Submit an Artist on the Verge Article

The Artist on the Verge Project has been a lightning rod for breaking artists and launched many careers before they were signed.

Maren Morris and Grace Weber both have won the coveted Artist on the Verge Reflection Award during the NMS Conference and Festival in 2012 and 2015 respectively. Some other notable artists who have made our Annual Top 100 lists before they broke were: Banks, City of the Sun, Dorothy, Fictionist, Fitz and the Tantrums, Great Good Fine OK, Hippo Campus, Joey Bada$$, Kevin Garrett, Magic Giant, Meg Myers, Mike Del Rio, MNDR, Moon Taxi, Old Dominion, Perfect Pussy, Savoir Adore, VÉRITÉ, and Zella Day to name a few.

At NMS, we believe that deserving artists should be given the best opportunity to rise above the noise and be recognized. Therefore, we have developed a curation program by people in music, for people everywhere. 

For consideration to submit a piece on an emerging artist, please read below.

What We’re Looking for:

  • Written Pieces or Video Segments from Musicians and People about the hottest new artists in any genre.
  • Artists that will excite our readers, media, and the right industry people.
  • Length: Typically 300 to 600 words.
  • Non-review style writing. This should be informal and in your own words – let the world know why this artist is relevant and people should pay attention to them.
  • Positive Career momentum – Social media engagement and activity on other music and fan sites
  • We look for exciting artists breaking the mold, and have quality and uniqueness in their image and sound.
  • We take into consideration production quality of their music, videos, and live performances

Artist Submission Criteria:

  • Never been signed to a Major or major Independent label. (e.g., if they’ve been signed to labels like Beggars, Glassnote, Concord, et al. they are already further in their career than what we’re looking to showcase)
  • Does not have a major distribution deal. (e.g., We called it for Macklemore before he got his ADA deal, if he had been unsigned to a label and that deal was in place, he would not have made our list)
  • Artists that aren’t just on your roster/publication. You are representing yourself as a music discovery leader, not just a promoter of your roster.

Editing

  • We won’t tell you what to write, but we may suggest a re-write or clarification of something if it will help strengthen your piece.
  • NMS will approve artwork or replace when necessary.

To improve the likelihood that your submission will be published:

  • Don’t write a review.
  • Explain to the world why this artist is great (think of how you explain to your friends over dinner/drinks)
  • Keep it simple and concise.
  • Provide supporting information, whether with qualitative and quantitative analysis,
  • Write for a general audience, avoid ‘insider-speak’. Don’t assume the audience will not always know every acronym or internal-office language.
  • Write in your own voice. You don’t need to be a Pulitzer prize writer. Your personality is what helps your point sound better.

Process

  • Submit an artist for consideration here.
  • In the form, you can present 1-3 artists. A very short description (1-2 sentences) will suffice.
  • We review internally and if one is chosen, we will contact you.
  • You will have 2 weeks to complete the article.
  • Depending on our publishing calendar your piece will be published within 1-3 weeks.

Waiver / Disclosure

  • If accepted, you will be asked to sign a waiver which gives us the right to publish and laying out some of your responsibilities.
  • You must disclose anything that might be seen as a conflict of interest, financial or otherwise. e.g., Are you invested in a company or artist you’re writing about? Can you benefit from a company or person that you are writing about? We simply need to disclose that relationship to the readers.

No article is guaranteed publication / What we will not publish

  • Advertorials that promote your company or service, or solely promote your artists.
  • Inflammatory articles.
  • Plagiarised articles or articles you have previously published. The content you write should be original to New Music Seminar.

Disclaimer

  • The views and opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of New Music Seminar, and/or its owners, staff, partners, or sponsors.

View all Artist on the Verge pieces here.