Solid Muse: Fearless Album

Submissions and Release Info for Artists

We are excited to announce that our second album Fearless is now open for submissions and is set to be released on Saturday, March 14th, 2020! We are looking for exciting, forward-thinking sounds, particularly electronic tracks, as well as pop, hip hop, rock and a variety of other styles to include on it. All submissions must be original and unreleased. The album will be launched with a live stream on YouTube and sales proceeds will be divided evenly between Solid Muse and all contributing artists. Our promo strategy for the album can be found in our FAQ below. We encourage artists to write music relating to the theme "Fearless", which to us means not the absence of fear, but the conquering of it.

Submissions are due by February 3rd 2020 and must be original and not yet released publicly.

Submit music »

Submissions

Submission requirements:

New and unreleased – submitted tracks can only be released publicly after the album goes live, however you can share works in progress privately before then.
Tracks must be less than 10 minutes in length, ideally around 3-5 minutes.
Tracks must be original and you must have full authority to submit the track. We are not accepting remixes, mashups or covers.
No explicit or offensive language is permitted.
Only one track per artist will be accepted with the exception of collaborations.
We must be able to use the audio of submitted tracks on SoundCloud, YouTube and social media for promotional purposes for the album and our label. Artists retain all rights to their respective submitted tracks, including the option to sell separately and to release on other labels and platforms after the album goes live.
Please don't brickwall your track during mastering. A squashed flat track is not good. We will be volume-leveling each track and if yours is too loud it will be brought down.

Submissions are due by February 3rd 2020, but please submit earlier if possible so we can discuss revisions if needed. We hope not to extend this date, but if we feel it would be beneficial for the album, then we will only do so with the unanimous agreement of the artists that have submitted already. At most, forty tracks will be accepted to be included on the album.

By submitting music for inclusion on our album you are confirming that your track is original, you have permission from all relevant parties, you have legally licensed any samples used and you indemnify Solid Muse from any legal costs, settlements or awards payable for any copyright infringement or other legal claims arising from your music. If you are under the age of 18, you confirm that your parents or legal guardian have reviewed and agreed to the terms of this album. You are not permitted to submit music otherwise.

You are welcome to contact us at any time with questions or to get private feedback before submitting. Our email is: info@solidmusemusic.com. You can also chat with us and other artists via our Discord.

Please get in touch if you intend to submit a track so that we can keep you up to date with the details of the album. You can also join our mailing list via our website.

Album Artwork

We have commissioned artwork for the album from the talented Mile Mićić. The high resolution artwork is available here for use in promotional materials. If you would like to use our logo you can download it in SVG and PNG.

Pre-Release

Once we've reached the submissions deadline and we've finalised the track list, we will notify all artists regarding their submissions. A preview mix of the album will be uploaded to our SoundCloud and YouTube. Fans will be able to pre-order the album on Bandcamp and pre-save on Spotify and Apple Music in the lead up to the full release.

Release

There will be a live stream release event with a live chat on our YouTube channel to launch the album. The link to the livestream will be available on our YouTube homepage and will be posted on our blog and social media. The event will air at 10 AM UTC on the 14th of March and will premiere all of the album tracks from start to finish. After the live stream ends, the album will be available for purchase/streaming and artists will be welcome to make their tracks public.

You can Google search "10 AM UTC to [your city]" to see the time that it will air for you. Please take note of the day difference if any too.

Artists will be asked to optionally provide a radio bumper beforehand to introduce their track as a fun way to connect with the audience during the stream. For example: "This is (artist name) and you are listening to my song (song name) on Solid Muse: Fearless." You can include sound effects, shout-outs and humour. Keep it short – ideally less than 30 seconds.

Artists are highly encouraged to support the album by promoting it on social media and making it the primary purchase link for their track.

The album will be priced at standard album prices across traditional digital stores such as iTunes and Spotify. However, we want to encourage fans to support artists and Solid Muse by purchasing the album through Bandcamp which has a pay-what-you-want model. The minimum amount for the album on Bandcamp will be set at $7 USD, with tracks set at $1 USD.

Payment

Album sales revenue will be divided evenly between Solid Muse and all contributing artists who have opted-in to receiving a share. The contact who submits a track is responsible for further dividing payment between any relevant parties for the track.

We will not enact YouTube Content ID monetization for submitted tracks. This and other types of royalty collection (publishing royalties) are up to artists to collect. Please ensure any such measures whitelist Solid Muse so we are able to upload your track on SoundCloud, YouTube and social media.

The first album sales payment will be made to artists in July 2020 and a second payment will be made in March 2021, one year after release. Sales after this point will go to Solid Muse unless there is a significant resurgence, in which case further payments may be made to artists at our discretion. We are happy to share sales figures with artists upon request.

Payments will be made via PayPal or directly to Australian bank accounts. We will not make payments via other methods unless agreed in writing otherwise. It is your responsibility to ensure your account is active and that we can get in touch with you to send you your share. If we cannot reach you or send you your share three months after the final payment date, your share will be forfeited.

FAQ

How do I send my track?

Using our submissions form linked above you will need to send us a download link to a mastered WAV file (or other uncompressed file) for your track. We cannot accept MP3 files - MP3 is not high enough quality for distribution. You should not convert MP3 files back to WAV – no quality will be returned to the file. WAV files are too large to send via email. You will need to upload your WAV file to a file sharing site such as Google Drive or Dropbox, or you can upload it as a private track on SoundCloud with downloads enabled. Copy and paste the share link for the file/track into our form. We will then be able to download it at our end. If you worked with a producer or mastering engineer they should be able to provide you with this file or a link to it. If you need help with any of this, please let us know!

Where are the legal details? Is there a contract document to sign?

There is no separate legal contract to sign in order to take part in this album. The terms described in this document constitute our agreement with artists. We expect everyone that contributes to be mindful of copyright laws and any contractual obligations they may have, and to follow all relevant laws. Please be professional and treat everyone with respect so we can make this album the best it can be for everyone involved. A PDF version of this document will be emailed to accepted artists when the album is finalised.

What is your promo strategy for the album?

In liaison with artists, we will be pitching each track from the album to music blogs, channels and Spotify official & curator playlists. We will also be sharing a teaser mix in the lead up to the release and hosting a YouTube live stream playthrough of the album on the day of the release. We will be choosing a track or two to upload on SoundCloud in advance of the album in order to get some blog exposure. This promotion will include a link to a pre-order page with: links to pre-save on Spotify/Apple Music/Bandcamp, the teaser mix, a live stream countdown and a corresponding Facebook event for fans to join. We will be posting a lot on our social media about the album before and after its release and will be providing links and material for all the artists to share the album as easily as possible.

What genre or styles will the album be? Can I hear other accepted tracks first?

We want to hear exciting, forward-thinking sounds, particularly electronic tracks, as well as pop, hip hop, rock and a variety of other styles. We'd love to close out the album with a cinematic score! We'll be trying our best to make sure that everything on the album is high quality and cohesive whilst still allowing for this variety. Unfortunately however, genres that are not commonly accessible such as noise and speedcore are unlikely to be accepted. We also won't likely accept tracks that are depressive, spaced out, left-field, background-like, repetitive, outdated-sounding or based on bought beats/instrumentals unless they are exclusive.

We are happy to share details of artists we've been in touch with, provide album progress updates and answer any questions via email and Discord chat. If you change your mind and decide during the pre-release period that you do not wish to be a part of the album after all, we can remove your track. This option will not be available after release.

As for theme, we encourage artists to submit tracks that have a lyrical or musical connection to the title "Fearless", but this is not a requirement.

Can I submit remixes and covers?

We will not accept remixes, covers, mashups or tracks with samples of existing songs or other copyright material (e.g. TV shows). Do not use samples obtained from sites that do not guarantee the usage license (e.g. anonymous upload sample sites) or samples that impose restrictions (e.g. credit). Submitted tracks must be original.

We look forward to hearing all your submissions and are excited for the album's release!

Kind regards,
Matt Larsen, Solid Muse founder.

Questions?

Send us an email at info@solidmusemusic.com or join our Discord chat.