{"id":96,"date":"2013-06-21T14:40:00","date_gmt":"2013-06-21T14:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shockwave-sound.com\/blog\/2013\/06\/21\/writing-good-descriptions-and-keywords-2\/"},"modified":"2017-08-09T06:43:51","modified_gmt":"2017-08-09T06:43:51","slug":"writing-good-descriptions-and-keywords-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shockwave-sound.com\/blog\/writing-good-descriptions-and-keywords-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing good Descriptions and Keywords for your stock music tracks"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\nA letter \/ note to all musicians sending in music to Shockwave-Sound.com…:<\/p>\n

<\/a>When
\nI first started Shockwave-Sound.com in 1999\/2000, I was working with a handful
\nof composers and those composers would simply send me their music and I\u2019d write
\nthe Descriptions and Keywords for all tracks. But as more and more people have
\njoined up, we are now over 300 composers on the site and I\u2019ve had to start
\nasking people to include Descriptions, Keywords
\nand BPM Tempo<\/b> for all tracks that are submitted to Shockwave-Sound.com
\nbecause it\u2019s simply not possible for me to write all that for all the composers
\nany more.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\nSo
\nnow, whenever a composer sends a music track to be included in our catalogue, I
\nneed that composer to always include good quality information \/ description
\nalong with their tracks. Many of you are very<\/i>
\ntalented composers and producers, but sadly, not as interested, or talented, at
\nwriting the descriptions and keywords that the customers will see before, or
\nduring, listening to your tracks. Some of you send descriptions that are,
\nfrankly, terrible. For that reason, I\u2019ve decided to write this \u201cguide\u201d to help
\nyou guys submit better information with your future track submissions, for the
\nbenefit of your own sales and earnings, as well as the business as a whole.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nI\u2019ve
\ndecided to start with a fictional <\/b>example
\nof an information file that looks something like actual ones that I receive
\nfrom time to time. This is just me coming up with some \u201cbad example\u201d of what
\nyou should not<\/b> submit:<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThis amazing
\ntrack is all about adventure ,thrills ,confident macho ,underscore film music!<\/div>\n
\na great track
\nfor you with goosebumps ,corporate ,business track,<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nRiff
\nDistortion Power Heavy, Raw,,Gritty<\/div>\n
\ndirty,hypnotic.trancey,mesmerising
\n,corporate.
\nmenacing,unnerving,distortion,exciting,excitement,,brutal.dramatic,,<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThis
\nis so bad on so many levels. Firstly, read the description. It doesn\u2019t make
\nsense at all! It\u2019s not built up of coherent sentences. It\u2019s just a bunch of
\n\u201cjibber jabber\u201d, as Mr. T would have called it!<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nNow,
\nlook at the punctuation. Spaces before<\/b>
\nthe commas? Ending<\/b> the entire thing
\nwith a comma? Frankly, I can\u2019t use something like this on the site. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nNow,
\nthe keywords. Look at the punctuation. Most keywords are separated by a comma,
\nbut NO SPACE. This is a very bad idea, because without the comma and a space,
\nit\u2019s all going to be seen as one word by the search engine, and as a result,
\nthe track is not going to be found. The keywords \/ key phrases must<\/b> be separated by a comma and then a
\nspace. Like this: \u201cinspiring, strong, meaningful\u201d. NOT like this:
\n\u201cinspiring,strong,meaningful\u201d and NOT like this: \u201cinspiring ,strong
\n,meaningful\u201d. And the same thing goes when you are writing a sentence. You
\ncannot write \u201cpowerful ,punchy and gutsy\u201d. You must write it as \u201cpowerful,
\npunchy and gutsy\u201d. Do you see the difference? When using a comma in a sentence
\n(OR in a list of keywords), you must always<\/b>
\nwrite the comma<\/b>, THEN a space, THEN
\nthe next word.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nAlso,
\nwhy the hard line breaks in the list of keywords? Why \u201cgritty\u201d then a HARD LINE
\nBREAK, and then \u201cdirty\u201d? I can\u2019t use the list like that. I can\u2019t have hard line
\nbreaks in the description OR the keywords. So I find myself having to detail edit
\nall of this before being able to put it into my database.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nOk,
\nthat was my fictional<\/b> but somewhat
\ntypical \u201cbad example\u201d of the day taken care of. Now let\u2019s go to some guidelines
\nwhich I hope you guys can keep in mind, and adhere to, when sending tracks in
\nfor inclusion in our catalogue.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n1)      
\nDo not use excessive superlatives<\/b> about your tracks in the description. NEVER
\nuse words like \u201cawesome\u201d, \u201cperfect\u201d, \u201cincredible\u201d or similar. It just makes us
\nlook stupid and childish. Sometimes I see something like \u201cThis track is perfect
\nfor any media production!\u201d. WHAT??? A track that is PERFECT for ANY MEDIA
\nPRODUCTION???? Come off it! NO track is PERFECT for ANY MEDIA PRODUCTION.
\nNever! Can\u2019t you instead try something like \u201cWill work well with corporate
\nmedia and business applications.\u201d?! I refuse to believe that your track, no
\nmatter how great you think it is, is perfect for any media production. No way. <\/div>\n
\n2)      
\nNever  use exclamation marks<\/b> (!) in your descriptions. Just never. If you
\nwant to say \u201cThis track will bring a surge of energy to your production.\u201d – end
\nit with a full stop (.), NEVER with an exclamation mark (!). The exclamation
\nmark is BANNED, with only ONE exception and that is when used for comic effect<\/i>. For example: \u201cThis is a thigh-slapping, barnstorming, chicken
\nchasing hoe-down with a crazy fiddle and banjo. Yee-haw!\u201d<\/i>. This is the only
\ntype of setting in which an exclamation mark is accepted. <\/div>\n
\n3)      
\nTry not to put the customers\u2019 minds onto a
\nvery specific scene<\/b> when you are describing your track, because generally,
\nyour customer is not working on a scene exactly like that! Descriptions such as
\n\u201cThis is a good track for two people holding hand while walking on a beach\u201d is a
\nBAD IDEA because 99.99% of our customers are NOT working on a scene where two
\npeople hold hands and walk on a beach, so you have pretty much excluded those
\ncustomers by putting a specific<\/i> image
\nin their mind, which does not match the scene that the customer is working on.
\nIn this case, you would be better off writing something like \u201cA gentle and romantic
\ntrack that will work for scenes of love and quiet romance\u201d. This leaves so much
\nmore open to the customer\u2019s own imagination, and perhaps now you are giving the
\ncustomer a chance to listen to your track while imagining the track in their own<\/i> scene \u2013 not in your<\/i> scene.<\/div>\n
\n4)      
\nDon\u2019t be afraid to use pretty short, neutral,
\nalmost boring<\/b>
\ndescriptions. I have some descriptions on the site that just go: \u201cElectronica \/ dance track with a moderate
\nenergy level. Swirling synths \/ mid-tempo beat<\/b>\u201d. That\u2019s it. This track
\nsells really well! I have many others with similarly bland, but functional
\ndescriptions. This is clearly a good quality description that works well for
\ncustomers and make them want to listen to, and buy the track. This is all you
\nneed, really. You do not need to stir the imagination too much or take the
\ncustomer on some kind of amazing journey with your description. Customers like
\nto make their own minds up about just how \u201camazing\u201d your track is. A neutral,
\nto the point, description is enough.<\/div>\n
\n5)      
\nNow we come to the Keywords. The worst sin for keywords
\nis to spam the keywords field with
\nunrelated keywords<\/b>. That is the WORST offense in my book. Many of you will
\ninclude a lot of keywords that just aren\u2019t that related to the track, but you
\nfigure you want to include them because you think a lot of customers search for
\nthat, so you want to include those words just to make your tracks come up in
\nsearch more often, even if they are not relevant to that keyword. An example of
\nthis is the word \u201ccorporate\u201d. Some of you include that word in the keywords
\nlist NO MATTER WHAT the track sounds like. Like a gentle piano ballad. Or a
\njazz track. Please! Don\u2019t do it! Okay, it
\nmay be<\/b> that some corporation would want to use your piano ballad in a
\nproject, but that does not make the track suitable to include \u201ccorporate\u201d in
\nthe keywords.  I also see quite often
\nthat some of you have a \u201cstandard list of keywords\u201d that you copy to ALL your
\ntracks, and then you just write in a couple of new keywords individually for
\neach track that are relevant to the track. Like you will have \u201cuplifting,
\nbright, warm, confident,\u201d and several other keywords and copy these to ALL your
\ntracks, no matter what the track sounds like \u2013 and then<\/i> just write four or five additional keywords that are actually
\nrelated to the track. This is considered spamming<\/b>
\nand is not tolerated. Your hardcore electro\/grunge industrial track IS NOT
\n\u201cwarm\u201d! As a collective of composers and music marketers, we do not want
\ncustomers to search for \u201cwarm\u201d and then get a post-industrial hard core grunge
\nmetal track to come up in the search results! It just damages the reputation
\nfor the entire site, and in turn, the sales of your music and your income<\/i>. The only time a standard
\nlist of keywords copied to all your tracks is acceptable is if you have been
\nworking on a project with several tracks of exactly the same style. For
\nexample, a whole bunch of 1970\u2019s funk tracks, that are all different tracks,
\nbut have the same style, same sound, same usage area, basically same
\ninstrumentation etc. THEN you may submit them with all the same keywords for
\nall the tracks. <\/div>\n
\n6)      
\nNow to the punctuation in the keywords: Always separate
\nkeywords and key phrases with a comma,
\nand then a space<\/b>. LIKE THIS: \u201ccold, isolated, lonely, homesick, desolate\u201d.
\nNOT just a comma but no space \u201ccold,isolated,lonely…\u201d and NOT a space and
\nthen comma \u201ccold ,isolated ,lonely…\u201d. The same is the case when you are
\nwriting descriptions. Never write a space and then a comma, and never just a
\ncomma without any space. It\u2019s ALWAYS a comma, then a space. Like this: \u201cUseful
\nfor workout, aerobics, running and exercise\u201d.  Never use HARD LINE BREAK (\u201cparagraph break\u201d)
\nin either the Descriptions OR the keywords.<\/div>\n
\n7)      
\nPlease always include the BPM Tempo<\/b> when you submit track information. If you do
\nnot submit the BPM tempo, then the track will simply go into the database with
\na BPM tempo of \u201c0\u201d and if a customer decides to browse music with BPM Tempo (or
\ntempo range) as a criterium, your track will never come up in his searches. So
\nyou are losing potential sales. If you don\u2019t know the BPM Tempo of your tracks
\nfrom your DAW \/ sequencer \/ Protools etc., then you can find the tempo of your
\ntracks by listening to your track while tapping the keyword on your computer,
\non this page: http:\/\/www.shockwave-sound.com\/tools\/tap-BPM-tempo.html<\/a> <\/div>\n
\n8)      
\nFinally, a request that you please put the descriptions,
\nkeywords and BPM tempo for your tracks into one document<\/b> per submission, NOT one document per track. It just
\nmakes it a bit easier for me when I can simply have one document open and then
\ncopy & paste from that one document while working on your tracks \u2013 rather
\nthan constantly have to close a document and open a new one. And my preferred
\nformat is Excel format, with one track per line, and columns for title,
\ncomposer(s), genre(s), BPM tempo, Description, and Keywords. Although Word \/
\nText format is accepted also.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nI
\nguess many of you will be asking yourself why don\u2019t I create some kind of \u201cself
\nupload\u201d and \u201cself publishing\u201d feature on the website, where you composers have
\nto log in, upload your files, type in your descriptions and keywords, set the
\ngenres etc. and do everything yourself. And I can simply sit back and let you
\nguys do everything yourself, and stuff just comes out on the site. <\/div>\n
\n\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n

The reason why I\u2019ve never done that is quite simply that I don\u2019t want it like
\nthat. Especially having seen some of the descriptions, keywords, genre
\nclassifications etc. that come in from some of the composers, I\u2019d be MAD to let
\nyou guys loose and just put stuff out on the site, as submitted. The site would
\ndeteriorate into… well… something like those sites that DO practice that
\nself publishing method. It\u2019s a wish-wash of badly written descriptions, tracks
\nput in the wrong genres, keywords spamming and such that generally make for a
\nvery bad user experience. You guys already know about some sites like this. I
\ndon\u2019t have to mention them. Here at Shockwave-Sound.com we don\u2019t want it like
\nthat. I myself take on the role and responsibility of \u201cQuality control\u201d for
\neverything that goes out on the site. If you spam the keywords field, I will
\nsimply edit your keywords field before publishing it, or worse, I may decide to
\nskip your track and not put it on the site at all, because it\u2019s too much hassle
\nfor me to fine-tune your descriptions or keywords.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\nI
\nguess it\u2019s not fair to expect all composers to be good writers, or even to be
\nable to write with correct punctuation. Perhaps it shouldn\u2019t be necessary for
\nsuccess, to be expected to be able to compose and produce amazing music, AND
\nalso to be able to write good English. But the fact of the matter is, in the
\nbusiness of stock music \/ production music \/ royalty-free music that IS
\nnecessary. You DO have to be able to compose a great track AND to write a
\nreasonably well written description. And also to keep yourself pretty organized,
\nso that you know what you\u2019ve submitted, when you submitted it, where to log in
\nto check your sales, when to expect payment. It\u2019s a harsh reality, but \u201cjust\u201d
\nbeing a great composer isn\u2019t enough in this business. You have to have other
\nskills too, like writing and organizational skills.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nIn
\nthis letter I\u2019ve used a lot of \u201cloud language\u201d. I\u2019ve used ALL CAPITALS, I\u2019ve
\nused bold<\/b> and italics<\/i>, I\u2019ve even used exclamation marks! Which, really, are
\nbanned. \ud83d\ude42 But there\u2019s a difference between me writing a letter to you guys,
\nmy partners and friends, and writing language to appear on our website, in the
\ndescriptions of our tracks, which customers by their thousands come to read
\nevery day. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThanks
\nfor your time, guys! I\u2019m always looking forward to your new submissions, and
\nalthough I don\u2019t use all tracks that are being submitted to the site now (I use
\nmaybe half of the tracks sent in, and skip\/drop the other half, due to the
\nsheer volume of new music being submitted, at a faster rate than what I\u2019m able
\nto handle), I always appreciate your submissions and listen with great interest
\nwhen new tracks come in.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nI
\nhave one final note. I\u2019m sending this letter to more than 100 different guys. A
\nlot of you are going to reply, to send me your thoughts and feedback on these
\nsubjects. You are more than welcome to! I can\u2019t answer everybody, because I
\nhave a ton<\/b> of stuff to do, and an
\noverflooded inbox. But I will read<\/b>
\nall your responses and take everything into consideration, even if I do not
\nrespond. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nHave
\na great weekend, guys! And for no reason what so ever, here\u2019s a photo of my
\ndaughter and myself in an elevator, on our way to the gym.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nAll
\nthe best,<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nBjorn
\nA. Lynne \u2013 founder, CEO and composer<\/div>\n
\nwww.Shockwave-Sound.com<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A letter \/ note to all musicians sending in music to Shockwave-Sound.com…: When I first started Shockwave-Sound.com in 1999\/2000, I was working with a handful of composers and those composers would simply send me their music and I\u2019d write the Descriptions and Keywords for all tracks. But as more and more people have joined up, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":545,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2,41],"class_list":["post-96","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-shockwave-sound","tag-author-bjorn-lynne","tag-composing-music"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shockwave-sound.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shockwave-sound.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shockwave-sound.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shockwave-sound.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shockwave-sound.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shockwave-sound.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":548,"href":"https:\/\/www.shockwave-sound.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96\/revisions\/548"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shockwave-sound.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shockwave-sound.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shockwave-sound.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shockwave-sound.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}