Introducing the Soundproof Score

Question: Have you ever attended a show, thought it sucked, only to read a glowing review the next day? Or perhaps you missed the show, but get differing opinions depending on which local blog you read? Concert reviewing is much less a science than it is an art, and like any artform, the products of such reviews are varied, inconsistent, and subjective. Here at Soundproof, we believe that it is possible to minimize or perhaps even remove these fallacies in the concert review process by providing it a much firmer structure, and thereby giving the reviewer and reader alike a frame of reference from which to begin.

So without further ado, we present the Soundproof Score. This is a uniform scorecard based on five different, equally-weighted categories on which any concert attendee can base their initial review. The categories (along with a brief description) are:

The Stage - How the band acts as well as the stage-show itself.

The Sound - How the band performs as well as how well the sound is mixed.

The Crowd - How the crowd and/or fans behaves during the show.

The Songs - What the band chooses to play.

The Scene - An overall measure of venue appropriateness, bar experience, merch table, etc.

Reviews can rate each category on a scale of 1 (worst) to 10 (best), and at the end, the composite score is calculate as the simple average of all five categories. This simple yet powerful scoring rubric will allow readers to compare the different elements of a band's tour and have a better idea of exactly what went wrong or right with a particular show. As more data accumulates, it will be possible to score whole venues, tours, fan bases, etc.

Currently, the physical scorecard is in its infancy, and it will be available only to our writers. But there are plans in the works to present them to and collect them from scores of concert-goers so stay tuned. The vision of the scorecard system is to collect hundreds of individuals reviews for each show in cities across the country which would allow us to present an unbiased, fan-based measure of how bands stack up on the road. Until then, we go to lots of shows in the greater Washington area, so be sure and check back often for new reviews, articles, opinions, and generally ballyhoo.