SubmitHub.

It’s a controversial platform, I do know.

Possibly you like it. Possibly you hate it. Possibly you hate that you just like it. All of these reactions are completely comprehensible.

I’ve been on SubmitHub as a curator for the final 5 years, and over that span I’ve run dozens of my very own campaigns and the total gamut of emotional responses towards the platform, myself.

A fast timeline (which I’ve determined, for vainness’s sake, to jot down within the third particular person)…

2018: Jon will get Two Story Melody accredited as a SubmitHub curator and convinces himself that he’ll quickly be a full-time music blogger because of the cash that may inevitably rain down from reviewing artists’ submissions. Jon loves SubmitHub.

2018, one month later: Jon realizes that reviewing artists’ submissions is like having 50 Lady Scouts ring your doorbell asking in the event you’d like to purchase their cookies, one after the opposite, and having to elucidate to 49 of them why you don’t like their cookies and gained’t give them any cash, at which a few of them cry, a few of them get indignant, and all of them break your coronary heart. A month of this earns Jon almost $30.

Jon hates SubmitHub.

2019: Jon dupes another person into reviewing all of Two Story Melody’s SubmitHub submissions. Jon loves SubmitHub.

2020 (I feel): Jon will get Tom to jot down this text reviewing SubmitHub. Jason Grishkoff, the founding father of SubmitHub, likes the article and hyperlinks to it from a major web page on SubmitHub. Jon loves SubmitHub and feels personally affirmed.

2020: After years of operating PR campaigns for different artists, Jon submits his personal music on SubmitHub and will get to really feel what it’s wish to be one of many 49 rejected Lady Scouts. Jon hates SubmitHub.

2022: Jon realizes that just about each time he needs to get weblog articles revealed for a shopper, SubmitHub will get higher outcomes than when he emails his music editor contacts personally. Jon each loves and hates SubmitHub (and decides to stop doing PR).

You get the concept.

Anyway, I needed to take this week’s submit to offer you a couple of sensible ideas on methods to succeed on SubmitHub – as a result of in 2023, I’ve truly been utilizing it greater than ever, and I’m as excessive on it as I’ve ever been.

Facet be aware I most likely ought to’ve put in earlier: For those who don’t know what SubmitHub is, a) geez that timeline meant nothing to you, I’m sorry, and b) go forward and browse the evaluation that Tom wrote – it explains the idea of the platform fairly successfully. (Good job, Tom. Glad I duped you into reviewing our SubmitHub submissions heheh.)

Assuming that you understand what SubmitHub is, I’ll begin with probably the most useful (and apparent) tip first:

1. Hearken to the music the curator has accredited earlier than you submit your music to the curator.

Yow will discover latest shares on the curator’s element web page (first picture) or by clicking the three dots on the itemizing web page (second picture).

One of the best factor about SubmitHub, in my view, is its ridiculous degree of transparency. You get soooo a lot details about every curator to whom you possibly can submit – and that features a operating record of the latest songs they’ve accredited.

Take the time to take heed to at the very least three of their latest approvals and see in case your music suits in context with them. It is a tremendous fundamental factor, I do know. I additionally know that lower than half of artists truly do it.

Critically, in the event you go from not doing this -> doing it, I feel you’ll double your common approval charge.

2. To your “Fast pitch,” present that you just’ve listened to the curator’s work and put your track into context.

Don’t agonize over your pitch to curators; what issues most is the music. Some curators (playlisters, particularly) barely even take note of the phrases you write.

That mentioned, the perfect factor you are able to do together with your pitch is give the curator a push in the proper path. After I undergo playlist curators, for instance, I’ll point out the identify of the particular playlist during which I feel the track would match finest. This reveals that I’ve truly listened to the curator’s work – I haven’t simply mass copied-pasted my pitch to each curator on the web page.

And if curators occur to learn the pitch, they’ll already be envisioning the track in that playlist, which places them one psychological step nearer towards approving it.

Relatedly, when you may give a sentence of backstory, don’t spend your whole pitch unpacking the purpose of the track. That feels impersonal; lots of the “backstory pitches” we get at Two Story come off as copy-and-pasted fairly than tailor-made to our weblog.

While you’ve solely received 200 characters, it’s most likely higher to let the track communicate for itself, anyway.

3. You most likely don’t must get weblog write-ups for each track you launch.

I suppose this isn’t a SubmitHub-specific tip, however I feel that is pretty much as good a spot as any to share it: I’ve more and more come to consider that you need to actually solely run one (or at most, two) press campaigns per yr.

The reality is that weblog articles don’t drive new followers to your music. They do have important worth; they construct credibility, they assist to develop your artist story, and so they give your present followers context for changing into larger followers.

However that worth isn’t depending on having 1,000,000 articles from underground indie blogs. Actually, you solely want a couple of pretty latest, top quality articles to get the job executed; you possibly can reap all the good elements of press with out getting an article written about each track.

Once more, as somebody who’s run a ton of press campaigns professionally, my recommendation is to deal with refreshing your weblog protection as soon as yearly or so.

4. Attempt completely different genres, moods, and related artists in your SubmitHub filter.

The SubmitHub filter is, in my view, the perfect within the recreation at serving to you match your music to the proper curators – however it may possibly typically trigger your number of curators to turn into a bit too focused.

For those who’ve run by way of your itemizing web page of curators and solely discovered three or 4 curators you’re feeling are value a submission, then return and mess with the genres, moods, and related artists you’ve chosen.

Usually, you’ll discover higher choices in your second or third attempt.

5. Choose “Particular and sincere suggestions” after which ignore each phrase of it.

Asking for particular suggestions is a technique to prod curators to have interaction extra deeply together with your track – and deeper engagement tends to result in extra approvals.

Asking for particular suggestions can also be a technique to get a ton of irrelevant, internally inconsistent, silly recommendation on methods to make your track higher.

Belief me on this one: You need curators to offer you suggestions, however you additionally wish to do not forget that curators don’t know what the heck they’re speaking about.

6. Don’t spend a ton of cash.

This bit of recommendation truly comes straight from the mouth of Jason Grishkoff, the founder. I’ve requested him straight how a lot he thinks artists ought to spend on his platform, and his reply caught me off guard:

$20.

(I’ve usually suggested artists to spend $80.)

The pondering, based on Jason, is that you need to take a look at the waters earlier than operating an costly marketing campaign. Begin with a small spend and see what sort of engagement you get; then, if the outcomes justify it, spend extra.

Within the phrases of Jim Collins’ violently-phrased enterprise recommendation, hearth bullets, then cannonballs.

Okay, let’s cap issues there.

Hopefully these things is useful as you suppose by way of operating your individual SubmitHub marketing campaign… and sure, my view is that you just most likely ought to suppose by way of operating your individual SubmitHub marketing campaign.

It’s value $20 in your subsequent launch. (And you may spend even much less in the event you use my coupon for 10% off right here.)

No, the platform doesn’t home the most important Spotify playlist curators – but it surely does have a ton of respectable, engaged curators who can get you significant streams, and, not like many different platforms, SubmitHub affords you the power to construct actual relationships with the individuals to whom you submit your music. Plus, in my view, it’s the present gold normal for getting weblog protection as an indie artist. And in addition, it’s low-cost.

So yeah, use SubmitHub. It’s received loads going for it. Jason, the founder is cool. The platform itself is stable. The outcomes will be significant. I like it.

I’ll most likely hate it tomorrow, although.