Why American Idol Works

Just got an email from a friend, who also works in music marketing, with some comments on demo and performance critique, which I feel are worth posting here...

"The reason American Idol works is because Simon Cowell doesn't barf up a bunch of bullshit compliments every time daddy's little girl gets up to sing karaoke.  When he DOES compliment someone, it means something.  This whole 'let's just love and support everyone's awesome ideas no matter what' philosophy seems better suited for a corporate team building exercise than a legitimate music business event."

I agree.  Your audience knows if it's good or not.  The only people who don't are those too close to the music...the performer, the writer, relatives, people on the payroll, etc.

Unfortunately, we often surround ourselves with an "inner circle" of people who are way too close to give us a non-biased opinion.  It's like getting all of your "news" from Rush Limbaugh (or Michael Moore).

I encourage you to take a look at the people you're surrounding yourself with and look outside that group to make sure you're getting the whole story.

Want a professional review of your music?  Send me something, I'll play it on Music Business Radio, and have my guest critique it.

Send CD and bio to:

Tuned In Broadcasting, Inc.
ATTN: Music Business Radio
1310 Clinton St. Suite 200
Nashville, TN 37203

And feel free to share any thoughts on the subject below...

Comments

[Matthew Moran]

This is a great topic - although I do not watch American Idol. Mostly because my favorite artist/songwriters would never get past the first round. ;-) ie: Kris Kristofferson...

That being said, in his book, "On Writing", Stephen King talks about advice he gives to aspiring writers. The first piece of advice... "Be Talented".

The truth is, your mother is probably not the best person to seek an unbiased opinion from. "It's wonderful dear."

Peers who intimidate you a bit could be. Not jerks mind you - there are always critics - but those who will be honest in their feedback.

Playing a venue where there is other working talent has been indispensable for me. Having other artist cover some of my songs - even more so. And of course, getting hired to play venues after someone has heard you, a decent litmus test.

One of my favorites... an otherwise unknown (new listener) at a venue who approaches you and asks, "I love that tune. Who wrote it?"

On the flip side, to be honest, I do not recommend writing critique groups - for paper and pen writers or for songwriters. They typically become either mutual admiration societies or mutual moan and complain about how hard it all is societies. Neither is very effective.

[Steven Wylie]

Very interesting thoughts. It made me reflect on my experiences as well. Most of my inner circle are other musicians and artist from my area, whom are my best friends and have known me since I was 10 years old. We're all so used to each others music, no matter what we write or perform, all we can offer each other is kind of a sincere but all to casual "way to go!". I always find it SO refreshing when someone I don't know comes up and offers a sincere compliment. Thanks for posting on that topic.

[David Paul Zimmer]

Can I send in a CD with just a few songs on it? I definitely feel like the people around me are not very likely to give me much (if any) criticism.

[David Hooper]

You can send as many songs as you want, but we can only play one on
the air. My suggestion is to send your very best and the one you feel
shows who you are as a writer and artist.

[Gary Hawkins]

Believe me, this approach doesn't work on a corporate level either. A lousy idea is a lousy idea, just like a bad song is a bad song. I teach music business and production, and I have students who ask me for my honest opinion and then are shocked and offended when I don't like something. I'm usually told that I don't understand this type of music (because I'm too old at 43) or I'm just too critical.

I'll gladly praise the effort, and I try to be tactful. But poorly written lyrics or an off-key vocal should be pointed out, for their own benefit. That's what I find refreshing about Simon Cowell on AI -- he's not being mean (most of the time), he's just being honest for the contestants' own good.

[Kelly Pettit]

My question to you (whom I greatly admire and LOVE all the information you provide and share) is this: Why are you asking for more demos????? I've listened to all your music business radio shows from the beginning (and have noticed you are repeating some of them without sharing that fact with the audience - although two listens can be good at times) and I have heard you say you have walls of DEMO's. I've even watched your videos on how to get a CD opened and possibly listened to. I've sent. The question: Do you really want more CDs??? Does it help YOU by keeping the listeners (musicians) tuned in - hoping for their shot of radio play? There are maybe three CDs critiqued out of how many CDs sent? I do truly admire the way you honestly have no idea what is about to be critiqued, BUT I don't believe that MOST of your interviewees are being honest when they share advice. You can almost hear it when they share their opinion. I think you are more honest than most of your guests and my hats off to you for that. However, I think you are misguiding most of your dedicated followers by telling them to send their CD to your show for a critique. What are the odds really?
Still a big fan though. Your show has taught me more than any school has. thanks for that.
Kelly Pettit
www.kellypettit.com

[David Hooper]

Are you listening to the show via broadcast or podcast? If you've
heard the same music reviewed more than once, it's a repeat. We
review things only once.

With that said, it's possible that somebody sent in more than one
package... As far as I know though, that hasn't happened. Between
me, the engineer, the producer, the editor, and the production
coordinator, which are involved in every episode, one of us would
likely catch that.

About the volume of demos we get and use...

Something worth nothing is that we often review more music than makes
the final show. This is due to editing/timing issues. Our shows for
broadcast can only be 54 minutes long, so sometimes we fade out songs
a little early (or skip them entirely) during the final edit, to make
sure we don't go over.

Also, because our guests often work with a specific genre and we take
submissions of all genres, not everything we get works for every
guest. While neither I nor the guests have heard the music before we
record the show, our production coordinator does go though submissions
ahead of time to double check genre, make sure the songs are
radio-friendly, make sure the CD actually plays, etc.

Because not everything makes the show, we have a backlog of content,
which has yet to be released. We currently have plans to release this
in the future.

Another reason... Genres.

For the most part, things are random, but we do sort music to guests
who can actually give a good review of its genre. For example, next
week, I am doing two episodes-- one with a film/TV music supervisor
and one with an R&B producer. If we get R&B this week, our production
coordinator schedules that for the R&B producer's episode, since he'll
likely be able to give better advice for that artist or will be more
likely to do something with the music, should he like it. We didn't
start doing things this way, but got too many comments along the lines
of "I never work with that type of music, so I can't tell you whether
it's good or not."

Bottom line on why we accept material... We go through an average of
7-8 reviews per episode, do up to three episodes per week, and not
everything works for every guest.

Hope this answers your questions.

Thanks for listening!!

[Kelly]

Sorry for not making myself clear. I meant, I've noticed you've been repeating a couple of your earlier shows. You're probably telling us somewhere about that but I just download directly from iTunes and haven't noticed a heads up.

Hey David, another quick question. As far as I can tell, your music business radio show uploads to iTunes once a week. Usually I can get it on Monday (I live in Japan). Sometimes you have bonus content and/or another show that stems from another program??? I'm worried I'm not getting everything you're uploading. Or am I?

Love your show. Thank you!

Kelly

[David Hooper]

Sounds like you're getting everything.  We normally put new episodes
online on Monday, which would make them available via iTunes
instantly.  Promos for the next week usually come a few days later.
Yes, sometimes there is bonus stuff, such as the "Post-Show Show" or
other interviews from our flagship station.  That can happen at any
time.

With that said... If you don't get something on Monday, it's more than
likely that we have not yet posted anything.  Sometimes the stuff goes
up a day or two late, depending on production schedules.

[Steven Wylie]

I just mailed my record to you David. I hope you'll check it out. Thanks man.