As a music curator, you most likely have a lot of music submissions to review in a short period of time. Therefore, you might ask yourself how you can be as efficient as possible in your feedback while still being thorough and helpful.
We know for a fact that writing feedback is an activity that takes practice and can result in a lot of challenges:
- How can I balance honesty and kindness?
- How can I positively impact someone while still being able to share my personal opinion?
- Am I being as clear as I possibly could?
- Will my words help them improve?
Don’t worry if these questions have crossed your mind before, they are completely normal for every music curator!
Therefore, to help you improve and understand how to write meaningful feedback, we’ve created an article with some valuable tips and examples. Giving good feedback will not only immediately impact your relationship with artists, but also increase your volume of music submissions and help you develop your critical sense even more. So sit tight, make yourself comfortable, and get ready to go through the process of giving feedback with us!
Use this simple 5-point checklist when writing feedback!
- Mention positive aspects of the song and what stood out to you.
Focus on what’s positive, use details and specific examples to highlight your argument.
💡Tip: Instead of saying “I liked the song”, you could say “This song convinced me because…”. - Mention and explain any areas of improvement (always say that it’s only your opinion)
Follow up with what was negative to you (in case you didn’t like something, of course).always be rephrased as a piece of advice and your personal opinion.
💡Tip: you can expressions such as “In my personal opinion” to make your feedback more palatable (always try to imagine being in the artist’s shoes). - Always specifically state whether you’ll be sharing the track or not.
If you decide to share the track, tell the artists in which channel, when, and for how long (in case you’re adding the song to a playlist).
If you don’t want to share the track, please be sure to add at least one reason why, so artists understand why they weren’t placed.
💡Tip: If there are certain styles of music you do or don’t want to receive, be sure to add these to your profile so artists can send you tracks that properly what you’re looking for - Keep a friendly, kind & professional tone
Don’t be too enthusiastic if you won’t share the song, artists won’t understand why you said the track was amazing but didn’t share it.
Even if you’re providing feedback informally, it’s important to maintain a level of professionalism. Avoid using language that is rude, condescending, or otherwise unprofessional.
💡Tip: you can always use an encouragement sentence at the end of your feedback, such as “Keep up the good work”, “you are on the right path”, “looking forward to hear your next releases”… - Make sure you’re not breaking any important rules
Show artists you care by following our community guidelines! 🧡
It’s forbidden to copy-paste feedback, as every artist deserves a unique piece of feedback related to their specific track
If you try to sell additional services, not only will artists feel scammed, but we will ban you from the platform. In that case, everyone loses: you, the artists, and Groover 😢
Some tips to help you write feedback!
1. What should you write if you like/dislike the artist’s composition / arrangement / instrumentation?
Here are the elements you can talk about:
- Melody = the tune of the music
- Harmony = the chords
- Rhythm = the beat / groove of the song
- Form / Song structure = how the song is built
- Texture = the different layers of the song
- Tempo = the bpm
Example: “The melody is really catchy, however the structure of the song makes it hard to understand. For your next production, I would suggest to have the following structure: intro, verse, chorus, verse, bridge, chorus, outro.”
2. What should you write if you like/dislike the mixing/mastering of a song?
Ask yourself the following:
- Does the track sound muddy, or does it sound clear?
- Is the track missing elements in the high or low end? Does it have too many elements in one or the other?
- Can I clearly hear each instrument?
- How dynamic is the sound? Does the sound grow and change over time in a way that enhances the track?
- How does it sound when compared with other high quality, professionally-made songs?
Example: “In my opinion, I would review the overall levels of the mix, as certain elements overpower others. This is especially true for the drums, which really drown out the guitar during the solo at 1:53 in the track. It sounds like the soloist has great guitar chops, but unfortunately we can barely hear it in the mix.”
3. What should you write if the song fits/doesn’t fit your editorial line?
Music genre can be very subjective:
- Set yourself in the artist’s shoes and think: “why would the artist submit this song?”
- Clearly explain why it doesn’t fit
Example: “I can hear the indie/synth pop atmospheric vibes in your song, but unfortunately, the chorus has some pretty heavy dubstep. We’re looking for more colorful electro pop in the vein of MGMT’s Electric Feel.”
3 examples of great feedback written on Groover:
Hey there, The production here sounded overall very professional – I enjoyed the deep mixed of genres here. But sadly, the topline vocals did not match my personal tastes enough this time for me to be able to support the song.. I am very sorry. I wish you some great success with your song, have a nice day.
XEN MUSIC
Hi Ninjahtiger, thanks for sending us your music! “Ras Tafari Dub” offers a fresh Dub sound, the melodic arrangements bring a cool blend of enigmatic and anthemic flavors with a great organic feel, the beat is very energizing (more than the typical Dub), the pulsating bass is very cool and intoxicating, it is a good production overall, however, I’m sorry for passing but it sadly didn’t hook us quite enough for a feature, sorry. Best of luck with your submissions and have a great day.
EKM.CO
Your song has some good elements – your production is bright and clear, and it is well mixed. I have some issues with the song structure, however. There’s a fine line between creating a melodic ear worm that will creep in people’s minds and they can’t stop humming it, and repeating something too much so that it feels monotonous. Your song currently suffers from monotony. You repeat the verse melodic over and over and it starts to drag, which a song under three minutes should never do! Try adding some diversity to the track. You say you’ve been writing for a while, so don’t be stingy – if you have another song with a great chorus track or catchy switch that’s in the same key, put it on here! One always has the desire to move through a song, not get stuck on repeat, and by adding more phrasings, you can get this song to really open up. The other advice I have is the way you are singing here. It sounds robotic and anxious, like you are very carefully attempting to keep the timing perfect with the song. Try loosening up and just doing a take where you speak the lyrics like you are actually having a conversation with someone. Do it until it feels as natural as possible that you’re speaking the words. Don’t worry about keeping in time with the tempo. Then, once you have it, try stepping it up by starting to half-sing it, and keep building the singing part of it until you can do a full take of the song with smoothness. I really feel this will benefit the sound a lot and make the tune more engaging and involving, more human. While using synth music sometimes involves singing in a computer-like voice, I get the impression you are seeking to connect more emotionally here, given the lyrics and the way you’ve recorded your vocals. Look up some acting exercises and really try to LIVE that emotion while you sing it! I hope this advice is helpful – best of luck with expanding your career and here’s to future success!
Ba Da Bing Records
Why should you write good feedback on Groover?
- Artists are able to filter curators based on their badges when creating their campaigns. Therefore, if you own the high-quality feedback badge, you’ll receive more submissions.
- Artists are more likely to contact you again for their next releases.
- You’ll increase your submission rate over time.
- You will be contributing and positively impacting the careers of hundreds of artists around the world.
If you still don’t have the high-quality feedback badge, don’t worry: The Groover curator team is monitoring feedback on a daily basis and is always here to help you improve in case you need it. We’ll always be looking to reward those who are doing a good job. Once you’re part of the high-quality feedback community, your account will be put under the spotlight in our artists’ community.
Do you want to test how prepared you are? Take our fun feedback quiz now!
We’ve created an interactive feedback quiz to help curators test their knowledge and make sure they are providing quality feedback to our artists. Take the quiz now!
– Article co-written by Thiago Cyrino –
