Review/Interview Checklist
Thanks for your interest in doing a review/interview!
Please email me at diykingston@gmail.com with the following info:
- A private streaming link or (a) file(s) of your album/EP/single. Accepting original music–no covers please. If you don’t have private streaming link yet, you can make one with SoundCloud or Bandcamp.
- Which of the following are you interested in?
- Music review (album/EP/single/music video?)
- Interview (showcasing a music release or upcoming Hudson Valley show, or both?)
- Music review-interview hybrid
- Please provide the cover art for the album/EP/single and 3+ high quality photos from live performances or promo shoots, as well as the artist(s) and/or photographer(s) I should credit and their website or Instagram, so that I can sprinkle the images throughout the article.
- Send your social and streaming links. If you have a Linktree, that’s easy–I can just pull from that. I do encourage everyone to utilize Bandcamp because it’s the most supportive platform for artists financially speaking. I can embed a Bandcamp web player at the end of the article to hopefully get you some sales.
- Send song lyrics (optional but helpful) for your album/EP/single. I like to dig into the lyrics as well as the sonic aspects of the music in my analyses, so I just want to make sure I’m not mishearing or misinterpreting anything.
- List any Hudson Valley shows you have coming up this year and include ticket link(s) if applicable. If there isn’t a ticket link, indicate whether there will be tickets at the door or if it’s a free show. Drop your BandsInTown or SongKick links in the email.
- Review the first draft. Once I finish writing the initial draft, I’ll email it over to you so you can let me know if you want any changes to be made.
- Please send payment via Venmo to @James-Kwapisz or via Zelle (jameskwapisz@gmail.com) after you approve the draft. The suggested price is $30-50. For reference, it usually takes me around 3-5+ hours collectively to compile images and links, listen to the music several times, write a comprehensive review or engaging interview questions, and then edit and format everything. So whatever amount you pay will help me gauge how brief or in-depth the review or interview should be. (Put a random emoji in the payment description–keep it vague.)
- Accept the invite to be a collaborator on Instagram. After you’ve approved the review/interview, I’ll post it to the website, as well as Instagram. Collaborative posts tend to get more reach than when just one account posts, so let’s work together. Share it to your story, add the article link to your Linktree or website, and let’s spread the word about your music release or upcoming show far and wide!