# The One-Line Pitch for Your Song > Curators, blogs and playlisters decide from one sentence. The formula that works, four examples, and the words that get a submission deleted. [All guides](/blog) # The One-Line Pitch for Your Song Published 22 August 2026, 18:00 UTC · updated 12 August 2026, 21:30 UTC · by Loopin A curator reads one sentence before deciding. Two reference points and one concrete detail beats every adjective you were going to use. ## The formula *[Genre] for people who like [artist A] and [artist B], recorded [concrete detail].* That is it. "Bedroom pop for people who like Clairo and Alex G, recorded on one microphone in a bathroom." Two reference artists locate the sound faster than any description, and the concrete detail gives the curator something to write about if they use it. Both are doing work; adjectives are not. ## Cut every adjective Atmospheric, ethereal, raw, honest, unique, genre-bending, emotional. These appear in almost every submission, which means they carry no information — a curator reading forty pitches a day has learned to skip past them entirely. The test: if the word could appear in somebody else's pitch without changing it, delete it. What survives is usually a genre, two names and a fact. ## Pick references one tier above you, not five Comparing yourself to an artist with eighty million listeners reads as either delusion or laziness. An artist with two million reads as self-awareness, and it also tells the curator which playlist you would actually fit on. Two references maximum. Three or more reads as somebody who has not decided what they are, and the curator has to do the deciding. ## Put the timestamp in If your song has a moment, say where it is: "the drums come in at 0:48". Curators listen to submissions for a few seconds each, and telling them where to skip to is a small kindness that measurably increases the odds of a full listen. It also works as a self-check. If you cannot name a moment worth skipping to, the song may not have one yet, and that is worth knowing before you send forty emails. ## Reuse it everywhere The same line goes in playlist submissions, blog emails, your Spotify pitch, your press kit, and the caption when you post the song. Consistency means the description of your record is the same everywhere somebody might encounter it, which is most of what a small artist can do about positioning. Rewrite it once per release, in about ten minutes, before you send anything. Writing it fresh in every email is how the description drifts and how three different versions of you end up on the internet. ## Frequently asked questions ### How do you pitch a song in one sentence? Genre, two reference artists, and one concrete detail: "Bedroom pop for people who like Clairo and Alex G, recorded on one microphone in a bathroom." Reference points locate the sound faster than any description. ### What words should I avoid in a music pitch? Atmospheric, ethereal, raw, honest, unique, genre-bending, emotional. If a word could appear in somebody else's pitch unchanged, it carries no information and gets skipped. ### Which artists should I compare myself to? One tier above you — around two million monthly listeners, not eighty. It reads as self-awareness rather than delusion, and it tells the curator which playlist you would fit on. Two names maximum. ## Related reads - [The DM that actually gets a reply](/blog/the-dm-that-gets-a-reply) - [How to submit music to Spotify playlists](/blog/how-to-submit-music-to-spotify-playlists) - [How to message a producer](/blog/how-to-message-a-producer) --- Source: https://onloopin.com/blog/the-one-line-pitch