Record Reviews

Saturday 16th of January 2010

Each year we like to undergo a massive change on the mag. In 2010 we stopped accepting physical records. In 2011 we stopped giving records a score and in 2012 we are making perhaps our biggest ever change.

You can no longer submit music to be reviewed on The Mag.

What the heck?!! Don't worry, this is case of "don't call us, we'll call you". Here is a brief explanation from the editor.

"When we had a totally open submission policy we got hundreds of records a week and there was no way we could keep up with it all. We were missing great bands that were in the pile of records because of the massive amounts of good, average and poor records we had to listen to before we even got to the good stuff. When we introduced a nominal charge in return for guaranteed reviews within three weeks (about the cost of sending a physical record), it reduced the number of submissions massively. It also meant only bands who were taking things seriously tended to do it, which meant we heard a lot of good music. The problem is, despite charging just a couple of quid, some people expected to get a positive review - whereas we were giving the same reviews as always. So there were people who thought we were doing it to get rich (not likely), others who expected us to say their awful records were good and others who thought that it invalidated what we said. The only way to clear this up was to stop doing it. However, despite people getting rather high and mighty about it all, we kept honest throughout. We found some great music, but we absolutely called it when something didn't sound good. Whenever we have criticised a band we have given feedback every time on exactly what could be done to improve things. So despite the "get reviewed" stuff working really well, we've ditched it - and now you can't actually obtain a review on The Mag. You just have to cross your fingers and hope that we find you. We can't cover every band that's out there - we tried that when we had an open submission policy and it just flooded us with too much. So get out and gig, get a name for yourselves and hopefully we will spot you."

Author: Steve

Found in: Contacts