How to read a curator review without taking it personally 📝
Every review here is at least 20 words from somebody who listened for 60 seconds and got paid the same either way. Here is how to get something out of one.
- Fit vs quality
- Timestamps count
- Paid either way
A pass is the common outcome and the one worth more. Here is how to use it.
Separate the fit from the quality
Most passes are about fit. A curator running a slow late-night list is not saying your drum and bass is bad, they are saying it will clear their room. Read for which one you are being told, because artists reliably hear the wrong one.
If three curators in your genre all pass on fit grounds for different reasons, that is noise. If three pass for the same reason, that is a signal, and it is usually about the first thirty seconds.
Weight the specific over the general
"Not for me" tells you nothing, which is why the minimum here is 20 words and the verdict does not unlock until 60 seconds have actually played. "The vocal sits behind the pad until the second chorus" tells you something you can act on tonight.
When a review mentions a specific timestamp, take it seriously. That is somebody who was listening rather than scanning.
Remember what the curator had to gain
This is the part that makes these reviews different from feedback you get elsewhere. The curator was paid $0.50 for every credit it cost you, and they were paid exactly that whether they added your track or passed on it. There was no bonus for yes and no penalty for no.
So a pass is not somebody being polite to get rid of you, and an add is not somebody hitting a quota. Both are what that person actually thought. That is the only reason either is worth reading.
If nobody is there yet
We are new, and some genres have nobody in them. There is no follower floor at all while we are starting out — a few hundred real followers in one genre beats fifty thousand bought ones — but low is not the same as full. If nobody curates your genre yet you can hold the track in the queue and it goes out the moment somebody is approved. The credit is set aside rather than spent, no clock runs until a real curator has it, and if nobody joins within 90 days you get the credit back and we tell you.