3, 776…At the time I’m writing this, that is the number of submissions, in my inbox, that I have yet to listen to. This number steadily increases because the number of submissions that come in, is always greater than the number I’m able to give an ear to; and I try my best to listen to everything.
I wrote a pretty passionate rant about artist submissions sometime ago. Since then, I made some changes to decrease the number of annoying email blast promotions, but this did little to help the listening and reviewing process.
Typically there is something that gets lost between you and your core audience with growth and popularity. I’m noticing that on a very small scale. This blog is now popular enough to the degree that it has become a sort of “drive thru” submission spot for many passerby artists. My submission page is sometimes the most trafficked page on my blog. What this tells me is that people are just submitting music without even checking out the rest of the content.
There’s a lot of horrible music out there, and a lot of it makes finds it’s way in my submission inbox. Some of this comes publicists and promoters that submit , on behalf of the artists, whatever music they’re paid to push. Sometimes those artists have never even heard of this blog. This blog has a small but very loyal number of readers, but the task of sifting through the outside crap thats sent to me keeps me from focusing on them and steals the fun out of the process.
I’ve had a few people tell me that I should find someone else to deal with artists submissions; and I had a few volunteers who had a taste for music that I trusted. They ALL soon came back with statements like, “I can’t believe you do this shit on a regular basis!” or “OMG, most of these are terrible!”
Anyway, to keep this from being another drawn out rant, I’m saying all this to say that I have to make a major change in this process or this will become just a blog based on business information and the Rap Ratz comics I do each Sunday. I put in many hours into this blog and any money made from it, barely pays for it’s upkeep. I keep doing it because I love this blog and I appreciate the many cool people I’ve met because of it. But from here on out, most of my attention will only be given to those who comment, give feedback and participate in the activities of this blog. The focus will be on building a community that can share and collab with each other.
If I could give artists any advice on this, it would be to make your presence known on other blogs as well. Bloggers will usually respond to a comment far quicker than they would an email; if you’re not spamming them of course. Thousands of other artists are just doing “drop-off and take-off” submissions. Take a small amount of time to become a regular presence on the blogs you like, and you’ll develop a connection that may increase your chances of getting your music posted.
Til then, I’ll still be taking submissions on the contact page, while listening at my leisure, to the many already sitting in my inbox.
