Album reviews

Depends but they often have tortuous stream based systems or used to, which doesn’t make it necessarily great for listening

Most do download now, only the really “big/exclusive” ones do stream only and they still work fine

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I sometimes like to read a review after I’ve given something a listen a few times, see if somebody else’s thoughts on it change my opinion, be it good or bad.

i do increasingly seem to be receiving soundcloud stream only promos from very small independent bands as well. i kinda hate stream only tbf, doesn’t feel like i can devote as much time listening to it. they do usually get fewer listens for me cos i can only really listen to them when i’m at home on my laptop. i like being able to spend time with an album and listen on the walk to work and back etc. they also tend to end up getting submitted late (although even when i get a download i’m still often late cos i’m a useless prick)

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The “reviews are pointless/outdated” mentality seems directed mostly at big name releases. While their might be a fair point there to some degree, I feel that reviews are essential at least to smaller artists. And while I can always go listen to an album to see if I’ll like it, it’s not like reading a review is some sort of hefty task.

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Thing is, “big” releases tend to get much more readers

sometimes I read reviews because they give a perspective (or even ‘facts’) that I might not have been able to think of / notice in the music myself. Sometimes people who have paid more attention to things than I have, or have cultivated a more developed sense might also spot things I haven’t…

seems to me there’s more to music than the immediate sensory data that you get from just listening, and what your attention is drawn to is always going to be partial.

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so we’re all agreed that it’s still valid and relevant, great, let’s move on

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