Queen City Sounds and Art focuses on music but will also cover art in Denver and beyond with monthly show highlights in town, interviews, profiles, music and local culture news as seems worth sharing, handy guides as appropriate.
The perspective here is locally based but aimed at connecting readers with music and art in the world at large. I saw a lack in all of this in Denver and rather than wait for someone to put together something I considered valid or to put together a professional website to start, I thought something more informal would better serve my interests as well as those of the local and non-local music and art community from the perspective of someone who spent 11+ years as an active contributor to alternative weekly paper Westword as well as other publications such as The Onion and Bandcamp Daily. Website comments sections I have never found to be a forum for productive conversations so there won’t be any for any article. But if you would like to contact me regarding the site, its content or potential content, the email address is queencitysoundsandart@yahoo.com. I get bombarded by possible content all the time so if I don’t get back to you in what seems like a reasonable time or not at all, it’s not personal. — Tom Murphy, editor and writer.
Since live music is coming back I will be posting a live show listing once a month going forward. That list will be usually be a selection of 10-20 or so events with few if any exceptions barring the busier months. If you represent a touring band please be in touch at least a month ahead of time because I will already have most of the shows I’m covering chosen by then and often months ahead of time. Sometimes I’ll do interviews with artists I think are interesting or significant but those are so labor intensive I don’t do many anymore except as an episode of Queen City Sounds Podcast. When sending me requests for coverage please include links to press assets (high resolution photos, music, videos etc.) and be more specific about what makes the artist interesting. I don’t care how many records someone has sold, with whom they’ve shared stages, the number of streams, uninspired and vague press quotes or how many social media followers an artist has on any platform. And worse, just asking me for coverage without telling me something about your work if you’re reaching out independently? If I have no idea what I’m in for I don’t bother to look further or follow a link. I love to find out about new, innovative music, especially that guided by an individual vision and creativity. So articulate that in some way. No matter who you contact about coverage, it’ll make you stand out.
Song and Video Submissions
Please visit our Submithub page to send singles for consideration. We are currently not taking submissions for song/video/album postings through any other route with very few exceptions. Submithub is the only way you’ll get a guaranteed response. When sending submissions please make high resolution band/artist photos and album/single covers available. All links for the artist/song/video should be sent as well. I’m fairly open to most styles of music but please check out the site to get a gauge of what has a chance of being approved for coverage. What you’re doing may not be for me but it doesn’t mean it has no value or may not be for someone else. I also only have so much capacity and time to do this writing without it taking over my whole life so if I reject something the first time around doesn’t mean you won’t catch me at a good time down the road. I also generally only review one song/video etc. by a single artist a month at most. If you want to submit multiple tracks through Submithub in case one track hits me better than others that’s fine. I will pick one if I like what I’m hearing. Due to ongoing health issues I won’t be as generous with my approvals going forward but don’t mind giving the requisite feedback. Also I’m never really sure how long it’ll take me to do a review because of my health issues so please be patient even beyond a quoted timeframe. DO NOT USE THE WEBSITE CONTACT FORM TO TRY TO CONTACT ME. I delete all messages sent that route. Only use queencitysoundsandart@yahoo.com. Which is cited elsewhere in this “About” section.
If you would like to donate to Queen City Sounds and Art and its ongoing operations et. al., you can donate through the Paypal link below.
P.S. — All materials on this site are the property of the respective authors, photographers, artists and musicians and cannot be used or otherwise shared without express written permission of the content creators.
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