Today, for our latest roundup of publishers, we have a list of 27 publications that pay for writing about music.
We’ve researched payment rates and found contact information for all of these publishers, to make it easy for you to connect with the right opportunity.
If you want to browse even more opportunities, be sure to check out our database of over 1,500 publishers that pay writers. It’s easily searchable, and includes thousands of listings just like the ones below.
If you’re new to freelancing, I also very much encourage you to take our course on pitching. You can get the details here.
So, without further ado, here’s today’s list…
- GRAMMYs / Recording Academy is a society of music professionals. They’re seeking pitches about “diverse artists, genres, and musical communities with national relevance.” They’re mainly seeking “larger culture features and lists highlighting the intersection of music with broader issues such as politics, history, health and technology.” They’re also looking for artist interviews, artist “discoveries”, and evergreen features/lists. According to their pitch guide, rates are $250 to $500 per piece. To read their pitch guide, click here. To visit their website, click here.
- Antics is a quarterly, print-only music magazine. They accept pitches at pitches@anticsmag.com. According to their editor-in-chief on Bluesky, their rates are $50 for capsule reviews, $150 for Q&As, $200 for essays, $250 for profiles, and $250 for reported features. To contact them, refer to this page.
- Catalog is a curated music marketplace that has generated over $3 million in revenue for independent artists. They welcome pitches for articles that tie into at least one Catalog record or address topics such as thoughtful essays and debates on music/web3, profiles highlighting under-appreciated artists and music communities, and oral histories of influential and beloved musical works. According to their pitch guide, their rate is $200 per piece, with articles ranging from 1,200 to 3,000 words. For more information on how to pitch, please refer to their page. Visit their website here.
- DJ Mag is a British monthly magazine and website about electronic dance music and DJs. They welcome pitches for news stories, exclusive mixes, live streams, competitions, long and short form features, and track premieres. According to an old call for pitches, rates were £180 for music columns, £240–£360 for live event reviews, £30 for short “Bubblers” pieces,£120 for “Get To Know” articles, £480 for “At Home With” features, £360–£440 for “Game Changer” articles, and 20p a word for longform features. To pitch, refer to their current pitch guide.
- Classic Pop is a British music magazine that publishes features, interviews, reviews, and news. Our previous research indicated they paid 15p per word for a feature, but current pay rates are not clear. To contact them, refer to this page.
- No Depression is a print magazine and an online publication about roots music. They accept pitches both for their quarterly journal, available in print and through a digital subscription, and for NoDepression.com. According to a now deleted tweet by their managing editor, they pay 20 cents per word. To pitch them, refer to this page.
- VAN Magazine is an online classical music magazine. They are always looking for exciting and insightful classical music journalism. Suggested word limit is 1,000-2,000–word range. They publish interviews or profiles, reports, essays, opinion, reviews, rankings & roundups, and playlists. Payment rates are not mentioned, but according to an old payment report, they paid $0.08 per word for a 1,200-word feature. To learn more, refer to their submission guidelines.
- Electronic Sound is a print and digital magazine about contemporary electronic music and culture. They cover “the current scene, the pioneers, the machines, and the current thinking of the electronic music world.” According to an old payment report, they paid $0.21 per word. To contact them, refer to this page.
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