking the vocals when they are listening to a song.
For example: If they hate Billy Corgan's voice then they don't like the Smashing Pumpkins no matter how much the rest of the music may appeal to them.
I think people who make music often underestimate how important vocal performance is in whether or not people like their music. If you're a great singer than an average song can sound great but if you're a poor singer even an excellent song won't get across to most listeners. I think Mariah Mercedes has a great advantage in this contest because she's an excellent singer in my opinion. Not that there aren't other good singers here... but she's exceptional. This makes the most difference to the average music listener who really doesn't give a crap about anything besides vocals & melody.
On the same note; guitarists, drummers, bassists all greatly overestimate how important their parts are to the average music listener. Don't get me wrong - they'll notice if you screw up badly - but most listeners couldn't care less about your guitar solos or your fancy bass line. Of course there are some listeners who do care about that kind of stuff and that's fine - but if you focus on that kind of thing you have to realize you are going for a niche market.
5. Chords/Rhythm/Arrangement. Basically all of the other elements of a song musically other than the melody which is what really draws me and most other listeners in. I do think these elements rise in importance when you're talking about the long term appeal of a song. But a songwriting contest is all about initial appeal.
6. Lyrics. As a listener I don't care that much about lyrics in general and I tend to hate "story songs" usually (I think of cheesy country songs - and there's no genre I hate more than pop country) ... that said I do like Bob Dylan ... and there are times when lyrics can really grab me. What I do tend to like when it comes to lyrics are memorable lines (rather than taken all as a whole...) ... for the most part I think of lyrics as something that can sink a song if they are particularly crap... as something that can make a great song even better... but not as something that can save a song if the musical elements are uninteresting.
7. Uniqueness. I tend to prefer songs that are a bit different rather than songs that fit nicely into a particular pre-defined genre. But that said, I can appreciate genre songs too.
And "different" isn't good just because it's different. Sometimes there's a very good reason why people don't do things a certain way. For example I am not at all a fan of music where a bunch of different seemingly random things happen one after the other.. I think when you just sling together a bunch of musical snippets that's not really very musical - what makes it interesting is variation ... variation on a theme.. you know like it's a ride you are on... an organized ride. Randomness in music quickly turns into noise for the listener.
~~~
Music is a very subjective thing and this is a thing that you have to remember if you make music. Even the most popular bands in the world have many more people who hate their music than like it (seriously; think about it - it's true.) This is why you can't get upset when a particular person (or group of people) don't dig what you are doing. It's crazy to think that everyone would.
But at the same time I think people can use the attitude that other people "just don't get it" to get lazy with their music. I don't mean to accept that some people won't like it no matter what to just think that what you're doing is already great - not at all - I think it's important to always be trying to improve your music in some way. There's always more to learn. I consider that to be one of the great things about being into music - you will never ever run out of things to learn about music. If you do then that means you have a pretty limited sense of what music is.