Submit Music
Why Work With Imaginary North?
Our main goal is sharing amazing music. We hope to do this using artist-friendly terms and rates. Each contract will be for an individual song or group of songs, with no further obligations to the label, and artists will retain all master rights.
While most music we release will be instrumental ambient, we are open to many different musical ideas and genres from diverse perspectives.
We are looking for a balance between musical integrity and commercial viability, and consider various factors when deciding to work with different artists, depending on the context.
Imaginary North strives to ensure that most revenue goes to the artists, and as a result is currently offering two revenue structures:
Structure A: (for compilation appearances plus limited artist albums)
70-30 revenue split in the artist’s favour*. Label services will include:
Uploading to Bandcamp and streaming services
Providing album/single/compilation art and graphic design
Support with playlist pitching**
Inclusion on Imaginary North playlists
Promotion of compilation albums, or individual artist’s work to blogs, websites, playlists
Mastering***
General support and appreciation of everything you’re doing
Bandcamp payouts will be provided twice per year at a minimum threshold of $10USD. Streaming revenues can withdrawn made monthly if signed up through distributor.
Artists will retain ownership of masters as well as all necessary copyrights.
*subject to change. Embedded in the 30% fee for label are pay structures for graphic design, web hosting, distribution, promotion, and other label-related costs.
**artists will still be individually responsible for paid playlist pitching (e.g., SubmitHub), though support for pitching to Spotify/Amazon Music, plus other non-paid playlists will be provided.
***mastering for compilations will be done by Chad Skinner at Half Moon Audio will be covered; for artist albums, a different split structure may be required
Structure B: (for artist albums or EPs)
80-20 revenue split in the artist’s favour*. Label services will include:
Uploading to Bandcamp and streaming services
Support with playlist pitching**
Inclusion on Imaginary North playlists
Promotion of compilation albums, or individual artist’s work to blogs, websites, playlists
General support and appreciation of everything you’re doing
Artist will provide album art (preferably an image with no text for Bandcamp - text can be added for streaming)
Artist will provide mastered tracks
Bandcamp payouts will be provided twice per year at a minimum threshold of $10USD. Streaming revenues can withdrawn made monthly if signed up through distributor.
Artists will retain ownership of masters as well as all necessary copyrights.
*subject to change. Embedded in the 20% fee for label are pay structures for web hosting, distribution, promotion, and other label-related costs.
**artists will still be individually responsible for paid playlist pitching (e.g., SubmitHub), though support for pitching to Spotify/Amazon Music, plus other non-paid playlists will be provided.
Submitting Albums/EPs
Are you intending to share your album or EP for consideration for Imaginary North? Please consider the following things:
we focus on ambient music and adjacent genres. Please listen to the releases we've done so far to consider whether your music fits along with what we've shared
we are not interested in neoclassical or any music that is too piano-dominant
we've started to see a notable increase in the amount of demos being shared with us - while flattering, it can also be overwhelming. Consider pointing to tracks on your album that we should start with; think about as well why Imaginary North would be a good fit
Our plan is to release between 6-15 individual artist albums in a year, usually planning between 6 months and a year in advance. If that timeline doesn't fit, we may not be ideal partners
We are working hard to develop community via social media including Instagram and Bandcamp.
We will absolutely prioritize listening to albums by artists who have already worked with us in different contexts, including our compilations
We do our best to listen or consider every demo sent to us; that being said, when the genre of submission is way off (e.g., metal, trance, solo piano), we may choose not to listen at all. Where possible, we do our best to write back, but cannot guarantee a response.
Submitting Individual Tracks for Compilations
Imaginary North accepts unreleased tracks by artists from anywhere in the world regardless of current popularity or experience. We are thrilled to consider your music if it fits within the parameters of the compilations we release - mostly ambient in nature.
We welcome demos for tracks to be submitted to a number of collections, including our flagship compilation Imaginary North Transmissions. See below for details about each compilation. If you would like to submit a track to a compilation, please see the bottom of the page.
We would prefer unmastered tracks in most cases - if you're unsure, you are welcome to submit both mastered and unmastered tracks.
A reminder that we can only accept songs that have not yet been released*. A remixed/reworked version of a previously released song is fine as long as that song has not been released on another label; that being said, new songs are preferred.
Compilations will be of different lengths depending on the complexity and contributions.
*released, in this case would mean available on streaming services, Bandcamp, or publicly on SoundCloud.
Imaginary North Transmissions
Ongoing; compilations will release multiple times per year
Imaginary North Transmissions features ambient artists exploring the relationship between field recordings and music. Artists will create an original piece that weaves instrumentation with found sound, organic samples (must have rights to all samples or use copyright-free samples), and/or field recordings. Sounds of nature, cities, household appliances, or whatever else you can find, are most welcome.
Minimum song length: 2 minutes
Maximum song length:8 minutes
Percussion allowed: no
Other details: should include field recordings, found sound, samples
Longform Ambient Charity Compilation
Submissions Due April 15 2024
Our still-unnamed sequel to Today Until Tomorrow, this compilation will feature longform ambient works by artists from all over the world, with all revenue (streaming and Bandcamp) going to Music Declares Emergency. We are seeking one contribution per artist, with a minimum length of 10 minutes, and a maximum of 40. Please send a mastered track if possible.
The track should be somewhere in the ballpark of ambient, though percussion, vocals, and experimentation is encouraged. Nothing too harsh or heavy.
We welcome remixes or alternate mixes of tracks that already exist, or tracks that have been only uploaded to Soundcloud and Bandcamp but not streaming.
Minimum song length: 10 minutes
Maximum song length: 40 minutes
Percussion allowed: yes
Other details: we want big, long, and weird, pls.
Ready to submit? We are ready to hear from you!
[Updated August 2023]
We are so excited to receive a large volume of submissions. We do our best to listen to all submissions, but are unable to reply to all submissions. We now have two ways you can submit music:
Option 1: Email
Please email us at imaginarynorth@gmail.com with your submission track or tracks. These should be as a link or attachment as unmastered wav/flac files, using either Google Drive, Dropbox, private SoundCloud (with downloading on), or another download site that does not expire. Do not directly attach files!
Please write in the email subject what kind of submission it is (e.g., for a compilation or for an album/EP). In the body of the email, kindly indicate your artist name, human name, share some links, and any other pertinent information.
A direct email opens the line of communication and we will get back to you if we are interested in working together.
Option 2: Groover
Imaginary North is on Groover as a label. We welcome submissions on Groover. If you have unreleased music you want to share via Groover, we will be glad to provide feedback with regard to how or whether it might be a good fit for our label. If you share released music with us on Groover, we are happy to provide feedback, but will not be able to add it to our playlists. See the link below to submit via Groover!
[please note that we are sunsetting the Google Form previously used. If you have a link for that form, it may no longer be checked]