BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR MUSIC: GENRES WE DON'T AIR, MP3 ONLY
We’re All About Quality Kiwi Music
We LOVE New Zealand local music. But let’s keep it top-notch.
Thanks to YOU, we’ve received over 10,000 submissions, but we’re picky, if a song doesn’t meet our standards, it’s not getting airplay. We’re here to showcase the best of Kiwi talent!
How to Submit Your Music
Format: We only accept MP3 files.
What to avoid: We don’t accept submissions with other file formats or external links - they’ll be ignored.
What we usually say "NAH" to:
Gangster Rap
Hardcore Screamo Metal
Te Reo (we prefer English songs)
Reggae and Christmas-themed music
We’re open-minded, but we want to keep the sound fresh and relevant to our audience. Keep it cool, and send us your best tracks!
“Free Review” vs “Guaranteed Play”
-
Free Submission:
Not guaranteed
Long review window
No feedback promised -
Get Featured Play:
Guaranteed rotation
Faster review (typically up to 72 hrs)
Extra exposure
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS: ROYALTIES & GENRE
Are there any royalties involved?
As a community-driven online radio station, we operate on a very limited budget and currently fall below the threshold for full online licensing.
Instead of traditional royalties, we offer free or low-cost promotion to help artists reach a wider audience. We also run a small payback scheme for New Zealand based artists, providing occasional contributions based on airplay, typically for tracks that reach our monthly Top 10 with at least 5 plays.
To protect privacy, detailed analytics and payout info are shared privately on our members’ page. Featured (paid) artists may receive priority support.
What genre / style do you prefer?
We typically avoid three specific genres: Metal Screamo, as the lyrics can be hard to decipher; Reggae, which just isn't our style; and Gangster Rap, since it often feels inauthentic to us. Aside from those, we’re open to most other genres! We do have a Quality Check in place, so if a recording sounds like a demo, is poorly recorded, or just doesn’t meet our standards, we might pass on it.
However, we generally welcome a wide range of submissions, especially those that are alternative, experimental, or underground. We also appreciate some political music for its role in promoting free speech and awareness. I hope this clarifies things for you! Feel free to reach out with any further questions.
MORE QUESTIONS WE GET ASKED
“When did we launch?”
Kiwiradio project went online in 2021, as a home for local music, we later went full-time radio broadcasting on New Zealand music month of 2026.
“Do we have to go on a LIVE STREAM for the show? Or can the show/podcast be pre-recorded?”
Ideally yes. The art of story telling is more fun when the artist is in the hot seat. However some of our international guests have strange and different time zones.
If you do want to pre-record your segment, use our voicemail function on the front welcome page (www.kiwiradio.nz), and say, 'hi this is X, and this is our song called X which is about [10 second description] - you are listening on Kiwiradio dot nz'. We can splice it together to make it fancy. Remember we like to hear what your song(s) are about. Please avoid saying 'this is my new song', instead just say 'this is my song' because your voice intros get added to our main server and that way it is not time sensitive and can continue to be played in the future.
“I hear feedback whilst being a guest on live stream.”
That means the stream is hearing audio signal twice, causing a feedback loop. Please try muting one sound source. For example, mute your computer. And only use headphones plugged into your phone. If we are interviewing you as an overseas guest, the app we use for overseas guests is just one platform, via Instagram.
“Can you stream our music directly from other streaming services?”
We can't afford those unnecessary subscriptions right now, as our budget is quite limited. Instead, we allocate our resources to maintain our radio servers. We kindly ask that you send us MP3 files for hosting on our server, as we only support that format and not WAV or others. We have unlimited server space, so feel free to send as many files as you'd like. Though as a rule of thumb, just your best three songs (radio edit singles) is best.
“How do I send a take down notice for my original song?”
We’re here to host and champion Kiwi & Indie, Unsigned, music. Our mission is simple: get local music heard. And if at any point you’d like to remove a track, just use the request form below and in the comments mention your “take down” instructions.
Thanks again for making our community airwaves brighter.