Masterful Magazine FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

As we still get a lot of questions regarding our magazine in terms of what music we cover and how we go about our business - here's a compact glossary of everything you ought to know and understand should you decide to use our channel for promotion of your band, label or related product.

Note: this FAQ is still a work-in-progress, so changes may still be made.
What kind of music do you review?
As our banner suggests we specialize in death – and black metal, but we embrace all other styles of extreme metal. This includes, but is not limited to, death metal, black metal, grindcore, doom metal, stoner, folk/pagan, symfo, thrash, progressive/technical, industrial, hardcore, post-metal, ambient/noise and sludge.

We are very open-minded. Just don't sent any nu-metal or mallcore. Others genres we don't cover: gothic, heavy/power metal, metalcore/deathcore.

If you are not sure we cover your genre - shoot us a mail and we'll verify your submission.

What kind of formats you do accept with promos?
Masterful Magazine accepts physical – as well as digital promos, this includes visual media (DVD). In case of DVDs: make sure these are region 2 or region-free releases. Be sure to use contemporary media for your promo material. Most stereos don't have tape decks anymore.

Our Polish writing staff accepts vinyl submissions. The English part doesn't cover vinyl.

Ensure that your releases are properly packaged, we can't review promos that arrive broken or scratched beyond saving.

How can I submit my music/band/album/... ?
You can send a request by mail or just sent us your press package. Our addresses can be found on the Contact page.

In case you are a representative of a PR firm/label or distributor, please contact the reviewer of your liking. We'd love to work with you, we are reasonable people.

How long does it take before my music is reviewed?
We are not paid in any capacity, therefore we work around whatever free-time is available to us. We try to review everything as fast as we can, but we have other obligations (employment, family, band, etc) to cater to besides the magazine.

Due to the sheer volume of submissions, we reserve the right to push back or push forward reviewing your release, if it fits with our current updating schedule. We also reserve the right to not review your release, if we deem it unfit for our intended audience.

In any event, we will contact you with direct links once your release has been covered.

What points do you cover when reviewing an album/DVD?
We look at the entire product as delivered to us, including packaging, artwork, design and overall presentation. Next to the music, we will compare it to past releases in your catalogue or releases in a similar timeframe within the genre.

Reviews always reflect a staff member's personal sentiment and taste.

There is no such thing as an objective review. An objective review (recanting of dry facts and other relevant info) is called a press release. We don't do those.

How does your rating system work? I'm confused.
We work with a simple 1 to 10 scale. 1 being the absolute worst, 10 indicating utter perfection. Ratings are at the discretion of our review staff. We like to think our ratings are harsh, but fair with constructive criticism within our writing.

I don't agree with your review. Other sites have rated us higher/better/... !
Masterful Magazine doesn't care about what is hot or trendy this week. Nor we will be “bought” to give your release/album/band a good score. We value integrity highly.

We like good music, regardless of genre. Masterful Magazine judges each release on its own merits, regardless if they are currently on our banner rotation system.

A magazine's duty is to separate the wheat from the chaff. We do that, others might not.

Will you interview my band? We are really cool!!
That depends. Usually we interview bands that we find are worthy of coverage. Typically, we don't do interview “per request”, as this would be unfair and problematic. Although, there can be case-by-case exceptions, depending on who reviewed your record. The Polish part of the site still has regular interviews, the English part of the site typically doesn't do any interviews anymore, or at all.

We are open to suggestions and recommendations from PR firms.

Are you a digital-only magazine, or can I acquire your magazine in print as well?
No, we are fully digital as we have embraced the social media. The last printed version of Masterful Magazine was somewhere around 1999-2000. Print is a dying format – and it's not like we are making any money doing this, anyway.

Can you post a news item about my band/label/... ?
News items aren't any sort of priority on the English part of the site. Since there are enough other English language sources to post your news to an international audience, we advise you use those.

Polish bands/labels/... are advised to contact the Polish editors to feature their news items and announcements.

Where can I advertise my band/label/tour/... on your site?
We have a modest banner advertisement program. As we are always looking to improve and better integrate our services, this program might be expanded upon in the nearby future. Details of such ventures will be made available upon integration of said changes.

More info can be found here. (link to the banner ad page in underlined section)

Please contact krzeczkowski (at) gmail.com for exact details.

There are features, specials and articles on your site. Will you post my article?
These articles are written by our staff for our audience, with an intended goal in mind. When we post these articles a lot time and preparation has gone into them. These articles are personal and reflect the opinion of the writer in question. We are a magazine, not a forum where everybody can randomly post.

We will not post articles from random strangers, just because they asked for it.

Can I write for your magazine, I think you are really cool!
Writing for a magazine is hard work, and unpaid at that. Don't underestimate it.

Here a couple of things you should consider, before sending your application:

  • Can you produce content (reviews, interviews, gig reports) on a regular basis?
  • Do you have a broad/wide knowledge of the genre you are going to review?
  • Are you prepared to write regularly and a lot about the same things?
  • Can you separate your own feelings from the facts? We don't throw 10s and superlatives around this place lightly.
  • Can you deal with criticism? Reviewing will sometimes lead to hate-mail.

Fanboys/girls need NOT apply. There are enough kiss-ass magazines already!

Currently, we are happy with our writing staff. Do you feel that you have something unique to offer, feel free to contact one of our writers. The Polish editors take all final decisions.

Will you be my friend on FaceBook and/or other social media?
This is dependent on the preferences of the staff member of your choosing.

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