by Amy “Drea” Dorman
It’s that time. You’re itching for the world to hear your music. You’ve poured your heart and soul into this music, spent countless hours and bucks on the tracks, and can’t wait for the wildly positive reception the world will have for your creative masterpiece. Before you send your musical baby into the blogosphere, here’s a few things to keep in mind:
1. Make sure your product is ready for the world.
This may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s important to be honest with ourselves before the submission process. We may be super amped about how our music sounds, but when it comes down to it, is it truly at the level of other music you hear on the blogs and radio circuits?
If not, back to the drawing board. Be sure you are putting your best foot forward.
If yes, dive in! But buckle up, because ready or not, it may not be a smooth ride.
2. Know your genre and the genre tendencies of the blogs you are submitting to.
Everyone’s busy these days, but bloggers are busier than ever. On any given day, an online magazine may receive 100+ email submissions, and many of these blogs only have one person fielding these messages.
Do your research and know whether or not you are a good fit for this blog. Also, know that this extends beyond genre. If a blog only covers brand new music, don’t send them music outside their specifications.
This will save both you and the busy bloggers precious time.
3. Use the blog’s official submission process.
Some blogs will encourage you reach out via social media, but for the most part, bloggers prefer you use the official submission process. This is usually through a submission email or online form on their website. Again, do your research.
Reaching out personally through social media when you have had no contact with them on social media before can have a negative effect on your request.
Follow the rules, and send a follow up email for the best results. Of course, if you have been mutually interacting with a blog on social media, you can use that to your advantage, but otherwise, it is typically frowned upon to stalk a blogger’s personal pages.
4. Use a blog source like Submit Hub. (No, they aren’t paying me for this. But maybe they should?)
Submit Hub allows you to reach out to hundreds of blogs (that they are connected to) at once for free, or, for a small fee, reach out with Premium status, which requires the blog to listen to at least 30 seconds of your song AND respond to you with a short message as to why they are not moving forward with your song (if they reject the submission). If they don’t follow these rules, you get that credit back and can use it to submit to another blog. Pretty handy, and a time saver.
It is geared mostly for song submissions, vs. video submissions, so if a music video review is what you’re after, you may need to reach out organically. Keep in mind, Submit Hub is not connected to every blog in the universe, and there are still some pretty great ones outside of its reach, but it’s a good place to start.
Note: Rules 1-3 still apply when using a source like Submit Hub.
5. Be honest with yourself, and stay positive.
Your music may be the most amazing thing since sliced bread (or the doggy filter on Snapchat), but musical tastes are very subjective to the listener. Take criticisms with a grain of salt, but also take what you can from them and learn for next time.
You may get 75 no’s, 23 no responses, and two yes’s, but that’s normal.
They say you only need one yes in the sea of no’s, and hey, you’re in the sea, so you’re doing more than the people still on the shore. It is a brave thing to submit yourself and your music to others for critique, which is essentially what you are doing when you are sending it to blogs.
Hopefully the above tips will help lessen the blow of inevitable rejection, and in the process you will find some music lovers who just happen to be on the same wave length as you.
In the meantime, remember, a few no’s (okay, A LOT of no’s) does not mean the sky is falling and your music career is over before it’s begun. Keep your chins up, and keep creating.
Minnesota native Drea is a recording artist and songwriter based in Los Angeles, CA. Her debut EP No Vacancy explores her deepest questions and longings, within the framework of catchy and electrifying dance pop songs. Drea’s music has been featured in blogs, podcasts, and dance videos around the world. The EP’s highly anticipated music video “Take Me Home” is set to release in 2017. To learn more about Drea and listen to No Vacancy, head to www.dreaxmusic.com.
