Guys,

The main thing I think myself and Rand and others are trying to point out here, is that the paid critique is only ONE part of an overall strategy when it comes to this or other music area. A critique is also about things other than just that song. As I detailed in an earlier post, sometimes songs might be coming in on the crest of a wave of a glut of the same type of songs, such as the economy, and the writer needs to be aware of that. If you are not in the forefront of a movement, you are a day late and a dollar short. So all of this are about things aside from just the song itself, there are other issues as well.
Some of the people who do online or personal critiques do so for a level check as much as just that song. They might need suggestions before they spend money on demos. It is simply a way to get another set of ears just like JPF and other sites, which should be part of a process as well.
For those who wish to find out about Nashville, there are ways to do that, some of them cost money and some don't. But I always stress that it is only part of an overall strategy.

On Sunday-Wed. of this week I had a client who came to do one of my three day "tours" of Nashville. He played on a networking party (Guitar Pull) on Sunday (doing songs we had written together) and recieved 8 invitations for co-writing. On Monday morning we went into the studio where he put lead vocals down on two full demos we had already done the music to, one of which is a wedding present for his future wife and will be used as presents for guests at his wedding. The other is a song for his Mother. Both will be part of his CD that he will do next week. Both are being pitched by my song plugger here.
Monday afternoon we wrote another song with a friend/writer here in Nashville. My client and friend is a recovering Alcoholic (something I didn't know at first) and we wrote something he intends to record and play for his AA group.
Monday night he played on a writers show, recieved 5 more invitations to co-write and the host offered to put him on any one of five shows a week he does in town.
Tuesday we wrote a song in the morning with a new writer artist in town who has connections with a pubishing company here in town and will play the song we wrote for them. I will get it to my song plugger as well. In the afternoon we wrote another song, which was a "Texas Road" type song that he did not have in his catalogue, a more "live" type song.
Tuesday night he played another writers show, and recieved three more requests to co-write. The host invited him back "Anytime he is in town."
He left Wed.

That is what it is like to try and really interact with a community like this. Now he could have done like many people, attended seminars, go to shows, open mics, stand in the back ground, and get nothing accomplished. This is his fifth trip and every one has been pretty much the same. At the same time another friend of mine decided to do it on his own. he stayed with a couple of writers for five days and at the end of those days they had finally come up with a "Title to write."

People pay for critiques, attend workshops, seminars, or take on private counciling for a reason. To find ways to up the level of their game. They read books like Rand's because he is a pro who has "earned his stripes in not just this, but other markets." He has listed on another post of a song he had some involvement critiquing that took the respective writers to an entirely different level in their career that they might not have reached had he not taken that interest. I am sure in some way or form he was compensated for that effort, at least I hope so. He deserves every penny.
People do things like Song U. and other online courses because they might not be able to have the environment around them in their area that reinforces what they need musically. They view forums like this in an effort to interact with various musical communities. And not everyone is a performer and need to interact with performers. Those areas and more help them do just that.
What works for one person might not work for another person. But it is ALL voluntary. There are ways to get personal references on anyone they deal with, be it a teacher, writer, publisher, song plugger, record company, online company. Writers are pretty smart and tend to do a lot of research. There are other communities in the world that operate with different rules ettcates and operating procedures. There is not one right or wrong way. Only what makes sense time and monetarily, for the individuals involved.

MAB