The fRoots FAQ

Q: Are you a Folk or World Music magazine?

A: Neither, both and beyond.

Q: How can I advertise in fRoots?

A: Read this

Q: How can I subscribe to fRoots?

A: Read this

Q: How do I get a news item printed in fRoots?

A: Send a brief press release to the News Editor, fRoots, PO Box 337, London N4 1TW, UK or fax it to (+44) (0)20 8348 5626, or email it to news@frootsmag.com. In this latter case, do NOT send it as an email attachment - paste the text into the body of the email (unsolicited attachments are often trashed unread, mainly because they are time-consuming to open). We are more likely to get it right if it is concise and easy to read. In the case of live events, don't forget to include a contact 'phone number for the general public to enquire further, and state the date (including month!) clearly and obviously. You'd be surprised how many don't.

Q: So why do you never print my press releases?

A: Have you checked our copy dates? Many people send in news long after the issue covering the relevant period has gone to press. For example, the issue covering March is published on the penultimate Thursday in February, but the final copy date is January 20th. Because we get such an enormous volume of news, the policy is to only carry news of an event in the issue bearing the cover date of the month it takes place. In other words, a March festival or tour gets listed in the March issue, published in February, and not before. In exceptional circumstances, news of an event that takes place in the last ten days of a month can go in the following issue, e.g. if you missed the March issue with news of your event happening on March 27th, it may be able to go into the April issue published on the penultimate Thursday in March if we have space.

Q: Why do my press releases bounce back when I send them?

A: We reached a point where we were getting so many spam emails - around 800 per staff member per day - that we have now subscribed to a strong, sophisticated spam filtering service. This occasionally misidentifies press releases as spam, so if you get a bounceback from frootsmag.com email addresses when sending genuine press releases on a bulk list, please let us know and where possible we will whitelist you - if we need your press releases!

Q: Do you have back issues available?

A: Read this

Q: Do you have a complete index available?

A: Yes, we have an index for features - find it here - and finally after many years of work by a wonderful volunteer we now have an index of all the reviews - sometimes 200+ in each issue - that have ever appeared in our pages. Find it here.

Q: I'm coming to Britain on holiday. Can you send me a list of all the live music venues and who's playing at them?

A: No we can't. We have no such list. However, we have large sections of news and live dates adverts in every issue of the magazine. How to buy a copy...

Q: I heard my album was reviewed two or three years ago. Can you send me a copy?

A: Not without you being more specific. Didn't you just read what we said about the index?!

Q: Do you accept contributions from freelance writers, reviewers or photographers?

A: Most of our writers are freelances, and many of the features in fRoots come about because the writer has suggested the subject or the photographer has lodged file prints with us. See our full writers' guidelines and photographers' guidelines.

Q: Do you review CDs?

A: Are there any Catholics called Pope? You really should read a copy of fRoots, or at least browse around this web site before you go any further!

Q: OK, I guess you do. So how do I get my album reviewed in fRoots?

A: You post a CD - or sensibly, two copies - to the Reviews Editor, fRoots, PO Box 337, London N4 1TW, UK. We do not accept reviews of items sent direct to a reviewer by the producing company or bought privately by the reviewer, unless we specifically requested it. Please note that we only review new releases from finished production copies. We can't delve into back catalogue and we do not normally review CDs from pre-production copies without full final packaging, since it is important that the reviewed item is what the reader will buy. Generally we have no space for privately-produced short run CD-Rs, unless important historic documents. We do not review from mp3s, digital downloads, vinyl or other lower quality formats. All we need with your CD is a simple biography - what our colonial cousins call a "one sheet". We don't need reams of reviews from other publications (often, these may accidentally fall into the infinite filing system and not be passed on to the reviewer). Digital photos are always useful to have: they should be minimum 300 ppi resolution TIFF or JPEG files and preferably sent on Mac-readable CDR rather than emailed.

Q: Does my CD need UK distribution for you to review it?

A: As long as your CD can be bought somewhere in the world over the internet, we will review it if it fits our remit. We do not expect you to have UK distribution. 35-40% of our readers are outside the UK anyway, and many love the thrill of hunting down new music. Often, getting a review in fRoots can help gain UK distribution later and open the doors for the artist to become known here.

Q: Before I send you my CD, what sort of music will you actually review?

A: As a simple guide, what fRoots covers is music, however ancient or modern, that has some clear roots in a tradition. Neither the instruments or level of technology employed nor an artist's nationality are particularly relevant. For example, neither the act of playing an acoustic instrument or singing in a language other than English have a major significance either way. It ain't how you do it, it's what you do!

Q: I'm an acoustic singer songwriter. That's surely OK then?

A: Almost certainly not, unless your music is strongly influenced by a tradition. The musik biz categorises anybody with an acoustic guitar who writes their own songs as 'folk'. Which is fine, call it whatever you like, but fRoots isn't the place for it.

Q: Hey dude, I do Americana? Do you review that?

A: Probaby not. Unfortunately we are often having to turn things down lately that we might have included a decade ago. With so much great local roots music to cover from around a world that is fighting back against global cultural imperialism, plus the explosion in vanity-published CDs in the wealthy nations, we simply can't shoehorn it all in. So we had to take a long hard look at why we should be covering certain aspects of US music (or clones of it) to the exclusion of others, and the conclusion was this. We will continue to feature and review what you could call local, regional or traditional American musics: country blues, Cajun, conjunto, old-time, Appalachian, musics of established immigrant communities. We will only include music made by current writers or interpreters if they are clearly rooted in such traditions, but not disproportionately to those from other parts of the world. What we just don't have space for any more is music that has no sense of roots, place or community: singer/songwriters who are essentially just playing acoustic rock music with a country twang, mainstream Nashville country, blues rock, amorphous music that could come from anywhere. And spare us the stuff about dolphins, trees and global pollution - send it to your government instead. Sorry! Further reading...

Q: How do I know you've received my CD and when a review will appear? Can I advertise in the same issue as the review? Can you put my advert next to my review?

A: The CDs section of our monthly news pages lists all the CDs that we have received and considered relevant to our content: just keep a watch on that. A listing there means it has gone out for review, though this does still not totally guarantee that one will eventually be published. It usually takes a couple of months at least before a review makes it into print, and even when we've received copy back from the reviewer, we can never say it will go into a particular issue - partly because the volume of advertising and news dictates review space available right up to the last minute. Regularly telephoning or emailing the fRoots office will not result in your review appearing any faster, perhaps the opposite. It is fRoots policy to never place an advert adjacent to related editorial material.

Q: Why don't you group CDs into categories in your reviews pages?

A: Because many people would then skip the stuff they think they don't like. One of our missions in life is to introduce people to more musical possibilities.

Q: Why don't you give star ratings to the CDs you review, like proper magazines do?

A: Because that gives too much importance to the opinion of one person, and might mean that readers skip past reviews that contain intriguing detail.

Q: How can I get a track on one of your fRoots covermount CDs?

A: The simple answer is, you can't by hyping, polite persuasion or bribery (well, nobody's come up with a sufficiently attractive bribe yet!). It doesn't make any difference if you are famous or unknown, on a major or small independent, in the UK or anywhere in the world. The fRoots CDs are compiled by fR editor Ian Anderson entirely from personal choice. The best you can do (apart from making a great record!) is send in two copies of your CD. We receive over 200-300 CDs some months, which means that many go out to reviewers without the editor having had the chance to hear them. If he's not heard it, even if it's a fantastic record and you are offering a sweeney to Fiji, there's no chance of it being considered. But don't let that stop you offering the sweeney to Fiji . . .

Q: How can I get my CD into your published Playlist chart or get it included on your fRoots Radio net radio show?

A: Much the same as the question above. Send in those two copies of your CD. If we don't have a copy remaining here to play, then (quite logically) even if it's a great record it won't be on our playlist or included in fRoots Radio

Q: What are the guidelines for posting in your web site fRoots Forum?

A: General: it's civilised to use your real name. Treat others with respect: we may remove abusive or defamatory postings. Web links and ticket booking contacts are OK but please don't include personal phone numbers or street addresses. Postings to the fRoots Forum, or extracts from them, may be reprinted in the pages of fRoots magazine. By posting here you give your permission for this. Late Breaking News postings: these are for stop press items only - newsworthy stories to report, and event news (extra gigs, tours, changes etc) coming to us too late for inclusion in the printed magazine's edition covering the month in which the event takes place. LBN postings may be edited or deleted by our staff. Please avoid using the board for straightforward advertising. Gig Reviews: should be of recent gigs only, maximum 400 words per review and restricted to the areas of music we cover in fRoots - music from anywhere that has some roots in tradition. Reviews which we believe to come from interested parties (the artist, agent, label, promoter etc) or that are musically irrelevant will be removed. All reviews are subject to editing by our staff. We strongly recommend that you compose, edit and proof read your review in your standard text processing programme and then copy it into the Forum when thoroughly checked for accuracy. That way you can also save a copy of your original. fRoots Musicians Board: use this to contact roots, world & folk musicians who are wanted / available for bands, collaborations etc. Use the PM facility for direct communications with people who have posted requests. Blatant self promotion postings touting for gigs will be removed.

Q: Is it OK to send you sound files and graphics as email attachments?

A: We'd rather you didn't, and it's to your advantage if you don't. To save the time we can spend on reading something which turns out to be junkmail, most attachments are usually deleted unopened unless from a known contributer. Photos of good enough quality for publication have large file sizes: it's OK to send them by email if specifically requested because of imminent deadlines, but it's better to post them in on a Mac-readable CDR, or place them on your web site for us to download if we really need them. Sound files can also be checked on a web site or MySpace page if we want to hear them. We NEVER listen to attached ones: experience learned the hard way shows that they are invariably crap!

Q: What do those initials IAFWAFIAWMWQ mean?

A: Old Malagasy proverb: "In a fight with a fool it's a wise man who quits."

Q: And how about ARSS?

A: fRoots office shorthand for Acoustic Rock Singer Songwriter. Pronounced as it looks.

Q: I used to play in a rock band but we never got anywhere so I bought an Ovation guitar and wrote some really cool New Age folk songs about relationships and the environment, man. Will you do a cover feature on me and help me become really famous because, like, the world owes me a living?

A: @*!%!!@@***

Q: Phew, that was a bit strong! Who the heck do you think you are anyway?

A: Read this

Q: And anyway, who the f*** does your editor think he is?

A: Not that one-legged flute player, for a start. Here's his biog...