This topic sprouted up on another thread but I think it deserves it’s own post.
The more accurate the description, keywords, genres, etc one uses to describe a song, can only increase it’s chance of being returned in a search of a music library’s site. Any tips and ideas anyone would care to share?
Meta Tagger’s “Lil Helper”….
I just downloaded the mac version of this thesaurus/synonym app. It is really speeding up my keyword process! Just thought I would pass it on. 🙂
http://mac.wordmagicsoft.com/thesaurus.html
If anyone is out there, would you be kind enough to give the song “The Way I Feel Today” a listen, and give me some idea of what other artist it might sound like…I have no clue!
http://www.broadjam.com/artists/home.php?artistID=9442
Should be the first song on this site.
Thanks!!!
It’s a tough one for sure, because it’s so unique. It’s got that hazy 70’s vibe combined with some fiddle and country twang, so I’d mention acts like the Doobie Brothers and country stars from that period. It’s really chilled out, so terms like down tempo, relaxed etc are good keywords. There’s a little of talking guitar too, so mention Peter Frampton. Hope that helps.
Thanks for the listen/reply Matt. Ironically the drummer on this song is Chet MacCracken, who played with the Doobie Brothers for a few albums…At least you helped point me in a direction…Appreciate it!
Harry
So glad to see this thread get it’s own post!
Being as I started this, maybe you kind folks could assist in giving me some idea of what other artists either of these 2 songs sound like. Pick one, or if you have the time both. They’re quite different in styles and I have no idea what other artists to compare them to.
Here’s a link via Reverb Nation:
http://www.reverbnation.com/main/global_search?q=Those%20Dreaded%20Gnats&commit=GO#/thosedreadedgnats
Thanks folks,
Harry
Make A Birthday- NRBQ
Merry FXmas- Steve Earle, John Mellencamp
Not that either sound a whole lot like these guys, but that’s what came to my mind.
Thanks Kev!
I kind of messed up on my Reverbnation site…had a video called Merry FXmas, and a song called Speak English…for whatever reason the songs got mixed up. I’m assuming, even though the song was listed as Merry Fxmas, what you heard was Speak English?
In any event, I don’t know why John Mellencamp never occurred to me, but I can see some similarities there, as were a couple of Steve Earle songs…again, assuming it was Speak English you were referring to.
As for B’day Wish, could you maybe point out a couple songs by NRBQ that might be similar? They have about 6 million songs and I’ve never really listened to them closely, so I don’t know where to start. Are the songs similar musically, or lyrically, vocally?
This is very much a learning/eye opening experience for me…thanks for the help!!!
Harry
Hey Harry,
I have to apologize for not remembering distinctly what I listened to a few days ago, but i think it was just the eclectic nature of the piece that reminded me of NRBQ. Glad to help.
K
This is a great thread…. very interesting!!!
What i find really annoying is that some companies encourage you to use sounds like…….. whilst other companies (AUDIO JUNGLE FOR EXAMPLE) will NOT allow you to use it!!!!! Very frustrating when you are non exclusive. I can’t be dealing with writing seperate descriptions just for one company, so I no longer add sounds like in my descriptions!!!
What I do though which people might find useful, is that I have generic keywords for my categories. So for example, a horror track that I have has the following –
PRIMARY CATEGORY – Horror
SECONDARY CATEGORY – Thriller
PRIMARY KEYWORDS – Horror, Thriller, Scary, Haunting, Death, Deadly, blah blah blah
SECONDARY KEYWORDS – Horror music, Thriller music, Scary music, Haunting music, Death music, Deadly music,Horror tracks, Thriller tracks, Scary tracks, Haunting track, Death tracks, Deadly tracks, blah blah blah blah blah blah
As you can see, even though I only have a few primary keywords, I have quite a load of secondary keywords. I always try to think of what a music supervisor would be thinking of, and I realized that so many of them may simply add the word ‘music’ or ‘tracks’ to the end of a genre.
Something small but I hope it helps everyone!!!
Love Colin’s idea, that would be a great test to see what everyone comes up with….!
For me the sound alike category is hard to fill out for the World/Ethnic cues I do. Like if a cue has a Middle Eastern flair, I have no idea who it sounds like! Sometimes I will google or go to amazon to listen and try to find a popular name to plug in…
When I do anything Middle eastern with a modern twist I always use Peter Gabriel/Passion as a keyword/soundalike. On the whole its the one process of Library music that I hate doing but it is really important to get hits and sales. I have a database of key words for genres, that I use as a starting point.
I agree! It’s so subjective. I often wish there was away for others to tell me who I sound like as I wonder if what I put down for “sound a likes” are really my influences rather than who it actually sounds like.
Art, maybe we could each post a piece of music and everyone could give feedback on who they think they sound like..or something like that. It could be a real eye opener.
I submitted another couple songs…will see how it plays out. The hardest part of submitting to places like this and MusicSupervisor.com is having to answer the “mood” of the song, or worse yet, what other artists does your song sound like. I know it’s very helpful for them, but I can never tell exactly which other artists to compare my songs to, and feel “what if it doesn’t sound ‘bouncy’ to them” or what if it doesn’t really sound like the Goo Goo Doll etc…
Does anyone else here have that problem? I’d love to start a “group” that would help each other out in that regard. This might not be the best forum to get this started, but I’m not sure where else to go with this. Any suggestions?
I feel your pain! That’s been my biggest problem also. It’s just so subjective and some folks seem to be better at it than others. I do found that once I start writing descriptions and stay at it, they do get better. Sound alikes and genres are another area I find challenging. If enough people express an interest in this subject I’ll start a separate thread.
I agree! It’s so subjective. I often wish there was away for others to tell me who I sound like as I wonder if what I put down for “sound a likes” are really my influences rather than who it actually sounds like.
Art, maybe we could each post a piece of music and everyone could give feedback on who they think they sound like..or something like that. It could be a real eye opener.