How to Write Reviews for Indie Music

When you write music reviews, you'll find many people to disagree with you because after all, music attracts very individual tastes, particularly in indie music. When you write indie music reviews on recording music or concert performances, it's about paying attention to the details and sharing them with others.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Listen to indie music you want to review. Typically, music reviews are based on an entire album. Listen to the music without other distractions.

2. Make notes about what you like or don't like about each song. Don't be afraid to listen to a track more than once. Everyone has at least one song that they didn't enjoy the first time they heard it, but that later grew on them.

3. Start your review with a summary that alerts the reader that it's a review of indie music in the same vein as another indie group. This clues the reader to expect a specific type of music if they're not familiar with the band.

4. Include a discography of the band, and compare the present album to past albums. If individual band members played with other indie music artists, tell the reader.

5. Describe the music both as a whole and as individual tracks worthy of attention. You'll focus on both the best and the worst of the recording.

6. Sum up your music review in the conclusion.

7. Use snappy repartee in a chatty, in-the-know kind of writing style when you write reviews. Readers should get the feeling that you know what you're talking about and that you understand that the reader knows a lot about indie music too.

Tips & Warnings

• Recognize that although musical tastes are subjective, your job as a reviewer is to remain objective.
• Adapt these steps to write reviews of indie music concerts for print or online publications. When reviewing concerts, include details of crowd response and future tour dates.