How to Write a Music Submission Email That Actually Gets a Reply
The anatomy of a pitch that gets opened, read and answered — subject lines, the seven-line body, what to attach, when to send, how to follow up, and the eleven mistakes that get artists deleted.
Radio programmers, blog editors and podcast hosts receive between 50 and 500 submissions a week. They decide in under four seconds whether to open your email, and in under twenty whether to press play. Everything below is optimised for those two windows.
The subject line formula
[Format tag] — [Artist] "[Title]" ([genre], [runtime], [clean/explicit]) Examples that work: • Local Licks submission — Havenfall "Cold Static" (post-hardcore, 3:12, clean) • New SA release for Drive Time — Thandi Mokoena "Emhlabeni" (Afro-soul, 3:40, clean) • Premiere offer — Lunar Coast "Neon Harbour" (dream pop, exclusive until 14 Aug) Avoid: 'Check out my new song!!', 'Submission', 'Hi', anything in ALL CAPS, and emoji.
The seven-line body
1. Their name, spelled correctly. 2. Who you are and where you're from, in one line. 3. What the release is: title, genre, one production credit. 4. Why it fits THIS outlet — one specific, verifiable reason. 5. The links block: stream, broadcast-quality download, ISRC, runtime, clean status. 6. One line of proof: a previous placement, a venue, a number that means something. 7. A single offer: station ID, interview, exclusive, guest mix. That's it. Under 150 words. If you need more space, you need a better angle, not a longer email.
Links, not attachments
Never attach audio. Use a direct download link that requires no login and no permission request — this is the single most common reason a pitch dies. Test the link in a private browser window before sending. If your host shows an interstitial ad or a countdown, change hosts.
The 'why you' line is the whole email
'I love your blog' is not a reason. 'You premiered [artist] in March and we've toured with them twice' is. 'Your Thursday night show plays a lot of Afro-house and we're from the same neighbourhood as [artist you played]' is. Spend ninety seconds researching each outlet and your reply rate roughly triples.
Timing
Send Tuesday to Thursday, 09:00–11:00 in the recipient's timezone. Avoid Mondays, Friday afternoons, public holidays and the week of a major festival in their market. Pitch four to six weeks before release if you want a premiere, or on release week if you want rotation.
Follow up exactly once
Ten to fourteen days later, reply in the same thread: 'Hi [Name], just floating this back up in case it got buried — happy to send anything else you need.' No second follow-up, ever. Silence is an answer, and a graceful exit keeps the door open for your next release.
Eleven mistakes that get you deleted
1. BCC'ing 200 outlets. 2. 'Dear Sir/Madam'. 3. The wrong outlet's name (copy-paste death). 4. No clean edit. 5. A SoundCloud private link that expires. 6. A 900-word biography. 7. Asking for feedback instead of a placement. 8. Sending three emails in one week. 9. No contact phone number. 10. Explicit lyrics with no warning. 11. Arguing with a rejection.
Track everything
Keep a simple sheet: outlet, contact, date sent, follow-up date, outcome. Save every outlet that replies — even a no — into a VIP collection. Your second campaign should start with the people who answered your first one, and it will convert at three to five times the rate of a cold list.