Submissions

Please send all submissions and inquiries to info@acloserlisten.com.  We will get back to you within a few days, likely sooner!

Submissions Guidelines

1.  We are open to reviewing all music that falls into the instrumental and/or experimental fields.  While experimental music may contain vocals, it is more properly defined by its creative, forward-thinking tone.  For a better understanding of our definitions, please see our already-reviewed releases in that category or any issue of The Wire.

2.  We are a new site, and our focus is on newer music, so preference is given to newer releases.  For example, unreleased and just-released music will be assigned top priority, while releases of seasons past will have a much smaller chance of coverage.

3.  Here’s how the process works.  First, we listen to everything that comes in.  Once a week, we compile a list of submissions including the public links only, and send these out to the staff along with brief descriptions.  Our reviewers then have two weeks to pick up releases to hear in full.  If they like a release, they sign up to review it.  This means that in general, our reviews will be more positive than those on other sites, because no releases are ever assigned.  This also explains why some submissions don’t get reviewed; it’s often a matter of taste as well as talent.

4.  We are currently reviewing approximately 20% of the submissions we receive, and the wait time between submission and review is averaging 3-4 weeks.  We respond to all personal emails, but not to all group emails or impersonal emails (such as “Hey!” or an email with links but no words).  If you have written a personal email, we will write to let you know when a review appears.

5.  Digital submissions:
a) Please send us a digital file that we can open and download for free (but please no .rar files as we have trouble with those);
b) A link to a site at which we can preview at least snippets of the release before opening the file; and
c) A link to the place where it can be purchased or downloaded.

6.  Physical submissions: please contact us so that we can match you with the appropriate reviewer, or contact the administrators individually at their respective addresses:  jeremy@, joe@ and/or richard@acloserlisten.com.

If your submission fits the above guidelines, and we like it, it has a very good chance of coverage.  We know you put a lot of effort into what you do, so we promise not to review it if we don’t like it.  If we decide to review it, we promise to give it a closer listen.