What Independent Curators Actually Want to Hear in a Pitch

Most music pitches are bad. Not because the music is bad, but because the pitch fails to communicate the right things to the right person in the right way.

Independent curators who actively manage playlists on platforms like InstrumentaList receive submissions regularly. The ones that get serious consideration share specific qualities. Here is what those are.

Lead With the Music, Not the Resume

The most common mistake in a music pitch is leading with credentials. "I have been making music for fifteen years. I have released four albums. I have been featured in..."

Curators do not care about your biography before they have heard your music. What they care about first is: does this track fit what I am building?

Your pitch should open by telling the curator what the track sounds like, what mood it creates, and why it belongs on their specific playlist. Everything else is secondary.

Be Specific About the Track

Vague descriptions are pitch killers. "It is a calming instrumental piece" tells a curator almost nothing. "A slow-building piano piece at 68 BPM with a lot of negative space, somewhere between Nils Frahm and a quieter Ólafur Arnalds" tells them something real.

Include:

• The key instrument(s) and how they are used
• The tempo and energy level (not just "slow" or "fast" but specific)
• The mood or emotional arc
• One or two reference points that are honest comparisons, not aspirational ones

Do not oversell. Curators have good ears. A pitch that accurately describes the music builds trust. A pitch that oversells leads to a rejection and a damaged reputation.

Show That You Know Their Playlist

The fastest way to get ignored is to send an obvious mass submission. Curators can tell when a pitch is a template.

Reference something specific about their playlist. "I noticed your playlist tends to feature tracks with a lot of dynamic contrast" or "I saw you recently added a track by [artist] and felt the mood of my piece fits naturally after something like that."

This level of specificity shows that you have listened, you are serious, and you respect the curator's work. That matters to people who put real effort into curation.

Keep It Short

A pitch should be readable in under sixty seconds. Three short paragraphs is the right length in most cases:

1. What the track is and why it fits their playlist
2. The key sonic details (instrument, mood, tempo, reference points)
3. A simple call to action and a link

That is it. No cover letters. No lengthy career histories. No desperate closing lines about how much a placement would mean to you.

Curators are busy. Respect their time and your pitch will stand out from the ones that do not.

Want to generate a personalized pitch automatically? InstrumentaList's One-Click Pitch tool writes a tailored pitch for each curator based on your track and their playlist.

Follow Up Once, Then Move On

If you have not heard back after two weeks, one polite follow-up is appropriate. Something like: "Just checking in on my submission from [date]. Happy to share any additional context if helpful."

After that, move on. A second or third follow-up will not help and may close the door permanently.

Not every curator will respond to every submission. That is the reality of the process. The right response is to keep submitting to other curators, not to chase the ones who have not replied.

The Pitch Is About the Listener, Not You

The best pitches understand that curators are thinking about their listeners first. When you write your pitch, think about it from that angle: why will this track make the curator's listeners feel something?

If you can answer that question convincingly in two or three sentences, you have a pitch worth sending.

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InstrumentaList makes it easy to submit to human curators who are actively looking for music in your genre. Every submission goes to a real person. Start pitching today.