February 9, 2010 The five most crucial points for any new artist just starting out...
The following was copied from the interview pertaining to Music Think Tank Andrew Dubber and I gave to the BBC.
1) Decontextualize first, promote second. Artists are in love with their songs/music, and they should be. However, prior to throwing a year of your life into promotion, force yourself to get anonymous feedback from at least thirty friends, twenty artists, and from ten industry professionals. If most love your songs, then promote. Otherwise, go back to the classroom/studio and learn how to make “better” music first.
2) Don’t listen to industry promotion professionals that were successful in 1999. Nobody has the answer to obtaining and sustaining mass-market exposure. Nobody! I don’t care what someone says they did in the past; make them demonstrate the success they obtained six months ago.
3) Seek experienced production people. When it comes to making music, experience is way under-rated in this industry. Studios have gone out of business because everyone is a producer/engineer now. Find the most experienced/successful producers, engineers and songwriters you can find. Money spent on a successful producer or a great songwriter will go further than money spent on a promotion “expert”.
4) Don’t go it alone, it’s almost a waste of time! (translation: promote and collaborate with other artists)
5) Act like a software startup. Expand your definition of a “band” to include people that can handle things like social media, video production and software development. Find someone to help you use the equity in your venture to compensate everyone involved.
posted by Bruce Warila
Reader Comments (38)
And lets not forget #6 - forget about chasing that big record deal.
Sure, quality and production values remain as valid as ever, but the need to have some major label "own" your product is as useful as the pre 1999 record execs are.
Instead focus on controlling your own content, distribution channels that work for you, using lots of savvy technology and web based "DTF" marketing.
I really appreciate your statement about decontextualizing. I've never really heard it described so succinctly. I do think, though, that a great deal of time should be spent doing this, not just before promotion, but also before production. New artists should get unbiased professional opinions as they are developing their sound/niche, so as not to head too far in the wrong (read: unprofitable) direction.
I also appreciated the advice of seeking experienced production people. I think that's one of the most vital assets to artists or bands who are just starting out. Fooling yourself into thinking that you can do everything yourself (and do it WELL) is a recipe for disaster. Here's a complementary article that may provide more insight on just that aspect, Outsourcing Your Music: A Real Asset for the Indie.
Always enjoy reading your blog!
--Clay
Clay,
Can I get you to put that post on MTT Open. Nice post. I am going to give it a more thorough read..
-Bruce
Short, sweet, and to the point! Fantastic advice.
@kilted Alex I think the five rules denote the fact that record deals are a no no area.
Point #5 is how im tackling future problems... My friends have skills beyond mine and my band members and they don't mind me nagging them. I've made a website or two and in return one of my friends received a portfolio site for his artwork. So win win!
Bruce, point #4.. There will be a post within the next 10 weeks regarding the collaboration of bands using mass promotion to one destination. Basically the website idea you had a while back.
Thanks for some good thinking points again!
Thanks Martin.
I have a similar post in mind. I have a few friends also that are working on the concept.
Looking forward to it.
-Bruce
One important thing about most of the points. Make sure the people you contact have something to do with your vein of music. If you do dance music, a rock & roll engineer or promoter or whatever else might not be your best match. You're better off to get a less credentialed person that likes your work than a perfect pedigree that just wants to take your money.
Awesome article - it is very important to stick close together with creative people who are always on the cutting edge of what's going on in technology. Now that everyone has worldwide distribution through itunes it's not about being 'hot' or the 'next big thing' but instead focusing more on going back to the roots of music, back to creativity and being a unique pioneer to whatever inspires you most...
Anyone naturally following their passion can be a pioneer in music business or anything for that matter - it doesn't matter if you're just getting started or been doing it forever... This time period in life is one of the best times to be creative especially in music.
All good advice. I would like to add something to #1, when you are having your material reviewed, make certain that the people you have listening to it REALLY understand your genre. I play & write a lot of instrumental music, and although it is a very big niche market, most mainstream music people are not aware of it. They try to jam it into a pigeonhole created by their tastes, and as a result they cannot offer anything useful. I would never give my music to a world famous hip-hop guy for review, for instance, because my music is not remotely aimed at the hip-hop market. And he could (most likely) not offer anything of value to me.
Our local newspaper once sent a smooth jazz aficionado to review a concert featuring 2 new upcoming acts: Rush, opening for KISS. (Yup, a very long time ago. I'm old.) Guess how the review turned out? This guy absolutely trashed both bands, saying neither would be around in 6 months. The reviewer was extremely knowledgeable about jazz, and music theory, but he had no background (or tolerance) for any kind of rock, let alone metal or hard rock. And, as it turns out, he was wrong about both bands.
It's a very scary thing to do, giving your music to someone that could legitimately criticize it. But you have to do it. I was terrified when I found out that Guitar Player Magazine did a small write-up on me. I mean, these guys DO get my genre, & regularly rub elbows with Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, John Petrucci, Paul Gilbert & other giants. So when the review called my stuff "brilliantly schizoid" and they said "he rocks!" I was greatly relieved. What they said washed away some jabs I had taken from people who did not understand my niche, and gave me the strength to send my CD around for review to other people who DID understand it. (And they have all been positive!)
So just make certain you get it into the right hands when you are executing step #1. And thank you for including #2! That is one of my pet peeves. There are so many music biz "consultants" and "gurus" that prey on eager musicians by pointing to past successes that are not relevant NOW. Or they don't even have past successes, they are just really good at getting their name out in front of us. And step #5 is crucial. I'm still struggling with that one, mostly because the right people can be hard to find sometimes.
Good points, every one of them, and great comments!
I really appreciate this article. It seems that some of the comments on this post have come from individuals who have some good experience. I am truly starting out - even though I've been trying to make music for over 10 years. When the article mentions to, "force yourself to get anonymous feedback from at least thirty friends, twenty artists, and from ten industry professionals", I've found that to be difficult. When I play the music I have made for people (they would include the 30 friends and 20 artists), the response is always, "That sounds really good", or, "I really like that". I've even been able to get the, "I really like what you did in this song at that point".
The hard part is getting 10 industry professionals to listen.
What have others done to elicit feedback from those professionals? I'm not trying to promote myself here, I'm honestly wondering how you get your music into the hands of those industry professionals (that don't fall within the description of those discussed in idea 2), if only for feedback purposes?
New artist should stay local and perform live everywhere they can. Build a local following and support network. Leave the so called Majors to the high roller$. Be happy, earn a great living performing in your neighborhood. Network with local musicians, etc. form a band? keep performing no matter what. The world is hungry for "real" talent that performs locally and is affordable. People are tried of getting ripped off buy the corporations. Be happy and play your music!
@Jarred
Focus on getting your music into as many ears as possible. Nothing beats word of mouth. Every single artist in the known Universe believes in their own art -- the trick is getting someone's friends, family, co-workers to believe in your art, too. Most of the contacts we've made with professionals has been through that kind of back channel, not direct contact or even a deliberate effort to contact those people.
On the flip side, 99% of the attempts we've made to directly contact people we felt were important, got ignored. As it should be. Now we don't waste our time finding someone to "put us on" -- instead, I get Google Alerts every day showing me how total strangers are using their blogs to "put us on" for free.
Give your fans something to talk about. Focus on who you've already converted.
Great post! I primarily work with Hip Hop artists and if many of them would just focus on #1 (which I actually wrote about last year You Don't Need Promotion), they would be so much more productive. When I got into the music business 4 years ago, I simply wanted to push indie music. But I quickly learned that a lot of artists didn't have the basics squared away to even think about being promoted. These are really great points that I see being used by indie artists in other genres and they are making a living doing music. It just seems as if these strategies are elusive in the hip hop community.
Again, a great article, and some great advice in the comment thread here! Thanks mYRON fRAME and Justin Boland, for the great advice!
@ Jarred and everyone...
At Music Xray (http//:musicxray.com) we're trying to solve the professional feedback part of the equation. Some top industry professionals are making themselves available on the site for free. Others charge peanuts but guarantee that will listen and give you honest, no non-sense opinions and advice. Until now it was really hard to access a lot of these professionals. Each of them stand on their own career milestones and reputations and artists can rate and comment on the professionals once they've received feedback on their songs.
Additionally, there are also opportunities to submit your songs and have them considered for label deals and license opportunities. We don't have a perfect service yet but I'd love to get any feedback on it you may have. Cheers.
Good article - should be required reading for all new bands. First stumbling block, get to know "twenty artists and ten industry professionals".
A concise and thought-provoking article. I also strongly agree with the suggestion of Clark Colborn that, as an indie artist, you should primarily connect with and solicit feedback from friends, family, other artists and industry professionals who are already fans of your musical genre.
More specifically, make sure those people are familiar with and enjoy popular artists which you sound like the most. You are far more likely to achieve niche success in that way before mass success.
As for the other points in the article about finding producers, engineers, songwriters, video and social media people, these are all important for an artist's career. However, I'm on the fence about doing these things while you're "just starting out" since they may be unaffordable at that time for a typical indie artist. But they're definitely important once you've initially tested out the waters with your unique brand and know there's a market for your music.
I find that even though it is good advice to get the opinions of lots of people .You need to make sure be cautious because people who don't understand what you are doing or get your genre may offer advice and suggestions that are not useful for what you are trying to do and that may affect your motivation thus being bad for you in the long run. so it is important to screen mentally the people whose opinions you solicit.
I think a lot of music artists sleep on numbers 4 and 5. They try to do everything themselves and while in the beginning you need to have your hands in a number of places, you need to think about where your time is best spent. You don't see the CEO's of Pepsi bottling soda, so as a musician you need to think along the same lines.
Money is tight for indies, no doubt, but once you build a responsive following, see what diamonds you have in your own crowd - from designers to tech guys to weekend musicians who can fill in the studio for you. Remember as a musician, you are an influener, take advantage of that if you can.
If you can't there is always outsourcing on sites like oDesk, elance or guru.
Good thoughts Bruce and a good order. The music needs to be number one. Everything else is really irrelevant - look at the recent 1st week numbers for 50 Cent for indications. Great marketing, bad music, terrible sales. Gotta have all the pieces.
If you're hellbent on making a living off of your music then these are great tips. However, I think an important thing to bear in mind is that you can work a regular ol' job and still make music, perhaps even be important in some social context years from now. Look at Nick Drake, or Townes Van Zandt. Sure they're big now, but for the most part, and by and large they were sleepers while they were around. Until Willie covered Townes of course. Anyhow, my point is that cash doesn't equal success. So being an artist myself I feel most successful when I play my songs for a crowd. Period. Not when they like it or don't like it. If I capture an idea or communicate a thought with a song I write, I have succeeded. Maybe that's why pop music went down the poop shoot. People get hung up on the money and not the art. And no one needs to "learn" how to make meaningful art. That's why it's art. I'm pretty sure "whatever works" is a good slogan here.
@MC
And the art conversation can happen over at Pitchfork. MTT is clearly about where the art and the business overlap.
@ Jarred (and...)
It is very important to note that Bruce said get ANONYMOUS feedback...if the person asked knows its YOUR music being evaluated, many people (especially friends/family), tend to put a more positive bias on the input.
Good to have someone else do the survey (and have one typed out so answers easier to evaluate - possibly on a scale for ease of completetion, with room for comments), or approach people who don't know you (that are genre-wise, maybe waiting for a concert, etc, be creative), say you are doing survey for a new artist, etc.
VERY important or you risk getting unreliable data, that may make you feel good, but really be a well-meaning hindrance.
Great tips. Thanks for posting...Will distribute.
1/ So you are prepared to discard great music because 60 people say so. That's a bad response from a small gig. 30 friends - most of my friends regularly listen to music very different from what I make and probably wouldn't understand. 20 artists - most of them listen to the Aphex Twin or classical music, unless they are musicians, in which case they listen to artists who they want to sound or be like and probably wouldn't understand. 10 industry pro's - they mainly listen to music that other industry pro's have told them is going to be successful. Or Bob Dylan. To bend the film world maxim, the music biz is always being surprised by what becomes successful.
2/ I would always listen to Andrew Loog Oldham. I would always listen to Malcolm Maclaren. I would always listen to (Mute boss) Daniel Miller. I would listen to Alan Freed, if he was still around! Some things stay true in pop music and those who can recognise charisma and hunger and talent will always have opinions more important than record co number crunchers.
3/ I would change this to: seek experienced mastering people - production is and should be completely subjective. I spent 10 years trying to unlearn the importance of hi hat separation.
4/ Go it alone - if you have an artistic vision that would be watered down by collaboration... then, separately, promote any way/how you can or want to. The Grateful Dead were great collaborators, Billy Childish doesn't seem to be. How many people does Timmy Timbaland have in his studio when he's knocking out beats? How about William Bevan (Burial)?
5/ Act like a musician or a band or an artist and if you happen to have friends or can afford to pay people to help you then you won't feel like a software startup.
Bruce and Andrew, I'm sure you mean well, but this advice is misleading and probably useless and definitely impractical. I would advise everyone reading this to, as Timothy Leary said, 'think for yourself and question authority'.
@ Everyone - Thanks for all the comments. Lots of great advice here.
@ Tim
Don't blame Andrew, this chunk of the interview was all me (Bruce).
I am going to take on your points one by one.
1) 30 friends, 20 artists, 10 pros - As the question: Suck or not? (or Good or not?) I don't care if they like to listen to ice in a blender, you should be interested in the results of that survey. Personally, most of us on the business side of this industry repeatedly (underlined ten times) witness people spending money in all the wrong places because they failed to determine if they at least qualified to jump over the 50% line. If you want to be more elaborate than "Good or not?" (and you should), then you are probably someone that knows how to ask the right questions, find the right people to ask (see the other great comments above), and take your survey results with a grain of salt, but at least broaden your survey circle beyond your girlfriend and your mother.
2) "Some things stay true in pop music and those who can recognise charisma and hunger and talent will always have opinions more important than record co number crunchers." Agreed. Can't see where we disagree here?
3) Perhaps I should have included "experienced mastering people" (?), but versus experienced production people - "because production should be and is subjective". What's your point here? Some people are hugely successful at making calls that are subjective and some people repeatedly fail at it. Most things in life work this way: you can randomly pick people and then pray that it all works out, OR you can deliberately qualify the people you work with, motivate them, monitor them, lead them, and the pray that it all works out. I prefer to track down people that are the most successful people I can find (given the budget), rather than employ the person that randomly crosses my path.
4) I agree, your artistic vision can be watered down by collaboration - that's one side of the coin. Your artist vision can also be inspired by collaboration - and that's the other side of the coin. The older I get, the more I realize that I prefer to collaborate on most things. Try it both ways - is probably better advice. As far as promotion goes, I will stick to my original advice. Work with others and you will be better off. Click my name at the top of this post to find the ten other things I have written about teaming up with other artists.
5) By all means, remain an artist if that's what you want to do. Please note exactly what I said in the post: "Find someone to help you use the equity in your venture to compensate everyone involved." Remain an artist (if you wish), but find someone that can help you build the right team without needing to spend a lot of money.
Tim - as far as your final sentence goes, you sound like a knob. There's always someone on every post that makes sweeping statements about the total uselessness of everything or anything that's written on the Internet. I always appreciate a good debate, but when you don't leave a URL so we can all review your creations, or an email address that enables me to validate you as a genuine human, then I generally want to dismiss comments like this - as one that was left by an anonymous coward. Please note that when I make a crass remark, I do so as a friendly person (imagine me saying it over a beer). So I do appreciate the effort, buy your delivery could use a bit of improvement.
Bruce, working backwards, I did leave a an email address and if your reaction to criticism is to insult people then I figure your ego must be damaged, which is a good thing.
The reason why I made that last statement is because your post is a list of 'the five most crucial things...etc' and they are obviously not. Yeh, your opinion, my opinion, but it's posted up here and asking for comments.
You seem to think that it's possible to quantify quality. A much better solution would be to quantify what an 'industry professional' would be prepared to work with, because there's absolutely no accounting for taste. There isn't. There's no industry standard. There's no acceptable production. There is only what people are prepared to listen to. I'm sure you could name a hundred songs from your personal collection that I would much rather not have been created (being a discerning music fan). How much money I make from the industry won't change that highly subjective opinion. Some people from an older generation of A&R just heard white noise whenever early rocknroll came on the radio - were they 'wrong' because some of that music made millions of dollars for the music industry? Or were they right because the Joe Loss Orchestra was busy making them a whole other set of millions anyway?
I agree you need people to hear your sounds, unless you're happy playing them to yourself. You don't need them to evaluate on your behalf, though. Some industry professionals like, say Kim Fowley (still), come sniffing around all kinds of acts at an early stage, just in case. Their ears have heard a buzz, not the music. Some punters will have drunk ten tequilas and looooove your music. All it means is that they loooooved your music, there, that night. Not that you are going to sell sell sell.
Point 2/ referred to your frankly weird choice of 1999 as the date before which success doesn't count.
Success - now there's an equation you could apply your energetic logic to. A successful production, one that produces a top ten album? Or Forever Changes by Love? Probably a flop by industry standards, but considered by many to be a classic. The Pixies Dolittle, their best selling album, considered a classic by many, but, according to the band themselves, ruined by the production. You see, it's hard to understand a definition of success unless you are prepared to nail down your criteria. So whether or not to use 'successful' producers and engineers - will turn on a very personal definition of success and if that's what you meant then I do agree. Use and work with people who you think might be good for you. It's a bit fucking obvious, though.
Isn't it great that we both agree about point 4?
And I can't argue with your reduced point 5: managers, producers, promoters, djs, basically anyone who can help you make some cash from what you do, all good. 'Software startup'? I guess you could replace with any number of modern trading adjectives, the principle stays the same, although I think I would prefer 'music label' as that still covers more specifically the needs of someone trying to sell music.
I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that the internet offers solutions that only throw up more problems. For every great distribution and collaboration tool there is a marketing problem. There are some valiant attempts to find solutions (some of the ideas and info on MTT are wonderful) but the above list could easily have another, more important, 95 points added and still be out of date by monday.
One thing I'll note about social media is that the online music culture (on Web 2.0, etc.) is now one of an intimate interaction between an artist and his/her fans. People want and expect authenticity. They want their emails and comments responded to by you and not some substitute. And they can smell spam and autobots from a mile away. So, an artist needs to be careful when deciding to delegate this work to a third party.
On the other hand, things like photography, web site design and CD/album cover and sleeve art should pretty much always be delegated. Those are too different areas of expertise for a most musicians to take on. Others can usually do those things much more efficiently.
@ Tim
It's hard to bruise an ego that's as big as mine :)
Unless one is logged in, we can't see your email address. Sorry about that, but I was trying to hurl an insult whilst still being somewhat civil.
As for the rest of your comments. We could go on forever. I guess we will have to agree to disagree. I understand and agree with some of your points, but your assertion that the post is useless and impractical makes you sound like a knob to me.
Imagine standing in person - you and I and a young artist - and the artist says "tell me as quickly as possible - 5 crucial things I should consider prior to jumping on the next bus to LA".
There's four options here:
1) No advice (let the universe decide)
2) Bruce's advice (good or bad)
3) Tim's advice (good or bad)
4) A combination of advice (from both of us)
When you blog as frequently and openly as I do, you subject yourself to a variety of criticism, feedback and collaboration, but the reason I do this so is to seek a combination of advice (option 4). In my opinion, this delivers the most value to readers; it's why I blog. I am certain that my post above (option 2) delivered at least a shred of decent advice, and many others agreed. Standing on the sidelines and pushing for options 1 or 3 creates far less value then attempting to deliver option 4.
Tim (and to all readers that have gotten this far) - I like to believe that if we were having this discussion in person that we would be laughing and smiling, as when I tell you that you sound like a "knob", I do so in the friendliest way possible. As for the "anonymous coward" comment, just look at all the comments on TechDirt and you will understand where that was coming from. I apologize if I offended you. Thanks.
Bruce, don't sweat it. I think that all internet advice, be it from music people to medical experts selling Chinese potency pills, should be accompanied by a soundtrack taken from The Monkees film, Head: Peter Tork is sitting at the feet of The Guru who has just imparted a load of mystical claptrap in a very convincing, guru-like manner. The Guru finishes with ...'but who I am I to speak (giggles) for I know nothing...' Peter then goes on to repeat the advice, word for word, including the last bit, to the rest of the group (while they wait to be freed from inside a giant vacuum cleaner... !) Meaning, be inspired, but make up your own minds. Cheers
I'll let the PEOPLE/PUBLIC's sincere affinities decide the fate of my music, thank you. Not some contrived show-biz hat trick.
Nice advice, though it leads me to a question. How does one find a record producer for hire? Is there some professional association with a listing? Or does one just find records they like and figure out who the producer is? This isn't always practical when you're on a budget and looking for someone local, or at least regional.
There is certainly much to be said for Bruce’s advice in point 4. Arguably, the 'Band as Brand' focus of the majority of the Web tools currently available to aspiring artists advocate each artist finding ‘their’ fanbase. I’m increasingly convinced that this is a misguided approach and is contributing to the amount of noise that artists have to battle through.
Sub-culturally driven and niche market music has most often traditionally developed in geographically located scenes which if successful have over time been co-opted into the mainstream. Music scenes founded on bands working together in healthy competition have been the under the radar ‘communities’ that have brought about artists creative and career progress.
The development of communities seems to be at the heart of the excitement surrounding the potential of the web. Therefore, surely harnessing ways to use web communities to minimise the prior necessity of geographic location by geographically dispersed but distinct cohorts of bands, genres of music or sub cultural activity would seem to hold a range of exciting opportunities artist could exploit. Before high quality songs and recordings are even necessary. Other than something like www.diggingyourscene.com , Do any such sites exist?
Therefore points 4 & 5 (although I’m not sure about notions of equity in ventures. Just find people with the required skill sets who have their own aspirations and are committed to the same scene ideologies ) seem to me to be far more achievable for aspiring bands than 1 to 3.
I’m new to the MTT (and despite my best efforts haven’t read anywhere near all of the subject posts) so forgive me if I’m re-hashing well trodden ground here.
@Nimbus
"How does one find a record producer for hire?"
By searching. Google helps. Be sure you add in your location, or just do it through Google Maps and your search will automatically show you where the studios in your city are.
If you're doing shows, ask everyone. If you see local artists who've done really professional albums, head to their next gig and ask them. (Or save your beer money and just email them.)
But overall, you find shit by looking for it. Pretty bulletproof system, in my experience.
"1) Decontextualize first, promote second"
Woody Guthrie's answer to people who asked him to teach them guitar: (I have to paraphrase) 'Get a guitar, lean up against a wall and bang on it. When you get a crowd around you, you've learned.'
My partner and I got our start by playing on the streets of Boston a couple of summers ago. That first summer we sold 4 CDs on average for a 6 hour day. The second summer we were averaging 8.2 for a 4 hour day.
Now we play farmer's markets and house concerts coast to coast, booking the house concerts with people we meet at the farmer's markets.
We don't even ask ourselves if we're good. We eat our music, and that's all we ever wanted. But asking the pro's in addition to the public would probably have made us better and helped us do it faster.
5) Act like a software startup
This is where we are now, and struggling with it. Too much to do, not enough time. Thanks for putting it in context. Reading this I realized I haven't actually ASKED people to help, although we do outsource our graphic design and hire a professional studio and producer.
Can I re-post this on our website?
Lafe,
Yes you can repost to your site.
Kindly leave a link back to Music Think Tank on the post.
Thanks,
Bruce
Great article; along with all of the things everyone has said I would also tell young artists to be prepared for disappointment. I don't mean this to sound negative, but the fact of the matter is that it is hard work; you have to sell yourself to people that aren't always willing to buy. Don't look at yourself as a commodity, but have a working knowledge of the difficulties. Anything worth having is going to be hard to get, but stick with it!
If you want to act like a software start up i recommend you get yourself to your nearest university and/or college of music.
Next week i begin recording a 2nd EP through a friend of a friend at Leeds College of Music. Yes he is not a professional but he is at a college of music and they have some very good studio's. A month from now my new band will have an EP recorded at the college for FREE and it will only cost us taxi to and from the college and a few hours of our time a week.
Due to the fact im talking about college's/universities then the work will have to be done by yourself, as students very rarely outsource due to their inability to manage their potential at uni.... What i mean by this is, go to the universities, tell the students in the music dept's and tell the lecturer's there too.
I can guarantee you will be needed by someone doing some form of project.
You will get whatever it is done you needed in decent studio's and when we are doing things we get stuck in with the recording process/set up as much as the guy's who are at the place of study.
I think i may have pointed this one out before, if so ignore me. I'm tired and in my final year of uni :]
"...anonymous feedback from at least thirty friends..."
Who-nah-wha-now??
Why not 6,000 friends? Wow. Who has thirty friends? And why?
I'd assume family counts?
Anonymous from friends? ... That's tough without gathering 'em all at once and using paper scraps and a hat. I can't even gather a few at once on short-enough notice to get stuff finished (when it's at that stage).
I plan(ned) to have detailed Q & As about specifics, what might get added and especially fixed, etc. (And yes, it can be tough to get peeps who like different genres to bother, but I'd certainly want to listen to the "outsider" opinion as much, especially from the ones who generally know more about music.)
Haha, I just wanted to contribute that response to the assumed popularity, as it was not commented yet. Ah well.