Quoting:
Okay i'd just like to know exactly how to get more votes. I've narrowed it down to a couple of strategies but i'd accept any suggestions. 1.) Voting for yourself. Slightly dishonest and i'm not going that route. 2.) Advertising. Whether it's to friends and family, third party sites, death threats, ect. 3.) Parodies of genre of the year. I think right now the most popular genre is alternative, mostly because i hear it on every practicly every station. The thing i've noticed though is that alternative parodies seem to generate mongo amounts of votes.


Now don't think i'm whining or anything. It's just that there's an artist on here that has 10 songs and 222 votes, and i'm the only one in the 25+ mark that hasn't broken 100. It can just get a guy a little down you know.
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Probably the best way to raise your profile (other than writing a really good song) is to spend time commenting on the work of others.  I know I appreciate comments and feel somewhat obligated to at least look at the work of someone whose taken the time to give me a thoughtful comment.  And it helps me write better songs when I'm constantly checking out other people's stuff and paying attention to what works and what doesn't.  There's a lot of talent here that deserves to be recognized; you tend to get what you give.

Quoting:

Probably the best way to raise your profile (other than writing a really good song) is to spend time commenting on the work of others.  I know I appreciate comments and feel somewhat obligated to at least look at the work of someone whose taken the time to give me a thoughtful comment.  And it helps me write better songs when I'm constantly checking out other people's stuff and paying attention to what works and what doesn't.  There's a lot of talent here that deserves to be recognized; you tend to get what you give.
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Quoting:
Yeah, I get not many votes either(though they are increasing).....
I vote on every song. The authors take the time to write it, I should take the time to read it and vote. About a minute per song. I only comment on some songs, though, so I guess nobody really gets that I do the voting.
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The bottom line here is that there are so many songs submitted you need to give people a reason to read yours.   It's a little like a submissions editor at a publishing house--he has such a huge slush pile to wade through, he needs to look for any excuse to reject each manuscript and move on.  By commenting regularly on other songs, you can give people an extra reason to give yours a chance (of course, it still has to be a good song if you want to be happy with the voting).
It's a competitive place; make no mistake about it.  And if you're like me and don't have any family or friends who are into internet song parodies (shocking! I know) most of your votes are gonna come from your fellow authors and it just makes sense to develop a good rapport with them.  But the most important thing to remember is that it's bad for you to focus on votes or the top ten list because then there's more for ME!ME!ME!  (I did that joke b4 but it's still funny)

Quoting:

Probably the best way to raise your profile (other than writing a really good song) is to spend time commenting on the work of others.
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Good advice, I'll add this to it:

Even if you never leave a single comment, take time to thank and respond to those who took the time to comment on yours.  If you're not leaving comments on other parodies, you might mention or make some reference to one of theirs that you liked, when you thank them, so they'll know you've been reading and rating, too.  

When people comment on your parodies, they're doing more than just letting YOU know your parody was fabulous -- they're letting ME know via the Latest Comments section (to which, I am sadly addicted.)  

Some other generic tips for authors hoping to increase votes per parody:  (Drat, Claude beat me to the slush pile and print markets analogies... glad to see traditional submission methods brought up!)  

1.  Write to the middle.  
    A.  Parody well known versions of songs that have been very well known for a long time and are driven by catchy melodies and memorable lyrics.  (For ideas, you could try listening to some corporate owned classic rock and golden oldies stations to see what the huge media groups are shoving down our thr... I mean, what they have in heavy rotation, these days.)  Stay away from recent/current hits, obscure album cuts, cult-following artists/genre, songs that are driven by drums, riffs or bass lines, genre you notice rarely getting many votes, etc.    
 
  B.  Don't write for tightly niched markets -- if we have to have an avid interest in the topic (a video game, a television program, etc.) to "get" it, you'll automatically exclude a lot of us from being able to rate the funny and overall categories.  Write topical parodies for the outsider, not the insider.

2.  Nail the pacing.  Unless you know the original song very, very well, you should listen to it while you write.  If you can't nail it on the whole song, at least try to nail the chorus(es) and the hook lines -- those who only sort-of remember/know the original might rate you, anyway, if you wow them on the  parts of the song they're most likely to remember.


3.  Use your title as a hook, if the parody allows.  I'm sure you've seen some titles that were so hilarious, you couldn't wait to open the parody.  Don't just think up funny titles that don't go with the parodies, though.  I'm guessing a trick like that could backfire on you, if you did it a lot.  

4.  It doesn't have to be perfect, (we all make mistakes, I know I make my fair share) but if I can't read a parody, I can't rate it.    

5.  Don't compare your average per parody with the parodies in the top ten lists or those numbers on the authors page that are substantially larger than the numbers around them.  It'll make your average seem lower than it really is.  Yes, someone with only 10 parodies has 222 votes, but most do not and most parodies don't make the top tens.  If you get up to an average between 5 and 9, you're doing well... any higher and you can consider yourself a smash hit.

6.  Even if your average per parody is 1, that one person is your audience.  Do your best work for that one person, just as you'd do your best work for an audience of 1,000.  It'll pay off in more votes, eventually.

7.  You can always shill for ratings.  Like, maybe "(I Can't Get No) Stinkin' Ratings" to "Satisfaction"  or, (in your case, specifically,)   "Goat Needs Ratings" to "Good Vibrations."  

8.  Funny sells, depressing smells.  You can still do the occasional downer as you're building an audience, just be careful not to submit too many of them.  

9.  Be Claude... it seems to work for Claude.   :D  

Quoting:
i know personally that advertising has helped mike and me. We simply put a lyric wee feel was particularly clever up as an away message on our IM service, and then put the link under it. If we write a song that we want to push... this will usually do the trick. Also... you must be respectful on the site. I'm not saying you're not, I'm just saying that it is of vital importance.
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you know what...thats a great idea lol

Quoting:


Good advice, I'll add this to it:

Even if you never leave a single comment, take time to thank and respond to those who took the time to comment on yours.  If you're not leaving comments on other parodies, you might mention or make some reference to one of theirs that you liked, when you thank them, so they'll know you've been reading and rating, too.  

When people comment on your parodies, they're doing more than just letting YOU know your parody was fabulous -- they're letting ME know via the Latest Comments section (to which, I am sadly addicted.)  

Some other generic tips for authors hoping to increase votes per parody:  (Drat, Claude beat me to the slush pile and print markets analogies... glad to see traditional submission methods brought up!)  

1.  Write to the middle.  
    A.  Parody well known versions of songs that have been very well known for a long time and are driven by catchy melodies and memorable lyrics.  (For ideas, you could try listening to some corporate owned classic rock and golden oldies stations to see what the huge media groups are shoving down our thr... I mean, what they have in heavy rotation, these days.)  Stay away from recent/current hits, obscure album cuts, cult-following artists/genre, songs that are driven by drums, riffs or bass lines, genre you notice rarely getting many votes, etc.    
 
  B.  Don't write for tightly niched markets -- if we have to have an avid interest in the topic (a video game, a television program, etc.) to "get" it, you'll automatically exclude a lot of us from being able to rate the funny and overall categories.  Write topical parodies for the outsider, not the insider.

2.  Nail the pacing.  Unless you know the original song very, very well, you should listen to it while you write.  If you can't nail it on the whole song, at least try to nail the chorus(es) and the hook lines -- those who only sort-of remember/know the original might rate you, anyway, if you wow them on the  parts of the song they're most likely to remember.


3.  Use your title as a hook, if the parody allows.  I'm sure you've seen some titles that were so hilarious, you couldn't wait to open the parody.  Don't just think up funny titles that don't go with the parodies, though.  I'm guessing a trick like that could backfire on you, if you did it a lot.  

4.  It doesn't have to be perfect, (we all make mistakes, I know I make my fair share) but if I can't read a parody, I can't rate it.    

5.  Don't compare your average per parody with the parodies in the top ten lists or those numbers on the authors page that are substantially larger than the numbers around them.  It'll make your average seem lower than it really is.  Yes, someone with only 10 parodies has 222 votes, but most do not and most parodies don't make the top tens.  If you get up to an average between 5 and 9, you're doing well... any higher and you can consider yourself a smash hit.

6.  Even if your average per parody is 1, that one person is your audience.  Do your best work for that one person, just as you'd do your best work for an audience of 1,000.  It'll pay off in more votes, eventually.

7.  You can always shill for ratings.  Like, maybe "(I Can't Get No) Stinkin' Ratings" to "Satisfaction"  or, (in your case, specifically,)   "Goat Needs Ratings" to "Good Vibrations."  

8.  Funny sells, depressing smells.  You can still do the occasional downer as you're building an audience, just be careful not to submit too many of them.  

9.  Be Claude... it seems to work for Claude.   :D  


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great examples Melhi......if you do obscure songs, youll only really get votes from the people that know obscure songs (so thatll be basicly me, Merry and Pippin and possibly Bobo lol)......the title can be very important, but then again, I had a number one hit with one called "A Barry Bonds Parody"....my title isnt always the catchyist part of the song......
Basicly, my best peice of advise is, dont strive to please others...strive to please yourself....dont care about the charts...in fact, I would rather have 3 people tell me that I did a good job, or give me criticism why I did bad, than have 24 votes of different numbers just so that it gets on the charts.....

Quoting:
When people comment on your parodies, they're doing more than just letting YOU know your parody was fabulous -- they're letting ME know via the Latest Comments section (to which, I am sadly addicted.)  
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Yeah... me, too ;-)

The way I select which parodies I look at (and you have to get people looking at the things before you'll get any votes) runs like this:-
* Any songs that I know with titles that make me think it'll be a fun read
* Any songs that I know by authors I'm familiar with
* Who's been saying what in the comments
* occasionally, but very occasionally: a song I don't know, but with a fun title

...I've just submitted a parody which will hopefully fit in that last niche for everybody - although not many people will know the Noel Coward song "Has anybody seen our ship?", I'm hoping the title "Has anybody seen Mike Rotch?" will be suitably provocative to get people reading ;-)

I don't have a huge amount of spare time, so spending ages browsing loads of parodies isn't an option.  I do check for comments on my own parodies, though, and when an author mentions one of theirs as a comment to one of mine, I feel honour bound to check it out (providing it's relevant, of course, rather than a simple bit of advertising)

Looking through your list of songs, MG, the main reason I've not voted on many of your parodies is that I don't know the originals - you seem to have chosen a lot of songs I've heard of, but never heard.

Phil

PS And don't be afraid to write something that won't catch the votes - it might, anyway: you never know what might pique the interest of a couple of dozen people... I wrote a Marillion "Script for a Jester's Tear" parody, which is certainly one of my best from a lyrical standpoint, but has still only attracted two votes.

Quoting:
Oh and by the way, really i'm not a voting hog that just wants to be in the #1 spot
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I didn't think you came across that way, at all.  It wasn't that long ago I asked pretty much the same question for pretty much the same reason.  Of course you want to share your work with an audience and maybe even affect them, in some way.  We all do.  We wouldn't bother submitting if we didn't.

My suggestions weren't based on your submissions,  specifically, btw.  I hope they didn't come across as if they were.  They were just general observations/theories.  

Phil, my voting order is very similar to yours.      

Quoting:

and i don' think i broke 100 votes with my 1st 25 songs


 
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Really? Because that's only 4 votes per song, right? Even lowly wdh managed that......

Quoting:
Melhi said stay away from current hits  


Amiright is probably the best thing i ever found online one of the few problems i have is the low voting results for current hits.  With all the airply new songs get they should be stuk in the heads of voters much more so than classic songs but for some reason that is not the case here. I think it used to be and stopped for some reason around when i found the site.  And new songs can get a lot of votes, my most voted on parody is to a song from 2002, but those 42 votes have trickled in very slowly over the past 14 months. And even if you won't get as many votes for it, if you have a good parody idea for a new song you should write it... maybe if amiright has more quality parodies to new songs it will attract more people who listen to new music and then  the parodies of new songs will get more votes.

and i don' think i broke 100 votes with my 1st 25 songs


 
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well, if most people are like me, they stay away from mainstream radio, and thats why they dont know many current "hits"...more or less, what new songs are out that I know is based on a few things
1)if its by an older "classic" artist, then I bet I know it, cause that means that my classic rock station will play it...for example, REM's new song "Bad day", or Eric Claptons amazing version of "Higher ground"...
2)If the video is in fairly decent rotation on Vh1 or MTV2....then Ill proably catch it a few times...I just heard this great song from these guys called Robert Rudolph and the Family Band...Ill have to look into them
3)If it is a extremly popular hit, then Ill proably know it (ie Hot in herre)
4)if its an underground song (ie from a band that if I mention the name of, oull all be scratching your heads)..thank you Out of the box and Little Stevens underground garage....
5)if I hear it when flipping on my only real bastions of new music, K Rock or WLIR......

I think thats it....