WTM Sample

Formerly a primetime radio show on WPSC 88.7 FM, What's The Movement is a Jersey based Multi-Media Platform to showcase art, music and anything moving. The home of A-Side B-Side Podcast and Mood Room Sessions.

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What's The Movement © June 2013 (founded 12/02/11).. Powered by Blogger.

Sample Review

Alright we've all written a few reviews here and there so the content of this is a no brainier.
Please please please I stress don't copy (CTRL + C) and paste (CTRL + V) from Microsoft Word. Editing it and having to fix the code later on is so annoying and you have no clue. You can but instead of hitting paste PASTE AS PLAIN TEXT (shortcut" CTRL + Shift +V) is the best option. I know you won't listen to me right away so I'll go ahead and beat it into your heads individually, just kidding (not really).

How's that for a lede paragraph? I'm thinking about trying something new with the beginning text. We'll put it to a vote but I think using a big first letter catches an eye better than a big first sentence. You be the judge family. I know we all have our own styles of writing reviews. Some prefer the track by track route where others just write about it chronologically or otherwise. Many of us have done both methods. I mean it when I say WTM has the best writers on the internet because we are real listeners with quality opinions and I respect all of yours as do the perspective artists you've covered early in our careers. I would have no change to that as long as the method isn't broken. Always remember, quality first then quantity. I know deadlines are important and sometimes even I miss them. Just make sure your writing is good rather than rush out a crap piece. You are Music/Art Journalists. The four principles of journalism is writing to be Fair, Accurate, Clear, and Interesting. Maybe self explanatory but I'll break it down.



Fair: We may not agree with it all. We may even hate something about the music we are reviewing. That's fine. This blog is opinion based. Voice it but with every affirmative there is a negative. Voice your stance, voice why as well but do so in contrast with the opposite side. Example: I do not like Troy Ave. I think he's a fake 50 Cent and full of sh*t; however he shows some rapping prowess and has probably worked hard to get where he is. He's also no more braggadocios than any other artist I like (I know how hard it is to pull positives about people you don't like. You don't have to but mention both sides.).

Clear: Can I assume we know what this means? Say what you mean. Mean it. Articulate. Also sometimes we type the way we text. Try to remember apostrophes in your contractions and little stuff. "Its ez 2 4get when we type like dis all da time."

Accurate: These are opinion based articles but if the facts present themselves you should reaffirm them. Retractions suck. I hate fact checking just like anyone else but always do your research before clicking publish. Spell Check too.

Interesting: Write to entertain. It's the 21st Century and we are visual learners. No one reads as much anymore so the need to be super lengthy is out dated. Use media in the middle of your reviews. Pictures, videos, embed songs while you talk about it retains their attention. 1,000 word articles are cool for the NY Times and for academia. Get your point out as swiftly as possible and that's how we retain readers.

"Be Creative" 

Don't be scared to push the envelope. Writing is dope but you want people to read after all. Our generation are visual learners so don't stray from uploading photos, album art, even videos to convey your message. Giants words, ALL CAPS, use different fonts and ways to capture your reader's eye. Especially when you get towards the bottom of the page. Keep them hooked. Link their sites, embed a song or video you think that stood out. That is the ONLY way to get page clicks. Legnthy articles are great for school, research proposals and teaching. This is a music site, period.

It's fair that I will be critical of your writing. It's said with love and not to shut anyone and their opinions down. That way we ALL can grow and develop as writers and professionals. I say these things like a pastor would a sermon in church: to convict. If you feel I overstep be vocal about it. I respect you all as equals and value your prose and ear. I learn from you all as I pray you do learn the tools I have for you as well. As always it's a pleasure and yeah. Let's continue to grow and develop if that's God's plan for WTM. Lastly, have fun doing this. We all work and go to school and do a million things in the world we might hate. This is fun for me I hope it is for you otherwise it's just another job.

Little Reminders and Tips

I'm noticing a trend of mistakes all of the staff is making, myself included. I'm just gonna list a few things you already know and a few you might not have.

1. I know no one but me likes just typing directly into the compose/HTML but on a word processor beforehand. With coding and editing sometimes copy + paste changes the format and in between every sentence is two spaces instead of one. It also doesn't leave a space in between paragraphs. I read it all while I edit but could you make it a little easier for me by my double checking before you hit save.

2. This piggybacks off of one. I wouldn't call it a pet peeve but you guys do not have to indent your paragraphs. This isn't your college research paper. You don't have to follow MLA format but AP (Associated Press). I promise it's okay if you delete that from your memory you won't need it unless you are writing a novel. Read any article in your favorite magazine and I promise they don't indent either.

3. Everyone, absolutely everyone makes grammar mistakes. Me too. Sometimes I go back into something I've written two years ago and fix something stupid I wrote. It's inevitable so don't beat yourself up. The one I see everyone tend to do is little stuff with punctuation. "When putting a quote of a lyric or whatever into your writing, always capitalize the first word. When finishing the quote the punctuation mark comes first then your end quotation marks."

4. Parentheses, parentheses, parentheses. It's an interesting style I've used and I see a lot of you guys picked that up yourselves. It's kind of like saying something under your breath after an aloud thought. We just have to do it right. I have an example in bold on number two on this list. Open your parenthesis, first word is capitalized, finish your sentence or thought then close your parentheses. The period, question mark, exclamation mark comes after it's clothed.

5. We are products of our environment and generation. It's the 21st century and millennials grew up in a different age where we are used to exchanging information faster than ever before. So we type in shorthand whether its social media, texting, anything. Sometimes we forget that our writing here has to be grammatically correct. That means our I's have to be uppercase. We have to spell out our words and can't use acronyms (with a few exceptions).

6. Niles this one is for you. We are professionals man. There are better ways to get your point across without profanity. I'm no little boy and we all know I cuss in my everyday speaking. I do in my writing sometimes. Let's try to do that as little as possible, and if we do just blurt out the first vowel h*es. I'm sure the lyrics will have enough cursing that we don't need to I promise.

7. Something I don't know if everyone knows: Numbers one through ten have to be spelled out. Annoying I get it but the good news is we can use numerals for 11 and up.

8. The basis of this writing business is meeting deadlines. I know I'm asking a lot of you all. It's because there's a bigger picture that I want you all apart of. I promise we'll reap what we sow very soon. In the meantime it's grind time and we cannot part time our movement and expect full time results. I expect everyone to be able to write at least one piece a week. We all get busy with work and school but I think one piece is reasonable. Even if it's something short that we assigned or you just wanted to cover. There's always going to be something to write about. The industry doesn't stop and if it did we'd have countless throwbacks to cover. Another thing is to have something chilling for a rainy day. It's always nice to have a safety blanket and umbrella to post a write up when someone else can't get to a computer.

9. Feel free to be vocal. I asked you all to contribute because I love your ears and opinions. I respect what you all have to say and view you as family. Of course Niles and I going to assign writing but I still want to know what's filling the space between your ears too. I only pass the writing to you guys because I think you'll enjoy listening to new stuff like I do. Feel free to pass me new music I'm sure there's something you are listening to that I never heard of and will love, and vice versa. You are welcome to write about whatever. At the same time don't be so quick to just shoot something down. Listen to it, really listen. If after you got through it and you have nothing good to say about it, don't lie. Don't try to make something of nothing but actually take the time to process it. You might find something you missed that you just might love.

10. Have fun. I say this all the time. If you don't have fun doing this, it'll turn into a job really quick. Always make sure you listen to music on your own leisure too. Sure you want to listen to the music you are reviewing or writing about but don't be scared to put Young Thug and Fetty in your earbuds.

Thank You family.

Watch: Sample - @Sample

This one is much like the Listen Sample. It's actually the same thing to be perfectly honest.

The content may be different but the format is the exact same. Only difference is you embed a video and not a song. Same deal with the picture and lede. Trade trick: See how I linked the Listen sample to this in the lede. It's good to do that with each other's writing. It increases traffic and it's less writing you physically have to do. Example: Say I'm writing a review. If I wrote about a single that already dropped, I link the single and I just saved myself 50 words. Just saying. Include the label: Videos in your labels with the rest of the artist's information. Watch this fake video after the break.

Listen: Sample - by @Sample (prod. by Sample)

You don't always have to add captions. I do if I took the photo.
Like the others this is just going to be a small lede. Make it catchy. After it's written highlight over the words in the lede. Go up to Font size and click Large.

The increased font size makes the article pop and your clever words keep the reader interested. With this you just give background of the song. Producers, singles, what album? if it's just a loosie that didn't make the cut? whatever, doesn't have to be long just accurate, clear, and interesting is what I'm looking for. Don't forget to add labels. Add a picture and put it near the lede then embed a song via soundcloud, audiomack, spotify, bandcamp however they have the stream. I prefer a smaller player so there's space to type the words without the content looking gaudy. I like to use the words "Catch this after the break below." You don't have to do that but it works for me.