As you’ve seen over time, you can get paid writing just about anything that exists under the sun. And, now you are going to learn about sites where you can earn to write about music.

Chances are you listen to music, you have a favorite musician, and know almost everything about that person and his or her genre, or you simply have a real passion for music. Wherever you fall along that spectrum, there are websites that welcome your article ideas and expertise in different forms.

Without further ado, here are eight websites that pay you to write about music.

1. Electronic Sound Magazine

Electronic Sound is a print and digital magazine about contemporary electronic music and culture. They want in-depth interviews with established electronic artists and the up and comers, as well as reviews of latest music gear, the latest records, and a load of other stories from around the electronic world.

Pay: According to Whopayswriters.com, they pay $0.21 per word for 750-word essays, editorials, opinion pieces or columns.

They do not have defined pitching guidelines on their page but you can read a lot of their previous articles to get a sense of their style of writing.

To contact them, please refer to this page.

2. GRAMMYs/Recording Academy 

GRAMMYs / Recording Academy is a society of music professionals. They’re seeking pitches about “diverse artists, genres, and musical communities with national relevance.” According to their pitch guide, they’re mainly seeking “larger culture features and lists highlighting the intersection of music with broader issues such as politics, history, health and technology.” They’re also looking for artist interviews, artist “discoveries”, and evergreen features/lists.

Pay: Rates are $250 to $500 per piece.

To read their pitch guide, click here.

3. Paste Magazine 

Paste Magazine publishes articles about music, TV, video games, and comedy. In their words, “Paste Magazine focuses on signs of life in music, movies, TV, video games, comedy, books, tech, travel, drink and politics. We focus on a variety of musical genres—whatever else we think will grab music-lovers seeking something a little deeper. ”

Pay: Previous reports indicate they pay .05 to .10 cents per word.

To learn more, contact their editors here, and read their submission guidelines here.

4. REMEZCLA

Remezcla is an independent media brand and a creative agency that covers emerging Latin music, entertainment, and culture. They also have a newsletter that they frequently post on. So maybe, when you are pitching, you could mention that you would like to be a frequent writer for their newsletter, as well.

Pay:  According to one of their editors, Lyra Hale, the pay rate for short news posts starts at $50 and other articles start at $100+ depending on the word count.

To contact them, visit this page.

5. DJ Mag

DJ Mag is a British monthly magazine and website about electronic dance music and DJs.

Pay Rate: Concerning payments, they’ve varying payments for different article pieces, as follows;

Music columns (500 words) earn £180.

Live event reviews (1200–1800 words) pay £240–£360.

Short “Bubblers” pieces (150 words) receive £30.

“Get To Know” articles (600 words) get £120.

“At Home With” features (2400 words) pay £480.

 “Game Changer” articles (1800–2200 words) pay £360–£440.

They pay 20 pence per word for longform features.

To pitch, refer to this page.

6. Catalog

Catalog is a curated music marketplace that has generated over $3 million in revenue for independent artists. They welcome pitches for articles that tie into at least one Catalog record, or that address topics such as thoughtful essays and debates on music/web3, profiles highlighting under-appreciated artists and music communities, and oral histories of influential and beloved musical works. Hence, try to find a good story that fits one of these themes, and pitch it to them.

Pay: The rate is $200 per piece, with articles ranging from 1,200 to 3,000 words.

For more information on how to pitch, please refer to their editorial pitches page.

7. Level Music

Level is a new platform for independent musicians. They are always seeking new voices to write about music topics that matter to their artist community.

Pay: According to payment reports, their rates start at $250. They pay more for longer pieces.

To become a contributing writer for their blog, refer to their contributor page.

8. Van Magazine

VAN is an online classical music magazine. They are always looking for exciting and insightful classical music journalism. In their words, “We love strong personalities and radical points of view, and cover everything from the first documented music to the latest world premieres.” So try to avoid the usual, conventional, flowery music stories when pitching the Van Magazine.

Pay: According to one payment report (Whopayswriters.com), they pay $0.08 per word for a 1,200-word feature. To contact them, refer to this page.

While these sites are active now, they may not always be looking for writers, so please don’t wait. Cook up a wonderful music story idea that you would like to read specific to their niche, and you might just get a response.

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Samuel Peters is a content generalist writing on everything from nature to politics to psychology and science and the beautiful art of writing, itself. He also dabbles into poetry and dark fiction at times. When he isn’t writing, he’s at college studying for an English degree.