How We Cover Artists
A short walkthrough of what happens when something lands in our inbox, what makes a piece worth writing, and what to expect once a submission is in flight. The full coverage standard lives in the editorial policy.
If we cover you, you get a permanent artist page and real editorial coverage, at no cost.
A professionally written piece with a real angle, and an artist page at a stable URL that stays up. Not a directory listing, not a paid placement. Coverage you can point people to for years.
- No cost. We never charge for coverage.
- A human editor decides what runs.
- No pay-to-play, no sponsored placements.
Two Ways In
Radar is the public, short way in. Anyone can flag an artist, a story, or a scene moment for editorial consideration via the radar form. What you put on our radar is a candidate for coverage, not a guarantee. We follow up with the artist or contributor when something on the radar turns into a real piece.
Submissions are longer. They run through a structured Q&A flow that is invite-only. If a name on our radar looks like the start of a piece, the editor sends an invite so the artist or contributor can write the longer answers a piece is built from.
What Happens After
- 01
Something lands
A name lands on our radar, or an invited contributor opens the interview flow and walks through a structured Q&A. Both write to our editor inbox. Something on the radar is a signal, not a piece. An interview answer is the raw material a draft is built from.
- 02
An editor takes a look
Every submission is read by a human editor before anything else happens. Most of the work in this stage is figuring out whether there is a real piece here, and what angle it wants to be.
- 03
A coverage brief is drafted
If the work warrants coverage, the editor commissions an internal brief. The brief is where we decide the angle, the voice, what we already know, and what we still need to verify or ask the artist.
- 04
A draft gets written
AI assists with a first draft from the brief and the source material. The editor rewrites, cuts, and reshapes until the piece reflects the real story rather than a generic summary. Nothing publishes from a first draft.
- 05
Verification, then publish
Claims that a reader would rely on get checked. Release dates, credits, links, tour information. When the piece is solid, the editor approves it. The article and a permanent artist page go live together.
What a Strong Submission Looks Like
- Recordings that sound like the artist took the work seriously. Mixes that hold up. Mastering that is not an afterthought.
- A clear sense of what the project is about. A point of view in the sound, the visuals, or the story behind the work.
- Real momentum. A release landing soon, shows booked, a body of work that is actually moving.
- Specifics in the answers. Names, places, decisions, gear, friction, what was hard about making the thing.
What Tends to Get Declined
- Generic copy that could be about any artist. EPK boilerplate.
- Pitches with no music attached, or links to private folders that nobody can hear.
- Submissions for hobby projects with no intent to release or perform at a serious level.
- Mass-blasted pitches sent to dozens of outlets at once, with nothing tailored to this one.
- Auto-generated music presented as the artist's work.
Decline is not a verdict on the artist. It usually means the piece does not have a clear angle yet, the work is not far enough along to build coverage on, or the submission did not give us enough to go on. Tightening the pitch and trying again later is fine.
What to Expect on Timing
We aim to read every submission within a few days. Pieces that move into the brief and draft stages take longer because the writing, verification, and editing all happen there. There is no auto-publish queue. A piece is ready when it is ready, not when a calendar says so.
If we go quiet on a submission for more than a couple of weeks, the right move is to nudge us. We will say where it stands.
Coverage Is Not for Sale
We do not run sponsored placements, paid coverage, or rewritten press releases. Editorial decisions are made by an editor, not a sales pipeline. If someone offers you a paid placement on this site, it is not legitimate.
Send Something
If you want to flag an artist or a story, putting them on our radar is the right starting point.
Put an artist on our radar