Returned - 'Stylistically off target' - thoughts! CLOSED

[onelight24]

Thanks Mick, RnrMachine, and Adonis, for taking the time to share your thoughts, I appreciate your input!

Adonis, yes I am aware of your ethnicity, and I believe your Greek music would be spot on! I agree that perhaps a specialty approach might alleviate the perception ( for me at least) of an arbitrary screening process which at times seems incomprehensible! I do not doubt the expertise of the screeners, I am only suggesting that the screeners are human, and humans make mistakes all of the time. Unfortunately for me, I do not like to pay money, as I submitted 6 tracks in this case, to be told something I know in my blood, seems so left field, and not correct! Subjectivity, I suppose.

When I was at the Rally this past November, my mentor was Peter Neff, who said to me as he listened to my Italian material: "You've got the garlic in the blood and that stuff is A+, you should focus on it". So I focused on it! Now, I really wanted him to say that about my orchestral stuff, but alas he didn't!

Anyway, just sharing my authentic experience to date!


Thanks again!

Cheers,
Vincent!

[treesbygb]

Hi Vincent,
I'm going to have a crack at getting my head round this as i think I understand why it was returned. There's lots of issues here, which involve stuff like the cross pollination of cultures and music, as well as perceptions and definitions of ethnicity etc. The way I see it this.

The music they want is there to provide an atmosphere and a very clear label saying Italy or France etc to (and this is a key point) a generally musically uneducated viewing audience. I include myself in that audience as I have a limited experience of italian music. Ok, so that makes me the target audience. Now when I listen to your superb music, in the context of this discussion it sounds italian, but when I listen to it as objectively as I can, I can also hear the cross pollination elements of other cultures and countries. To my uneducated, essentially ignorant ears, I can hear elements from the gypsy cultures from the other side of the Adriatic, and even as far away as Romania.

Ok, I'm wrong, obviously, I don't know Italian music or the other types, but I think that's the point. The library doesn't want italian music, they want what a person who knows nothing about italian music, percieves to be italian! Are we selling out by, perpetuating a stereotype? Are we reinventing ethnicity in the onslaught globalization? ........Probably guilty as charged!

There was a similar listing, which wanted identifiable English music. (It asked for English, Irish, Scottish, UK). Well, I'm english and I'd like someone to tell me what english music sounds like!! The tudors and their lutes and sackbutts, the beatles, ring a ring of roses? So I went for the irish listing as the individual elements are much easier to identify, which is what they want.

Sorry I rambled on, your stuff is the real deal, but I hope I may have offered a bit of an explanation for the return.

Let us know what reply you get.
All the best
Gary

[onelight24]

Hi Gary, thanks for offering your thoughts! Your explanation seems logical enough to me and makes total sense.

However, as I heard back from the Head Screeners office yesterday, it was suggested that the music is definitely on target, and that the screener in this case, should of checked off 'instrumental performance' instead. Both the head screener and another screener, felt that although all the parts to the tracks are well played, "the ensemble feel never quite comes together convincingly".

I am grateful to the head screener for the comments that were given to me, as way of an explanation to the returns. The comments are extremely insightful, clear, and accurately define the problems in the tracks!

I truly wish the screeners would do the same!

Thanks to all of you!

Cheers,
Vincent!

[treesbygb]

Thanks for letting us know Vince. That's very interesting and it seems I was way off. Now there's a surprise!
I'm glad you got a satisfactory answer. From reading both of Robin's songwriting books and watching her on taxi T.V. i agree that she is incredibly insightful and articulate.
I wish you all the best for furure submissions.
Gary