Thank you for your interest in writing an article for the SOUNZ Online.
We welcome anyone who has an interest in and the promotion of the music of Aotearoa, New Zealand.
Please take some time to review this entire document — it should answer any questions you have about what kind of content we're looking for and how the submission process works
What We Won't Accept
There are some things we simply can't accept:
- Anything offensive or inaccurate.
- Anything critical of individuals or specific organisations — this is not a site to air grievances, personal or otherwise
- Any article that has or will be published elsewhere
- Writing another article on the same topic that will be published prior to the SOUNZ publication and/or for one month after the SOUNZ publication date.
What do we look for in an article?
Successful guest contributions are comprehensive and engaging that may inform readers about something new or not previously published about the world of New Zealand music or issues that relate to the genres we represent. While we tend to skew towards music content, that is not necessarily all that we talk about.
We are also interested in publishing any topic that composers, musicians, listeners, teachers and viewers will find interesting. Such topics could include career sustainability, marketing, personal health, and education, among other things.
We also look for a few things in everything we publish:
- Original concepts, compelling arguments, and high-quality writing.
- We will not publish anything that's been published elsewhere.
- Articles that reflect the writing style/tone of the SOUNZ Blog | Te Rangitaki a SOUNZ. We aim to be informative and helpful, and typically we avoid using buzzwords and jargon.
- Proper attribution of quotations and outside content referenced in the article.
- We recommend about 1000-2000 words for decent depth and detail.
- Write in a friendly, conversational voice/tone that’s less formal and more approachable.
- An accompanying image is optional (we’ll include one if you don’t). If you wish to provide an image to go with your blog post, it should be attributed (provide image source URL), at least 200×200 pixels, JPG or PNG format. If you submit a stock photo, please ensure it’s royalty-free and able to be shared and modified for marketing/commercial purposes.
The different topics we accept
Here is a list of blog topics that we cover:
- Musical analysis
- New Zealand music trends
- New Zealand music history
- Music and politics
- New Zealand art and classical music
- Māori music
- Music of the Pacific peoples
- New Zealand jazz
- Other agreed topics of interest
While we certainly publish posts from time to time that do not fall into any of those topic categories, your post has the best chance of being accepted if it matches one of the topics outlined above.
The Not-So-Fine Print
Submissions must meet the SOUNZ blogging team's quality standards to be published. Editors reserve the right to reject contributions at their discretion.
You may not publish your guest post to any other media, platforms, blogs, websites, LinkedIn or other social media accounts. These include your own platforms. Instead, we ask that you share it from our platforms.
The SOUNZ blogging team reserves the right to edit and adapt your guest blog content as we see fit and update it in the future for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
SOUNZ reserves the right to include our own content and resources in your article, including but not limited to email newsletters and any downloadable content or resources.
In rare cases, contributed posts may be removed from the blog to recycle the URL.
Each article will be accompanied with the following disclaimer:
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SOUNZ. Our blogger's or authors’ content is of their opinion and is not intended to malign any group, organisation or individual.