Well I tried to use this service called by the name of "Groover" to get some of my songs onto stupid Spotify "influencer playlists" and the rejections

smurfco

Meatus McPrepuce
I spent like fifty bucks sending some songs from the EP to these "playlist curators" to see if I could get some streams for my tunes. There are a bunch of companies that do this but I "did my research" and this one is the most "legit" of them so I figured why not.

Well part of the deal is you are guaranteed responses from each influencer and they give you feedback and.,.. well.,.,., I certainly got some feedback. I sent to 18 different curators and got 17 rejections. "You Didn't Say" did get added to a playlist, but that playlist has thousands of songs on it and as far as I can tell, it hasn't impacted my stream count or listener count at all.

Now I happen to think the songs and recordings are pretty good so I'm trying not to take the feedback I received so far to heart too much but it was kind of discouraging. I'm mostly sharing this to say don't waste your time with these services. A lot of the feedback I got looked AI-driven so who knows if they even listened to the songs. (Though I do think some of it was actually valid critique...) Here are some feedback examples:

The track delivers a melodic and engaging pop production, building a cohesive and promising atmosphere, highlighted by elements like the piano and the vocals. That said, I believe it could reach a higher level with more distinctive nuances and stronger, more confident vocal delivery.

Hi, Animals in Trees. The presence of the piano elevates the dramatic tone of the performance. The vocals have intonations filled with strong emotional expression and are presented in an intimate way within the performance. However, the chorus could be more impactful and surprising for the listener. I would suggest incorporating more unexpected rhythms into the production elements.

You’ve nailed the emotional arc of the song. Next step would be enhancing the mix so that the production matches the power of the performance. Keep at it.

Thank you for sharing this song with us! While I appreciated the creativity, the vocal style wasn't polished enough for us to be able to feature at this time.

Hello, Animals in Trees. Thank you for sending us your music.Your song has many qualities. The ideas are good in much of the instrumental part, and we also liked the vocal melodies and divisions.However, what distanced us from the proposal was a feeling of constancy in the track's development. In our curation, one of the things we value most is the "journey" a song provides. We look for a dynamic of tension (which builds anticipation) and release (which brings a satisfying resolution), with "ups and downs" that keep the listener engaged and curious.We feel that your song, while having excellent parts, repeats its ideas and maintains a very similar energy level for most of the time. This constancy ends up breaking the element of surprise, and we missed that journey with more dynamic variations.

Hi there, and thank you for submitting! I appreciated the presence and richness to the guitar, overall a nice energy and a moodier atmosphere, but I have to admit that I personally wasn't fully convinced by the vocal part itself. It just felt a little rougher, sharper, nasal of sorts, and missed more work, polishing, less of that roughness for me to fully feel competitive. I'm very sorry that it wasn't a click with me because of that, but I wish you all the best with the release anyhow.

However, even being well-mixed, providing the identification of all elements through the music execution, the harmonic layer seems to be very linear, which, in my point of view prejudices de notion of movement. So, with that said, I am not feeling able to share this music, unfortunately! I'm sorry, Bohemig! (sic)

I appreciate the atmosphere you’ve created here. The flow feels natural and the production supports the mood beautifully. Personally, I’m missing that extra melodic moment that truly sticks, but that may simply come down to taste. The foundation is strong, and the track carries itself with confidence. Best of luck with the release!
 
Fuck Grover in his meathead fucking face.

1775060854388.png
 
Playlist placement tool feedback is a real easy way to make you question every single life choice and creative impulse you’ve ever had.

Also, it’s a great way to see how far the field of amateur pop music criticism has fallen. It’s just the worst dismissive idiocy generated by some 20 year old who probably still struggles to read chapter books. It’s real “I voted for the massive asteroid” stuff.
 
It is also my experience that classic/retro pop/rock arrangements and song form are not native languages for a lot of these rather young people doing this work. And—and I’m not the only person who has noted this phenomenon—the widespread use of vocal tuning and snap to grid tech has significantly altered the listening preferences of several generations of pop music listeners. So much so that natural human performance variation is interpreted as “wrong” or “unpolished.” And that just because people are training their ears on quantized and sculpted computer-assisted sonic mayonnaise.

So if your idea of a good recording is something rooted in pre-2010s writing, production, and performance styles…you’re kinda sledding uphill when the “audience” is operating on “Gen Z Music Producer Reacts…” logic.
 
6 and 8 are real, the rest not so much.

I don’t understand how streaming works. My band generally averages about 15-20 spins a week according to my tunecore stats. Then a few months ago this happened:
IMG_3497.jpeg


How did that happen? I have no idea.
Did it change my life? Nope.
 
6 and 8 are real, the rest not so much.

I don’t understand how streaming works. My band generally averages about 15-20 spins a week according to my tunecore stats. Then a few months ago this happened:
View attachment 119190

How did that happen? I have no idea.
Did it change my life? Nope.

Streaming makes no sense. For a while one of my tracks wound up getting tens of thousands of plays in one of the Scandinavian countries for a few weeks—likely because it wound up on a playlist used at a retailer or cafe or something. And then it sort of fell off. It’s cool to think people are hearing yr stuff, but it’s all ephemeral and not something you can build upon.
 
this all hurt my feelings real bad but then i looked in the mirror and said "even the beatles got rejected by decca' and now i am convinced that i am as good as the beatles
Most of them are fake. Case in point who talks or writes about music like this?

the harmonic layer seems to be very linear, which, in my point of view prejudices de notion of movement.”
 
I spent like fifty bucks sending some songs from the EP to these "playlist curators" to see if I could get some streams for my tunes. There are a bunch of companies that do this but I "did my research" and this one is the most "legit" of them so I figured why not.

Well part of the deal is you are guaranteed responses from each influencer and they give you feedback and.,.. well.,.,., I certainly got some feedback. I sent to 18 different curators and got 17 rejections. "You Didn't Say" did get added to a playlist, but that playlist has thousands of songs on it and as far as I can tell, it hasn't impacted my stream count or listener count at all.

Now I happen to think the songs and recordings are pretty good so I'm trying not to take the feedback I received so far to heart too much but it was kind of discouraging. I'm mostly sharing this to say don't waste your time with these services. A lot of the feedback I got looked AI-driven so who knows if they even listened to the songs. (Though I do think some of it was actually valid critique...) Here are some feedback examples:

The track delivers a melodic and engaging pop production, building a cohesive and promising atmosphere, highlighted by elements like the piano and the vocals. That said, I believe it could reach a higher level with more distinctive nuances and stronger, more confident vocal delivery.

Hi, Animals in Trees. The presence of the piano elevates the dramatic tone of the performance. The vocals have intonations filled with strong emotional expression and are presented in an intimate way within the performance. However, the chorus could be more impactful and surprising for the listener. I would suggest incorporating more unexpected rhythms into the production elements.

You’ve nailed the emotional arc of the song. Next step would be enhancing the mix so that the production matches the power of the performance. Keep at it.

Thank you for sharing this song with us! While I appreciated the creativity, the vocal style wasn't polished enough for us to be able to feature at this time.

Hello, Animals in Trees. Thank you for sending us your music.Your song has many qualities. The ideas are good in much of the instrumental part, and we also liked the vocal melodies and divisions.However, what distanced us from the proposal was a feeling of constancy in the track's development. In our curation, one of the things we value most is the "journey" a song provides. We look for a dynamic of tension (which builds anticipation) and release (which brings a satisfying resolution), with "ups and downs" that keep the listener engaged and curious.We feel that your song, while having excellent parts, repeats its ideas and maintains a very similar energy level for most of the time. This constancy ends up breaking the element of surprise, and we missed that journey with more dynamic variations.

Hi there, and thank you for submitting! I appreciated the presence and richness to the guitar, overall a nice energy and a moodier atmosphere, but I have to admit that I personally wasn't fully convinced by the vocal part itself. It just felt a little rougher, sharper, nasal of sorts, and missed more work, polishing, less of that roughness for me to fully feel competitive. I'm very sorry that it wasn't a click with me because of that, but I wish you all the best with the release anyhow.

However, even being well-mixed, providing the identification of all elements through the music execution, the harmonic layer seems to be very linear, which, in my point of view prejudices de notion of movement. So, with that said, I am not feeling able to share this music, unfortunately! I'm sorry, Bohemig! (sic)

I appreciate the atmosphere you’ve created here. The flow feels natural and the production supports the mood beautifully. Personally, I’m missing that extra melodic moment that truly sticks, but that may simply come down to taste. The foundation is strong, and the track carries itself with confidence. Best of luck with the release!
"Hello, Animals in Trees. Thank you for sending us your music.Your song has many qualities. The ideas are good in much of the instrumental part, and we also liked the vocal melodies and divisions.However, what distanced us from the proposal was a feeling of constancy in the track's development. In our curation, one of the things we value most is the "journey" a song provides. We look for a dynamic of tension (which builds anticipation) and release (which brings a satisfying resolution), with "ups and downs" that keep the listener engaged and curious.We feel that your song, while having excellent parts, repeats its ideas and maintains a very similar energy level for most of the time. This constancy ends up breaking the element of surprise, and we missed that journey with more dynamic variations."

A Yes fan trained this AI? I mean, yeah I love this song but, I love hundreds of other songs that don't remind me of really good sex.

 
When we are working on new tunes we get video, upload it to YouTube so we can gauge our progress. Yesterday our bass player filmed me and our drummer working out a new tune I had just showed them. He uploaded accidentally as a reel. It currently has 1,300 views. My Les Paul is barking like ten dogs and it has an appealing rawness but why are 1,300 people watching a reel of my band practicing?
 
Apologies for the political content, but this video (starting at 11:20) shows the results of a guy submitting a series of fart noises to an AI for review.
 
Apologies for the political content, but this video (starting at 11:20) shows the results of a guy submitting a series of fart noises to an AI for review.

The part about it being more of an atmosphere piece, rather than a traditional song, could be considered accurate, particularly if the intended mood was the aftermath following a refried bean feast.
 
I’ve had ten songs recorded and ready to go for almost a year. I can’t even bring myself to put them on the streaming platforms. Who gives a shit?
 
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