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General => General Music Discussion => Topic started by: Ħ on December 08, 2012, 07:45:15 PM

Title: Allmusic and other popular rating sites
Post by: Ħ on December 08, 2012, 07:45:15 PM
What do you think of the ratings by Allmusic? They seem to consistently cover nearly every release by the artists I've heard. Quite a large scope.


I like their ratings, usually. They've got IAW and TOT with the highest rankings for DT, and I think that's pretty much right. They've got FOABP and SD at the top for PT, and that seems right to me, too. Generally, I don't disagree with what they have to say. So when checking out a new artist, I'll usually check out Allmusic's top suggestion.


What do you think? And if you don't like them, are there any review sites that you trust?
Title: Re: Allmusic and other popular rating sites
Post by: Sigz on December 08, 2012, 07:56:04 PM
What do you think? And if you don't like them, are there any review sites that you trust?

Haven't paid any attention to them. I don't really look up music reviews in any capacity.
Title: Re: Allmusic and other popular rating sites
Post by: Ultimetalhead on December 08, 2012, 07:59:01 PM
I used to read their stuff a lot as a good indicator of which order to check out albums in. Their reviews are usually barebones and shitty though. I use user-generated sites like Sputnik and Encyclopedia Metallum for reviews now.
Title: Re: Allmusic and other popular rating sites
Post by: Orbert on December 08, 2012, 08:49:59 PM
I've been visiting AMG for years, and I think I finally noticed that they have ratings maybe a year ago.  I think I'm so used to completely ignoring anything that looks like ratings (numbers of stars, or checkmarks, or whatever) that I automatically filter them out.  I agree with what they say about albums about half the time, and the other half I think they just don't get it.  If they happen to mention particular songs in their "reviews" I almost never agree with what they say.  It's a site for the masses, not for people who actually know music.  Yeah, that sounds pretty snobby, but it's true.
Title: Re: Allmusic and other popular rating sites
Post by: Scorpion on December 09, 2012, 05:04:55 AM
I prefer SputnikMusic, myself - they seem to be in line with my tastes more often, though I still check out stuff on YouTube or Spotify, regardless of the reviews that it has gotten, before buying it.
Title: Re: Allmusic and other popular rating sites
Post by: The King in Crimson on December 09, 2012, 08:50:53 AM
I used to read their stuff a lot as a good indicator of which order to check out albums in. Their reviews are usually barebones and shitty though. I use user-generated sites like Sputnik and Encyclopedia Metallum for reviews now.
This.
Title: Re: Allmusic and other popular rating sites
Post by: Heretic on December 09, 2012, 10:50:35 AM
sputnik is the best
Title: Re: Allmusic and other popular rating sites
Post by: Zantera on December 09, 2012, 11:25:03 AM
sputnik is the best

never heard about allmusic, but this x2000
Title: Re: Allmusic and other popular rating sites
Post by: skydivingninja on December 09, 2012, 12:07:08 PM
I used to read their stuff a lot as a good indicator of which order to check out albums in. Their reviews are usually barebones and shitty though. I use user-generated sites like Sputnik and Encyclopedia Metallum for reviews now.

This. 
Title: Re: Allmusic and other popular rating sites
Post by: orcus116 on December 09, 2012, 02:49:53 PM
The fact that AMG uses different reviewers to review different albums by the same band kind of makes it inconsistent. I know I've disagreed with a good number of reviews in the past but I haven't been to the site in awhile so I can't think of any good examples.
Title: Re: Allmusic and other popular rating sites
Post by: Jaq on December 09, 2012, 02:54:14 PM
All Music is kind of weird, as was said just above me, they use different reviewers on different albums by a band. And the review content can be wildly uneven throughout a discography; one reviewer will write the War and Peace of reviews on Album #1, while Album #2 gets a three sentence review that reads like a bare bones description. Consequently I really don't give much thought to All Music's reviews.  :lol