Geoff Wilbur at 2023 New England Music Awards

Name

Geoff Wilbur

My Music Journalism Background

I was a widely published music journalist from 1989 until 2003, covering almost all styles of music, including nearly a decade as a publisher of my own family of magazines, the various editions of Geoff Wilbur’s Renegade Newsletter.  I then placed my writing career on hiatus until I launched this website, Geoff Wilbur’s Music Blog, in 2015. For more detail about my background, you can read the About the Publisher page .

Styles of Music Covered

Because I developed an appreciation for the best of most styles of music over many years and reviews (by my estimate, more than 3,000 reviews), I review all styles of music, some better than others. So don’t worry about musical style when contacting me; if I like your music, I’ll find a way to write about it.

How to Send Me Music

My writing routine/methodology is to play a “review queue” of MP3s (and WAVs, though I prefer MP3 files because they’re smaller) while I work. When I find time to write, I review the next album, EP, or single in the queue. Therefore, if you’d like to be reviewed, please send MP3s (or links to download your MP3s), and I’ll give them a listen.

Of course, I receive lots of music and have limited review capacity, so obviously only a small portion of the music I’m sent makes it into the review queue. I choose music I personally connect with and that I think the world should know about. Keep in mind that I don’t connect with every song, even from artists I love, so if you’re sending me singles, don’t be discouraged if I don’t review the first one you send. (Also, even if you’re my favorite artist, I won’t review every one of your singles; I’ll probably wait for my absolute favorites and/or group them and review two or three at a time.)

If you’d prefer, you can send CDs. Just use the mailing address that’s grouped with my other contact info farther down this page. Really, though, unless sending a CD is easier for you, you can save your money and just send MP3s. While I appreciate snail mail, it won’t make me dig your music more.

Also, to expedite things (if it’s no trouble), along with the music, please send a JPG of the album cover and at least one photo to use with the review, if I write one. If you’d like to have the photographers credited, please let me know who took the photos, and I’ll be glad to credit them for their work.

I know a lot of artists create a Google Drive (or similar) folder with MP3s, JPGs, and bios/press releases to share with media and other industry contacts. Obviously, if you do that, just send that link.

Will I review a stream? Probably not. I’ve done it a couple times – once for an artist I discovered online and reviewed before I contacted that artist; another time for an emerging artist I wanted to write about whose record label had a policy against sending out music for review. (An odd policy, but whatever.) Obviously, although I’ve made a couple of exceptions, I am very unlikely to review a stream because it’s not part of my regular process; please don’t ask.

And what if you don’t send music with the inquiry? Well, I might reach out if I go to your website or stream and love your music. But I feel odd reaching out and asking for music when I know it may be a long, long time before I review it; I frequently have many months worth of music already in my review queue, so I usually don’t ask for more. When the queue gets low, I do reach out proactively, but that rarely happens.

How Do I Decide Which Music to Download/Review?

Well, because time is limited, if, from the e-mail, I think I’ll like the music, I’ll download it first and decide if I’ll review it later. On the other hand, if I’m less sure – especially if I have time to check things out first – I’ll listen to some of the music online before I decide to download. Depending on how many reviews I write, if I begin to fall behind, I sometimes skip over music in my review queue I initially thought I might review. I’ll always find a way to review my absolute favorites, but there are other very good albums I set aside to review if time permits (or skip over if I fall too far behind). In the end, for me, every review is a recommendation, but I don’t have the time to review every piece of music I might recommend.

When my queue gets too long and during periods when I’m not doing much writing, I often don’t even listen to or download new music for months at a time, though sometimes I’ll sift through old e-mails and check out months-old or year-old music from e-mails I’ve received. (I’ve missed some potentially-interesting music via expired WeTransfer links that way, but time is a limited commodity, and I’m only able to devote a small portion of mine to writing reviews.) So part of getting reviewed is simply timing – how busy is the rest of my life, and do I have time to check out new music when you reach out to me? Just like many things in life, timing can make all the difference.

Live Reviews/Regions Covered

I’m in an outer Boston/MetroWest suburb. I’m most likely to catch shows in or around Marlborough, but please feel free to invite me to see you perform anywhere from Boston to Worcester.

You can contact Geoff Wilbur via e-mail (by using the contact form below).

You can also follow me on Twitter/X, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, Mastodon, TikTok, and/or Spoutible.

Or you can send mail to: Geoff Wilbur, P.O. Box 727, Hudson, MA 01749.