Send me a song.
I'll tell you the truth.
A live review show for independent artists — Mondays & Thursdays, 8pm ET, on YouTube and TikTok. New episodes only; I'm starting this run clean.
⚜ Why I do it ⚜
Real listening, out loud
Most feedback an independent artist gets is either a friend being nice or a stranger being cruel. Neither one tells you anything you can use.
I listen to your record the way I'd listen to my own — writing, performance, arrangement, mix — and I say what I actually hear. Sometimes that's a fix. Sometimes it's "this is already there, stop second-guessing it."
I'm an engineer and a producer before I'm a critic. That's the whole angle.
⚜ How it works ⚜
Four steps
Send the song
Submit at review.reallymerc.com — paste a link or upload the file. One song, the version you'd actually put out. Free to submit; you can pay to skip the line if you don't want to wait.
I sit with it
I listen before the episode, not for the first time on camera. You get a real opinion, not a first reaction.
It goes live
I break it down on stream — YouTube and TikTok at the same time. The room rates it 1–10 while it plays, and the highest-rated song of the night gets crowned. Show up in the chat if you want to go back and forth.
You keep it
The episode stays up. Clip it, post it, use it however you want — it's your record.
⚜ FAQ ⚜
Before you send it
What kind of feedback do you give?
Honest feedback on the actual record — the writing, the performance, the mix, and whether the idea lands. I don't hand out scores — the viewers do that live, 1 to 10 — and it's not a compliment sandwich.
What do you need from me?
A finished or near-finished song, however you'd release it. Paste a Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube or Dropbox link, or upload the MP3/WAV directly. Tell me what you were going for if it helps me hear it right.
When and where does it go live?
Mondays and Thursdays at 8pm ET on YouTube and TikTok. Follow @reallymerc on either one to catch it.
Do I have to be there live?
No. If you can make it, you can react in the comments in real time. If you can't, the episode stays up.
Will you be mean about it?
No. Honest and mean aren't the same thing. If something isn't working I'll tell you why and what I'd try instead.
⚜ The List ⚜
Know when it starts
Get the heads-up before each episode and first look at the clips.