How To Submit Music to TBE

Since starting TBE in February of 2009 I have been getting more and more submissions from bands/managers/fans trying to tell me about some new music. Unfortunately, as the number of emails a day grows (about 600/week recently), the quality of the pitch has not. Most of them are so abysmal that the music immediately loses it’s chance to be heard. It’s hard out there for a music pimp but your boy Brandon isn’t gonna leave you hanging. After reading Frank’s excellent Music Promotion Guide over at Audio Muffin I was inspired to add my 2 cents on the topic. Although Frank gets into more nitty gritty than me, I recommend his thoughts as well since the dude knows what’s up. Anyway, read on for my main tips on crafting an email pitch that has a chance of being featured on The Burning Ear!

• Pick one or two songs! – I’m not going all the way on the first date! Woo me with your best jam or two and lets take it from there. A whole album link just makes me feel pressured and sweaty.

• Online streaming only? – As a rule I never listen to a track that is only available via Youtube/vimeo link. If I can’t download it, I don’t listen. You’ve already lost. I just don’t have the time to wait for streaming/buffering bullshit. The few times I have done it and actually found a good song it just gets annoying because I have to track down an mp3. Don’t make us do any more work then we have to to get your band’s great track out there!!

• Direct link to mp3 downloads – I listen to all my music offline (itunes or ipod) and try to let it sink in in an unhurried environment so if a direct link to an mp3 is available it is rare that I don’t download it (or in others’ cases, stream it). It has to be a pretty bare bones, uninformative and impersonal email for me to skip over the mp3. But remember NO ATTACHMENTS. Link me to that bad boy. My inbox is like an episode of Hoarders, no mo room for your stuff!

• Album art – Album art is cool. Link to it. Band photos are useless. They only serve to create a uninformed first-impression. If the band looks like they are trying too hard then they probably are trying too hard. If the band looks lame then they probably sound lame. It’s pretty much lose-lose. Let the music and album art make the first impressions and then if we see a band pic later we won’t really care what they look like.

• ID3 TAGS! – It’s happened an inordinate amount of times that I get an mp3 and fire it up in iTunes only to find out that it’s incompletely tagged, or not at all!! We bloggers get a gajillion mp3s a day and we all have different methods of managing them but I guarantee you that none of those methods include cradling each mp3 one by one to iTunes. I have a great track from January that is titled “They don’t dance” with an album tag of “Charm” but no damn artist! I’ve searched my email and Google Reader to no avail. That is a band that has made a great track but it will go unheard. Remember, changing tags in iTunes does not change the actual file. iTunes uses it’s own tagging library. I use the free Musorg on my mac to edit simple tags for TBE.

• Don’t lie – A search for “love the blog,” “love your blog,” or “great blog” in any bloggers inbox and you will come up with a ridiculous amount of ass kissing emails that are just trying to sphincter lick their way into getting some exposure. If you really like my blog then you would know my name (and use it!) and you would mention at least one (or even 2!) specific reasons why. I see that and the narcissist in me won’t be able to help but read everything you say from that point on. And make it sincere, guys and gals. You lie in these email blasts once a week. We read those lies many times a day. Guess who can definitely sniff out your bullshit?

• Points of reference – Sites like The Burning Ear are not niche blogs, we cover all kinds of awesome music so you are going to have to be more specific than “I thought you might like this.” Who do you sound like? Who have you been compared to? What have other reviews said? This especially applies to you remixers! Tell me why your version is different/better than the original? Important- When sending Remixes or Dubstep, please address that in the subject line. Even better, if you name the artist and song title that is being remixed.

• Mediafire or Hulkshare over zshare or yousendit. – Any file linked for download on an outside page is going to hinder your chances but if you must then I prefer Mediafire or Hulkshare or Soundcloud (with download enabled!). zShare makes you go through 3 pages and wait 50 seconds. You lost me at click number 2 and second number 5. Yousendit expires! Have some confidence in your tunes and assume that more than 10 people will want to download it! Mediafire has enormous ads for bullshit fantasy games, etc, but at least it’s only one click to get the download rolling and that just can’t be beat. Of course there are a few other hosting pages like Box-o (or something) that are streamlined and with less ads but I don’t know much about them. Of the big 3 I prefer Mediafire.

• One email is enough – Ok, so maybe 2 max. But seriously, stop emailing to ask what I thought of that band you sent last week. You will know if I liked it when you see it on the blog. Or not. It’s just that simple. Even the bands I do like don’t even get a reply email. They find out what I thought of their track the same time as everyone else in the world: when it gets posted.

• Keep it short – All of that info can be conveyed in 3-5 sentences. More than that and you are gambling on our mood/attention span. The only dude that gets a pass on longer emails is Death To The Throne cause that guy always writes some funny shit with his remix submissions.