5 Magazine welcomes music submissions, but there are rules. We don’t like rules but we receive well over 1,000 submissions a month – more music than could be listened to or even downloaded. So rules there have to be.
Thankfully these rules are not complicated or unfair, and most people do not read this or follow them. Your chances of standing out among the submissions are much higher than you think! Here they are:
1. What kind of music do you review?
Underground house music, techno, disco and the like – pretty much every flavor of underground electronic music. We do not review hip-hop, jazz, R&B, progressive, EDM, rock, pop or folk music.
2. When should I send you my tracks?
Promos should be sent before a record’s out, not after.
Music should be submitted 30 days prior to the first release date. Exclusive “promo” periods on download sites count – the “release date” for us is the first date it’s available for sale or streaming to the public.
This “pre-release” submission period is necessary because of the sheer quantity of submissions we receive. It isn’t possible for us to review music that is already out, or will be out in just a few days.
The more time you give us, the more possibilities there are for us to write about it, as a review, feature, news item, etc. Give us less than a week and you’ve limited the possibilities tremendously.
3. What do I need to submit?
Please submit all of the following:
- Full release. Please do not send streams or links to Beatport, SoundCloud or Spotify in lieu of sending the full tracks. Please do not send partial tracks or 90 second samples.
- Artwork. Release artwork, preferably larger than 1000px in size.
- One-sheet which includes the following: artist name, release name, track names and release date. If you do not have a one-sheet, write that information in a text file and include it with the tracks and artwork. Voila: you now have a one-sheet. 🙂
Please note what is not included here: money. We do not charge “submission fees,” “promotional fees” or anything else associated with charging artists money to review their music.
We have always made these guidelines explicit so that anyone (regardless of how much money they have, or how many friends they have) can follow them. They are the same for a bedroom producer as they are for any giant EDM label. You do not need a publicist to submit music to 5 Mag, or pay anyone money, have us sign up for your promo list, or anything else. If it fits our editorial vision and you can follow these rules, you can send your music to us yourself, as often as you like.
4. Who do I send my tracks to?
Submit files via wetransfer.com or dropbox links to info@5chicago.com. Tracks sent as email attachments are discarded. Please do not use sendspace or mediafire, both of which throttle download speeds.
5. What format do you accept?
MP3 or WAV is fine.
6. What happens after I send my tracks to you?
The zip file is downloaded and all of the information is assigned to our review pool (see why having all that stuff is important?) If a review is published, we will let you know.
We are not responsible for submissions sent to any other email address besides info@5chicago.com. We are not responsible for incomplete submissions – include the mp3s, artwork and 1-sheet according to Question #3 above. We are not responsible if you send music less than 30 days prior to release. We are not responsible for music sent for genres we do not cover.
