Most bands send one email on the day a record comes out, containing a link to the album. By that date the reviews have been written, the premieres have been given away, and the release slot in the diary is full. A link with no date attached is not news.
In music the news is never the record. It is the date. Everything that follows is arranged backwards from the Friday your single or album appears.
Every submission page in the list was opened and checked on 4 October 2026.
You are asking for one of two things
"Listen to this." These are the routes where a track reaches a listener directly from you: uploaders, blogs and magazines with a form, local and community radio. Nothing is written about you. A person listens and decides. The track is the whole pitch, and there is no letter to get right.
"Write about this." These are reviews of an album, interviews, and concert reviews. Somebody else writes them. What decides whether it happens is the date and the story around it, not the quality of the track alone, because a critic needs a reason to spend an evening on it.
Both routes are worth doing and they fail differently. Sending a biography to an uploader is wasted. Sending a bare link to a critic, with no date and no story, is the same mistake in reverse.
The calendar, worked backwards
Count from the release Friday.
- Four to six weeks out is the normal window for online titles. A blog, a magazine and your local radio all need time to publish on or near the day.
- About three months for monthly print magazines, which plan issues ahead. A feature about a record is commissioned before the record arrives.
- Two to three weeks out is where the premiere offer goes, and it goes to one publication at a time.
- The week of release is for reminding people you already wrote to, and for the concert review.
- Afterwards is for the tour announcement, not the record.
New releases come out on Fridays, so coverage is planned to appear on or just before that day.
Set the date first, then work backwards, and write everything down on one page.
A premiere is an exclusive, and it is the easiest thing you will sell
A track premiere means one publication gets to be first, on a date you agree, with an audio link that works. In return you get a piece of coverage that other people can point at, and you keep the record.
Offer it in the first line, name the date you can promise, and say what happens to the track afterwards. A publication that cannot be first is not a premiere and should not be offered one.
For what an exclusive and an embargo are, and how to write the offer, see How a pitch is read. A misused exclusive is remembered.
The electronic press kit, and what is in it
One page, one link, everything on it. The contents:
- A biography of 100 words, and a single line you could read out loud.
- Two or three press photographs in print resolution, one horizontal and one vertical, each with the photographer's name.
- A private listening link that opens without a login and does not expire next week. This is the single item most kits get wrong.
- The release cover art.
- The release date, and the label or "self-released".
- Tour dates with venues and cities.
- A contact.
Do not attach audio files to a first email. They are heavy, and a file cannot be passed to a colleague as easily as a link. Send what the publication's page asks for: most ask for a streaming link, and a few ask for a download link at a stated quality.
A concert is a different pitch from a record
Concert coverage is requested before the night, not after, and the request has three parts: the date and city, the venue with its capacity and address, and a request to be on the guest list. Add the set time and the support.
Asking for a review of a show that already happened is the music equivalent of pitching an exhibition after the opening night. What you can still do afterwards is tell the same people about the next date.
Local press and radio are the route nobody uses
Your home town, and the town of every date on the tour, has publications that will print what a national magazine will not, because the local paper has no other band to write about. Local radio needs music it cannot get from a distributor, which describes a self-released single exactly.
The venue is an ally too. Venues keep press lists and know who actually comes to their shows. If the promoter has already sent a listing to local titles, ask them who else is on it, and approach those people separately.
City by city: the tour
A tour is not one story told ten times. Each date is news in one town, so each town gets its own short message with that date in the subject line: the local paper or news site, the radio station, the venue's list and the city's event listings. Three to six weeks ahead is the window for all of them.
A listing needs the date and door time, the venue with its address, a ticket link and one photograph. Leeds Inspired takes events directly and says it is free. Londonist asks for details by email around two weeks before. City societies in Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Leeds, London, Manchester and Oxford take event details and say they pass a tour on to the other cities on the route: see, for example, Manchester and Bristol.
The one sentence about the music
Avoid the sentence that says nothing. Compare:
genre-defying sound that blends influences
Recorded over eleven days in a disused swimming pool, with the reverb from the empty tank doing most of the work.
The first can be written by any band. The second is a fact, and a fact is what a feature is built on. Avoid "sounds like X meets Y" too: it makes a critic's job trivial and usually gets you a line rather than a piece.
How the year shapes your chances
Summer is festival season, and a band on a festival bill has an angle for six weeks before it. The end of the year is full of lists, and everything competes with everything.
The start of the year is quieter, and quieter is better for an unfamiliar act. A January single from a band nobody has heard has fewer releases around it than one in October.
Treat this as a general shape rather than a calendar. Festival announcements move every year: check the current dates on the official site before you build a pitch around them.
Three mistakes particular to bands
Writing on release day. The record is out and the writing is done. Everything useful happened four to six weeks before.
A link that needs an account, or has expired. A private link that has been switched off, or a folder that asks for access, can cost you a premiere. Test the link from a logged-out browser, on a phone, before you send it.
One email to thirty addresses beginning "Hi there". It reads as a list, and it is recognised on the first line. One message per publication, addressed to something specific about what they do, and no opening pleasantry that says nothing.
A pitch you can adapt
The example below is invented. Nothing in it refers to a real band, label, venue or publication.
Subject: Premiere offer: [track title], single out [date], recorded in a disused swimming pool
Dear [name],
I write to ask whether you would like the first listen to "[track title]", our second single, which comes out on [date]. I am holding it until [date], and after that it goes to everyone.
Some facts that may interest you: recorded over eleven days in [place], released on [label], with [producer] producing. We support at [venue] on [date].
The link below plays without a login and will not expire. Photos and a longer biography are here: [one link].
Happy to send stems or a private download if that helps.
With thanks, [Name, telephone]
It runs to about a hundred and twenty words. It leads with the offer and the deadline, gives two concrete facts instead of adjectives, promises a link that works, and asks for nothing the recipient has to work to get.
Where to pitch
The list gives what each publication says on its own page. Terms change; open the page before you send.
ArtCulture UK
What they take. Reviews of music performances and album releases, classical, contemporary and experimental.
What their page asks for. A pitch through the form: the angle, why now, two or three links. Says it replies within about ten working days.
ArtCulture UK: submissions guidelines
Bandcamp Daily
What they take. Music on the platform, from new acts alongside established ones.
What their page asks for. A draft or private link on the platform only, and a story to tell about it. Says eight weeks before release is ideal.
Bandcamp Daily: artist guide, promotion
BBC Music Introducing
What they take. Music uploaded by the people who make it.
What their page asks for. An upload through its uploader, which needs a BBC account. Its page says uploads can be played on BBC Radio and featured in BBC Sounds mixes.
BBC Music Introducing: bBC Introducing
Creativity's UK
What they take. Music criticism and reviews; releases proposed for coverage.
What their page asks for. The idea and a link to something you have written. Says every pitch gets an answer.
DIY
What they take. New band coverage, album and live reviews, features and photography.
What their page asks for. Email to the editorial team, and a form that asks which of writing, photography or video you are offering. Says pitches are discussed in weekly editorial meetings, and reviews are commissioned about eight weeks ahead.
KLOF Mag
What they take. Folk and acoustic releases.
What their page asks for. Download links at 320kbps, a short background, and credits, by email. States a strict no-AI policy.
Pitchfork
What they take. Press releases, by email.
What their page asks for. A press release to the news address. Its contact page does not describe a route for unreleased music.
Songlines
What they take. Albums for review, recent and forthcoming.
What their page asks for. A streaming link, with the word FOR REVIEW in the subject. Says it does not review singles.
The Line of Best Fit
What they take. Music from new and unsigned artists.
What their page asks for. A form with a link to the music, and a separate address for news.
The Quietus
What they take. Requests to listen to new records.
What their page asks for. Email to the editor whose section it belongs to. Says it cannot reply to everything.
Two notes on reading the list. Some pages take a stream link and will not open a file; others take nothing but a press release and have no door for an unreleased track. The Line of Best Fit is a direct route for unsigned artists; The Quietus routes by department.
Questions bands ask
Do I need a label or a plugger to get reviewed? No. Several routes on this list take music directly from artists, with no label attached and no name you need to have. What all of them want is a link that plays, a date, and two facts that are not adjectives.
Should I send a single or wait for the album? The single. It has a date you can build a story around, and it is what the blogs and uploaders actually play. The album is what a magazine will commission a feature about, three months out, if the single did its job.
Is it worth pitching a show in a small venue? Yes. What matters is that you give the date, the capacity and the address, and ask for a guest place rather than a review.
What should I do if nobody replied before release day? Keep the list and use it again for the tour. After the release, send one message with something new in it: a date, a video, a support slot. Silence is normal in this field, and it is not a verdict on the record.
Run a music title that takes submissions, or spotted a page here that has moved? Tell the Journal and this list will be updated.
