Talk:Freddie Records

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Freddie Records/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Mike Christie (talk · contribs) 04:06, 8 September 2022 (UTC)

I'll review this. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 04:06, 8 September 2022 (UTC)

Images are appropriately tagged; sources are reliable.

• "Initially operating as a recording studio and distributor for Martinez, he expanded his roster to include other musicians of Tejano music in fear of his company folding if he no longer was commercially successful": awkwardly phrased; it took me a few seconds to figure out what this meant.
• "who banned future events to be held in the area": should be "from being held"
• "Freddie Records expanded its base with an additional 6,000 square feet": what do you mean by base?
• "the label awarded La Sombra with a platinum and gold plaque for their album Good Boys Wear White (1990)": no "with" needed
• "Major record companies offered Martinez to buy Freddie Records, citing its immense catalog as their reason": "offered Martinez to buy" is ungrammatical
• "Music critics believed that indie music labels were not capable of competing with major labels, calling this era as the end of the independent music labels." "Calling this era as the end" is ungrammatical.

This is only one and a half paragraphs into the lead, which makes me concerned that the whole article needs a thorough copyedit. I'm going to skim the article and see if the problems continue:

• "The headquarters helped Freddie Records to become the largest indie music label in the state of Texas and reported $2 million in sales": needs rephrasing -- Freddie Records reported the sales, the building didn't report the sales.
• 'cited Freddie Records' commercial success and its longevity that was done under Martinez's leadership, helped it to become the "premier independent Latin record label"' -- this is in the body and the lead
• "On February 14, 2011, Freddie Records filed for bankruptcy, claiming it has $700,000 in debt with $1,200 in assets": tense mismatch
• "carpeted the building to silence unintended sounds from seeping into recordings": not grammatically wrong, but unnatural word choice
• "adding a singer's booth to avoid overriding instruments": what does this mean?
• "Martinez reflected on the era in an interview that he believed"
• "Its employees are able to perform most operations in-house including creating artwork, tape manufacturing, packaging, and shipment throughout the United States and Mexico, while CD manufacturing had to be done off-site": wrong tense; this is talking about 1994.
• "predominately dominated"
• "In 1989, and writing for Billboard, Jesus Guterrez noticed the steady climb and popularity of Tejano music in Texas and believed the genre still had a long way to go before attaining any gains": should be "noted", not "noticed", and it's illogically phrased -- if he's noting the increase in popularity this has to be contrasted with the second half of the sentence. And "climb and popularity" is presumably meant to be "climb in popularity".

Earwig shows no problems. Spotchecks:

• FN 3 cites "Its employees are able to perform most operations in-house including creating artwork, tape manufacturing, packaging, and shipment throughout the United States and Mexico, while CD manufacturing had to be done off-site". The source has "Freddie Records does everything on site, from artist direction to artwork to tape manufacturing to packing the product for shipment throughout the United States and Mexico. Only CD manufacturing is done off-site." This is too closely paraphrased.
• FN 3 also cites "Martinez Sr., began running the company with his son, Freddie Martinez, Jr. after having graduated from the Corpus Christi State University. Martinez Jr., previously worked in the warehouse of the company when he was a child. They worked together and either produced or co-produced albums together for their artists as well as signing acts. Martinez Sr. also hired his other son, John Martinez, who began overseeing the company's publishing business and also produces new acts. Major record companies offered Martinez to buy his label": some of this is OK, but the source has "Both produce or co-produce many of the label's artists and sign new ones", which is marginal paraphrasing, and "Younger son John, 28, oversees the label's publishing arm and also produce news acts", which is too close.
• FN 53 cites "Freddie Records entered a joint venture with WEA Latina in 2002 for Ayala's tribute album for Pedro Infante. WEA Latina owns Infante's catalog, after the label's acquisition of Mexico's Peerless Records. Both labels financed the project and marketed the album through a direct-TV campaign. Although both labels worked together prior to 2002, Ayala's tribute album was the first time Freddie Records and WEA Latina shared responsibilities. The labels shipped 100,000 units throughout the United States in its initial production run. Ayala released his 100th album with Freddie Records, El Numero Cien in 2002". Verified.
• FN 47 cites "Billboard found Martinez to be conservative when scouting for new acts": this is cited to Lannert 1999, p. 52. The article appears to be on page 51 of the Google pulldown, but it's actually page LM-3 of the magazine, and I think that magazine page should be cited. The article continues to LM-16. I can't see support for the sentence in either part of this article.
• FN 18 cites "The concert was initially expected to bring in 1,000 people but swelled to 10,000 after Martinez promised free records to those in attendance and expanded the roster of bands that were going to play. Residents in the area protested the concert and complained of noise violations to the city council who banned future events to be held in the area. Townsend estimated it cost the city between $2,000 and $2,500 in overtime for police, traffic control, and cleanup crews": Most of this is OK but the source has "...referring to police, traffic safety and clueanup crews. He estimated it cost the city $2,000 to $2,500 in compensatory time or overtime for city employees". This is too closely paraphrased.

I'm going to fail this. There is too much copyediting work to do to manage within the scope of a GAN, and the five spotchecks revealed several problems; I suggest checking the other citations for similar issues and getting a GOCE copyedit before renominating. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 05:08, 8 September 2022 (UTC)