Dear Really Cool Person

Hey!

Most likely, I sent you this link because I didn’t have your e-mail address and/or contact info.

On nonpretentious.com, we started a new column featuring mix tapes.  With this column, our goal is to create a digital version of trading mixes, sharing music, etc. AND also publicize the work of “not-so-common people” (i.e. not superstar celebs but celebs nonetheless) who are doing cool things around the globe.  (A former version of muxtape.com was our inspiration.  Same with the celebrity playlists on iTunes.)

I wanted to ask if you’d consider being a “guest DJ” and making a mix for us to post.  The playlist can be music you like, listen to, and/or you can create a mix that represents one of your projects.  If possible, we’d love some liner notes explaining how you created your mix or why you picked each song.  From the feedback we’ve received, readers really like this.

With your playlist, we’ll publish a paragraph (or two or three) describing who you are, your work, and why you inspire us.  For this part, feel free to give us any pointers on what you’d like us to emphasize and/or any specific projects you’d like us to promote.  Some people send us brief blurbs about themselves just for our background knowledge.  Whatever you send/say to us won’t be published directly.  We’ll simply incorporate it into our explanation of why we like you.

If you’re interested (which I *hope* you are!), here are the logistics:

Basically, you can send a list of 10 – 20 songs (& preferred artists or versions) to me.  We are distributing the mixes via iTunes so – if you want to check and see if the songs are available on iTunes, go nuts!  If not, no worries – we’ll link to it on Amazon or some other form of legal downloading or we’ll include a mention of the song but it simply won’t be available for download.  Another thing you can do is send me your list of songs with about 5 extra or alternate tracks in case any of your first choices are not available.

The plan is to publish mixes once or twice per month.  Right now, we’ve only just begun to ask people to submit mixes to our site.  …So don’t be surprised if there isn’t a whole archive repertoire.  (We also took a few months off to regroup.) But!  We’re getting a good response so don’t think you’ll be a loner either.

I mean, look at some of your peers listed in the sidebars.  They all took the plunge.

If you’re interested, feel free to suggest a deadline that works for you.  If your schedule is too busy now but you’d be interested later, you can let us know that too.  We need about a week with each playlist in order to write the introduction, format the post, and put in the necessary links.  Again, we’re happy to promote any projects (genuinely & sincerely).  When we publish your mix, we’ll send you a link as well.

We need about one week with your finalized list/liner notes to format and finish our post.  We’re happy to send you a “ready-to-be-published” draft in case you wanna review it one last time.

Also, if you can recommend anyone else who we could reach out to, we’d love to hear your recommendations.

I know this is kinda a lot of info so let me know if you have any questions.

Finally, it’s okay if you reject us.  We can take it (though you better have a f’ing good excuse…I kid!).

Great work!

Best,

Melissa

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Melissa Sachs
http://nonpretentious.com
Founder & Publisher