Sites/Magazines or Bands in need of a music reviewer??

Odd Blood

Hey,

I recently decided to get the ball moving on a long time ambition to write about music full time. I was wondering does anyone know of any Sites, Magazines or bands looking for writers?

You can look at all my work so far here at my website

http://www.silversoundz.com

ThirdMan

It's not gonna be easy to break into a magazine or an established website. It may seem like the industry is full of music lovers like yourself, and I guess it is. But if you read the reviews/features on websites like Fact, Pitchfork and Resident Advisor, it's also clear that most of those guys have formal training in writing/journalism. There's plenty of amateur blogs around, but in the professional arena the standard is quite high. Of course, magazines like Hot Press rely on contributors offering one paragraph reviews similar to yours, but I'd wager that most of them are also capable of turning out large, well structured pieces as well. In short, you need to ask yourself what level you are at, particularly with regard to your writing skills, because you'll be facing stiff competition.

My advice would be to keep developing your style, and building up your musical knowledge. Use your website as a portfolio, and when you feel ready, start chancing your arm with some of the established websites/magazines. It will still be a shot in the dark, but at least you'll have something to point to as evidence of your passion and commitment.

Your website looks great. It's a cut above most other blogs. But I think you might be spreading yourself too thin. Personally, I'd get rid of the news section, or at least water it down. As soon as I seen celebrity gossip (Chris Brown) I wanted to leave the site. Stick to the music, especially reviews, and try develop them a bit more, because they're very short. If you halved the amount of music you covered, and doubled or tripled the word count per review, then it would stand out. Everyone has a short attention span nowadays. Everybody wants everything now! That is exactly why you should do the opposite. Aim for the music lovers. The people that have the time to care.

Odd Blood

Thanks very much for the feedback, I really appreciate it. I agree with you really, I was thinking of getting rid of the NEWS section or perhaps diluting it into one homepage. The website is getting redone next by a friend anyway so hopefully the changes will benefit it in the long run.
Normally, I wouldn't dream of posting anything got to do with Chris Brown, but it was more a dig than news. You're totally right about me spreading myself thin too, as a result I have noticed that my reviews have suffered. They perhaps lack detail and while the idea of the webpage is too get music that might be overlooked out there (keeping the reviews short and sweet) they have been lacking some standard info of late.
Thanks very much for the feedback,
Kind regards,
Corey

ThirdMan

I like the whole 'short and sweet' approach actually. Personally, I make the time to sit down and read up on stuff. But I appreciate that not everyone is like that. So perhaps your 'selling point' could be that you offer short reviews for people on the move, but with enough detail to satisfy music nerds like myself.

Your strongest point is clearly your taste in music. It's quite varied. And the more varied it is the more people you're liable to attract. But that's a double-edged sword. Pitchfork is a great resource for a broad range of music, but at times it can seem too broad, at least for my taste. Ideally you'd want a broad selection, but with some sort of loose connection between everything that offers the reader some sort of familiarity. And I think you're already achieving that.

Another thing I like is the cross-referencing within some of your reviews. For example, your review of Patrick Watson's Lighthouse. I love Ma Fleur, but I didn't know about Watson or that he had his own solo material. That's the detail, and that's what keeps people coming back.

Well done so far. I'll be bookmarking your website and I'll spread the word.

Good luck!

Odd Blood

Thanks a million, that's really made me feel confident about the whole thing. I'm trying to improve it each day. I've slightly done away with that news section and will eventually be turning the page in one steady stream of info. Getting the site re-done in the next week or two so stay tuned :-)
Thanks very much,
Regards,
Corey.

JimTheSlacker

Cool blog, just discovered Twerps thanks to you!

stateofflux

do it yourself...majority of mag reviewers are clueless about quality music anyway and cover it up with long words.... if its decent, has broad genre coverage, well maintained, well networked and reflects your love of music it will catch on.

Neurojazz

Odd Blood wrote: »

Hey,

I recently decided to get the ball moving on a long time ambition to write about music full time. I was wondering does anyone know of any Sites, Magazines or bands looking for writers?

You can look at all my work so far here at my website

http://www.silversoundz.com

Just stumbled on this thread and have some feedback:-

When page is made narrow the youtube videos clip outside the column they are in (on Chrome browser)

The facebook like widget shows 3.6million likes for each entry - so something weird going on there

Would also love to see the top facebook/twitter for your site show the numbers of followers/tweets.

Everything else is great.

I'd be interested to see what sort of impact each of your posts have for an unknown!

Keelan11

Odd Blood wrote: »

Hey,

I recently decided to get the ball moving on a long time ambition to write about music full time. I was wondering does anyone know of any Sites, Magazines or bands looking for writers?

You can look at all my work so far here at my website

http://www.silversoundz.com

I've been writing music reviews on my blog and for a number of websites for just over a year now. It has helped me to gain great experience but now I too am looking to remove the 'free' from freelance and make a living off music reviewing. It's a tough nut to crack but great fun all the same. Interesting blog by the way, I've attached the link to mine below.

http://keelanfoley.wordpress.com/