Thread by @Mike1inFive, In many ways - thanks to the partial democratisation of music

In many ways - thanks to the partial democratisation of music - the internet offers us getting your music reviewed or played somewhere is easier than ever.

But there are still a number of challenges...

First I think it’s useful to have 3 lists and approach them differently: a mainstream list, a priority list, and a catch all.

Mainstream = Publications everyone knows

Priority = Indie places YOU want a featured on

Nurture = the ones you know less about but could be good

Mainstream are basically lazy so give them all - go personalised with full EPK, artwork / promo photos, and short narrative weaved in. Submission guidelines are hard to come by so the easiest rule to follow is 600 words or less, link to music not attach, and include socials

I’d include submitting to Spotify and Bandcamp editorials in here as well. The idea is to get your name in front of enough key people in your part of the industry that you might get lucky. But honestly it is mostly luck due to volume and paid plugs (a form of bribery?)

Priority is your sweet spot. If mainstream pick you up that’s great but it’s unlikely on your own. Priority however are looking for you as much as you are them. Read and follow their guidelines, make it personal, be a real person not a PR

One of the easiest ways to decide a priority list is to to flick through the social feeds of your peers and see where others have had reviews, got playlist spots etc. Where are other people at your level (and just above) getting reviewed? That’s where you want to explore.

Watch out for people who have paid for reviews though. I went through the socials of an indie artist I deemed to be successful this morning looking for places to submit and 70% we’re paid spots - sorry but this isn’t a vanity project for me!

Catch all is a nurture list. People who may be interested but you know less about. Test the water, send a well written (short) email and EPK. This could be a mass email and that’s ok. See who bites and try to build a relationship so they become make priority next time

This approach has generally been successful for me - my bands first EP got tonnes of reviews, airplay on 250+ stations worldwide, and a decent conversion rate and we paid nothing for it. I’ve tested and tweaked it on several releases for me and others since and it works.

The pitfalls are pretty much the same for all:

- Incorrect details / inability to find details
- Idiots charging you for reviews or airplay
- The balance of giving too much / too little / or just useless info

Finding details is hard. This is one of the main reasons people pay for PR / pluggers. However its mostly all out there so it becomes about your time and ability vs ROI to pay someone else to do it for you

What to write comes with practice. The most boring thing in my view is the over-biographical. “We went to school together and then Harry got married but then we supported semi famous band you don’t really know at our local venue where another big band once played...” *yawn*

Oh and leading with “As heard on BBC Introducing” is a big snooze too. This is really over used! BBC intro is supposed to help you get more fans, not more reviews or airplay from their competitors...

Of the 3 the most easily addressable is the paid for reviews. Just don’t do it. It’s never going to be worth it. Im not saying don’t pay for pluggers or PR where you swap money for time (but do evaluate these very carefully first)

What I am saying is don’t just pay someone on fiverr or wherever to review your release. They’ll write a great review that no-one will ever see and you’ve gained nothing except a pay on the back - from yourself!

And Submithub is a no for me as you know. Created by bloggers who want cash for their work (join the q behind artists please) but are forced by the system into getting it from YOU. Don’t play that game! It’s a broken model open to being scammed and you lose

These are some of the lessons I’ve learned from doing this for a long time, and also from being on the other side as a reviewer and of course on the podcast. What about you! Any tips to share?

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