FolkCast - Getting your music to us

We'd love to hear your music, and if you would like to be featured on FolkCast there are several ways of getting your music to us.

1: POST
Got a CD? Stick it in an envelope with details about you/your band and the music.
Our postal address is:
FolkCast
16 Hareden Road
Preston
PR2 6LD
United Kingdom.

2: EMAIL
Our email address can be found here.
Got an MP3? Make sure it is encoded to at least 192kbps and send it to us, along with details about you/your band and the music.
 If you just send blank email with an attachment this will look like spam and we'll just junk it, so please say hello!

3: DOWNLOAD or SHARING
More and more people are posting high-bitrate songs to sites such as ReverbNation, Bandcamp or Soundcloud. This works very well.
Of course, you'll have to email us with a link to your page on these sites - and while you're doing that send us info about you/your band!
REMEMBER to activate the "make file downloadable" option so we can actually get your music to play in the show!      

Another alternative is Dropbox, a very useful resource which allows files to be synced between computers. We use it a lot.
If you do not have Dropbox, click the logo below and sign up. When you have Dropbox installed, simply create a folder and then share it with us.

4: A FEW "Do"s & "Don't"s

• DON'T send us links to non-download sites such as YouTube. These are no use to us. We need to be able to easily get our hands on a digital copy of your music to play it on one of our shows!
  
  
• DO remember to include full details about you/your band, including contact information and your websites, and when the music is released.
  
  
• DON'T send us music unless it can reasonably be described as folk, folk-rock, singer-songwriter or roots. That's a pretty broad description, but use your common sense.
  
  
• DO tell us something about the music, and let us know if it's about a specific subject (eg: the sea, a particular country or area, a season of the year). We particularly welcome festive music for our end-of-the-year Seasonal Selection Box!
  
  
• DON'T use Facebook or Twitter as a means of direct communication. Social media is great for chatting, and we use it a lot but, for serious one-to-one contact, use our email or postal address.
  
  
• DO understand that we can't guarantee to play your music, but we will certainly listen to it. If we can use it, it may take several months for your music to be included in a podcast, so if there is a specific reason to play a track in a certain month (eg: topicality, or the release date) let us know. We aim to feature music as soon as we can, but some songs may be held back for operational reasons (such as fitting into a themed show).
  
  
• DON'T send us cover versions. We prefer to feature original music (written and owned by you) or traditional music. No cover versions other than of traditional, non-copyright music, please!
  
  
• DON'T expect to get paid. Although we are covered by a PRS Podcast licence, we ask artists and other copyright holders to grant us a royalties waiver so we can play your music without incurring fees or royalties of any kind. Sadly, we cannot pay you to include your music in our show (other than via PRS), but we do offer the ability to get your music heard by thousands of listeners around the world, and we will happily link to a website of your choice in the relevant ShowNotes, so listeners can get further information.
  
  
• DO be persistant. We're only human, and sometimes things go missing, get accidentally lost or forgotten, or are simply not seen. If you've sent something to us and we haven't replied, don't be afraid to ask about it after a few weeks. We aim to respond to all emails containing music, but time pressures don't always make that possible.
  
  
• DON'T expect us to send things back. Just like on Vision On, we cannot return anything you send to us.
  
  
• DO get in touch if you have any further questions about sending music to us.
  

5: INFORMATION TO SEND TO US

We like easy. It makes us happy. To make things easy, please tell us:

Your name or your band's name, and names and instruments of the band members. Don't do this last bit if you are an orchestra! Where you are from (eg: town/city/county/state/country). What the song/s are called. Whether they are original or traditional. If original, who wrote them? If traditional, where did you learn them? What date the music is being released on. The address (URL) of your website. If you don't have a website, a Facebook, Soundcloud, Bandcamp or Reverbnation page will do. The name of the winner of next year's Grand National. Any other information you think we might find interesting or amusing.

FolkCast - Our Finger In Your Ears!
The UK's premier folk music Podcast