Music Nerds FAQ

Music Nerds features track-by-track reviews, or "guides", for thousands of music albums. It is by and for people who love music and feel strongly about certain artists/albums/songs. People who can go on and on about exactly what they like and don't like about a song or album. You know - music nerds.

We are different than other review sites because, where most sites have a general overview of an album (with maybe a passing mention of a few specific songs), Music Nerds gives each track its full due, offering a more complete feel of an album.

Our guides are written by our contributors — you. Anyone who knows an album well and can write about each track on it can submit a guide.

Writing for us
We are always looking for people to write album guides. A contributor is paid when a web visitor clicks an affiliate link and either makes a purchase or signs up (depending on the advertiser).

Music Nerds is a revenue-sharing site: affiliates pay us directly, and we split the commissions with writers. Payments are made monthly via PayPal. The minimum payment is USD$15; if you have less than that it will be carried over to the next month.

From October 2007: Increased commission rates. While the site grows, writers are also receiving a percentage of sitewide Google AdSense earnings, and a full 100% of the revenue generated by the page(s) that feature their writing. Yes, this means Music Nerds is making nothing for itself until further notice. This is an effort to encourage more contributions and help the site grow.

So during this time, who gets paid when someone makes a purchase through an as-yet -unclaimed, unwritten album page? On each page view, a contributor is chosen at random and his or her affiliate code is automatically embedded into the commercial links.

Music is more important than money, full stop. We don't want Music Nerds to become a crass marketing site or an over-commercialized morass. We choose our advertisers based on how useful their products or services are (they're mostly places to acquire the music that our writers are reviewing — note that all services are legal as we don't condone illegal downloading or torrenting). Currently we have relationships with:

• Rhapsody Popular web streaming music service with a huge selection. A completely free 14-day trial gets users full quality, full-length tracks for any of their zillions of songs.
• eBay Usually we list CDs, T-shirts, autographed LPs, things like that related to specific albums or artists.
• Amazon For CDs and DVDs. .co, .ca, and .co.uk.
• iTunes Music Store Easiest way to get $.99 mp3s of individual tracks.
• eMusic Better service than iTunes (cheaper and DRM-free) but with a more obscure, independent-music catalog (the occasional heavyweight like Paul McCartney notwithstanding).

Though writers can be anywhere in the world, note that commissions are earned for U.S. purchases only for iTunes and Rhapsody.

How to get started
1. Find an album you want to write a guide for, and if nobody else has yet, claim it. After claiming, you'll have 7 days to submit your guide. (At first, you can claim only one album at a time; after you've had one accepted and published, you'll be able to claim five albums at one time.)

2. Write your intuitive, engrossing track-by-track guide. All guides must be written especially for Music Nerds; no copying from other pre-published sources, even if you wrote it.

3. Go to the album page, click "Submit guide", and copy and paste your review. You can preview everything before publishing, and edit it until a Music Nerds editor gets a hold of it. After it's been published, it isn't editable.

Writing guidelines
The guide you write is your own opinion of the album, but factual information is important too. Write descriptively and entertainingly about what you like and what you don't like, and why. To this, add biographical and other information about the artist/album.

Consider your audience, which will be made up of different music fans:

• New fans don't know anything about this album/artist, and perhaps have never heard of them. They need descriptions of what the music sounds like, what other artists it reminds you of, and what the artist's influences are. It might become their new favorite album thanks to your review!
• Casual fans have heard of this artist/album, and have been thinking of getting into them. But they want to know more precisely what they're getting into because they're nerds. (You may recognize an autobiographical slant here.) Like new fans, casual fans need descriptions, similarities to other artists, etc.
• Old fans already know this album. Maybe they're heard it more than you. They have their own opinions, and will read your guide for interesting factual tidbits, new perspectives, and/or to find something to disagree with or argue about. Old fans just like reading about albums they like, and even if they disagree with your opinions, appreciate the passion you have for music, a passion they share with you. (And by the way, "old" doesn't mean age necessarily, just that they are already familiar with this music.)

Each album guide has two sections:

• Overview A brief description of the band and album, put into some historical perspective, so music nerds who like biographical information about their favorite artists have something to read. Is this the artist's debut album? What were the recording circumstances (if at all interesting or relevant)? Is it typical of the artist/genre/etc? What has been/should have been/will be the album's historical significance?
  
  You don't really have to spend too much time on this part. Just write a brief paragraph or two putting the album in some kind of context for readers.
• Track-by-Track This is the more important of the two sections; it is here that music nerds really start enjoying themselves (and hopefully, where you as a music nerd/writer enjoy yourself). For each track, again write descriptively, and give your opinions and interpretations. What other songs or artists does it sound like, or feature as a guest? What instruments are used? What is the pace?
  
  This is the section to let your fingers go crazy, and type everything you think and feel when you hear these songs. Describe what you like and dislike, and why. Mention notable things that happened during the recording, or interesting things that have happened since that pertain to the track. Why did this song get written? Why did it get chosen for the album? What has the artist said about it in interviews?

You can quote song lyrics, but don't make them too much of your review. Most of it should be your words. (Lengthy lyrics quotes will be edited down.)

There are no real guidelines on the number of words for either the Overview or Track-by-Track, but the idea is to include at least a couple good paragraphs per track, more for longer songs. If you love a song and can go on and on about exactly why, you're for us. One or two short sentences isn't enough.

We'd also suggest actually listening, if possible, to the album while you write. Even if you've heard it a zillion times. It helps us, anyway.

Above all, when writing, keep this thought in the back of your mind for inspiration: "This guide is going to become the place on the internet for people to read about this album!"

Vital points
Your contributions may be edited for grammar, spelling and clarity.

The more people see your page, the more will buy the album. With proper publicizing, a well-written and useful page will attract more people over time as word spreads. As Music Nerds grows, and more visitors click around perusing the guides, everybody's commissions will grow together.

But people have to know your page exists. With a little work, you can drive visitors to your page(s). Music Nerds works to get interested traffic to the site in general. Further suggestions, if you would like to help publicize your specific pages, include:

• Widget If you have a blog or website, add the widget (found on each album page with a published guide) to it. It's a handy little thing to add free content to your site and pique the interest of fellow music nerds.
• Online forums Participate in online discussion forums that deal with that artist or type of music, or where there are people that would be interested. If you post regularly, just put a link to your Music Nerds page(s) in your signature on the forum.
• Fan websites Suggest to webmasters of relevant sites that they put a link to your page(s) on their site.
• Social websites Social bookmarking sites like Digg, reddit, del.icio.us, and StumbleUpon are great for spreading the word about your page(s), as are friends sites like MySpace and Facebook.
• Tell your friends When someone clicks through to a merchant via a link on one of your pages, you get commission for almost anything they purchase. Get the word out among your family and friends!
• Wikipedia If your guide is truly helpful and unique (and if you follow the guidelines above, it will be), consider putting a link on Wikipedia. Be sure it belongs there though; don't spam Wikipedia or give Music Nerds a bad name. Wikipedia allows outgoing links to pages that are authoritative and useful, but whose content inappropriate for Wikipedia itself. Your extensive but opinionated guide should fit this criteria.
• Buy ads If you're confident that your guides are unique and useful, consider paying to advertise your pages. By spending just a little money, traffic can grow by leaps and bounds. Check services like Google AdWords or the Yahoo! Search Marketing for more details.

Obviously, don't expect billions of dollars overnight. This is much more about opining than getting rich. With more quality guides, and more time, everyone's pages on Music Nerds will eventually get more visitors. But give it time - be patient and keep writing!

Music Nerds reserves the right to end its relationship with any contributor in whole or in part at our discretion. (Of course, we won't keep any guide on our site without paying the proper commissions to the writer.)