Submissions

It occurs to me that I haven't actually mentioned for a while how you can send me music for review or whatever, so this is just a wee quickie to say the best ways to do it, and what to avoid.
it is hardly a complicated process, so don't be put off by the things below, it is just intended to give you an idea of the best way to stand out in a crowded inbox, or at least avoid going straight in the bin.

Things to do:

The best thing to do is send me an email. If you are only sending a couple of songs go ahead and attach them, if there's more than that then upload them somewhere and email over a download link. There's loads of places you can upload a zip file to without much hassle, personally I like Dropbox, but others are fine too. Please don't attach a zip file to your email though, Gmail eats attached zips. I'll never get it, you'll think I just ignored it.

An alternative is Soundcloud, you can upload tracks to my dropbox there.

If you don't want to give me a download for free (which is of course fair enough) then send me somewhere I can stream the songs easily. Again, Soundcloud is good for this, but even better is Bandcamp, where you can try and sell me something too.

CDs. You can offer to send me a CD, but I usually prefer to hear what is on it first. This reduces the chances of you wasting time and money on sending me a CD I don't like, which just lays in a pile somewhere in my house. If you still want to send me a physical copy go ahead and ask for my address.

If you are sending me something for review it is handy, though not essential, to include a wee bit about yourself or your band. A quick bio, any useful links, that kind of thing. Oh, and do try and include details on the release, most importantly the release date and where it will be available from, what format, etc. Don't leave me guessing, I'll just get it wrong, or not get round to checking! MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, all that kind of thing are handy too.

Things not to do:

Be a dick. That should go without saying, but every now and then someone gets the bright idea that I'll pay more attention if they act like an arsehole to me. I won't.

Show a complete lack of research. Half the stuff that clogs up my inbox comes from American PR firms that have missed the point. Others start off with something along the lines of "Hi Ayetunes". Aye Tunes isn't my name, Jim is. It says so on every post. You might be sending the same form email to every blogger around, but at least do a little checking on things like that first.

Send me straight to MySpace. I really don't like using MySpace, if that is the only option I have for listening to tracks from the EP you want me to review I more than likely won't bother. Apart from anything else, have you ever listened to your music on MySpace? It sounds awful!

Likewise, don't send me to straight to iTunes, I don't buy anything from it. Again, if you want to lure me into paying for your new release right away, Bandcamp is your best bet.

That should cover the main things, any questions go ahead and ask.

I do my best to reply to all my emails, but it takes a while sometimes. If you think I've missed something feel free to remind me after a week or so. I can't review everything I'm sent, there aren't enough hours in the day, but I do listen to it at least.
If I don't like something I likely won't review it, unless I can offer constructive criticism. Don't take it personally. Also bear in mind that a lot of the Scottish bloggers talk to each other, if you bitch about us to the others, there's a good chance we'll hear about it!

What Is Aye Tunes?

"Where am I and what do you do here?" I hear you ask.
Well, the simple answer is that Aye Tunes is yet another music blog, storming into the already bloated blogosphere. Unlike some other blogs you won't find and hot new pre-release albums here though. In fact, you won't find any albums at all, unless it is something I've been given permission to post. Instead I'll pick a track or two from each spotlighted artist.

Aye Tunes aims to focus on the best of Scottish music, new and old. "The best" is, of course, a very subjective term, so we won't always agree on the contents. Dissenting viewpoints are always welcome, either in a comment or an email. Also, for a small country, Scotland has a rich tapestry to draw upon musically, so don't expect all your favourites to appear here right away, it'll take me a while to cover all the bases, if I ever can.

As well as established artits, I'd love to put a bit of focus on new, up and coming bands. To do that I'll need your help. If you are in a band, or know of a great one that you'd like to see covered here, do please let me know!

If you represent one of the artists involved and would like me to remove a posted track, that's fine, just drop me a line and I'll pull it as quickly as I can.

The mp3s posted here are for a short time only and are intended for people to evaluate the music, and not as a replacement for buying music. If you like what you hear, support the artists involved by buying the music, going to shows, buying T-shirts etc.

There are some links to buy music in the right hand side sidebar, as well as contained within some of the posts. In the interests of full disclosure I'll confirm that some of these are affiliate links, used to not only promote the artists, albums and websites, but also to help fund this site. The money earned by myself from these is minimal, I won't be giving up the day job any time soon!

If you have any questions, or there is anything else I can help you with, please do email me, I'll be delighted to hear from you.