Steve PMHThe music industry is an ecosystem. It is an intricate balance of artists and music industry professionals like music managers, producers, engineers, among others. These are all on one end, with the audience or the listeners like you and me on the other end.
All these components have to be connected with each other for everyone to be happy. Musicians will struggle to find an audience if they do not have the music industry professionals to aid them. If a gap exists, all the parties in play here are guaranteed failure.
This is where sites and services like MusicXray fit into the picture. They attempt to bridge the gap between the said parties keeping everyone satisfied. They offer a connection like wires to a wireless world. In doing so, it creates numerous opportunities.
In an ideal situation, these types of arrangements should work. However, today’s music industry is set in a world where there is no ideal situation. Things do not work the way they are supposed to and this creates problems. This is why despite having many of these sites up and running online today, we still have a lot of frustrated musicians.
This raises many questions as to the working and relevance of MusicXray. Today, we put it under the industry’s microscope. Here is an in-depth review of MusicXray and how it works. Is it worth your while? Let’s find out.
What is MusicXray?
This is an online platform that bridges the gap between the musical talent, industry professionals and the audience. It brings these elements together, allowing the industry professionals to find talent and the musicians, an audience.
Singers and songwriters pitch their creative ideas to the producers and music managers who then select the talent and songs of their liking. The artists are compensated for their creative efforts depending on the terms of agreement of the opportunity.
MusicXray is a talent filter for musicians who work with all genres of music from Indie Rock to Electronic Dance Music. Artists are mostly requested to pitch to similar-sounding tracks. Songwriters can also get their daily bread here, opportunities for songwriting are offered too.
There is a lot to find on the website in terms of opportunities so you will have to take your time. I would advise that you study the site first to know your way around. Once you know your way around, you can then get started.
Your tracks have to meet some requirements before you can pitch them. For instance, your tracks have to be well produced, well mixed and mastered. This means that you have to get your work in.
The requirements will also differ from opportunity to opportunity. Some will suggest that your song should sound similar to particular artists. You thus have to know your music. Do not pitch to opportunities if you are not absolutely certain that your work will meet the given requirements.
My Story with MusicXray
Being new to the industry, finding gigs for my work was challenging. Local concerts were not paying me enough to sustain my work and my living. A friend recommended MusicXray, said it was like an online job site for musicians. His roommate had landed a record deal a couple of weeks earlier and was now moving out of town.
I decided to try my luck with the site. I submitted two songs to the site and paid $35 for each submission. After a few weeks, I was informed that one of my songs had been rejected. It was not the kind of music they were looking for, I guess.
A few days later, I got another message. My second submission had gone through! I was ecstatic! A producer on the platform had liked my stuff and wanted to work with me! Long story short, my track ended up being used in an indie movie, and I made a pretty decent income off that.
What did I learn from this experience? Well, for one thing, patience is key when working with MusicXray. Secondly, I realized that there are a lot more musicians than industry professionals on the platform. This means the professionals have to wade through a tonne of submissions, so your stuff really has to stand out if you want to have any chance of being selected. If your music is not significantly better than that of other musicians you are competing with, you will be sorely disappointed.
Here is a detailed infographic on exactly how this product works:
Key Features of MusicXray
The main features of MusicXray include:
1. Automatic song to opportunity matching.
This feature quickly generates a list of opportunities for your music instantly enabling any artist to know where to pitch his/her music. This process utilizes MusicXray’s intuitive engine that quickly sorts music by genre.
2. Detailed analytics.
Your music is run through MusicXray’s algorithm which generates data about your song. It users parameters like industry crowdsourcing, music analysis software and fan reaction data.
3. SoundCloud Integration.
This integration module allows you to upload your music directly to MusicXray. This is convenient since you can do your uploading anywhere, anytime using your phone.
4. Community and Success Stories.
The community offers support to new artists by giving tips and tricks on how to hack the music industry among other things. The stories shared on the page help to give direction and inspiration to these artists.
How does MusicXray Work?
MusicXray is a music industry filter. The first thing you have to do is to sign up to the free software, create your profile and you are good to go. You will then have to upload your work on to the site for free. The music you upload is then run through a 4-stage filter that uses tools like industry crowdsourcing, music analysis software and fan-reaction data to generate a list of opportunities for your work.
Before the list of opportunities is generated your song or songs will have to be matched to reference tracks. It is from here that you can pitch to individual opportunities. Opportunities offered include soundtracks for movies, record deals and the like.
With the opportunities available, you will then have to submit your music to these. You will have to pay a small fee for submission of your work to opportunities. The fees are different for the opportunities you have been offered.
After submitting your work or your pitch, you will now have to wait for a reply from the relevant sources. The duration of your waiting will vary from opportunity to opportunity.
You can also upload your songs to the website using the Soundcloud Integration module. Your work is saved to the profile you create. There is also a cloud where all your works are saved.
There are various categories of opportunities offered on their website that one is free to explore and choose from at any time. They include; Labels/ recording deals, song placements, radio playlisting, exposure opportunities, publishing deals, management deals, career coaching, artist development and so forth.
You can browse these opportunities using a special button on the homepage. You can freely choose from the list of opportunities. The best part is that this site works with all types of music genres, from EDM to rock music.
Music Industry Professionals can also create accounts for free but these accounts are offered via invitation by MusicXray or via an application and approval process. You can apply for this account anytime but it will take some time to clear.
You will have to pass an approval test which consists of a series of background checks. MusicXray checks this to ensure no unscrupulous activity takes place on their site. This ensures the company’s credibility and upholds its reputation.
According to the site, 1200 music industry professionals are currently enrolled on MusicXray.
Price and Plans
MusicXray is a free service. You do not have to subscribe to any plans. You only have to sign up for it creating your profile in the process.
The only point when you have to pay is when you are submitting your work to an opportunity. The amount you pay will depend on the opportunity itself.
Pros
- The opportunities offered to artists are numerous and diverse giving artists a shot at success. Artists get the chance to be offered record deals and such. If you are lucky, you will get to work with renowned artists.
- This service has a good music sorting system, matching artist’s music directly to the opportunities offered. This saves you the time and stress of having to manually sort and look for professionals to pitch your work to.
- Analytics is a plus, allowing musicians to keep track of their work in terms of who is listening to their songs.
Cons
- It is not a guarantee that your music will be approved when you submit it to an opportunity
- The user interface looks dated and will take some getting used to.
- You have to pay to pitch your songs to music industry professionals, which is kind of ironic
- The website is slow at times when it comes to response times which can give you quite a headache.
Verdict
MusicXray is definitely an amazing product. It gives hope to many creators’ music careers by providing much-needed opportunities. It is a testament to the benefits of modern technology, of how the internet can work for you.
A lot of people have benefitted from MusicXray, but just like everything in life, not everyone will manage to strike gold. It all depends on a variety of factors, including just how good the artist really is. Many recording companies and producers like CBM Music absolutely vouch for this platform. And that is only because MusicXray has gotten many talents discovered.
In the end, is their word good enough for you to use this service? That is for you to decide. All I can advise you to do is try it to see what finally comes out of it. You might be pleasantly surprised when you see what you can achieve with it. Good luck!
