Back sometime in the mid 1990’s, I was playing keyboards in a band. One gig in Walker, Newcastle was memorable for a number of reasons. It was an inauspicious start – in my experience a pub with a flat roof is never a good sign. On arrival, we encountered kids on the roof throwing bricks into the car park and asking if we would like them to “look after” the cars for us, in exchange for a tenner.
Once we were inside and began playing, it became clear that the crowd weren’t really here for us. We finished most songs to silence. About half way through the first set, at the end of a song, from somewhere near the bar, a woman shouted: “I wish you would shut the f*** up – I’ve got a bad heed!”
Which, in its own way, is about as direct a piece of audience feedback as you can get.
As an artist or musician, if you make anything and put it out into the world, sooner or later you’re going to be on the receiving end of criticism.
It can come from all directions. Parents, teachers, audiences, friends, reviewers, algorithms, curators, the odd person in a pub. Some of it is thoughtful and useful. Some of it is careless. Some of it says more about the person giving it than the work itself.
The tricky part is that we’re wired to notice it.
Praise tends to wash over us. Criticism sticks. It lands. It echoes. We give it more weight than it probably deserves. I can remember kind, encouraging feedback from music teachers over the years – but if I’m honest, it’s the offhand, slightly cutting remarks that still have a bit of sting to them years later. A single comment, delivered badly, can sit with someone for years.
When I release new music, I sometimes use a platform called Submithub. It’s a service that connects artists with playlist curators, bloggers and reviewers. You send your track, they listen, and they either accept it for their playlist or decline it – often with a short bit of feedback explaining why.
It’s actually quite a useful window into how different people hear the same piece of music.
Recently I released a new single ‘In The Space Between’ You can listen to it here https://too.fm/pw02-inthespacebetween
Below, are a few snippets of feedback from curators who rejected the track and decided NOT to include it in their Spotify playlists:
“A masterful piano performance… I would have liked the overall song to surprise me more.”
“Very heartfelt melody… but a bit too melancholic.”
“Superb track… but I’m looking for something with a sadder, more melancholic mood.”
“A beautiful piece… but a bit too sweet and lovely for my playlist.”
“I couldn’t really connect with the stronger notes in the low register — I prefer softer tones.”
“Great piece… but a bit too close to the waltz genre, which I don’t support.”
“Really beautiful and delicate… but slightly more ‘spaced out’ than what we’re looking for.”
If you read those back-to-back, firstly, its very mild criticism – largely positive and mostly just that the piece doesn’t fit their playlist. Previous pieces have had more brutal feedback. I also find that it’s quite hard to know exactly what to take from them.
Too melancholic. Not melancholic enough. Too sweet. Not surprising enough. Too strong. Too soft. Too waltzy. Not quite the right kind of “space”.
Same piece. Different ears. Different tastes. Different contexts.
And that’s really the point.
Criticism isn’t objective truth. It’s a snapshot of one person’s taste, in one moment, shaped by what they’re looking for, what they’ve heard before, and what mood they happen to be in.
That doesn’t mean these opinions are useless. Sometimes there are patterns worth noticing. Sometimes a comment can genuinely help you hear your work differently.
But it does mean you have to keep it in proportion.
Because if you give every piece of criticism equal weight, you end up paralysed and trying to please everyone, which leads to a dilution of originality and a movement towards the generic rather than the individual. And is also, by the way, not possible.
At some point, you have to decide what you are trying to do, and measure everything else against that.
For me, that’s been a gradual learning process. I definitely used to take things more to heart. These days, I try to let it pass through a bit more lightly.
Listen. Consider. Take what’s useful. Leave the rest. And keep going.
Criticism isn’t a sign that something’s gone wrong – it’s a sign that the music is out there, doing what it’s supposed to do.
Being heard. Being felt. Being reacted to.
Even, occasionally, by someone in a flat-roof pub with a bad heed.
Have a great week.
Steve
Thanks, this is great article.