ReviewShine: Getting Music to Bloggers Without Going Postal

A little over a year ago, my buddy Sam Umbach and I started on a project to solve a problem for Hickory Wind. I wanted a secure, reliable way to get review materials to Hickory Wind authors all over the world via the web. We've been using it for over a year now, and it's finally ready for the music blogosphere to come and play with it! ReviewShine is a place where promoters and artists meet music bloggers. If you've got a blog, it'll help you quickly access and organize your review materials. If you're in a band, it'll give you a way to find and contact the bloggers that cover your sound.

How does it work? Well, a promoter or artist uploads an album, chooses the music blogs they want to contact from a list sorted by genre and reputation, and then chooses a single that represents their album. The blogger gets notified, and can listen to that single either on the ReviewShine website or via a personalized podcast of their review songs. If the blogger doesn't like the song, they can pass on the album, and the promoter/artist pays nothing. If the blogger likes the song, they can "request" the album, immediately getting access to the full album, liner notes, and all other promotional material. For each blog that requests an album, the promoter or artist pays a small fee. That's it. No closet full of CDs... no post office... no ripping... no scanning through an album looking for the hit single... no scanning through the Internet looking for the right blogger for your music. It's all in one place -- ReviewShine.

Hickory Wind has been using ReviewShine internally for over a year, and Americana Roots and Twangville have been using it for over six months. Now we're looking for promoters and bloggers to sign up for our private beta. If you're a blogger, promoter, or artist and are interested, please go to the ReviewShine website and sign up for the mailing list. We'll be open to the public very soon.

Sam and I will be Austin this week for SXSW. If you've got any questions, suggestions, or whiskey/beer, please share them with us!