Submissions

Please read this page thoroughly, then send submissions to info@acloserlisten.com.  If you are submitting an instrumental album and have met the guidelines, we will get back to you within a few days, likely sooner!  After that, your chances of review will average one in ten (improved odds for spring 2024!) but if you haven’t met the guidelines, your chances will be zero and you’ll be wondering why you didn’t get a response.

Submissions Guidelines

1.  We are open to reviewing all music that falls into the instrumental and/or experimental fields, but  our emphasis is on the instrumental.  While the experimental music we review may contain vocals, it is better defined as texture-based rather than lyric-based.    Before submitting music, please read some of our reviews in order to familiarize yourself with the styles we cover.

2.  Our focus is on newer music, so preference is given to newer releases.  Unreleased and newly-released music will be assigned top priority, while releases from past seasons will have a much smaller chance of coverage.

3.  Here’s how the process works.  First, we preview everything that comes in.  Once a week, we compile a list of submissions including streaming 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 and time as well as talent.

4.  We are currently reviewing approximately 1/10 of the instrumental submissions we receive.  Due to the interests of our current staff, we have not been reviewing a lot of jazz or improvisation.  We do not review singles, tracks or videos, or offer our feedback on works in progress; and since we are primarily a review site, we publish very few premieres or interviews.  We respond personally to all instrumental album submissions that mention our site by name, but not to bulk or impersonal emails (such as “Hey!” or links but no words).  We may also fail to respond if the three submissions criteria below have not been met or if lyrics are prominent.

5.  Digital submissions: we require three things.
a) Download Link:  Please send us a downloadable digital copy of your album (for example, a Bandcamp code, a Soundcloud download page, or a Google Drive, Dropbox or WeTransfer file ~ but please do not send .rar or FLAC files ~ we prefer mp3 or WAV;
b) Streaming Link:  A separate link to a non-Spotify site, private or public, where we can preview at least snippets without opening any files (we protect your music by only providing access to the download when it is requested by a reviewer); AND
c) Purchase Link:  A link to the place where it can be purchased or downloaded.

6.  Physical submissions: we do accept physical submissions, but please keep in mind that a hard copy will only be considered by one person, while a digital submission can be sent to any of ten reviewers who expresses interest.  If your only option is to send a physical submission, then please send us a description and/or sample, then wait to see if a reviewer may be interested.

7.  One email address fits all!  Send inquiries to info@acloserlisten.com.  We receive an average of 300 emails a week: few enough for us to write back to those who follow our guidelines, but too many for us to write back to those who don’t ~ so if you haven’t received a response, come back here to see what you may have missed!  Additional email addresses are below but keep in mind that they are all covered by the info@ email.

Richard:  richard@acloserlisten.com
Jeremy:  jeremy@acloserlisten.com
Joe (Mixes, Social Media):  joseph@acloserlisten.com
Chris and David (video game soundtracks):  press_a@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.