Submissions & Editorial Policy

Playin’ in a Traveling Band

I’ve spent a fair amount of ink on this Substack arguing that transmission — music passing from person to person, hand to hand, mixtape to mixtape — is the thing that actually keeps music alive. That the obsessive, the outliers, the ones willing to drive a hundred miles or stand in line at dawn, are the real engine of discovery, not an algorithm. I believe that. Which means I can’t just write about transmission from the receiving end. I have to be a node in the line myself, in both directions.

So: if you’re an artist and you want me to hear what you’re making, here’s how that works, and what you can expect from me in return.

What I’m listening for

The door is open to anything. I don’t think genre is a gate — I think the work either moves me or it doesn’t, and I’d rather let the music decide than rule something out before I’ve heard it.

That said, I want to be honest about where my ear lives. My deepest background and sharpest instincts run through indie, alt, punk, Americana, and roots country. If you’re working in that territory, I likely have more context to bring to your work. If you’re not, I’ll still listen with an open mind — I just want you to know going in where my critical strengths actually are, rather than assume an expertise I don’t have.

What you’ll get back

Every complete submission gets a response from me. Not a form letter, not silence — an actual answer. If your music isn’t my jam, you’ll hear that plainly, but you will never hear it cruelly. I know what it costs to put your work in front of a stranger, and I won’t treat that lightly even when the answer is no.

I won’t promise a turnaround time. I’m running this Substack alongside a full publishing calendar and a day job that occasionally pulls me into wildland fire deployments for weeks at a stretch. What I can promise is that I will get to it, and that you won’t be left wondering whether your submission vanished into the void.

If I do decide to cover your work, the conversation doesn’t end at “yes.” You came to me directly, which is a different relationship than the artists I seek out and pitch myself — and I want to treat it that way. Expect an actual back-and-forth, not a press-release exchange.

What a submission needs to include

To be considered, a submission needs to come from the artist directly — not a PR firm, not a label blast, not a mass mailer. I want to hear from the person who made the thing.

Beyond that, a complete submission includes:

• A way to actually hear the music — a streaming link, a download, something I can press play on. A pitch without the music attached isn’t a submission.

• Album or release artwork, and a band/artist photo.

• Links to your social and streaming profiles.

This is a hard requirement, not a suggestion. I don’t have the bandwidth to chase down assets for music I know nothing about yet, and an incomplete submission won’t get a full review. This isn’t a judgment on the music — it’s simply where I have to draw a line to keep this sustainable.

How to get your work to me

Email me, benjamin@travelingbandmusic.com or if you prefer to send me a physical format - an extra effort I always appreciate (I’m a massive vinyl nerd, do with that what you will) and allows me to potentially do more with your stuff - send me an email requesting a physical address.

If you use what I write

If anything I write ends up useful to you — a pull quote for an EPK, a line for your own promo, whatever — you’re welcome to it. All I ask is that it carries the following credit:

Benjamin, Playin’ in a Traveling Band (travelingbandmusic.com)