Get Paid With Your Opinion Music Hobby With Slicethepie and Tips and Tricks for a Better Music Review

If you love music, make it your business by reviewing unsigned bands and artists online for cash with Slicethepie.

Firts step you must sign up to Slicethepie klik this LINK, see the picture

Fill out the details to start making money and insert Referral Code :UECCA5F4 

It can take a while to build up your reputation but some users of the site have said that they earn £40 a month. This may not sound like much, but if it’s something you enjoy then it shouldn’t be hard work and is another thing for your CV. Money you earn will be in $US but anyone can sign up and review.

SliceThePie Tips

• Start writing the moment the song starts. Since you get 90 seconds before you can submit the review(you can take longer), try to figure out what the song is all about.
• Break your review into smaller parts. You can describe the introduction and go onto the the song’s tempo. Then you proceed to critique the singer’s vocals.

Creating a Structure for Your Music Review

Introduction

If the song has one, you should look for how the intro leads you to the song. Is it leading in too fast? Is the introduction too long? Does it start of abruptly with no intro at all? These are things you can talk about.

Melody and Rhythm

How do you like the tune of the song? Is it cheerful or sad? Is it speedy or slow? Did you like the instruments used to create the melody? These are things you can describe to fill up the review. I will give you more details later below for some musical terms.

Vocals

How is the singer’s vocals? Is it nasally or perhaps it is strong and distinct?

Instrumental and Digital Effects

Do you like the enhanced effects of the song if it has any? Do they include any digital tunes?

If You Do a Full Review – Consider the Following:

Structure of the Entire Song

How well did you think the song was organized? Was it all over the place with the chorus used in awkward parts of the song? These are things you could write about.

Performance and Potential of the Song

How was the overall performance? Do you think the song has a chance to make it big?

Overall Recording Quality

Sometimes, the song is good but they might have used a lousy recorder to record the song. You could also give some feedback. I occasionally get songs that just hurts my ears when I listen to it. This is usually due to poor recording.

Vocabulary to Use for the Music Review

Chasmac of HubPages has a great list that I use when I write my music review. 

“Here is a short vocabulary list that he recommends:

For melodies
Positive – tuneful, interesting, shapely (or well-shaped), strong, melodious, memorable, original,
Negative – plain, shapeless, tuneless, boring. too simple, overly complex, unoriginal

For vocals
Positive: – distinctive, rich, warm, expressive, feeling, strong, attractive, appealing, confident, conviction, heartfelt, clear, stylish, impressive, pitch range, dynamic, edgy, raw, powerful
Negative: – thin, weak, inconsistent, out of tune, pitch problems, expressionless, bland, self conscious

For lyrics
Positive – original, amusing, thought-provoking, inspiring, heart-warming, punchy, meaningful, clever, deep,
Negative – plain, uninspiring, weak, pretentious, cheesy, corny, cringeworthy, obscure, confusing, predictable, repetitive, offensive

For instrumental accompaniments
Positive: balanced, varied, full, rich, rhythmic, engaging, compelling, competent, smooth, accomplished, imaginative, creative, solid, original, exciting, powerful, driving, atmospheric, ethereal,
Negative: Weak, plain, safe, uninspired, lacking conviction, poor balance, untogether, over-sentimental, unvaried, lacking contrast. strident, harsh

For artists
Positive: talented, imaginative, professional, creative, accomplished, competent, skillful, careful, experienced, natural
Negative: unimaginative, predictable, careless, unprofessional, untogether, dated, awkward

These should help you come up with words when you are stuck on using the same vocabulary over and over.

Use positive words when giving good reviews and negative ones for not so good reviews.

8/10 Song

The song starts off with a rhythmic and engaging tone. I feel compelled to listen to it. The singer has a rather dynamic voice and it has a strong vocal projection. The song is not overly complex. The chorus is impressive, the pitch range varies, making it rich and engaging for me. The song definitely is professional and creative. I find it extremely good and the singer has talent.

3/10 Song

The song has a very futuristic feel to it. The intro feels like a story. The singer has a very unique voice. It kind of sounds off tune though. The musical instrumental play at 1:00 is decent. The change of pace in tempo is a little off. I was caught by surprise and it threw me off. She cannot really pull a high pitch. The melody of the song is what keeps the performance alright. I would not recommend this to my friends. The tempo of the song loses its tenacity, making me lose interest in the song. Perhaps she could practice more on her singing.

These are examples of some of my reviews. The amount of money you get will vary depending on your level. The base pay for Silver is 2 cents. Gold is 3 cents.

Happy reviewing! If you would like to sign up for SliceThePie, here you go:

What is Slicethepie?

For anyone who doesn't know, Slicethepie is a music review site where ordinary members of the public can join up free as a scout or reviewer, listen to new songs, and write a short review about the song for a small payment. The review is just the member's opinion of the song and/or artist. No special musical skill or knowledge is required. They want the opinion of the wide general public. In recent years, they've also enabled members to give reviews on fashionable clothes and phone cases, but those are more of a sideline, so this article is only concerned with the music side of Slicethepie and how to write meaningful paid song reviews.

Although it's a British company, Slicethepie rewards each review with payments in US cents, ranging from about 5 to over 20 cents. The payment depends on several factors, such as the quality and length of your review, your member rank, and whether extra bonuses are being offered. It's not a fortune, but it adds up and you can easily earn a few dollars in a single 'scouting' session.

As an experienced reviewer on Slicethepie and an experienced musician, I've written this article to advise new scouts on how to write meaningful reviews that can be more helpful to the artist, even if they (the reviewers, not the artists) don't have any formal background in music.

Earnings Balance screen

Earnings Balance screen

Reviewing for the Art, Not the Money

The money is a nice bonus, but for me and many others it's not the main attraction. The best part is being involved in giving valuable feedback to up-and-coming musicians who put their songs out there to see what kind of reception they can expect from the general public—us! Artists who get the highest ratings from the reviewers can become eligible for financing to set them on the road to commercial success.

Describing Musical Elements

Here are some typical musical features that come up in a typical song. You can comment on any features of the song you feel are worth commenting on.

Imagine a song that you know well, and focus on the following features as it plays in your mind.

Intro - If the song has an intro, what do you think of it? Some intros are atmospheric and capture your imagination from the start or they establish a good beat that sets up the song. They do what an intro is supposed to do: lead into the song naturally. Some intros you hear don't do that but instead lead awkwardly into the main part of the song. If there's nothing special about the intro, then there's no need to comment on it.

Vocal melody - What do you think of it? Is it tuneful? Interesting? Is it the kind of tune (melody) that would be easy to remember? Commercially, that's a positive quality, even if it's one of those awful songs that you can't get out of your head for days. 

How about the singer? Listen to his or her vocal quality. Is it a rich tone? Or is it thin? How expressively do they sing the lyrics? How consistent is their vocal quality? They may sound great until they try to get the high notes and go all screechy.

Lyrics - Can you make them out? Some lyrics aren't in English, so you obviously can't comment on the lyrical content if you don't understand the language. But you can still hear the flow of words. All good songwriters choose words and phrases not just for their meaning but also for their sound and natural rhythmic quality.

How are the lyrics in the song you've got in mind? Are they deep and meaningful, or shallow and childish? Pretentious? Predictable? Amusing? Cringe-worthy? Cheesy? Original? Imaginative? Interesting? Offensive? A lot to choose from there.

The instrumental arrangement

The qualities to listen out for are:

Rhythm

Is there a solid beat and strong engaging rhythm that grabs you and carries you along? If so, that's a good quality. If not, that doesn't mean it's bad quality. Not all great songs are catchy. Rhythmic effects can be flowing, subtle, pronounced, complex, etc., but there should be some consistency and conviction whatever the rhythmic style used.

Instrumental variety and balance

If a song has a rich variety of interesting instruments, it may be more distinctive and memorable. The arrangement also has to be tasteful and suit the mood of the song, however. For example, a saxophone is a very expressive instrument, but would be out of place in many styles of music. 

If a song has an accompaniment of just a single strummed guitar, for example, listen to how effectively (or not) the artist makes it interesting by varying the rhythm or dynamics and avoids a boring mechanical strum throughout.

Digital effects 

Although digital effects can be striking and really enhance a song, there's a noticeable tendency among less-experienced musicians to overuse them. Rather than enhance the song, overuse makes it sound cheap and amateurish. Among less talented musicians, digital effects are often used in a vain attempt to compensate for a lack of musical quality. That never works. There's no substitute for musical quality.

Be Descriptive

You can make your review more interesting and meaningful by using a wide variety of well-chosen words and phrases. Don't use the word 'good' all the time, and definitely stay away from the 'Awesome dude!' or 'You guys suck' style of review if you want your review to be taken seriously. Use words that are more descriptive and specific.

Honest reviews are expected, of course, but there's no harm in being diplomatic too. The reason that your opinion is valuable is because, unlike the artists themselves (and their friends and families), you can be completely objective. The artists can be too closely involved with the music to hear faults and weaknesses. They need an objective and unbiased opinion and any advice you may have.

Here's a tiny selection of terms that may be relevant to the musical qualities you want to describe:

For melodies

Positive: tuneful, interesting, shapely (or well-shaped), strong, melodious, memorable, original

Negative: plain, shapeless, tuneless, boring, too simple, overly complex, unoriginal

For vocals

Positive: distinctive, rich, warm, expressive, feeling, strong, attractive, appealing, confident, conviction, heartfelt, clear, stylish, soulful, impressive, pitch range, dynamic, edgy, raw, powerful

Negative: thin, weak, inconsistent, out-of-tune, pitch problems, expressionless, bland, self-conscious

For lyrics

Positive: original, amusing, thought-provoking, inspiring, heart-warming, punchy, meaningful, clever, deep

Negative: plain, uninspiring, weak, pretentious, cheesy, corny, cringeworthy, obscure, confusing, predictable, repetitive, offensive

For instrumental accompaniments

Positive: balanced, varied, full, rich, rhythmic, engaging, compelling, competent, smooth, accomplished, imaginative, creative, solid, original, exciting, powerful, driving, atmospheric, ethereal 

Negative: weak, plain, safe, uninspired, lacking conviction, poor balance, untogether, over-sentimental, unvaried, lacking contrast, strident, harsh

For artists

Positive: talented, imaginative, professional, creative, accomplished, competent, skillful, careful, experienced, natural

Negative: unimaginative, predictable, careless, unprofessional, untogether, dated, awkward

Overall Qualities

Structure

If the song has a familiar arrangement of sections (e.g., verses, choruses, instrumental sections) then it's easy for the average listener to feel at home with it. This, in turn, makes it more commercially attractive. This applies to most styles of music. They don't all have verses and choruses, of course, but they all have contrasting sections.

Commercial potential

You should always keep commercial potential in mind. Even if you don't like the song, try to imagine how the song's target audience would receive it. Some songs are excellent, but in a style that isn't in great demand commercially. They can still find niche outlets and have limited success. For example, you might hear an old 50s or early-60s rock-and-roll style song. It could be a superb example of that style played to perfection, but it's not a style that's attractive to mainstream commercial investors who worry about getting a return on their investment. The main commercial quality of songs like that is nostalgia, and nostalgia is a niche market.

Performance quality 

Even without any musical knowledge on your part, you can still get a feel for things like how much the artist or artists enjoy and believe in what they're doing. Even if not technically brilliant, a vibrant performance that is full of confidence, conviction, style and flair is obviously going to be far more attractive commercially than a lacklustre performance by artists who sound like they'd rather be someplace else

Another quality you'll come across is over-expressiveness. The artist wants to make an impression emotionally, but overdoes it and comes across sounding insincere, put on, melodramatic and pretentious. That's a worst-case scenario, but it's not that uncommon.

Production and recording quality

Don't be too hard on poor production and recording quality. The artist may have very limited means, and it's the best possible sound they can get from very basic recording and mixing equipment.

On the other hand, sloppy recording (unintended distortion, bumping into the mic or even coughing into it) deserves to be criticised. Even with the most basic of equipment, a professional approach to the recording is more impressive than a 'couldn't care less' attitude in a recording studio.

Reviewing Different Genres

As you can't pick and choose the styles and genres that you get to review, you may have to review songs in a style that you're not familiar with. It's not a problem. You can still review the song by commenting on qualities that are common to most styles of music, such as balance, tastefulness, originality, style, variety, impact, emotion, and, last but not least, commercial potential.

You're free to let the artist know that you don't like that style or genre, but it would be unfair to rate an individual song low on those grounds. Don't let your personal taste cloud your judgement of what could become a major hit.

Sample Reviews

Here are some sample reviews to give an idea of the types of reviews that artists find useful, even if you're telling them something they don't want to hear. Compose your own reviews in your own style, of course, but aim to make them relevant, descriptive and informative.

Slicethepie also has quality controls in place that automatically reject reviews that are offensive, too short, lacking in musical terms, or too similar to your previous reviews (hence the need to have a wide vocabulary of descriptive terms). On the other hand, they pay a higher bonus for reviews that meet and surpass their quality standards.

Be Concise - Not long-winded - If your review is too long it will probably be rejected with the message that it's not specific enough. That's because the number of musical terms will be low compared to the number of non-musical terms and the system will reject it due to low 'keyword' density.

Example 1 - A glowing review - 9/10

This is a great song and performance. The melody is strong and tuneful. The singer has an attractive vocal tone, and puts real feeling into the lyrics. The lyrics are interesting and meaningful with some punchy phrases. Instrumentally, the song has a rich, full accompaniment that complements the vocal track perfectly. Great guitar solo too, although I think a grittier tone would suit the dark mood of the song better.

The performance quality is high throughout, both vocally and instrumentally. Overall, the song is distinctive and original, and I think it has strong commercial potential.

Example 2 - A good song badly arranged - 6/10

I think this song has some good musical qualities but needs a better musical arrangement. The singer has a distinctive and attractive vocal tone, but is often drowned out by the powerful instrumental accompaniment. The synth tones are far too harsh and strident. The singer should be allowed to dominate the song without having to compete with the accompaniment. The lyrics seem quite interesting, but can't always be heard clearly because of the poor vocal-instrumental balance. It's quite a tuneful song, though, and could be easily improved with a more tasteful instrumental arrangement.

Example 3 - A negative review - 3/10

This song has some problems. The intro is too long, and doesn't really develop or build up enough to justify such a long intro. The singer has some pitch accuracy issues. [That's a diplomatic way of saying "out of tune."] The melody is weak, and the lyrics are quite plain and repetitive. The instrumental arrangement is reasonably good in terms of balance, and it provides a solid enough accompaniment, but it needs to be a bit more varied and interesting, and definitely more expressive for greater impact. Overall, I think the song doesn't have enough quality in its present state.

Note: If you submit your review and get a message that your score doesn't appear to match the content of your review, don't worry about it. It's not a warning. It's just asking you to double check that you haven't made a mistake with your score. If you haven't, then just click 'submit' again and it will be accepted.

Musical Terms

As mentioned earlier, sometimes a review will be rejected if you don't mention enough musical terms or 'elements' of the track you're reviewing. Here's an alphabetical list of common musical terms. Treat the list as a reminder of terms that you're already familiar with. Don't use any that you're unfamiliar with, as the artist reading the review will likely complain to STP if the review is full of terms used in a way that doesn't make any sense.

Accompaniment, acoustic, alto, arpeggio, arrangement, atonal, backing, backbeat, ballad, bass, beat, BPM, brass, bridge, chords, chorus, chromatic, classic, classical, coda, composition, counterpoint, development, dissonant, drumming, dynamics, fills, flow, harmony, harmonise (harmonize), harmonics, hook, instrument, instrumental, improvisation, intro, key, lead, lyrics, melody, metre (meter), middle 8, modal, modulate, offbeat, percussion, percussive, phrase, phrasing, pitch, range, refrain, register, rhythm, scale, sequence, shuffle, singer, snare, solo, soprano, swing, syncopation, synth, tempo, tenor, timing, tonal, tone (timbre), tremolo, triplets, tune, tuning, vamp, verse, vibrato, vocal, voicing

Become a Slicethepie Reviewer

I hope you found the reviewing advice in this article helpful and are encouraged to submit meaningful reviews that artists will find useful and benefit from. If not already a reviewer, why not give it a try? It can be quite addictive—and it pays.

Also, be patient as there are occasional glitches on the site and there aren't always songs available to review. They can only give us songs to review if people upload them in the first place to their sister site Soundout.com. If, after reviewing a few songs, you get a message telling you that there are no suitable songs to review, just stop for a while and come back later.