If you are an artist, I'm sure you are trying to get your music on blogs and hip hop websites. Getting a feature or interview with a top publication could put you in front of a brand new audience and help propel your career to the next level. Whether you submit your music to these blogs or use a PR agency, make sure you are professional and follow the submission directions. There are hundreds of blogs but only a select few that will give you the exposure you need. In order to get on these blogs you will most likely need to build a relationship with someone at the company or get referred from a friend. The music industry has always been about relationships and I don't think it's changing anytime soon so find a way to meet these people and connect with them on a personal level. I thought it would be helpful if I reached out to a few influencers to get their list of 10 blogs all upcoming artists should submit to. Please keep in mind that each of these blogs have their own style/sub-genre of Hip-Hop they post about so some might not be a good fit for you.
UPDATED LIST 6/12/17
Matt O @BoardinOgilvie
Founder of UpcomingHipHop.net
2DopeBoyz www.2dopeboyz.com
TeamBackPack www.teambackpack.net
Pigeons & Planes www.pigeonsandplanes.com
DJ Booth www.djbooth.net
Complex www.complex.com
Rhyme Junkie www.rhymejunkie.com
Good Music All Day www.goodmusicallday.com
HipHopDX www.hiphopdx.com
Indie Hip Hop www.indiehiphop.net
Underground Hip Hop Blog www.undergroundhiphopblog.com
UGHH www.undergroundhiphop.com
Hip Hop Weekly www.hiphopweekly.com
Hip Hop Vibe www.hip-hopvibe.com
HipHopWired www.hiphopwired.com
Rap Radar www.rapradar.com
List from 11/3/2015
Richardine Bartee @THEYAMS
Writer at The Source
Pigeons & Planes www.pigeonsandplanes.com
2DopeBoyz www.2dopeboyz.com
illroots www.illroots.com
HipHopNMore www.hiphop-n-more.com
YouHeardThatNew www.youheardthatnew.com
OK-Tho www.ok-tho.com
HotNewHipHop www.hotnewhiphop.com
InFlexWeTrust www.inflexwetrust.com
Hot97 www.hot97.com
NahRight www.nahright.com
The Mave @CusMaven
Founder & CEO of TheRapfest.com
YouHeardThatNew www.youheardthatnew.com
Upcoming Hip Hop www.upcominghiphop.net
The Rapfest www.therapfest.com
Vlad TV www.vladtv.com
ThisIs50 www.thisis50.com
Real TalkNY www.realtalkny.uproxx.com
Dj Booth www.djbooth.net
InFlexWeTrust www.inflexwetrust.com
HipHopWired www.hiphopwired.com
Mike Trampe @MichaelJTrampe
CEO at MAAD Management, Founder of Hip Hop Bloggers United
Dj Booth www.djb
ooth.net
HipHopDX www.hiphopdx.com
NahRight www.nahright.com
2DopeBoyz www.2dopeboyz.com
Rap Radar www.rapradar.com
Sways Universe www.swaysuniverse.com
Rhyme Junkie www.rhymejunkie.com
The Source www.thesource.com
Free On Smash www.freeonsmash.com
Hip Hop Early www.hiphopearly.com
Scott Sheridan @MrScottSheridan
VP Business Development & Hospitality at Riveting Entertainment
Fakeshore Drive www.fakeshoredrive.com
HipHopDX www.hiphopdx.com
HotNewHipHop www.hotnewhiphop.com
Pitchfork www.pitchfork.com
2DopeBoyz www.2dopeboyz.com
Vibe www.vibe.com
Global Grind www.globalgrind.com
Worldstar Hip Hop www.worldstarhiphop.com
XXL www.xxlmag.com
Complex www.complex.com
Submitting music to blogs is crucial to getting heard by the masses. Whether you do it yourself, have your team do it, or hire someone to, these tips will help you along the way. We asked our favorite hip hop blog founders a few questions to help you (the artist and/or producer) get better insight how to properly submit music to a blog. Below the interview you will find our three DOs and DON’Ts when submitting music to blogs. Read our article 3 DOs and DON’Ts When Submitting Music to Blogs.
If you want us to submit to these blogs for you check out our PR Services
You guy’s never check your emails, this is a lie. You say “don’t tweet us (your music)”, what about someone else’s music? Some of you say “follow up” – lies. You don’t like to be spammed, but most of you have auto-responses listing prices…. I’ve been a fan of a dude who sings, and tried sending his music to these places repeatedly, and no response…. He gave up years ago (still puts out stuff though), but I have not… and if I had the money, I’d have no problem… but you people are impossible. You all preach “invest in yourself” – why do you preach this?… if blogs just admit they’re in it for money instead of putting on a facade, there’d be no issues. Tell me I’m wrong.
You are wrong. We at Upcoming Hip Hop have never received money to post anyone’s music. We are firmly against that and will never change. We have never listed prices for posts so I’m not sure where you saw that. Let me reassure you, we are not in it for the money (some blogs might be but not us). When people say “invest in yourself” you need to think of it as making yourself better in every aspect. If you invest in your craft and create higher quality music maybe more blogs might listen. We will admit that we are pretty behind on reviewing our submissions but are trying to catch up this month. We get a lot and we look at 100% of them. Please don’t bring this nonsense to our blog where we actually do this for the love not the money.
Thanks for this list guys, it’s really useful. Do you guys have any other resources? I’ve been meaning to read more about Hip-Hop Marketing. Cheers!
We recommend checking out https://heroic.academy/
It’s a company that’s really helping up and coming Artist on the west coast by the name of Artist Shield these guys totally changed my career when it comes to the real music business. @ArtistShield
interesting tool for upcoming artists !
HypeOffLife.com is good too.
Thanks for sharing. If you are looking for the video submission platform, you are at the right place. Submit your music videos to get featured on Daily Urbano.
I need a list of all hip-hop bloggers emails
Is this list still valid ?
Nice post! Thanks for the information.
Darren
http://www.beatdreamer.com
Will check this list out!
Thank You!
Great article Matt! We just opened our submissions for talented artists and producers of music remixes. Feel free to share yours with us! https://remixmonsta.com/tracksubmissions
Great list! We’d love to be a part of it one day. We also focus on upcoming artists from all around. Check us out.
Musicjo.com is a music discovery website. We recommend the best tracks and music albums. Musicjo primarily focuses on Hip Hop/Rap.
You forgot to include https://raptology.com/ in the list.