If you are interested in getting reviewed at Music Street Journal there are
a few things you need to know. First, we do interviews and concert reviews,
but the archives are all constructed around CD/DVD (product) reviews - so
that has to come either first or at the same time as the other items
(interviews/concert reviews).
First priority will be given to anyone who provides material for our members area, buys a sponsorship or a banner ad. Those are the paths to the fast lane for getting coverage at Music Street Journal.
Next up in order to have your CD or DVD reviewed it has to meet a couple of
criteria. First, it needs to be available for the readers to get their hands
on. If they can't get it there's no point in us telling them how great it
is. So, it needs to be available, either as a download, a CD to purchase
somewhere or in some way available for them to acquire.
Next, we need to like it. We don't do negative reviews. The theory is that
there is so much good stuff out there that we shouldn't waste our (and our
readers') time with something negative. If we don't like it more than
dislike it, we won't review it at all.
You also need to know that half of every issue is progressive rock. We
started as a progressive rock only publication and as we've grown to add
more stuff, that's how we keep our core of long time readers happy. That
means that if your music doesn't fall into that category it might take us a
while to get to it. It doesn't mean we won't cover it, though. We cover all kinds of music. It just might take a little longer to work something that's not prog into the mix.
That brings up another issue. I personally am buried in promos that I'm
trying to get reviewed. The best bet is to get it into one of the other
writer's hands. The easiest way to do that is to send me an email (not through myspace - can't forward that email - but to greg@musicstreetjournal.com) with some
links where they can hear the music. Then if one of them wants to cover it,
they will let me know and I'll have you send it directly to them - and work
with them to coordinate possible other coverage. If you don't hear back
after a week or so it means I didn't get any bites back from the other
writers. So, then you can decide if you just want to try back in six months
to a year or send it directly to me - and probably wait that long for me to
get to your CD or DVD. Sorry about having to put it that way, but I always
try to create realistic expectations.
Next up, here's an explanation of the promo opportunities coming up next
year at Music Street Journal. YOU CAN PARTICIPATE IN THESE WHETHER YOU ARE REVIEWED AT MSJ OR NOT.
Q: What will the changes mean for me as an artist, publicist or label?
A: Additional opportunities for publicizing your act(s) will be made possible. We’re adding both a press release and a tour dates section to the main (free) portion of the site. These will be accessible to artists, labels and publicists to post pertinent items to have them put in front of the Music Street Journal readers (over five million last year).
Q: What will this cost me?
A: Well, there are two ways you can gain access to post your press releases and tour dates. The first is to submit material to be available in the members only area. Acceptable material includes:
Audio Files
Video Files
Artist Blog
A Question and Answer session (MSJ subscribers will be able to send through questions which you respond to and the Q and A section would be posted in the members only area)
As long as you provide content for that section you will be able to post as many (no multiples of the same one) press releases and tour dates as you like. I’d like to keep new content showing up, so while for now I’m not going to set a specific number of items needed for each month of using the service, that might change depending on how the postings are handled by participants.
I mentioned that there are two ways you can gain access to post your stuff. Well, if you don’t want to submit items for the members only section you can still get to post your press releases and tour dates, but there will be $1,000 a year fee to do that. Certainly it’s a lot less expensive to post items in the members section.
Q: How do I get in on this?
A: Just drop me an email (musicstreetjournal@musicstreetjournal.com) and tell me that you want to participate. I'll get you all the information you need to get on board.
Q: What about banner ads?
A: We have new prices for our banner ads now as they are a bit different. The ads will be in rotation on just about every page of the new site - with the exception of the main page. They need to be 180 pixels wide by as much as twice that size in height. The new pricing is 60 dollars for a year - or 35 for six months.
Q: How do I get more information?
A: Again, drop me an email (musicstretjournal@musicstreetjournal.com) and I’ll answer any questions you might have.
Thanks
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