How to Get DJ Feedback on Your Music: What Works

You send a new track to DJs, and then you wait for words. A line about the drop, a note that it worked in a set, anything. Most guides on how to get DJ feedback on your music answer with feedback groups, paid reviews and producer forums, which is advice about other producers, not about the DJs you want to play your record. We looked at what DJs actually send back. On PromoLink, 42% of the DJs who downloaded a promo also left a written note, 7,841 notes in all. The typical note is 19 characters long. The feedback that matters arrives in a different form, and this is how to read it.

The best feedback a DJ can give your track is to download it and play it. A download takes one tap and tells you the DJ wants the record in their library; a play tells you it reached a dancefloor. Everything written comes second.

The numbers behind that are simple. Across 294,000 promo sends, 5.6% ended in a download, and of the DJs who pressed play, 48.3% downloaded (our DJ promo statistics). A DJ who downloads has made a decision about your music. That decision is the answer you were waiting for, even when it comes with no words at all.

That is why PromoLink never makes a DJ fill in a form to take a track unless the label asks for it. The label sees who listened and who downloaded, by name, on the release's own page (how it works), and that list is the feedback.

Most written DJ feedback is a courtesy, not a review. Across 7,841 notes from 427 DJs:

• the median note is 19 characters long;
• two thirds of notes are under 30 characters, and only 6.3% run past 100;
• the most common note in the whole set is two words that one DJ sent 745 times;
• the 10 most active writers account for 40% of all notes.

Read the content and the pattern holds. One note in ten mentions support, 7% mention a radio show, a mix or a set, 5% are a version of "downloaded for" followed by a famous DJ's name, and 5% are a polite "not for me". The "downloaded for" line has its own critics (Attack Magazine on the habit), and they have a point: it tells you an assistant took the file, not that anybody listened.

None of this means DJs do not care. It means a DJ who receives a steady stream of promos answers with a reflex, and the reflex is short. Treat a short note as a thank-you. Treat the download as the signal.

About one DJ in twenty leaves a thoughtful, detailed comment: what worked, where it would fit in a set, what they would change. In our data, that is the 6.3% of notes that run past 100 characters.

Those DJs are rare and they are valuable. They listen properly, they think about where the track sits, and they are usually the same names from release to release. Find them, keep them on every list, thank them by name, and when one of them says something specific about a mixdown or an arrangement, take it seriously. A detailed note from a DJ who plays your genre every weekend is worth more than any number of paid reviews.

A download says a DJ wanted the track; three things tell you they played it:

• DJ charts. Many DJs publish their own charts on Beatport. A track in a DJ's chart is support you can show.
• Videos. A clip of the track in a set, from the booth or the crowd, is the strongest proof there is, and the easiest to share.
• 1001Tracklists. Search the track and the artist. Sets from clubs, festivals and radio shows are logged there.

At IAMT these are the three places we check. They are also what you put in the "supported by" line of your next send: a real play by a recognised DJ carries an unknown artist further than anything you could write about the track yourself.

Asking DJs for a short review before they can download is an industry norm, and it does not scare off top DJs. When it is quick, they do it: on PromoLink, 571 DJs met a review-before-download step on 53 releases, 531 of them (93%) wrote a review, and 529 downloaded the track.

The step has to be fast. On PromoLink a label on a paid plan can switch it on for a release: the DJ presses Download, the player turns into a short review box, and the download starts as soon as they have written a line (plans). Without it, a download needs no form at all.

Use it when written words matter for the release, for example a new artist who needs DJ quotes for an editorial pitch. Leave it off when the download itself is all you need.

A polite "not for me" is about this release and this track, not about you. About 5% of written notes say it in some form.

Do not take the DJ off your list. Their taste did not change because one track missed; the next release may be exactly what they play. A DJ who wants fewer promos can always unsubscribe on their own, and keeping the list relevant by genre does the rest. What a "not for me" can tell you is fit: if the same kind of DJ passes on the same kind of track again and again, the problem is the list, not the music.

Send DJs only finished, mastered tracks. You never get a second first impression: a DJ who hears an unfinished version decides about the track then, and may not come back to it.

Feedback on work in progress belongs with other producers, not with the DJs you want to play the record. Trade notes on a mixdown with a producer at your level, use a small closed group of people whose ears you trust, and test the track yourself in a set if you play out. When the master is final, then it goes to DJs, early and in waves: the top names first, then a second wave that names the DJs who supported it.

Every kind of DJ feedback starts with a listen, and listening is the hard step: only 9.5% of promo sends end in a play. Three things move it:

• A preview that plays in one click, with no login and nothing to download first.
• A name in the support line. A recognised DJ in "supported by" pulls attention to an unknown artist.
• The right list. Twenty DJs who play your genre beat two thousand who do not.

At IAMT the promo goes out right after the release is sent to distribution, so the first wave has weeks to work before the release day. Half of the DJs who download a promo do it within three days of the send, and 71% within a week, so give each wave that week before you judge it.

How do I get feedback from DJs on my music? Send a finished, mastered track to DJs who play your genre, with a preview that plays in one click. Read the downloads as the main answer, value the few DJs who write in detail, and check DJ charts, videos and 1001Tracklists to see who played it.

Do DJs actually give feedback on promos? Many write something, but it is usually short: on PromoLink the median note is 19 characters. About one DJ in twenty leaves a detailed comment. The download is the more reliable signal.

What does "downloaded for" mean in DJ feedback? It usually means someone on a DJ's team downloaded the promo for them. It tells you the file was taken, not that the track was heard or played.

Should I require feedback before DJs can download? It is an industry norm and it does not put off top DJs when the step is quick. Use it when you need words for the release; leave it off when the download is enough.

How do I know if a DJ played my track? Look for it in DJ charts on Beatport, in videos from sets, and on 1001Tracklists. Those are the plays worth quoting in your next "supported by" line.

Should I send unfinished tracks to DJs for feedback? No. Send DJs only finished masters, because a first impression cannot be repeated. Get feedback on work in progress from other producers.

What should I do when a DJ says "not for me"? Keep them on your list. It is about that track, not about the next one, and a DJ can always unsubscribe on their own.

Send your next release to DJs on PromoLink: see who listened and who downloaded, by name, read what they wrote, and switch on a short review before the download when you need words. Your first 20 releases go to the DJ pool free, and the feedback checklist from this article is below as a PDF.