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1. We get sent over 300 demos each month, 12 months a year. That makes 3,600 demos a year, from all over the world, in all sorts of beautiful/sparkly/ugly packages, some with contact details, some without (always a good idea to try and include a web url or at least an email address).
2. As well as demos, we get sent over 400 records a month from PR companies, record labels, management companies and booking agents.
i) That makes over 700-ish records a month. Of that 700 we probably review in the realm of 200-400, either as record reviews or live reviews. It also helps us keep an eye on bands we think have potential but aren’t quite ready to be exposed to the world yet (early exposure can be the death of some bands, you only really get one chance with some people!)
ii) You’d be lucky if you get more than 50 bands reviewed in national UK music magazines each month.
iii) If we reviewed every demo there would be little to no quality control and buggerall people would read our site.
3. With the greatest will in the world, we can not physically review every single CD we are sent. Let alone give your 'art' the time and recognition it deserves. We do NOT (I repeat, NOT!) have an office full of people sat ready to listen to every record that comes in and put them in a neat filing system.
4. 'You can't please all the people all the time...'.
5. I, the editor of DiS, don't like about 95% of music in the world. There's 5% of magic out there that I love (that’s why this site was started!), that keeps me going; that touches me; that makes me shake my ass, cry, scream; that defines me.
6. There are over 50 people regularly contributing to Drowned in Sound, all with different tastes and the freedom to write about what they want to write about. Each member of staff has a profile, a list of which can be found on The Staff Contact Page
7. Drowned in Sound is run by volunteers who love music, who don't take kindly to being called ****s or ****s or any other four letter words, plus it doesn’t really help your cause.
8. If your band has a demo, and you've sent it to our main address, please also bear in mind we can not afford to post over 200 demos a month (at 30 pence per cd) to our 50 plus writers, let alone work out which of our writers, dotted all over the UK, likes which record – that would be a full-time job for at least 3 people!
9. We do TRY to listen to everything that comes in, which can be one of the most soul-destroying experiences known to humankind, but for every mountain of records there’s something special and that’s why we do this, to find those special acts.
10. What I suggest, is that you send things to the main address, but please, if you REALLY want it reviewed (enough to go around swearing and trying to ruin us on messageboards), perhaps consider taking another few minutes to check what writers are writing about what (simply search DiS for bands you vaguely resemble or scan down the staff contacts page). All the writers on DiS have email addresses, drop them an email and ask for their addresses, target them properly, you'll not only get a better result, but maybe some extra folk at your next gig, someone to champion your band to the world, a Drowned in Sound gig, maybe even a record deal..
Finally, I’d just like to remind you all, we're not the bad guys. We do at least take the time to listen to and write about new bands, and we are trying to do everything we possibly can do to help, so please, quit the hating…
