![](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/44b561f5e0ab8517fc288b2a8a257ed9.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The most frequent question I get from
\nartists is \u201chow do I contact the music services listed in your directory?\u201d The
\nanswer is always the same. Whether you\u2019re contacting a magazine, music blog,
\nradio show, record label, music distributor or promotional service – you have to
\ncheck THEIR SPECIFIC submission guidelines before getting in touch. Ninety
\npercent of music services have their submission guidelines clearly posted
\nonline. <\/i><\/p>\n
Why do artists ignore submission
\nguidelines? <\/b><\/p>\n
My guess is, as is the case with most
\npeople, musicians and artists are in a gigantic hurry and are always on the
\nlookout for any available shortcut. It\u2019s a habit that lies deep within our
\npsyche and is hard to break. Shortcuts are great when you end up where you\u2019re
\ntrying to get to. If you don\u2019t end up at your destination, then by definition, it\u2019s
\nnot really a shortcut.<\/p>\n
In the music business, because there are so
\nmany thousands of people submitting their music daily, if you don\u2019t follow the submission
\nguidelines, you may as well open your window and throw your CD onto the street.
\nThat way, it has a miniscule chance of someone listening to it.<\/p>\n
A bit of background on submissions<\/b><\/p>\n
It used to be when you were looking for
\nplaces to review or play your music, the options were very limited. You would
\nmake a demo in a studio or create a home recording, and would then mail physical
\ncopies to the various record labels. There were some college stations around
\nthat would play your song, and a cluster of homemade zines, but that was it as
\nfar as any exposure opportunities went. Remember, there was no internet back
\nthen.<\/p>\n
However, that was many years ago. With the
\nexplosion of the internet, it is no longer possible to even keep track of all
\nthe places that could help you to gain more exposure for your music. While they
\nall have their own special way that they like to be reached, a lot of artists still
\ntend toward a one-size-fits-all mentality when it comes to making initial
\ncontact. However, to make any serious inroads, you need to put aside the time
\nrequired for the \u201cpersonal\u201d touch.<\/p>\n
How to submit your music <\/b><\/p>\n
The rest of this article lists all the possible
\nways (that I know of) to submit your music to the various music services (or in
\nsome cases, reasons why a music service doesn\u2019t want your submission). <\/p>\n
I have created this list to show you that
\nthere are MANY ways that you may be asked to submit your music. I hope to get
\nthe point across that sending your music without checking the submission
\nguidelines is a waste of your time and money. And frankly, it just irritates
\npeople.<\/p>\n
Methods that guarantee failure<\/b><\/p>\n
The generic e-mail blast. <\/b>We all know this The generic e-mail blast with fries. <\/b>To get No contact name. <\/b>When sending an initial There are cases where no contact name is However, in most cases, the name of the appropriate Does NOT accept unsolicited material. <\/b>This There are two mains reasons for this The second reason is that it helps to make \u201cSubmissions are closed\u201d.<\/b> Many services, Not using the correct e-mail address.<\/b> Most Poor spelling, grammar and text speak. <\/b>Either Asking a question that is answered in the General rules<\/b><\/p>\n What style(s) of music does this music Contact before sending your music. <\/b>Several music Do not contact before sending your music. <\/b>Some Facebook, Twitter. <\/b>An increasing number of Comments. <\/b>Many bloggers don\u2019t post any What formats do they accept? <\/b>Music services EPs and demos. <\/b>Many reviewers will accept Time sensitive material.<\/b> There are a number Local music only. <\/b>What is meant by \u201clocal\u201d Which reviewer accepts my style of music? <\/b>There Permission forms. <\/b>Many music services will not Is this a free or a paid service? <\/b>Most Third party submission services. <\/b>Often a Sending a press kit. <\/b>Another important consideration College radio. <\/b>Some college radio stations No shrink wrap or glitter. <\/b>When sending a Digital submissions<\/b><\/p>\n Attachments.<\/b> Nothing fires up the rage-O-meter Sending MP3s. <\/b>If a music service does Links to your music. <\/b>Services that accept Streaming. <\/b>For some music services the preferred Online forms.<\/b> A lot of music services have Soundcloud Dropbox. <\/b>Soundcloud enables businesses File sharing services. <\/b>Many music services, Digital music aggregators.<\/b> In order to get The follow-up <\/b><\/p>\n Submission guidelines not only tell you how The most common rule is that if they like A lot of places emphasize no phone calls! A In closing<\/b><\/p>\n Music people are very busy. They are absolutely The best way to have your submission stand out, If you don\u2019t follow the specific submission David Wimble is a songwriter, recording \u00a9 2013 All Rights Reserved. Used By The most frequent question I get from artists is \u201chow do I contact the music services listed in your directory?\u201d The answer is always the same. Whether you\u2019re contacting a magazine, music blog, radio show, record label, music distributor or promotional service – you have to check THEIR SPECIFIC submission guidelines before getting in touch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[56],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\none: it\u2019s called spam. The logic behind it all comes down to basic math. \u201cIf I
\nsend out X number of e-mails and only .01% of the people respond \u2026 that\u2019s still
\na lot of responses!\u201d I can guarantee you that no music submission guidelines in
\nthe history of the world have ever stated that their preferred way of being contacted
\nis by an e-mail blast!<\/span><\/p>\n
\nan e-blast from an artist that has cc\u2019d you and several hundred other people is
\nthe lowest possible form of communication in the music business, especially if
\nthere are MP3s attached. It frustrates everyone involved. If you\u2019re going to
\nsend out a blast, at least have the decency to use the blind carbon copy (bcc:)
\nso that no one sees anyone else\u2019s e-mail address. <\/p>\n
\ne-mail to a music service, I highly recommend that you take the time to find
\nout the name of the appropriate contact. This will show them that you have sacrificed
\na few seconds of your time to at least find out who to contact. <\/p>\n
\navailable. A lot of bloggers like to keep things mysterious. In these cases you
\nhave no choice but to start your correspondence with a generic salutation. <\/p>\n
\ncontact is posted, usually in the \u201cAbout Us\u201d or \u201cContact\u201d section.<\/p>\n
\nis the first thing to check for. Does this music service even accept
\nsubmissions? One of the most frustrating things for independent artists to deal
\nwith is the large number of labels and music services that do not accept
\nunsolicited material. <\/p>\n
\nvigorous screening. The first is for legal protection. In the past, there have
\nbeen many artists that have filed suit against labels, claiming that the label
\nripped off their song. They claim that they sent XYZ Records a demo, and a year
\nlater a XYZ Artist released a song that sounded similar to their demo. It gave
\nrecord companies no choice but to protect themselves by having lawyers or
\nmanagement firms ask for permission to send in a demo on behalf of their
\nclients.<\/p>\n
\nsure the music is targeted. It enables labels to avoid the deluge of
\ninappropriate material that they would receive if they welcomed ALL material.
\nAt some point a human being has to go through all the submissions. If the label
\nwelcomed unsolicited material, they would be fortunate if 10% of the music sent
\nto them actually fit the style that they were looking for.<\/p>\n
\nespecially small labels, review websites and blogs, reach a point where they\u2019re
\nmaxed out. They have a small staff, a backlog of submissions and cannot
\npossibly get to any new submissions, at least for the next while. Once they get
\ncaught up, submissions are opened up again. \n<\/p>\n
\nmusic services have several contact e-mails, especially the larger ones. Make
\nsure that you use the appropriate e-mail address. If a music reviewer\u2019s personal address is
\nlisted, and they ask that you send all submissions to the music@ address – do
\nNOT send your music to their personal address, even if that\u2019s the person that
\nyou would like to send your music to. <\/p>\n
\nrun your spell checker or get a friend to look over your copy before you send
\nit to anyone. The same thing goes for grammar. That age-old rule about the
\nimportance of first impressions still applies. <\/p>\n
\nFAQ. <\/b>Most music services have some sort of FAQ on their website. The usual
\npolicy is, if the FAQ doesn\u2019t answer your question, then by all means get in
\ntouch. However, if you send them a question that is answered in the FAQ, you\u2019re
\nonly going to tick them off. It\u2019s doubtful that they\u2019ll get back to you.<\/p>\n
\nservice welcome? <\/b>Nothing slow burns a radio host, music editor, label owner or
\nblogger like getting bombarded with music that is totally unrelated to the
\nstyle that they promote. It displays a total disrespect. It\u2019s like sitting down
\nand ordering pizza in a Chinese restaurant. It shows them right away that you
\nhaven\u2019t taken a moment to even look around to find out about what it is they
\ndo. Your songs, of course, are trashed immediately. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nservices ask that you contact them before sending in your music to make sure
\nyour music is a good fit. It\u2019s for this reason that many services do not post
\ntheir physical address online. You must contact them first in order to get the mailing
\naddress. It\u2019s their way of pre-screening submissions.<\/p>\n
\nservices do not want to be bothered with an initial contact. Contacting them
\nonly irritates them.<\/p>\n
\nmusic services prefer to be contacted through their Facebook page or Twitter
\naccount. Often you will not find any other contact information on their website
\nother than a link to their Facebook and Twitter pages. Sometimes you will find
\na contact e-mail within the About section of their Facebook account.<\/p>\n
\ncontact information at all. In order to get in touch you have to post a comment
\non their blog.<\/p>\n
\nusually post their format of preference. Often it\u2019s a combination of several
\nformats. For instance, they may accept digital and physical submissions. There is an increase in the number of music
\nservices that accept vinyl only – they are usually record labels in the punk, electronic
\nand hip hop genres.<\/p>\n
\ndemos and EPs to review, but it\u2019s important to check before sending out your EP
\nor demo.<\/p>\n
\nof music blogs, radio shows, promoters and review sites that will only deal
\nwith music that has been released recently. The cutoff date varies, but the
\nallowable time of release is usually 6 months or less. If your music was
\nreleased prior to their \u201ccut off\u201d date, it will be ignored.<\/p>\n
\ndepends on the specific resource – for some it may a particular city and its surrounding
\nsuburbs; for another it may be an entire state or province. A common exception
\nis if your band is on tour and is playing in the community. <\/p>\n
\nare a large number of music blog and review websites that have a stable of
\nreviewers. Each reviewer accepts one or more particular styles of music. So,
\neven though the overall website may welcome many styles, the onus is on you to
\nfind out which of the reviews\/bloggers deals with your particular style of
\nmusic. Once you determine which reviewer covers your style of music you can contact
\nthem according to their specific submission guidelines.<\/p>\n
\nplay your music or video unless you fill out their online permission form. In
\nsome cases you are asked to print out the form, fill it in, and mail it to
\nthem. If you send them your music without the form, it will not be played.<\/p>\n
\nbloggers, magazines and radio shows will promote your music as a free service.
\nHowever, more and more services are charging a minimal fee. It\u2019s usually
\nbetween $10 and $50, depending on the services they offer and the number of
\nsongs involved. There are also music services that offer both a \u201cfree\u201d and
\n\u201cpaid\u201d option. The main advantage of the \u201cpaid\u201d option is that it gets you to
\nthe front of the line. <\/p>\n
\nmusic service will only accept music through a third party submission service.
\nMusicSubmit www.musicsubmit.com<\/a>,<\/a> Sonicbids www.sonicbids.com<\/a>,<\/a> Musicxray www.musicxray.com<\/a> and ReviewShine www.reviewshine.com are the most popular. Instead
\nof being bombarded by thousands of submissions, many bloggers, reviewers, radio
\nshows etc. hire a submission service to handle all the incoming submissions.
\nThe submission service makes their money by charging the artist a small fee for
\nthe submission.<\/p>\n
\nwhen sending your music is the accompanying bio information about you or your
\nband. Submission guidelines are usually specific about what sort of information
\nthey would like to have included. They could either ask for a full blown press
\nkit, a one-sheet, an electronic press kit (EPK) or just a few lines only. They
\nmay also want a photo of you, a scan of the album cover, press clippings and so
\non. Your best chance to succeed is by sending exactly what it is they want. If
\nthey ask for a one-sheet and you send them a novel, you\u2019re only going to frustrate
\nthem.<\/p>\n
\nallow you to send your music directly to a show\u2019s host, but many insist that
\nall music must be sent to the Music Director. The Music Director then passes on
\nthe music to the various shows, according to the genre. Make sure you\u2019re clear
\non whom to address your music to. <\/p>\n
\nCD make sure to remove the shrink wrap first. It\u2019s highly irritating for
\nsomeone receiving hundreds of CDs a week to continually have to waste valuable
\ntime removing annoying shrink wrap. And please don\u2019t fill your envelope with
\nglitter to try and be unique and get their attention. It\u2019s universally hated by
\neveryone in the music business.<\/p>\n
\nlike receiving an e-mail with an mp3 attached, when your submission guidelines clearly state \u201cPlease do
\nnot attach mp3s!\u201d <\/p>\n
\nwelcome attachments, make sure that you follow their particular specs (if they
\nhave them listed). There are a variety of ways to format\/compress a MP3. For
\nstarters, you always want to make sure that it\u2019s tagged\/labeled right. The formatting
\ndetails vary according to the individual music service – eg \u2018mp3 file encoded
\nat 64-512kbps or VBR with 44.1 kHz sampling rate and less than 30mb\u2019. <\/p>\n
\ndigital submissions, but don\u2019t want attachments, will often ask that you send a
\nlink to your music. MySpace is pretty much history so they prefer that you send
\na link to your main website, Facebook page, Bandcamp page etc. Having a link
\nallows the end user to take their time because there are no storage issues. If
\nthey like your music, they may then ask you to mail in your CD or send them a
\ndigital file. <\/p>\n
\ndelivery is via streaming. Streaming is content sent in compressed form over
\nthe internet and displayed by the viewer in real time. In other words, they
\nclick on a link and the music or video starts to play right away. The end user
\ndoesn\u2019t have to wait for the entire file to be transmitted. Streams can be from
\na YouTube page, Bandcamp page etc. <\/p>\n
\nset up an online submission form. It allows you to fill out some information
\nabout yourself and your band and upload one or more of your songs to their
\nserver.<\/p>\n
\nand individuals to accept large numbers of digital files effortlessly. A
\nSoundcloud Dropbox is the file exchange area (you\u2019ll see a Dropbox icon on the
\nweb page of many music services) where artists can submit their music. It\u2019s
\nkind of like a mailbox for digital files. Once submitted, the file is parked on
\nthe music service\u2019s cloud server where it can be listened to or viewed at their
\nleisure. <\/p>\n
\nespecially reviewers and bloggers, ask that you send your digital files to them
\nvia a file sharing service, which is a company that transfers huge files on
\nbehalf of their clients, such as www.yousendit.com<\/a>.
\nThis allows a music service to download submissions without storage problems. <\/p>\n
\nyour music posted on many of the larger digital music websites such as iTunes
\nand Spotify, you must have your music submitted through a Digital Music
\nAggregator. Aggregators are music services that distribute audio files in bulk
\nto these massive digital websites. The aggregator eliminates the need for the
\ntechnical support that would be required if artists uploaded their files
\nindividually. Popular aggregators include CD Baby, IODA, The Orchard, IRIS,
\nRedeye USA, ORDIS and INgrooves.<\/p>\n
\nto make first contact, but more often than not, they also tell you how to follow-up
\n(or not follow-up). The follow-up can often be as important as the first
\ncontact.<\/p>\n
\nyour music, they will get in touch. In other words, \u201cDon\u2019t call us \u2013 we\u2019ll call
\nyou.\u201d It\u2019s nothing personal, they just don\u2019t have the time to respond to all of
\nthe submissions they get. Others may welcome a gentle reminder. Radio show
\nhosts often ask that you follow their playlist to see if your music has been
\nplayed instead of contacting them and asking. <\/p>\n
\nsure-fire way to irritate someone is by following up in a way that they
\nspecifically asked you not to in their submission guidelines.<\/p>\n
\nbombarded with music on a daily basis, but they are willing to deal with the
\ndeluge because of this incredible passion they have for music. All they ask in
\nreturn is for you to follow a few simple rules that will make the handling of
\nthis incoming flow of music a bit easier. <\/p>\n
\nis by making it personal and by following their submission guidelines to the
\nletter. By doing so, you become part of the minority, and are more likely to be
\nremembered. <\/p>\n
\nguidelines, your music will be trashed.<\/p>\n
\nartist (with his band Big Meteor) and is the publisher of the Indie Bible <\/i>www.indiebible.com<\/a>, The Indie Venue Bible <\/i>www.indievenuebible.com<\/a> and the Indie
\nBible ONLINE <\/i>indiebible.lwcr.com. His
\ncompany has combined all of their directories into a single bundle in order to
\ncreate an affordable resource for artists that are struggling during the
\ncurrent financial downturn <\/i>www.indiebible.com\/bundle<\/a> .
\nHe can be reached at <\/i>david@indiebible.com<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nPermission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"