Hello fellow metalheads,

So after months and months of working on my side project, I finally have all the songs recorded. Now, since this is my first recordings with this project, it doesn't yet have a page on here. I want to be able to release in digitally, maybe on bandcamp or something, however the rules here state that I can't submit a band if it doesn't have a physical release of the album? If I burn the songs to a CD and distribute it while promoting it online, does this count or does it have to be a super legitimate fancy release?

thank you, and hails. \m/

You might want to re-read those rules, we have been accepting digital albums since 2013 iirc.
But basically for the project to be accept d via digitally it has to be not shittily mixed/mastered, or "raw" to speak euphemistically and it has to be long enough. The rules state 30 minutes iirc, but most of the mods will accept demos of 20 minutes in length. Depending on mixing and mastering, of course.

Thanks, however you can argue that my demo is not that well-mixed as I did it myself, not being a professional mixer or anything. But I took a lot of time to mix it and make it sound as good as I can, plus it's a black metal project so the recording quality isn't supposed to be good anyway. Are you sure about the time too? I didn't know demos should have that many songs or long songs to equal 20-30 mins.

Artwork is needed too.

Actually, the rule about length for digital releases is correct. Ideally 30 minutes, but over 20 can be acceptable.

Wouldn't it be good to make some sort of specification to improve the "ruleness" of the rule? For example if the release is 90-100%, or something, clear as a metal release, then 20 minutes is acceptable. But for releases which metal factor is enough to pass the rule about being predominantly metal, but not with much of a margin, then it would take 30 minutes. And maybe have something about the above mentioned production criteria thrown in as well.

The thing with most/some mods accepting one length and others not is bound to cause frustration. I know I've refrained from submitting bands due to their digital release being over 20 minutes but under 30, since other submissions have been rejected with that as the one and only explanation and therefore it would seem like a somewhat probable waste of time to try to submit other bands that may or may not be rejected for the same reason. Especially for people who take time adding stuff like members, links, credits, lyrics, etc.

It's not about the metalness of the release, this would be silly as a 14 minutes death/grindcore EP is as metal as a 50 minutes digital doom album, it's about the professionalism of the release (production, artwork, distribution...). Sure, we could be clearer about this sort of release but in the end, it's a case by case thing. The decision about a certain submission can always be reviewed again anyway.

What I meant was that sometimes there are bands on the borderline of metal. So that a 14 minute release of a death/grindcore band that's a clear case of metal should be accepted but not a 25 minute doom release that much more borderline between metal and rock than a clear case of metal.

Anyway, I don't know how the moderator's realm of the site looks like. But since it's clear that there are problems with this type of rule you should have like a poll for all moderators to vote on whether the "production, artwork, distribution..." is acceptable. If not, it gets rejected and may only be reviewed another time if the band adds something new regarding duration, production, artwork, distribution...


Doesn't this imply that when the short duration of a release is the one and only given reason for a rejection, then theuser who submitted it should feel free to re-submit it without anything new added? If so, it's an unfortunate use of the word "rule".

Is there a certain amount of time that should pass before an identical re-submission is done? Or should people add notes saying "please let someone else than [moderator who rejected it] review it"?

I thought of this now as a band I submitted last year, which got rejected for its release being too short (18 minutes something, which I believe was when the rule said 20 minutes), just got added to the site now that the rule says 30 minutes, with the same release as their only one. And no change in artwork, production or distribution.

Like I've said in another discussion, my concern with things like this is peoples waste of time. Since duration-based rejects don't get blacklisted, it's likely that several users will spend time re-searching and compiling info of the one and same band. And if nothing new of significance is added, then moderators will be spending time reviewing significantly or even literally the same submission several times.