In partnership with

Replace your first 4 hires with AI. Free workshop on April 8th.

Most early-stage founders can't afford their first four hires. Sales, marketing, dev, and support alone can run hundreds of thousands in salaries.

On April 8th, AI thought leader Heather Murray shows pre-seed and seed founders how to build all four functions using AI tools. Live, with demos, for free.

Register today and get a free AI tech stack worth $5K+ including Claude, AWS credits, Make, and 90% off HubSpot.

Save my free seat

How to Write a Pitch That Actually Gets Your Music Heard

"A great song is the greatest marketing tool" — yes, everyone knows this. The under-discussed part is that a great song still needs to get in front of people, and getting it there means convincing gatekeepers to hit play in the first place. Whether you're pitching bloggers, playlist curators, or a director you want on your team, the pitch is what opens the door. Here's how to write one that works.

The Two Angles

Every pitch runs through one of two approaches: excitement or curiosity. If you've never done this before, explore both. One might not be landing, and switching to the other can change your results. Knowing which one works for you also forces you to get clearer about who you are as an artist.

Getting Someone Excited

Excitement is the stronger play. Even if your music isn't exactly what the gatekeeper is looking for, a pitch that sounds exciting makes them not want to miss out. They'll give it a shot just to make sure they're not sleeping on something.

Before writing a single word, figure out what is actually exciting about you. This is where most pitches fall apart — not because the music is bad, but because the artist hasn't done this work. Artist development isn't just making a good music video or hiring a good mixer. It's figuring out how to describe what makes you the optimal version of yourself in a way that gets other people hyped. Every time you go after an opportunity — a tour slot, a collab, an awards show — this is the thing that separates you from the other artists in the running.

Ask yourself: “If someone told me this about an artist, would I hit play?”

Some angles that actually work:

• "If you thought EsDeeKid and Ken Carson were getting people riled up, you haven't heard what we're doing."

• "Incel Hypebeast has written 7 songs with 7 different artists, all of which have over a million streams."

• "There are countless tweets from people saying this song makes them want to burn something down."

Collaboration and social proof work too. "Collabed with Incel Hypebeast and Dog Piss with over 15 million streams combined" lands differently than vague name-dropping because if the gatekeeper knows those artists, the credibility transfers.

Enjoying this? Forward it to a music friend you’d like to be closer to and start a discussion!

What Excitement Is Not

Two traps artists fall into constantly:

1. Listing member names. Unless you were in a recognizable band before this or you're a public figure, nobody outside your hometown cares that Jim Gallucci and Perry Rosebaum have come together. Describe your sound, your approach, or what makes you different from the 60,000 artists uploading music every day.

2. Leaning on clichés. "Writing songs from the heart" or "old school vibes" are not exciting. They're filler. You can do better.

Creating Curiosity

The curiosity angle works by making the reader think, "I have to hear what that sounds like." A well-written curiosity pitch puts an image in someone's head that their brain can't let go of until they click.

Some examples of this done well:

• "If Periphery had the pop vocal choruses of Taylor Swift."

• "You know the first time you heard 100 Gecs and wondered how anyone could combine those sounds? Incel Hypebeast takes that ethos one step further."

• "You've heard math rock's complex rhythms. “Ayahuasca Edgebreak” goes the opposite direction: the most minimal songs imaginable that still keep listeners hooked."

The limitation here is that curiosity only works if the person you're pitching actually cares about what you're describing. If they have zero interest in what The Cure and ska crossover would sound like, the curiosity gap never opens. That's why excitement tends to be the more reliable play, it works even when the music isn't their taste.

Just being a cross between two well-known artists doesn't automatically create curiosity either. "Bob Dylan meets John Mayer" makes no one wonder anything; that lane is overcrowded, and the image it creates is immediately familiar. The goal is to make someone think, "I HAVE to click this, it's going to sound insane." If you genuinely can't get past obvious comparisons and you're getting no listens, that's worth sitting with. It might mean the music needs more development before the pitch will ever work.

Tighten the Pitch Before You Send It

Once you've landed on your angle, write it five different ways.

This isn't busywork. This is the thing that can actually change the direction of your career, so it's worth getting as tight and precise as possible. Phrase it differently each time, cut it down, try angles within the angle. Then show it to someone with a command of language — a trusted person on your team or someone close to you who will be honest. Pitches can sound clear in your head and read incoherent to everyone else.

Pitching Team Members and Playlist Curators

For potential team members, keep it under two paragraphs. The first paragraph is your exciting pitch plus your strongest metric — monthly listeners, notable collabs, something concrete that signals momentum. Business-minded people respond to data. Close with a clear ask. If you want a director to shoot your next video, say that directly.

The same structure applies to Spotify user playlists and influencer pitches: introduce yourself with the pitch, drop your best metric, make the ask, link your socials and music, and leave your contact info. That's the whole formula. Don't overthink it.

Spotify editorial pitches are a deeper subject covered separately — the short version is that it's its own process worth dedicating real time to.

Follow Up

Follow-up is where pitches actually land. Emails go to junk. Assistants misfiled things. The urgency didn't come through. A well-timed follow-up solves all of that, and for a lot of gatekeepers, the willingness to follow up reads as a signal that you're not going to be a passive artist to work with.

The sweet spot is 3 to 5 business days out. Avoid Fridays when people are sprinting to close their week, and avoid Mondays when inboxes are at their worst. Mid-week follow-ups land better.

One more thing worth keeping in mind: you'll pitch many of these people more than once. If the excitement pitch didn't land, tighten it or switch to curiosity next time. Pitching isn't a single shot; it's an ongoing part of building relationships until you have a real connection with someone and they're actually in your corner.