General Music Chat

I've been on Jango for a few months now. When the new artist songs come on the various stations a pop-up screen allows you to rate the artist and post comments. Then the comments are immediately available for public consumption. If something really bad popped up I didn't hold back my opinion. All of a sudden now the way you judge the new artists the negative coments are no longer available for view. I wonder if I had anything to do with that? There really was some AWFUL material being played by some of the new artists. Now you basically give a thumbs up or thumbs down to each new song. If you indicate thumbs down it tells you what percent of Jango listeners liked or disliked that tune. It doesn't post any negative comments. Hopefully there was other people posting negative comments. Otherwise everybody there is going to think that fisherman bob (that's my name on Jango also) is a real as*hole! BUt I was just being honest. If something's really awful I only think it's right to say it, don't you?

Dude, you F/U the site? LOL
Only on Bandmix do "artist" want to hear what you really think.
I mean most of em have that Art Studio mentality where they can hang up a paisly curtain and a bunch of wine sipping fags talk about how "modern" it is.
Look my friend, if chumps can post BS and feel like they are getting national air play, well, you have a site to sell dont you.
If real musicians like yourself start giving honest critique the weak will run like so much spilled milk.
Thats bad for the "make a buck off someones misplaced ego" business.
No disrespect intended Bob, but you did not really expect everyone involved to be as honest and hard working when it comes to their music as you are, did you?

Dude, you F/U the site? LOL
Only on Bandmix do "artist" want to hear what you really think.
I mean most of em have that Art Studio mentality where they can hang up a paisly curtain and a bunch of wine sipping fags talk about how "modern" it is.
Look my friend, if chumps can post BS and feel like they are getting national air play, well, you have a site to sell dont you.
If real musicians like yourself start giving honest critique the weak will run like so much spilled milk.
Thats bad for the "make a buck off someones misplaced ego" business.
No disrespect intended Bob, but you did not really expect everyone involved to be as honest and hard working when it comes to their music as you are, did you?

From some of the absolute crap I've heard on Jango I don't think people have any idea how bad their material really is. There's been a few really outstanding entries. (Country singer John McLeod for one). But boy, people must think awfully high of themselves to showcase their tunes all over the world. The one constant that is usually the worst aspect of their recordings is poor vocals and/or poor recording quality. Most of the tunes Bandmix members have on their profile pages are better than some of the stuff they are putting on Jango. Some of the songs have actually been PAINFUL for me to listen to. And then the real kicker is that you can have your own material played alongside artists in the same genre or similar genres that your material is. Most of my stations on Jango are by blues artists, but some of the real weirdest tunes that have NOTHING TO DO WITH BLUES are put right alongside such greats as Muddy Waters, Junior Wells, etc. I have no idea how people perceive themselves, they MUST be high on something...

Bob,
Perhaps the issue is that you as a pro muso saw this Jango thing as a way to showcase professional level music alongside "established" artists.
But in reality it was intended as a playground for the posers of the world.
If a majority of the music you are hearing is rubbish, it might be due to no censorship by the site. There is no way something like this can function without someone at the wheel, if ya know what I mean.
If that is the case it's a shame that you and the other qualified acts you mention are being mingled with the posers.
Being an amiture and having only home recordings I would not dream of putting our music in the playlist with professional level commercial quality recordings. That would be musical suicide IMO.

It's obviously all your fault, bob, & they're coming to get you for it!

It's obviously all your fault, bob, & they're coming to get you for it!

I had this on-line vitriolic disagreement with some idiot who threatened to come beat me up. I told him exactly when and where the band was playing and my address. Any time he thinks he's tough enough bring it on. My address by the way is 8136 Halsey St., Lenexa, Ks 66215. My name is Bob Hayett. Anybody want to come for me be your guest...Oh by the way, that idiot never did beat me up. Not sure if he ever came to our gig or not. If he did maybe his better judgement told him not to screw with me...

Most people think their music is fantastic. Most people are wrong. I've been pondering this a lot lately, and have been thinking in terms of hooks and themes, genres, etc..

Probably best saved for another post. Probably already discussing it in a different post lol, been a couple of days ...

Most people think their music is fantastic. Most people are wrong. I've been pondering this a lot lately, and have been thinking in terms of hooks and themes, genres, etc..

Probably best saved for another post. Probably already discussing it in a different post lol, been a couple of days ...

Some of the new artist's material on Jango might actually be good live, but most people don't have a clue what to do in a studio. This one band I panned (I won't reveal their name here) actually has good aspects to it, but the vocals ruin everything. They can't see the forest for the trees. When you get to the point where it's time to do some serious recording, then that's the time to get unbiased opinions on how good your band really is. Is every component of your band READY for a professional recording? Is your drumming good, is your band tight, REALLY tight, are your lyrics redeeming, is your lead singer interesting to listen to, do you have any hooks, are they strong enough, etc. etc. Would it be embarassing to have your material played right alongside musical legends? THAT'S THE PROBLEM. Jango is an awesome, user friendly website. I absolutely enjoy it. But then some song pops up that DOESN'T belong on the same planet with famous artists tunes. You're right about most people thinking their music is fantastic. Fantastic enough to be played on the worldwide web? That may be a different story...

OMG!!! I was just on Jango on my Big Bill Broonzy station (blues) and a new artist popped up for the listeners to judge. You pick either make'm (thumbs up) or break'em (thumbs down). I picked thumbs down on this one and then it says what percentage of Jango listeners liked or disliked the new artist. On this one 100% of the listeners DISLIKED this particular song. It WAS horrible. I laughed my ass off, it was SO BAD it was hysterical...

It can be worse than a bunch of drunk karioke singers wanting to do some G&R . The feedback section at Jango at least gives you a way to tell em they suck. If you survive some of em!

But another day in Paradise !!!

Hey bob, what got me was a band that posted a video (name with-held), I know one of the members, the video was professionally done, they did a full studio workup on the song, hired a producer, engineer, etc.. then went on to get a full set and camera crew and a video producer to do their video. They've sank (I'm guessing) about $10-$12k just on this ONE song.

Now.. if that song were "another one bites the dust" or "come on eileen", or even a short lived catchy hit, I'd say it was worth it, but frankly, the song lacks a catchy hook. To describe it - It's a modern rock typical down-tuned to Q minor chick vocalist who is a tenor. She's not a bad singer, and not bad looking, but at the same time, there's no "POP" with her either. But back to the song - It's got everything it needs, but the strong hook. The strongest hook in the song is in the verses. The chorus falls short and the bridge sounds wrong. The song also SCREAMS for a guitar solo, but none ever comes.

Anyways, upon critiquing the song, I realized that it did nothing for me - not that I'm just not into the style or anything, but something I noticed is that no matter what genre a song is - if the hook is strong enough, it's easy to notice - for instance, I don't like country, but hell if "devil came down to georgia" isn't a damn good song with strong hooks. Same goes for reggae - red red wine, and even rap has that song "I like big butts", I hate rap, but that song is catchy as hell.

Most 'amateur' music I hear (including my own) totally lacks that. But I'm thinking that the simple fact that I can hear that, will undoubtedly force me to improve (I hope lol), but I wanted to share that thought process and either try to help everyone, or be taunted for being a know-it-all lol.

Thoughts?

To describe it - It's a modern rock typical down-tuned to Q minor chick vocalist who is a tenor.

Anyways, upon critiquing the song, I realized that it did nothing for me.
Thoughts?

All i needed to read.

Kramerguy, hooks ARE important. For me, something has to catch my attention early in the song, whether it's a hook, or searing guitar solo, or something mysterious (like Craig Maxim's train noise in the beginning of his song Train). Hooks aren't necessarily lyrics, there's a vast array of musical hooks. You mentioned Another One Bites The Dust, that bass-line in the beginning of the song is WAY COOL (IMO). For me a hook is what grabs the listener's attention. Sinking thousands of dollars into the video production of a hook-less song is certainly foolhardy. When we went to the studio a few years ago we spent well under a thousand dollars and got seven tunes that were almost CD quality, got some radio airplay. I've played those tunes for hundreds of people. I wouldn't even remotely think of producing a music video for a tune that I haven't got beacoup opinions of. I guess Jango is an inexpensive way of getting an opinion from many people all over the world. The problem I've heard is putting something musically worthless alongside incredible tried and true classic songs by world famous artists. It'll put your name in a bad light. Of course not having any hooks in a song almost without fail will make people give your song a thumbs down. You gotta catch people's attention-HOOKS.

Spoken by a true fisherman !

Another day in Paradise !!!

Hey Bob, it's not that the song didn't have any hooks, it's more that the hooks it did have were not very strong. They were not unpleasant by any stretch, just nothing (like another one bites the dust) very enticing.

I used "another one bites the dust" as an example simply because the intro, verse, chorus, and even the post-chorus are all VERY strong and catchy hooks. In the verse especially, the guitar, bass, and vocals ALL pull strong and catchy hooks. In a way, that's the quintessential example of a song full of hooks. Another perfect example would be Maroon 5 "This love".. just chock full of catchy hooks

I'm listening back to my bands' stuff and there's hooks in some of it, but not strong enough.. I can hear that, and am working on drafting much better attacks.

I don't know why it's all the sudden with hitting me, this is stuff I've known most of my life. Perhaps it's the state of the industry... You can't ride on cheesy licks or big personalities anymore... the songwriting and performance absolutely has to be 125% or it simply wont stick anymore. Perhaps it's just all clicking together for me? I dunno, but just wanted to share.