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.

Matt O @boardinogilvie - Founder of Upcoming Hip Hop - upcominghiphop.net
Nora Hassan @Nora_TheCOM - Founder of College of Music - college-of-music.com
Cus Maven @CusMaven - Founder of The Rapfest - therapfest.com
Tim Weber @GMADTWebb - Founder of Good Music All Day - gmad.us

What's you biggest pet peeve when artists submit music?

Matt O: When artists don't follow directions on the submit page. It is also very annoying when artists send their music to our other emails that aren't for music.

Nora H: When artists accidentally send the wrong title like "Dear blog A" but sending it to blog B; very irritating and laughable. A second one would be automated messages that just have a bunch of words and pictures, like made by an agency, you would think it looks better but truthfully it doesn't.

Cus M: Music submitted with a just a link and no info about the release or the artist. More importantly a nonesense paragraph or extensive essay about the artist.

Tim W: A) Sending an entire project and expecting everyone to have time to listen to every song. B) Addressing the email to a different website. C) Writing 5 or 6 paragraphs.

When is the best time to send new music?

Matt O: The second after you release it unless you are looking to get a premiere or feature.

Nora H: That would be a toss up for me. It could benefit to go earlier, especially if you want the website to premiere it but if you are releasing it late at night I would suggest sending it before because the website might not see it until the next day.

Cus M: There's no best time, just send it since it's an email and people will get back to you when they get around it.

Tim W: Before it comes out ... follow up the day after the release

What is your preferred method for artists to submit music?

Matt O: Our preferred method is our submit form upcominghiphop.net/submit. Anytime we get music tweeted to us or private messaged on Facebook or Soundcloud, we always send everyone to our submit page.

Nora H: Through the specified email, I absolutely hate getting Facebook messages from artists or their managers, I only do it with artists that I have a long working relationship with. If a website has a way to submit music, please stick to that way. No need to do the struggle rapper thing and tweet the website every week, we check our emails.

Cus M: Email music link with blurb and cover art.

Tim W: To go through out submission system because we actually listen to all of those.

What makes an artist's music stand out from others?

Matt O: We always look for originality, overall style & flow, potential, and quality of sound.

Nora H: An original style. Don't try to copy another artists style completely, obviously everyone takes a bit from everyone's style that they listen to, it's common. Happens in all sports, basketball, soccer, football, Lebron has a piece of Jordan, Kobe, Bird, Stockton's games all put together. I just ask that artist are original and don't remix a song just because it's popular. We don't need 50 "No Flex Zone" remixes we need original new working art.

Cus M: Quality music always wins along with a professionally shot video (not necessarily big budget).

Tim W: You have 30 seconds to wow most people before they move on, make the first 30 seconds so that you HAVE to listen to the rest of the song.

3 DOs When Submitting Music to Blogs

1. Be professional. It goes a long way.
2. Be authentic. Add personality to your pitch.
3. Have a plan. Submit music then follow up via Twitter.
4. Bonus: Follow directions. Your submission won't be seen if you don't.

3 DON'Ts When Submitting Music to Blogs

1. Don't spam. Approach each blog individually, we can tell when you don't.
2. Don't overwrite. Keep it short, descriptive, and to the point.
3. Don't ask. Just email us your music and we will decide.
4. Bonus: Don't wait to submit. Email them now!

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