Tim lawson
Guide to Writing Music Reviews
March 31st 2010 03:37
Writing music reviews is an art-form, and each writer has their own style. Therefore, this guide will list some tips that might help you improve your writing and develop your style.
Read high quality music journalism: Reading reviews published in Rolling Stone Magazine, major newspapers such as The Age and The Australian, or high quality publications in the genre you are reviewing in is a good way to study the style of accomplished review writers. If I am going to write a review of a new hip-hop album, I would gain inspiration from The Source, or Rap Pages for example.
Try and review music that is in the genre(s) that you are most into: You can write a much more thorough and detailed review if you know the genre back the front. This allows you to comment on the evolution of the genre, the influences of the music being reviewed and provide an informed opinion.
Research the artist(s): By conducting research on the artist(s) you are reviewing you can provide additional information that is of interest for the reader. For example, one of the members of the hip-hop group Mobb Deep shot someone the day their debut album was released. Additional information and current news about the band and the genre is always very interesting to the reader. The more thorough the research, the more interesting the review.
Listen to the music: There was a famous music reviewer for Lot’s Wife at Monash many years ago who was famous for writing reviews based on how the cover of the album looked, he never actually listened to the music. Don’t do this. Allowing adequate time for listening to the music is very important. Listening to music multiple times is highly recommended: a song that sounded great on first listen might become annoying after listening to it many times; likewise a song that did not seem so great might become really interesting upon many listening – maybe the lyrics are really amazing, and take a few sessions to really capture.
Use your thesaurus: Or your vocabulary if it is very powerful. Saying the album was “really good’ or the band is “awesome” is poor form for reviewing music. Try and be as creative with your language and review as an artist would be with their artwork.
Word Limit: The word limit for music reviews is 200-500 words for albums and EPs. The word limit for singles is 100-200 words. Don’t worry too much, these are just guidelines.
Take a break: Always take a break after finishing your writing, don’t email it straight away. Come back a few hours later, or the next day, and read it out loud. You will usually find a multitude of spelling and grammatical errors and you will gain a bit more of a reader’s perspective having come back to it fresh.
Read high quality music journalism: Reading reviews published in Rolling Stone Magazine, major newspapers such as The Age and The Australian, or high quality publications in the genre you are reviewing in is a good way to study the style of accomplished review writers. If I am going to write a review of a new hip-hop album, I would gain inspiration from The Source, or Rap Pages for example.
Try and review music that is in the genre(s) that you are most into: You can write a much more thorough and detailed review if you know the genre back the front. This allows you to comment on the evolution of the genre, the influences of the music being reviewed and provide an informed opinion.
Research the artist(s): By conducting research on the artist(s) you are reviewing you can provide additional information that is of interest for the reader. For example, one of the members of the hip-hop group Mobb Deep shot someone the day their debut album was released. Additional information and current news about the band and the genre is always very interesting to the reader. The more thorough the research, the more interesting the review.
Listen to the music: There was a famous music reviewer for Lot’s Wife at Monash many years ago who was famous for writing reviews based on how the cover of the album looked, he never actually listened to the music. Don’t do this. Allowing adequate time for listening to the music is very important. Listening to music multiple times is highly recommended: a song that sounded great on first listen might become annoying after listening to it many times; likewise a song that did not seem so great might become really interesting upon many listening – maybe the lyrics are really amazing, and take a few sessions to really capture.
Use your thesaurus: Or your vocabulary if it is very powerful. Saying the album was “really good’ or the band is “awesome” is poor form for reviewing music. Try and be as creative with your language and review as an artist would be with their artwork.
Word Limit: The word limit for music reviews is 200-500 words for albums and EPs. The word limit for singles is 100-200 words. Don’t worry too much, these are just guidelines.
Take a break: Always take a break after finishing your writing, don’t email it straight away. Come back a few hours later, or the next day, and read it out loud. You will usually find a multitude of spelling and grammatical errors and you will gain a bit more of a reader’s perspective having come back to it fresh.
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