Best Music Blogs to Submit Your Music To
Ready to start pitching your new fire track? We gathered the best music blogs to submit your music to as an independent artist.
Amuse, amuse
With the era of social media and streaming platforms taking its reigns on the music scene, many artists might question the legitimacy and power of music blogs in 2023. The power of visuals and short-form video has more recently become a way for independent artists to grow their fanbase fast, sometimes overnight. But as an independent artist, how can you attract the attention of the masses without the use of visuals or even your music?
Through your story as an artist and what makes you, you. This leads us to the answer 'if music blogs are still relevant in 2023?'. Yes, they definitely are. Who is able to help effectively capture and communicate your story as an artist? Reputable music blogs.
There seems to be a lack of deeper engagement with the current music discovery process, with millions of people who don’t necessarily only care about listening to good music but who want a deeper connection with the artist, by knowing more about them (their story), understanding what they stand for and getting the inside scope that they can't find on social media.
If your goal is to blow up your stream count by pitching to music blogs, there are other (better) ways of skyrocketing your streams. See music blogs like more of a bridge for fans and potential listeners to really care about your work, with established writers being able to cleverly communicate your story to their trusting audience.
Before you start pitching, there are a few things you need to keep in mind.
Research. Make sure the music you’re pitching is relevant to the blog and writer. You need to find the writers, editors, and blogs whose musical preference aligns with what you are making.
Refine your email pitch to show that you put in the work by referencing a similar release they supported earlier and writing an email that is personalized, concise, and to the point.
Think of your story. What makes you unique? Try to capture your story in your pitch and what you, as an artist, stand for.
“Writers and editors can be hard to start a conversation with; they get a ton of emails, work on deadlines, and probably get hit up for a lot of favors,” says the editors behind music blog The FADER. “To establish a relationship of trust, make it your goal to find the place where they prefer to correspond and respect their privacy.”
“To establish a relationship of trust, make it your goal to find the place where they prefer to correspond and respect their privacy.”
We gathered all the best music blogs to submit your music to as an independent artist. Before you click send, read our guide for crafting the perfect EPK (Electronic Press Kit) to attach to your pitch here.
Best Music Blogs To Submit Your Music
Earmilk
Launched in the late 2000s by Montrey Whittaker, Blake Edwards and Eric DeFazio, Earmilk is an online music publication based out of the United States and Canada. The site covers almost every genre, but focuses on dance, hip-op, indie, electronic and pop artists. Earmilk uses the SubmitHub platform for music submissions, so if you don’t get a hit back from their editors, you should submit your music there for review.
Website: earmilk.com
Cougar Microbes
Cougar Microbes is a London-based music blog that writes about both British and global music artists and new releases. The site has a roster of contributors from around the world, including Los Angeles, Tel Aviv, and Milan. The Cougar Microbes team takes music submissions via a service called MusoSoup.
Website: cougarmicrobes.com
Indie Shuffle
Founded by Jason Grishkoff, also the founder and CEO of SubmitHub, Indie Shuffle is a place to discover new music and playlists across every genre, with a focus on indie rock, hip hop, and electronic. Wanna submit to Indie Shuffle? Hit up one of their staff writers [contact details here] or use SubmitHub to send your track in for review.
Website: indieshuffle.com
Stoney Roads
Founded in 2007, Stoney Roads is a music blog based out of Australia, connecting music lovers with music makers in the electronic music space. This site is your go-to for emerging Australian producers and DJs across house, techno, experimental electro and more. Artists can submit a song for blog and Spotify playlist consideration here.
Website: stoneyroads.com
Skope Mag
Launched in 2001, Skope Mag is a Boston-based music blog that covers music news across a wide variety of genres. With features on up-and-coming independent acts getting placement beside mainstream artists, Skope Mag is a great platform to get your indie music heard.
Website: skopemag.com
AMNPLIFY
Whether you’re an artist, a fan, a photographer, a writer, a music venue or a promoter, AMNPLIFY is a music platform dedicated to supporting up-and-coming creatives in the music scene. The site publishes interviews with artists, photos from gigs, news about the industry, and music reviews. They also curate two Spotify playlists, “TNT” and “Discover” which they update daily.
Website: amnplify.com.au
Sidekick Music
Sidekick Music is a music blog and electronic music dedicated record label with a penchant for Indie & Nu Disco. Their curation team is always looking for new music to add to their blog and Spotify Playlists. If you have a track, a new release or an EP that’s perfect for them, you can pitch your release directly in the submission form on the Playlists page.
Website: sidekick-music.com
Thissongissick
Thissongissick is a music blog dedicated to showcasing artists that haven’t quite broken yet, giving them the push that they need to start creating buzz around their artist project. They write about artists across all genres, from electronic, to hip-hop, indie and alternative, and have a global audience of millions of music lovers in over 110 countries. These guys accept music submissions from anyone, just fill out the submission form here.
Website: thissongissick.com
The FADER
The FADER is a little more “major” than some of its indie music blog peers, but they still do their work to support up-and-coming artists along the way. They have a massive reach and maybe harder to get through to, but it’s still worth reaching out to get on their radar. They cover releases from a wide variety of music genres, as well as premieres, news, and cool work in the art/culture scene and even have a record label.
FADER Label is the current home to rapidly rising singer/songwriter Clairo, Detroit native Charlie Burg, multi-talented 20-year-old Zachary Knowles, energetic Platinum-certified duo Matt and Kim, electronic DJ/Producer Super Duper, and alt-electro artist Fractures.
These legends also wrote a detailed guide to pitching music to blogs which you can read here. Submitting music? Send it here.
Website: www.thefader.com
