Hey Dave,
Don't let the bastards get you down eh?
Yes, it is about money. You make them money, they make you money, it's a circular process that can't exist without you (the musician) and them.
That being said, I took a listen to that song on your profile.
The radio station is right. The production quality on the recording is sub-par for radio, even a station like 88.5 that devotes itself to independent artists will expect higher quality, for what it is. I will elaborate more on that after this-
If I was to critique your xmas song, I'd say this:
Overall, it's a good song. There's a lot going on in the background, it sounds full and well-written.
It's clear that it's not professionally produced, as the instrumentation sounds labored at times, the transitions between verses and choruses/ pre-post could be more definitive, and the arrangement could have been better in the sense of which instrumentation is dominant at various points of the song.
Using studio musicians could have helped with some of the more labored instruments I'm guessing.
The overall sound quality could have been improved with a better studio/engineer. Not to say it's bad.. just that it could be improved to the point of being "professional" enough for commercial use, as I can hear background noise. It gives the track the overall feel of being jumbled/busy at some points, unnecessarily.
The one shrieking red flag on the track is the drums. They sound extremely "forced" and completely fake. Too many cymbal crashes (and all at the same exact volume, no dynamic to them) I'd guess it's a drum machine?
My point is that you can find smaller "professional" studios that can garner you a great quality recording for not a ton of $$ (some as low as $50 hour) or that have package deals for 3 songs or something similar. Getting a producer separately will cost you about the same, but if you are looking at marketing your stuff, ESPECIALLY for commercial use, then it's a worthy investment.
If you were a punk rocker or trash-rock player, and you actually strived to get 'urban' sound in your songs, recordings with my critiques like above are actually welcomed, but you've written a soft-rock christmas song, which means your recording needs to be exceptionally crisp and defined. I hope you don't take everything I said as inflammatory - I'm just trying to be honest and help you see the other side of the fence.
..And you are from reading lol.. gotta take care of our own
