Writing and producing your own music is great and for many people is the furthest they want to get as artists. No matter if you’re an established or upcoming artist, there’s always something you can do better and the sooner you realize you’re not alone in this the faster you’ll become better at your craft. Feedback can come from a variety of sources and their nature will determine its importance and purpose.

Approach fellow artists

Being involved in music, sooner or later you will find yourself surrounded by people sharing the same passion. Their opinion on your music will most likely be the one you treasure the most. Start sending demos to those artists you trust and respect. It’s motivating, easy and free to do but it’s also priceless. Only an experienced musician will tell you the truth if your track needs more work.

Music journalists and bloggers

If we are talking about an already finished musical product – be that a single, EP or a full-length album – you might want to approach people who are writing about music for living. Believe it or not, there are still people buying magazines, reading websites or blogs before purchasing a record. Having your music reviewed by a professional writer will not only give you some feedback about your work but will also expose you, your current achievements and your new endeavors to the fanbase of the magazine, website or the writer. A pro reviewer can give insight not only on the music but on everything else from packaging to production and artwork. However, make sure to research well the journalist or media you are approaching so you know your music will fit their focus. If you have a budget consider a pro publicist handling this for you.

Specialized musician platforms

With smaller forums slowly dying, Soundcloud removing the Groups and Bandcamp being more focused on actually helping you sell your music, there’s been a slight gap in websites one can use to get some feedback on their tracks. Thankfully, Internet is good at filling gaps and music-focused social media are on the rise. Get Drooble for example. It’s free to register and once you’re in you can upload your music and get professionally reviewed by their team or by other artists without spending any money. A nice bonus is that you can also get featured on the platform’s own online radio. Not to mention you can always approach and directly interact with any artist on the website and ask them personally for their opinion. Other websites providing similar options but mainly functioning as paid services are Audiu.net or Frettie.net.

Mainstream social media

For good or bad we are all on Facebook all the time so why not use it for something useful. Currently, large music-related Facebook groups have become mostly spots for shameless self-promotion. Here and there you can still find smaller but vibrant online communities that one can rely on. Those are usually very particular about the genres of music they accept. So do your homework and research which communities are worth joining.

Approach ‘the real’ world

Most of your future fans will not be professional musicians so you definitely need input from people like them. While artists might enjoy a more challenging track or obscure production choices, for casual listeners things are simpler – they play a track once and if they don’t like it right away it’s forgotten. Non-musicians also tend to hear things in a completely different way than the biased ear of a musician or a producer. This said, consider sending your track to friends and family who have nothing to do with the music world. Sometimes their feedback might not be as meaningful as a pro review but it’s very likely that they spot something you have never thought. Such feedback can often save your track.