Metacritic or AOTY

Music
1

0 voters

1 Like
2

Swear by it

6 Likes
3

Both

1 Like
4

First time I’ve heard of AOTY. Looks prettier than metacritic, but seems to fall into the same trap of not covering enough genres (in depth).

1 Like
5

Tends to have morw albums though. Particularly more 'world music’s stuff. Metacritic is very US centric

6

Any Decent Music is pretty good too

6 Likes
7

Hi AOTY staff member

6 Likes
8

This gets my vote too.

1 Like
9

AnyDecentMusic.

1 Like
10

Any Decent Music looks good actually…certainly the best of the critic aggregators

I just love rateyourmusic because it’s all user-led. Anybody can add albums, artists, songs, genres,
artwork (although they do need verifying). That means you get a comprehensive number of votes on albums (DAMN. has got roughly 8680 user votes compared to 866 on AOTY) and a more diverse mix of “Top albums of the year”.

11

Had never heard of any of these sites but Metacritic. Usually pop in there once a month and make a point of listening to any album that’s had over 80% that I’ve not heard already. Actually, now I think about it, I can’t think of a single time that I’ve been glad to have done that. Should just keep listening to what I like tbh.

12

In AOTY you can put rating

13

I visited Metacritic regularly, but someone here recommended anydecentmusic and I much prefer it. Thank you whoever you were!

1 Like
14

Rateyourmusic is great, but there’s definitely a hive-mind there and it becomes dangerously easy to look at an artist’s album, see that it’s got a mediocre score, or has scored below that artist’s other albums and then just outright ignore it. Or see an album recommended elsewhere, look at it on RYM, see it’s got 3.10 or something, then just not bother with it. And then your tastes just start to converge towards everyone else’s.

Basically, I think it’s good as long as you don’t become overly trusting of the ratings.

1 Like
15

None of them. Use my own ears instead, listen to the singles as released and if unsure wait for release day and listen to a stream then make a decision on purchase. Then I’ll buy the vinyl if I really like, the CD if not available or can’t justify the price, download for the too expensive from abroad, or spotify and bandcamp streams for those not quite worthy.

Never buy on critics recommendation.

16

I use Metacritic and Allmusic, just to know what is released each week, and try to listen to at least a track or two from each (more if I know the band or enjoy the first few tracks, or sometimes the whole album anyway, if I have time). But AnyDecentMusic also looks good.

And then I also get great recommendations from this site (latest Florist, thanks to @rich-t ), and even from a local reviewer here in Hong Kong, who writes in the Sunday SCMP magazine and seems to highlight some interesting stuff (latest a singer from New Zealand - Amelia Murray - who goes by the name Fazerdaze - her album was released in May; I missed it then but am enjoying it this weekend.

So much good music out there, and so many ways to find it …

17

this reminded me to see how the AOTY list is doing, Protomartyr at 7th! :slight_smile:

18

Yeah, this is a good point. There have been a number of times I’ve been excited about an album…only to see it get an average score on their and feel a little disappointed. As you say, you’ve got to learn to look beyond that, it’s best used to discover an artist you like…then investigate all their albums on your own.

1 Like
19

@AllOfThemWitches

3 Likes
20

Absolutely gutted to see AnyDecentMusic is closing its doors… :frowning:

https://twitter.com/AnyDecentMusic/status/1214520177494253569

1 Like