5 Magazine welcomes music submissions from the public!
We receive well over 1,000 music submissions per month. This document will show you how, when and where to send your music for review or feature by 5 Magazine.
We strongly encourage artists, labels and PR representatives to read this entire document.
1. What kind of music do you review?
5 Mag reviews underground house music, techno, disco and the like – pretty much every flavor of underground electronic music.
We do not review hip-hop, jazz, R&B, progressive, EDM, rock, pop or folk music.
5 Mag is focused mainly but not exclusively on 4/4 driven club music. While we do cover ambient music, we don’t cover very much of it — fewer than a half-dozen ambient albums are reviewed per year.
2. When should I send you my tracks?
Promos should be sent before a record has been released, not after.
IMPORTANT: We do not accept submissions of music after it has been released. Music submissions sent after their release will not be assigned or considered.
We strongly encourage artists, labels and PR specialists interested in coverage to submit their music 30 days prior to the first release date. This “pre-release” submission period is necessary because of the sheer quantity of submissions we receive. It isn’t possible for us to review music that is already out, or will be out in just a few days. The more time you give us, the more possibilities there are for us to write about it, as a review, feature, news item, etc. Give us less than a week and you’ve limited the possibilities tremendously.
3. What do I need to send you?
Please submit all of the following:
- The full release. Please do not send streams or links to Beatport, SoundCloud or Spotify in lieu of sending the full tracks as mp3 or wav files.
- Artwork. Release artwork, preferably larger than 1000px in size.
- One-sheet which includes the following: artist name, release name, track names, label name, release date and any useful information about it.
That’s it!
4. Where do I send my tracks?
Submit files via dropbox links or Google drive links in an email sent to info@5chicago.com. Tracks sent as email attachments are discarded. WeTransfer is close to useless at this point and we discourage its use for music submissions.
5. Can I pay you to post my tracks?
No.
We do not charge “submission fees,” “promotional fees” or anything else associated with charging artists money to review their music.
We have tried to make these guidelines explicit so that anyone regardless of how much money they have, or how many friends they have, can follow them. They are the same for a bedroom producer as they are for any giant EDM label. You do not need a publicist to submit music to 5 Mag, or pay anyone money, have us sign up for your promo list, or anything else. If it fits our editorial vision and you can follow these rules, you can send your music to us yourself, as often as you like.
6. What about AI?
Do not use AI to generate your pitch email, artwork or music. Since the start of 2026, 5 Mag has been buried by submissions with AI-generated emails and music, which are now discarded on sight.
To repeat: Submissions with obvious signs of AI use will be discarded.
If you are thinking about using an AI prompt to email us, you should send us the prompt instead.
7. What happens after I send my tracks to you?
If a submission follows these guidelines, we will reach out with confirmation that it has been received and assigned to our staff!
Unfortunately due to the unmanageable surge of AI-powered submissions, we can no longer reply with information about failed submissions. Please ensure you follow these guidelines.
Also: We are not responsible for music submitted to any other email address besides info@5chicago.com. If you are sending your music to an individual on our masthead, that music is not considered a music submission. They probably think you’re just a nice person sending them music!
8. Okay, but what if I just found out about this site or this document and my tracks are already out, or I had AI compose a corny email which I sent to you and signed my name to it?
Not a problem, we hope to hear from you next time and please keep us in mind for the future!
While you’re here, sign up for 5 Mag’s mailing list for info about upcoming feature opportunities, deadlines and new posts:
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