For the readers

The Muse in Music is an independently-owned music webzine created in January 2009.  Owners are Patrick and Fred, from Dallas, Texas. Content includes work by Melissa, Desiree, Tobias, Sally, Nastia and Amber.

You’ll find no holding companies here, or corporate affiliations.  No distribution agreements or shady benefactors.  Yes, we advertise, and we might even turn a profit one day.  In 10-12 years.  We write about music we like: straight-up indie, marquee alt-rock, folk, the heavy stuff, the noisy stuff, post-rock, modern classical, some electronica.  If you’re looking for up-to-date news on Radiohead, Arcade Fire, or Beirut, we’re doing our best.  If you’re looking for regular Tuesday reviews, Thursday interviews, or Monday concert write-ups, probably not.  But if you’re looking to hear from three music zealots who tend to play things by ear, please pull up a seat.  You’re in exactly the right place.  (By the way, are we missing someone?  If so, drop us a line at submissions@themuseinmusic.com and let us know.)

For the bands

Yes, to answer the question you’re poised to ask, please write us directly.  And stop apologizing.  Sure, we get a tsunami of email every day.  But if we’re not writing about you, it’s possibly because we’ve never heard of you.  So tell us.  We only ask that you read the above paragraph, or listen to our playlist, or get to know our writers’ tastes first.  (All introductory emails should go to submissions@themuseinmusic.com.  If we like it, one of us will contact you, or you might just see a blast on our front page one day.)  If you don’t believe that you are a fit for our website, feel free to send us a note anyway, just to chat, or to knock ideas around.  But please do not be offended if we decline your invitation for an album download.  Or an interview.  Or a concert review.  Or a promotional giveaway.  Or coffee.  Security!

We recommend that all artists maintain sites on each of the following social media.  It probably sounds like a lot of duplicated effort, but trust us: each one has their own private army of tireless users, and each boasts slightly different functions from the next:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Myspace
• Soundcloud
• Bandcamp
• A tour blog

Also, please include a press kit with all album submissions.  If you don’t have one, write one: the official liner notes, public-domain images of the band (one portrait, one landscape), some links to old reviews and interviews.  If your John Grant is a different John Grant than the John Grant we know from that other band, let us know.  If he’s the same John Grant, by all means.  If John Grant switches instruments with John Johnson for the last track on the album, let us in on it.  Please also let us know what tracks we may host for streaming, and which we may host for download.  (Does it go without saying that our writers prefer fully downloadable copies of the album?)

For the PR firms

Please read the above in full, and listen to some of our featured bands before submitting artists for review. Please send links to streaming copies. If we would like to take things to first base (i.e. downloads), we’ll let you know. In the absence of a returned email, please solicit only once. Thank you!