Why Do We Decline Artists, and Who Do We Accept?
In an ideal world, we would accept every artist who submits their music to us. However, we decline some artists for various reasons to ensure they don’t waste their budgets, that we provide our curators with great emerging talent, and that we can guarantee that accepted artists receive meaningful exposure, offers, and coverage.
We have been tempted in the past to be less strict about approving submissions, but this would go against our goal of a platform that supports quality and ensures value for artists and curators.
When we review submissions, we do more than listen (and yes, we do listen to every single submission). We listen and look at the whole package: Do you have previous releases? Have you put effort into your images, profiles, and assets? Is your media ready for curators?
Reasons We Decline Artists
Production Quality
The most common reason we decline submissions is poor production quality. This includes rough demos recorded on a phone or tracks that haven’t been properly mixed or are still at the demo stage. While we don’t expect every submission to be professionally mixed and mastered, we do expect a basic level of production, whether recorded at home or in a studio.
We occasionally approve standout tracks with intentionally lo-fi production, but this is rare. We understand that some tracks aim for a lo-fi aesthetic, and we take that into account.
AI-Generated Music
We aim to identify and decline music entirely created by AI. While AI tools may be used in a track’s production—such as adding background vocals, creating effects, or mixing—we prioritise music created and produced by humans. We’re looking for tracks that showcase effort, hard work, and creativity. Our AI policy is evolving, and in the future, we may completely disallow AI-generated music or have it as a separate, specified genre.
Beat Tracks
We receive a lot of beat tracks, but currently, we don’t have a straightforward offering for beat track producers. A small proportion of these can be considered fully-formed tracks, which we accept. However, repetitive and short beat tracks are usually declined (which is a shame because some are amazing).
We are actively working on a solution for beat track producers, so feel free to keep submitting your work. We’ll let you know when we have something to help beat producers promote their work.
Niche Genres
While our curators cover over 200 genres, we may decline submissions in very niche genres if we believe our curators will struggle to provide coverage. We often give these artists a free coupon to gauge the level of attention and offers they might receive.
This also helps us identify emerging genres we should support. So, if your music is niche, don’t be discouraged—submit, and we’ll do our best to get you coverage.
Lack of Effort in Media and Profiles
Sometimes, a release is decent, but the artist has not developed their media, creatives, or channels. When we receive a lot of submissions and the competition is high, we’re more likely to decline artists who have not worked on their social profiles, streaming platforms, websites, or artist imagery.
Investing time in optimising these shows that you’ve put effort into your story and provides curators with valuable material to work with.
Artist History
This one is tricky. While we’re here to help new artists, having a track record or previous releases can make a difference for submissions that are borderline. That said, we accept a lot of artists' first releases who’ve put effort into their assets, media, and story, even if they lack a history and haven’t yet built up a reputation.
Other Factors That Influence Acceptance
Seasonality
Our platform experiences peak periods, typically from March to May and October to November. During these busy times, we aim to balance the ratio of artists to curators, which means slightly more artists are declined. Planning releases for quieter months (mid-winter and mid-summer) can increase your chances of acceptance.
Underrepresented Locations and Groups
We occasionally prioritise submissions from artists in underrepresented countries or groups. While this is a judgment call and only applies to a small number of submissions, we consider the specific context of each case to provide a platform for those who might not otherwise be heard.
How We Address Bias and Subjectivity
We’re aware of our tastes and preferences when it comes to music, so we have a clear policy: We do not judge submissions based on our own genre, style, or type of music preferences. We strive to assess each track objectively based on everything listed above.
We share the submission with our wider team via Slack for new or unfamiliar genres to get diverse opinions. While we explore better ways to minimise bias, we’re committed to keeping our platform human-centric, so we don’t rely on AI or other automated tech to evaluate submissions.
What We Look For in Accepted Artists
Well-Produced Music: The sound is balanced, and thought has gone into the track’s production. The music has been mixed and mastered to some degree, and the sound levels are consistent.
Human-Created Music: The track is not entirely AI-generated. They have put real effort and creativity into the music.
Strong Media and Profiles: Social and streaming profiles are well-maintained, and care is taken in how they present themselves online.
Summary
We encourage you to submit if you feel your music is ready to be promoted. If your track is declined, please don’t take it personally. We occasionally receive negative comments and emails from those whose music has been declined, but we would rather take that than risk artists wasting their budgets on campaigns that won’t get results.
We believe that music promotion platforms should not take money from artists whose music isn’t ready or strong enough to get press.
If your track is declined, you can request more in-depth feedback, and we will provide our honest, unfiltered opinion.
We hope to hear your music soon—good luck with your journey!