What Music Journalists Look For in a Story

Understanding how editors choose what to publish helps you pitch smarter. Most look for a combination of these factors.

Relevance to their readers

A site's audience comes first. Match your genre, region or theme to what the outlet already covers.

Timeliness

A new release, announcement, tour or anniversary gives a reason to publish now instead of later.

A clear angle

"New single out now" is a fact, not a story. "Written in one night after moving cities" is an angle a writer can build a piece around.

Ease of publishing

Working links, good photos, a clean bio and a quote all reduce the editor's workload. The easier you make it, the more likely they are to run it.