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 a 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 Streaming revenues can withdrawn made monthly if signed up through distributor.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.

***for individual projects, several options may be available for mastering at different revenue splits

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 3-8 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

All Those Other Holidays

Postponed until 2024; submissions still accepted

Last year, as Kilometre Club, I released an album of ambient Hanukkah songs. This year, I want to take the concept further and create a compilation of instrumental songs inspired by winter holidays from many cultures and religions that aren’t Christmas. Feel free to share a copyright-free interpretation of a holiday song, your own original track, or whatever else feels right. No religion? Perhaps you celebrate National French Toast Day, or New Year’s Day. The only rule about this one is no Christmas songs (there are more than enough Christmas albums already).

This compilation welcomes more or less any genre as long as the music is instrumental

Minimum song length: 1 minute

Maximum song length: 6 minutes

Percussion allowed: yes

Other details: inspired by a holiday falling between November and February that is not Christmas; if using a familiar or recognizable melody, please ensure that song is public domain or traditional

Crossfades

Due November 10, 2023

This will be our most ambitious experiment. Two artists will work together on a collaboration. One artist will create a mono track that will play in the left speaker. The second artist will create a related mono track that will play in the right speaker. What happens when it all plays together? This compilation will feature pairs of artists creating songs that may sound different depending on whether you use headphones, speakers, or other ways to listen.

If you are interested in contributing to this compilation but do not have someone to work with, please indicate your interest on the form and I will work to find you a partner.

Minimum song length: 1 minute

Maximum song length: 5 minutes

Percussion allowed: yes

Other details: will need to work with a partner; revenue will be split between artists

Your Own Project

Ongoing

While Imaginary North will focus on compilations at first, we are thrilled to work with artists interested in releasing music with us. If you have an EP or LP of songs you’d like to share for consideration, please do. We are moderately selective as to whether we will go ahead and release albums or EPs, and will prioritize artists who are familiar to the label via contributions to compilations.

Looking for support with distribution (i.e., getting your music on streaming services) but not looking for any label services? Consider our IN Distro option - go here for more details.

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]