Ratings, reviews, opinions as well as their influence
If you're my current reader, excuse me for my absence. I had a lot of preparation for the exams that are now cancelled thanks to Rona & Co. Due to the isolation, I have more time to think, more time to make music and more time to think about and write content for this blog. I hope that somewhat I can entertain or inform you as these are some of the purposes of this blog. Anyways, let's return to the topic of this post. You might find it quite similar to my previous posts such as Anticlimactic atmosphere but it is quite a different subject and objective.
Most of the music community is probably aware of the existence of music critics, ratings, reviews and various aggregating websites, the most popular being Rate Your Music. Most of it can be found beneficial for the following reasons: You can more easily discover new music and information about certain genres, artists and albums, you can rate music, get an average score for each album, compare your opinion to others', share your musical view about a certain album/artist/track and the list reaches your neighbors opposite your house/apartment. So far, you probably think everything about those websites is fantastic. You're like a part of the shoal! Unfortunately and undoubtedly, there is a negative side of this...
How can we know that the score presented on each album is fully accurate? Accuracy depends on various factors such as the amount of ratings and the type of audience and it varies with each album - some artists are more popular than others. Moreover, people who don't enjoy a certain album could rate it more often than the ones that actually enjoyed it as they might not know that such website exists on the internet, linking to the fact that not everyone will rate the albums they have listened to, making the score less accurate.
Furthermore, there are people who take the aggregate scores into consideration/rely on them way too much. As they get recommended an album, they have to know what score it has (on such websites previously stated) before they even proceed to listen to it. It is understandable as those people wouldn't like to waste their time on an album they wouldn't enjoy but either way, this isn't the ideal attitude because as previously stated on my blog, to each their own. This means that everyone has a different opinion and not everyone will agree to everything. This makes life by far more interesting but painful at the same time. The second part of this phrase is that we should respect our opinions even if they are completely different to what our looks like. In addition, the scores might persuade the listener to think that this certain album isn't what they think it is which makes them question their taste and ability to enjoy music. Clearly, those scores can be very manipulative and highly influential on someone's viewpoint and they disturb the idea of divergent opinions as well.
A few days ago, I have decided to abandon the use of numbers, symbols (for example: stars) etc. to determine my relationship with music. Instead, I started using just four words to describe the album and its quality from "unpleasant" to "remarkable." For a long time, I used to always rate an album on a scale from 1 to 10. It didn't make feel satisfied as I found it quite difficult to choose a number to assign to this certain release. "Is it an 8 or a 9?", "What will other people think of me and my musical taste?" I barely could deal with it. One day, I watched a video from a music-related channel on YouTube which is called Deep Cuts. The video was based around this certain topic: numerical ratings and if they're good or bad. I found Oliver's whole perspective very powerful, convincing and helpful. The numbers speak for themselves in this topic: if a critic rated the album 7/10 or below, you wouldn't listen to it but if it was something along the lines of 8-10/10, you would. Alongside being manipulative, this makes the experience very confusing as people are comparing their impressions to someone else's and they might not agree with it, making or even forcing them to search for certain errors in this release that other person is talking about. The use of numerical ratings also makes us compare the albums to each other. This is entirely incorrect as each album was created with a different purpose, in different circumstances, at a different time and by a different person. Just like humans, each release is different and we shouldn't liken them to each other.
Another disadvantage of numerical ratings is that it degrades the reviews itself which are supposed to express the point of view of the person and is also the explanation why they gave this album such score. People might completely avoid reading anything that this person stated in an article reviewing and rating a release because they only crave to see that one number. This can be seen as disrespectful towards the author and is evidence of being close-minded. It's comparable to simply reading the title of the album, its tracklist and artwork without listening to it. Some of the writers in various magazines and websites stopped adding ratings and this might be one of the reasons why. From time to time, such people should spend about 5 minutes of their time to read the review itself if they also want to know the rating.
To conclude it all, opinions are an influential form of expression which can change others' perception on different subject. Undoubtedly, they are inevitable and you will at some point run into someone's opinion which will affect you deeply if you didn't already. I would like to propose to you that you shouldn't care about all the numbers and opinions of other people. In your music taste, everything that matters is you and your satisfaction with what you listen to. Likewise, you shouldn't neglect what you're listening to immediately. You can give it a second or a third chance and also try to summarize the strengths and weaknesses of the release to obtain a clearer view.
A few days ago, I have decided to abandon the use of numbers, symbols (for example: stars) etc. to determine my relationship with music. Instead, I started using just four words to describe the album and its quality from "unpleasant" to "remarkable." For a long time, I used to always rate an album on a scale from 1 to 10. It didn't make feel satisfied as I found it quite difficult to choose a number to assign to this certain release. "Is it an 8 or a 9?", "What will other people think of me and my musical taste?" I barely could deal with it. One day, I watched a video from a music-related channel on YouTube which is called Deep Cuts. The video was based around this certain topic: numerical ratings and if they're good or bad. I found Oliver's whole perspective very powerful, convincing and helpful. The numbers speak for themselves in this topic: if a critic rated the album 7/10 or below, you wouldn't listen to it but if it was something along the lines of 8-10/10, you would. Alongside being manipulative, this makes the experience very confusing as people are comparing their impressions to someone else's and they might not agree with it, making or even forcing them to search for certain errors in this release that other person is talking about. The use of numerical ratings also makes us compare the albums to each other. This is entirely incorrect as each album was created with a different purpose, in different circumstances, at a different time and by a different person. Just like humans, each release is different and we shouldn't liken them to each other.
Another disadvantage of numerical ratings is that it degrades the reviews itself which are supposed to express the point of view of the person and is also the explanation why they gave this album such score. People might completely avoid reading anything that this person stated in an article reviewing and rating a release because they only crave to see that one number. This can be seen as disrespectful towards the author and is evidence of being close-minded. It's comparable to simply reading the title of the album, its tracklist and artwork without listening to it. Some of the writers in various magazines and websites stopped adding ratings and this might be one of the reasons why. From time to time, such people should spend about 5 minutes of their time to read the review itself if they also want to know the rating.
To conclude it all, opinions are an influential form of expression which can change others' perception on different subject. Undoubtedly, they are inevitable and you will at some point run into someone's opinion which will affect you deeply if you didn't already. I would like to propose to you that you shouldn't care about all the numbers and opinions of other people. In your music taste, everything that matters is you and your satisfaction with what you listen to. Likewise, you shouldn't neglect what you're listening to immediately. You can give it a second or a third chance and also try to summarize the strengths and weaknesses of the release to obtain a clearer view.
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