The review process for Trust on GarageBand.com is now over.
It got the worst score of any song I’ve posted on GarageBand so far.
Actually, over several weeks, I went through the mostly excruciating process of reviewing songs on GarageBand because I wanted to post Leather Jacket. I was only 2 reviews shy of earning an « upload credit » when Trust came out, and my entourage encouraged be to post it instead. Which I did, because I was quite convinced that since it was a simple 2-chord pop song with a break-up theme, it would be less off-putting than some of the more idiosyncratic or political tunes I posted previously.
Wrong! 😉
I agree with a lot of the criticism I got, although I did find that the overall quality of the reviews was lower than for previous submittals.
As usual, some people liked my singing, others thought it was awful, although this time, it seems that the slightly unconventional harmonic choices (the choice of melody on the given chords) really irked some (who thought I was singing totally off key, which I don’t think I was).
The one interesting, and I think significant, bit of demographic data that I would like to highlight, is that having posted 6 songs on GarageBand and gotten over a 100 reviews, it is apparent that over 90% of those who dislike my music are American (or are based in the U.S.), and over 90% of those who like it are not (Aussies, Brits, Scandinavians, etc…). These are conservative estimates.
There are some notable exceptions of course. After all, I did « meet » Matt Love on GarageBand for instance, and he is both a fan and an American. And a small Florida label contacted me through GB and wanted to include Dinosaur on a Punk compilation (!), but they vanished after several hurricanes in a row hit Florida last year (coincidence?).
Still, my American detractors often criticize the lack of commercial potential, non-standard compositional choices or lyrics. In other words, they say or imply that if I were a serious musician, I would worry about radio-play, my career, etc. And since I don’t, I’m not serious and am either a novelty act, or much worse, and I shouldn’t be clogging GB with « unprofessional » stuff.
My non-American reviewers don’t seem preoccupied with any such considerations, and seem quite willing to comment on the artistic merit (or lack thereof) regardless of commercial potential.
I shouldn’t be surprised I suppose, but I am surprised at how sharp and marked the difference is.
3 commentaires