A practical guide for musicians, an inside look for music lovers, and surprisingly good advice for everyone else. Plus, win tickets to see Beth Gibbons!
I listen to every single song that everyone submits to me, even if they do all of the things in the “don’t”s section of this post. So I hope folks take this with the humor with which it was intended. I love you guys and I want you to succeed. Huge thanks to Cassidy for helping me put together this guide, and I hope that casual music fans get something out of it too.
I was able to experiment with different subject lines myself, when I sent an experimental ambient record made solely with resonator & lapsteel guitars processed by electronics & advanced live-looping techniques for reviews: I tried some very standard subject lines & some bolder ones (like "a record that sounds like the OST of Wim Wenders "Paris Texas" if it was a sci-fi movie").
Guess which one worked best & gave little unknown me a raving review on Echoes & Dust ?
i would click on a subject line like that in a heartbeat. honestly when musicians do half the work for me thinking of comparisons, it's a breath of fresh air, given how many hundreds of albums i'm listening to every year!
The passion to help people conveyed in this piece is why I keep coming back and reading as well as why I think my subscription is money well spent. Thank you Gabbie 🙏🏼
I will say that you should tailor your approach a little depending on whether the journalist you're reaching out to is a reviewer or someone who works in news/features. Sometimes that flowery bio stuff is useful for me (I am the latter) because it helps me cut through the noise. I get flooded with PR emails all day and I have to ignore most or I wouldn't get any work done, so something in the subject or first graf has to really grab my attention, i'm sorry to say.
An example: I probably would have never have reached out to interview Nation of Language had their publicist not grabbed me with the story of how instead of a wedding registry, they asked friends and family to help them finance their record. In one sentence they told me this band is a family affair, and they have a story that basically helps me write the lede for a piece on them.
As much as you want it to be all about the music, those personal details *can* be a gateway for a feature or interview request.
that's an excellent point. i almost want to edit the post to hammer that point home harder, though cassidy and i both were pretty heavy on the KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE angle. as much as i personally don't need the personal details in the example i shared, it may just as easily be that THOSE PARTICULAR personal details don't matter to me/don't grab me. if they had happened to be ones that hit closer to my personal circumstances, then that would have been a win.
i also like a personal touch in other ways (humor, a super casual/human approach rather than formality). the personal stories aren't ever going to turn me OFF (unless it's a sob story lol, but we both agree on that).
I just found you so not sure if you mean it with the “if you like X, try Y” formulation but: “if you like immersive world-building and cosmic liminal space musings, try Magdalena Bay” 👽
Also, I can’t believe there are people who are asking for coverage with a “rockstar act” on? Although, I also simultaneously do believe it verrrry much!
yes, that's exactly what i mean! i usually do "if you like [X band] try [Y band]" (you can click that link to see examples) but anything works, it's fully up for interpretation.
i haven't personally too much pomposity in submissions thankfully, but cassidy has had more experience in that world and i also fully believe it's a THING.
Gah, that sounds super annoying! I hope it’s more of an outlier.
Well I’d like to thank you for a super interesting read, I’m just starting out with a solo project and I think it’s important to start thinking about the next steps already at the writing stage, so to me this was very insightful :)
I appreciate the part on not writing in CAPS in inquiries/messages...it's too much.
Also, jealous of anyone who gets the chance to see Beth Gibbons at The Auditorium in Chicago...it's by far one of my favorite venues ever to see a show.
I appreciate this so much as a musician. Would love to hear more about payola. Just got an email from another publication offering editorial packages for pay and I’m confused/discouraged
i know it's standard in the industry and i don't know too much about it so i feel like i need to recruit somebody who DOES know so we can get into it. but it's a disgusting practice.
"Polish Vietnamese man walks into a weird time signature and somehow creates the most Wes Andersonian track to ever exist: Something Happens all the Time"
Dedicated to a local musician Francis Tuan, who does not read NBFOH... which raises the question... can I submit submissions for random bands I like in my local scene on their behalf?
YES absolutely! I get occasional emails from casual listeners who just want to tell me about cool music they like, and that's not only okay, but very much encouraged.
Going to have so much fun with my subject lines now - you two have unleashed the beast 😂 Thanks so much for this 🙏🏻❤️ most refreshing music pr advice I've ever read.
oh damn that's such a good one that we totally forgot about! i'll have to bookmark this thought. right now this is less of a concern because i myself don't have that much time to respond to submitters (one of these days, when this is my actual career... sigh!), and i'll just go ahead and throw them in a playlist and/or post and don't expect acknowledgment for it. but when i was still recording a podcast and needed permissions, this was SUCH A BUMMER. like please guys, you want to get your music out there... you gotta check your emails!
I listen to every single song that everyone submits to me, even if they do all of the things in the “don’t”s section of this post. So I hope folks take this with the humor with which it was intended. I love you guys and I want you to succeed. Huge thanks to Cassidy for helping me put together this guide, and I hope that casual music fans get something out of it too.
Amazing advice !
I was able to experiment with different subject lines myself, when I sent an experimental ambient record made solely with resonator & lapsteel guitars processed by electronics & advanced live-looping techniques for reviews: I tried some very standard subject lines & some bolder ones (like "a record that sounds like the OST of Wim Wenders "Paris Texas" if it was a sci-fi movie").
Guess which one worked best & gave little unknown me a raving review on Echoes & Dust ?
i would click on a subject line like that in a heartbeat. honestly when musicians do half the work for me thinking of comparisons, it's a breath of fresh air, given how many hundreds of albums i'm listening to every year!
It often circles back to one thing: put yourself in the shoes of the human being you're talking to. :)
such simple common sense advice that so few people take :)
The passion to help people conveyed in this piece is why I keep coming back and reading as well as why I think my subscription is money well spent. Thank you Gabbie 🙏🏼
this genuinely brings a tear to my eye 🥹 thank you so much for the incredibly kind words, Arthur!
I will say that you should tailor your approach a little depending on whether the journalist you're reaching out to is a reviewer or someone who works in news/features. Sometimes that flowery bio stuff is useful for me (I am the latter) because it helps me cut through the noise. I get flooded with PR emails all day and I have to ignore most or I wouldn't get any work done, so something in the subject or first graf has to really grab my attention, i'm sorry to say.
An example: I probably would have never have reached out to interview Nation of Language had their publicist not grabbed me with the story of how instead of a wedding registry, they asked friends and family to help them finance their record. In one sentence they told me this band is a family affair, and they have a story that basically helps me write the lede for a piece on them.
As much as you want it to be all about the music, those personal details *can* be a gateway for a feature or interview request.
that's an excellent point. i almost want to edit the post to hammer that point home harder, though cassidy and i both were pretty heavy on the KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE angle. as much as i personally don't need the personal details in the example i shared, it may just as easily be that THOSE PARTICULAR personal details don't matter to me/don't grab me. if they had happened to be ones that hit closer to my personal circumstances, then that would have been a win.
i also like a personal touch in other ways (humor, a super casual/human approach rather than formality). the personal stories aren't ever going to turn me OFF (unless it's a sob story lol, but we both agree on that).
Oh but I second the sob story thing. Guilt trips never feel good.
That's a great and really useful article!
I just found you so not sure if you mean it with the “if you like X, try Y” formulation but: “if you like immersive world-building and cosmic liminal space musings, try Magdalena Bay” 👽
Also, I can’t believe there are people who are asking for coverage with a “rockstar act” on? Although, I also simultaneously do believe it verrrry much!
yes, that's exactly what i mean! i usually do "if you like [X band] try [Y band]" (you can click that link to see examples) but anything works, it's fully up for interpretation.
i haven't personally too much pomposity in submissions thankfully, but cassidy has had more experience in that world and i also fully believe it's a THING.
Gah, that sounds super annoying! I hope it’s more of an outlier.
Well I’d like to thank you for a super interesting read, I’m just starting out with a solo project and I think it’s important to start thinking about the next steps already at the writing stage, so to me this was very insightful :)
My post last week is related this topic, although from the point of view of somebody getting back into radio station music submissions: https://open.substack.com/pub/markrushton/p/dialing-back-the-internet
I am glad there’s still a lot of interest in accepting submissions, but I can imagine that managing them is like drinking from a firehose.
"Guy smoking in the alley after the set calls them 'a cross between the Minutemen and King Crimson'"
👀👀👀
I appreciate the part on not writing in CAPS in inquiries/messages...it's too much.
Also, jealous of anyone who gets the chance to see Beth Gibbons at The Auditorium in Chicago...it's by far one of my favorite venues ever to see a show.
I also hate being yelled at
I appreciate this so much as a musician. Would love to hear more about payola. Just got an email from another publication offering editorial packages for pay and I’m confused/discouraged
i know it's standard in the industry and i don't know too much about it so i feel like i need to recruit somebody who DOES know so we can get into it. but it's a disgusting practice.
Please! You’d be doing a real public good.
My pitch for a band:
"Polish Vietnamese man walks into a weird time signature and somehow creates the most Wes Andersonian track to ever exist: Something Happens all the Time"
Dedicated to a local musician Francis Tuan, who does not read NBFOH... which raises the question... can I submit submissions for random bands I like in my local scene on their behalf?
YES absolutely! I get occasional emails from casual listeners who just want to tell me about cool music they like, and that's not only okay, but very much encouraged.
Then I'll try my best to be a US-expat European correspondent!
i updated the submission form to be more clear that it's for all, not just musicians :)
Nice! I am a musician too, but that's only increased me meeting so many other awesome musicians here in Poland I want Americans to know about :)
Going to have so much fun with my subject lines now - you two have unleashed the beast 😂 Thanks so much for this 🙏🏻❤️ most refreshing music pr advice I've ever read.
yessss get weird with it!!! (as long as you're still being informative 😉) so happy you found this useful
Awesome post! I so appreciate a good submission and a responsive submitter! Like, don’t ghost me after you asked me to listen to your song 😂.
oh damn that's such a good one that we totally forgot about! i'll have to bookmark this thought. right now this is less of a concern because i myself don't have that much time to respond to submitters (one of these days, when this is my actual career... sigh!), and i'll just go ahead and throw them in a playlist and/or post and don't expect acknowledgment for it. but when i was still recording a podcast and needed permissions, this was SUCH A BUMMER. like please guys, you want to get your music out there... you gotta check your emails!
Great article - my pitch for a favorite band: If you like Slayer, try Convulsis the band you need when the world is on fire.
love it!
Beth Gibbons seems to prefer the climate in higher latitudes. 😢
awww i'm sorry