Workin' the Garageband Thing
In a previous post I told you about Faith, a young singer I'm producing. Faith recently recorded one of my songs, "If God Could Sleep." We organized ourselves as a band, "Faith 11.1" and put the song up on Garageband.com for some reviews.
The reviews have been quite interesting, if occasionally harsh. Still, with all the complaining: it's too safe, too commercial, sounds like a Disney tune, sounds like a pop song (gee, it IS in the pop category, jerk), the song debuted at 4.8 when the ratings finally came it. It has bumped up to 4.9 out of 5 stars, so I feel like we've got something here.
Taking a cue from CD Baby's Derek Severs, here's the plan: 1) we're going to examine all of the reviews to see if we gleen any consistent complaints, and if we agree we'll fix them, 2) we're moving the song up one-and-a-half steps to give her a little more control on the low notes--Faith had requested this change in the studio, but we talked her out of it, ooooops, 3) we'll remix and remaster the song, combine it with an excellent remake of "Hold On" by Kansas, and release about five copies as a single, 4) we'll acquire a UPC code through CD Baby and send the release to stock the CD Baby bin, 5) we'll authorize CD Baby to make digital distribution happen, getting us onto Wal*mart.com, ITunes, Share ITunes, TowerRecords.com, Rhapsody, etc., 6) we'll submit the single to Internet radio stations everywhere.
Stay tuned, it will be interesting to see what happens next.
The reviews have been quite interesting, if occasionally harsh. Still, with all the complaining: it's too safe, too commercial, sounds like a Disney tune, sounds like a pop song (gee, it IS in the pop category, jerk), the song debuted at 4.8 when the ratings finally came it. It has bumped up to 4.9 out of 5 stars, so I feel like we've got something here.
Taking a cue from CD Baby's Derek Severs, here's the plan: 1) we're going to examine all of the reviews to see if we gleen any consistent complaints, and if we agree we'll fix them, 2) we're moving the song up one-and-a-half steps to give her a little more control on the low notes--Faith had requested this change in the studio, but we talked her out of it, ooooops, 3) we'll remix and remaster the song, combine it with an excellent remake of "Hold On" by Kansas, and release about five copies as a single, 4) we'll acquire a UPC code through CD Baby and send the release to stock the CD Baby bin, 5) we'll authorize CD Baby to make digital distribution happen, getting us onto Wal*mart.com, ITunes, Share ITunes, TowerRecords.com, Rhapsody, etc., 6) we'll submit the single to Internet radio stations everywhere.
Stay tuned, it will be interesting to see what happens next.
posted by Ryan Michael Galloway at 10:19 PM
2 Comments:
A friend of mine tried the garageband thing too and said the reviewers were pretty harsh. Amazing how hiding behind a veil of anonymity can bring out the worst in people.
He got some really good reviews too. Still ... I guess as long as people remember they are only opinions.
Great site. Keep up the good work.
-dm
Thanks, Don.
Yeah, I'm not saying you don't need a really thick skin. I tend to rule out what the nut-cases or obviously misinformed say. If I read the same comment over-and-over, I'll review it with the team (musicians and producers) and we'll think about reshooting the track, or parts of it.
Pretty much by design, you're asking people to tell you what they think. If you can stand the criticism (as well as the critque) you just might learn something. I also look at the site of the reviewer. If they're really out of it, I'll put less stock in the review.
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