Album Review Embargoes: How They Actually Work | TAP
Album review embargo management
By TAP Editorial Team
Quick answer
An embargo is a request, not a rule. You send the album early with a line asking that nothing goes live before release day, and it holds because the writer agrees to it. At independent level the real risk is not somebody posting early, it is nobody having enough time to listen. Send it four to six weeks out, state one date plainly, and remind people the week before.
Most advice about embargoes was written for people with something to enforce them with. You do not have that, and you do not need it. What you have is a record, a date, and a small number of people who might write about it, and the whole job is making sure they hear it in time and know when they can say so. The fear that somebody will leak your album is almost always misplaced at this level. The thing that actually goes wrong is that you sent it three days before release, nobody had time, and the reviews you hoped for arrived in the second week when nobody was looking any more.
What an embargo is, honestly
An embargo is a sentence in your email asking somebody not to publish before a date. It works because writers generally keep their word, not because anything happens if they do not. There is no contract, no industry body to complain to, and no consequence you can impose that would be worth imposing. Knowing that changes how you write the ask. You are not issuing terms, you are making a request that is easy to say yes to, and the way to make it easy is to keep it to one line, one date, and no legal language. Anything longer reads as though you think you are somebody else.
Send it early, and earlier than feels comfortable
Four to six weeks before release is the sensible window for most people you are approaching, and longer if you are talking to a monthly magazine, which will be working on an issue that closes well ahead of the date on the cover. Ask them what their deadline is rather than guessing, because it is a simple question and they will tell you. Radio wants less notice than press and can move faster. The mistake almost every artist makes once is sending the album a fortnight before release and then being disappointed by the silence, when the honest answer is that a person with a job and a backlog needed longer than that to sit with a record and write six hundred words about it.
Tip: Work backwards from release day and put the send date in your calendar the moment you know the date. Deciding when to send it later means sending it late.
The one line that does the whole job
Write the date the way a person reads it, with a time and a time zone, and put it in the same place every time. Something like: please hold until Friday 24 April, 00:01 UK. That is it. Avoid the word midnight, which nobody agrees on, and avoid vague forms like release day or when it drops, which invite somebody to guess and guess wrong. Put the line in the email itself rather than only in an attachment, because attachments do not always get opened. If you are sending to several people, say the same thing to all of them in the same words, and keep a note of who has it. That note is the whole of your administration and it belongs in one file, not in your memory.
How to send the music itself
A private streaming link is what you want. Somebody can play it on a train, they do not have to find a gigabyte of space, and you can see whether it was opened. Bandcamp, SoundCloud and Dropbox all do private links, and any of them are fine. Send the whole record, not one track, because a reviewer being asked for an album review needs the album, and include the running order, the release date, the label if there is one, and a way of reaching you. Keep the covering email short and put the detail in a single document underneath. Do not send an unrequested download, and do not put a password on something you are hoping somebody will listen to casually.
When somebody posts it early
It will happen and it will be smaller than it feels. Usually it is a scheduling mistake, a queued post going out on the wrong day, or somebody who read the date as a suggestion. If you can see the piece is live and the record is not out yet, the honest calculation is that a review reaching people slightly early has still reached people, and that the writer is a person you would like to hear from again. Write one friendly message noting the date, without an accusation in it. That is the entire correct response. What you must not do is post about it publicly. It costs you the relationship, it tells everybody else you are difficult, and it draws far more attention to the early piece than the piece was ever going to get on its own.
The reminder is the part that works
A week before release, write to everyone who has the record: one short line saying the album is out on Friday, the hold lifts at one minute past midnight UK, and here is the link again. This is not chasing and it is not rude. It catches the person who filed your email in March and forgot, it catches the one whose piece is written and sitting unscheduled, and it puts your record back at the top of an inbox in the week when it matters. Do it once. A second reminder in the same week turns a useful nudge into a nuisance, and the difference between the two is exactly one email.
What you are actually coordinating
The embargo is a small part of a larger question, which is what happens on the day and in what order. Your record goes live at the time your distributor scheduled it, which is worth checking rather than assuming, since local midnight and the platform's release time are not always the same thing. Around that sit your own announcement, any presave you set up, and whatever coverage lands. You want those in a sensible sequence rather than all at once and then nothing. If somebody has said they are running a piece, ask when, and build your own posts around it so that the day has more than one moment in it. If nobody has said anything, that is worth knowing a week out too, because it tells you the day is yours to fill.
When to give somebody the record first
Offering one outlet the record ahead of everybody else is a real option and it is often the strongest card you hold. A writer or a station given something first has a reason to do it properly, and something they can say is theirs. Use it deliberately: pick the one place whose readers or listeners are most like your audience, offer them a few days ahead of everyone else, and be clear that is what you are offering. Do not offer it to four people at once and call each of them the first. That is found out immediately, it is the one embargo mistake with a real cost, and it is entirely avoidable.
Key takeaways
- An embargo is a request that holds because people keep their word. Write it as one plain line with a date, a time and a time zone.
- Send the album four to six weeks before release, and ask a monthly magazine for its deadline rather than guessing at it.
- Send a private streaming link with the whole record, the running order, the date and a way of reaching you. Not a download nobody asked for.
- One short reminder the week before release does more for your coverage than anything else on this page.
- If somebody posts early, send one friendly note and let it go. Never make it public.
- Offering one outlet the record first is a real advantage, but only if it is true. Offering the same exclusive to several people is the mistake that costs you.
Pro tips
1. Keep one file listing everyone who has the record, the date you sent it, and whether they replied. It is five columns and it is the difference between a campaign you can see and one you are guessing at.
2. Write the send date into your calendar on the day you confirm the release date. The send happening late is the single most common cause of a quiet release week.
3. Check with your distributor what time the record actually goes live in the UK, and set the hold to match it rather than to your idea of midnight.
4. Put the hold line in the body of the email, not only in the press release attached to it. Attachments get opened late or never.
5. Save everything anybody publishes on the day it appears, as a PDF or a screenshot. Small sites disappear and the quote you will want for the next release goes with them.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need an embargo at all?
If you are sending the album out before release, yes, because otherwise the date is left to each person's guess and coverage scatters across a fortnight. It costs you one sentence. What you do not need is a formal-sounding paragraph about terms and conditions, which reads oddly coming from an independent artist and gives a writer a reason to hesitate rather than a reason to say yes.
How far in advance should I send my album to reviewers?
Four to six weeks for most, longer for a monthly magazine whose issue closes well before its cover date. Ask each one what their deadline is; it is a normal question and the answer is more use than any general rule. Sending two weeks out is the common mistake and it usually produces silence rather than a bad review.
What happens if someone publishes before the date?
Very little, in practice. Send one friendly message pointing out the date, without an accusation in it, and move on. The piece still reached people, and the writer is somebody you would like to hear from on the next record. Publicly complaining about it costs you far more than the early post ever will.
Should I send a download or a streaming link?
A link. It gets played on the phone or the train, which is where most listening actually happens, and it does not ask anybody to find space on a laptop. Private links on Bandcamp, SoundCloud or Dropbox all work. Send the whole album rather than a single track if you are asking for an album review, and include the running order.
Can I give one outlet the record before everybody else?
Yes, and it is often your strongest move. A writer given something ahead of everyone has a reason to make it good. Pick one place whose audience overlaps with yours in a way you could point to, be clear about what you are offering, and honour it. The only version of this that ever goes wrong is offering the same exclusive to several people, which is always found out.
From the field
Proof points
- Optimal pitch lead time for an album: 10 to 12 weeks before release for long-lead press, 6 to 8 for radio (Liberty campaign cadence)
- Named contact reply rate vs generic inbox: 5x higher (Liberty internal data)
- Best UK send window: Tuesday and Wednesday 09:00 to 10:00 UK (Across 60+ campaigns)
- Album of the Day windows: Long lead (4 to 6 weeks) for BBC 6 Music style features, plays often happen with no reply (WARM monitoring)
What actually happened
Brii Elliss, WFUV: Pre-release album push, 1,790 sends, WFUV reply within 30 minutes, 39 plays before street date (2025)
Album campaigns split into two jobs. The first is finding the playable line, the one moment a producer can use on air without a setup. The second is the longer feature angle for press. I keep these on separate pitches. Mixing them turns the email into a press kit dump, which is the fastest way to be ignored by both audiences.
Chris Schofield, Radio plugger, Liberty Music PR
Related resources
Further reading
- TAP Blog — In-depth guides, comparisons and advice for independent artists running their own promotion.
- UK Music — The voice of the UK music industry, representing labels, publishers, and collecting societies.
- Music Week — Industry news, charts, and analysis for music professionals.
- The Music Network — Global music business intelligence and networking.
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