How to Submit Your Music to BacXtage: A Step-by-Step Guide

Short answer: Go to the Talent Submission page, choose your category (singer, musician, producer, dancer, filmmaker, photographer, editor or creator), choose the type of work (song, demo, cover, beat, video or portfolio), paste one shareable link, and tell us in a few lines what you make and what you are building next. Submission is free.

Who should submit to BacXtage?

BacXtage is built for people who make things: voices, players, producers, dancers, filmmakers, photographers, editors and creators. Online discovery is the first step of a wider pipeline that will also include auditions through city tours, invitations, monthly contests and college competitions.

If you do not have work to show yet but want to be part of the network, the community application is the better door. Community is about people and connections; talent submission is about your work.

Step 1: Choose your strongest single piece

Send the one piece that best shows what you do, not everything you have ever made. A single strong song, beat or reel is easier to listen to properly than a playlist of twelve. If you are torn between two, send the one that sounds most like you rather than the one that sounds most like the charts.

Step 2: Pick the right submission type

The form asks what you are sending. Choosing correctly tells us how to listen:

• Song — a finished, mixed original.
• Demo — an original idea that is not fully produced yet. Voice-and-guitar or voice-and-piano is fine.
• Cover — your interpretation of an existing song. Tell us what you changed.
• Beat — an instrumental or production showcase.
• Video — a performance, dance piece or film.
• Portfolio — a body of visual work: photography, editing or direction.

Not sure whether your track is a demo or a finished song? Our guide Demo, cover or finished track? walks through the difference.

Step 3: Make your link work for anyone

A link that asks for permission is the most common reason a good submission goes unheard. Before you paste it:

1. Open the link in a private or incognito browser window. If you can hear or see the work without signing in, you are good.
2. For Google Drive, set sharing to Anyone with the link can view.
3. For YouTube, “unlisted” is fine; “private” will not work.
4. Use one link. If you need to share several files, put them in one folder or playlist.

Step 4: Write a short, specific note

The “Tell us about your work” box is where you become a person rather than a link. Three or four sentences is plenty. Tell us who you are and where you are based, what you made and who you made it with, and what you want to do next. Specific beats impressive: “I am a Lucknow-based singer trained in Hindustani classical, this is my first original, and I want to record with a live band” tells us far more than a list of adjectives.

Step 5: Submit, then keep creating

After you press submit you will see a confirmation on the page. Every submission is heard, and we reach out by email when there is a fit for a release, a session, a showcase or a collaboration. While you wait, keep releasing and keep performing — and follow @thebacxtagecommunity for open calls.

What do we listen for?

We are not looking for a finished star; we are looking for a voice. The things that make us listen twice are honesty in the performance, a clear identity, craft that is improving from one upload to the next, and an artist who knows what they want to say. Season 1 deliberately paired legendary voices with new ones — Arman Ahmad on “Damadam Mast Qalandar” alongside Shaan and Rais Anis Sabri is one example — and that is the kind of opportunity the pipeline is built to create.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Sending a link that needs permission to open.
• Submitting a cover with no note about your interpretation.
• Uploading a phone video with the music too quiet to hear the vocal.
• Submitting the same work repeatedly. One clear submission is better than five.

Ready? Open the submission form.