Writing great feedback

Artists pay for a real listen, and your feedback is the proof they got one. Write it for this song, the way you'd talk to a musician you respect.

Box 1: What's working in this song?

Name the song or artist and one specific thing you liked: a sound, a line, a moment. Artists rate specific praise highest, so start with what's working.

  • Good: "Paper Lanterns got me with the harmony that comes in on the second verse. The high part sits right on top of the guitar and makes the chorus feel twice as big."
  • Weak: "Nice track, great vibes." (It could be about any song, so it doesn't show you listened.)

Box 2: Why it isn't a fit, and what would be (passes)

Say what doesn't match this playlist (tempo, mood, genre), and what kind of song would land here right now.

  • Good: "My playlist is slow, sparse late-night stuff, and the drums here push hard from the first bar. Right now I'm looking for songs that sit way back, like a voice and one guitar."
  • Weak: "The mix is muddy and the vocal is flat." (It lists flaws, but it doesn't say why the song isn't right for this playlist or what would be.)
  • Weak: "Not a fit for us." (The artist can't learn anything from it.)

Fit beyond the sound. Sometimes the real reason isn't the sound. It might be cultural or audience fit (the scene, who the playlist is for), or where the artist is right now (release history, profile, socials). If that's the real reason, it's fine to say so in Box 2. Say it respectfully, and give the artist something they can act on.

  • Good: "Late Night Drive mostly features artists with a few releases out and an active profile. Get your next single out and pitch me again."
  • Weak: "Your follower count is too low." (They can't act on a number on its own, and it doesn't say what would fit.)
  • Never guess that a song is AI-made, or say so without real evidence.
  • Skip reasons the artist can't do anything about, like follower counts on their own.

Box 3: One idea that could take this song, or your next one, further (passes)

Something concrete they could try, like "bring the vocal forward in the chorus" or "get to the hook sooner". Frame it as what's possible, not what's wrong. Keep it on Magic Nothing: don't point them to another pitching service or a way to reach you.

  • Good: "If you want to push this one further, try getting to the chorus a little sooner. That harmony is the best moment in the song, and it's a long wait to get there."
  • Weak: "The production is bad, fix it." (It's framed as what's wrong, and it's too broad to act on.)

When it's purely about fit (passes)

If there's genuinely nothing you'd change, tick "This was purely about fit. Nothing I'd change." Box 3 goes away, and Box 2 needs a little more (at least 100 characters), so tell them what your playlist is looking for right now.

  • Good (Box 2): "Honestly, nothing I'd change here, it just isn't my playlist. Mine is slow, sparse late-night stuff, and right now I'm after quiet songs that sit way back, like a voice and one guitar or a soft piano."
  • Weak (Box 2): "Not my genre, sorry, good luck with it." (It doesn't say what the playlist is or what would fit.)

When accepting

Only Box 1 is needed. Tell them what made you add it. Artists tell us a placement means the most when the song sits where it'll be heard, not in the very last slot, and stays up for a few weeks. How you run your playlist is up to you.

When placing on another playlist

Only Box 1 is needed. Say why the other playlist suits it better. Only use this when the song genuinely fits the other playlist better, and it should be a playlist you actively curate.

When refunding

No feedback is needed. Use a refund for duplicate submissions, if the artist is already on your playlist, or to let the artist pitch to a better-fit curator.

What we ask of every review

  • Keep it respectful, even when it's a pass.
  • Write it for this song. You can't reuse a box you've already written word for word. Each box holds up to 2,000 characters.
  • Keep it on Magic Nothing. Never ask an artist to pay you, contact you or pitch you somewhere else. Sharing the link to your public playlist is fine.
  • Aim for 85% thumbs-up from artists, on your feedback and your placements.
  • Answer every submission within the window. Answering within 24 hours helps your curator score the most.

Expiry rules

When a submission expires, the artist gets their tokens back and you aren't paid for it. We'll email you about it within a day. These rules cover submissions to your playlists and to your personal curator queue.

If you're new (your first 3 submissions ever):

  • If your first submission expires, we'll send you a warning.
  • If all 3 expire, we pause your curator access.

Everyone else:

  • Formal warning: 3 submissions expire in a row, spread over at least 2 days, or more than 7% of your finished submissions expire.
  • Pause: 5 submissions expire in a row, spread over at least 2 days, or more than 10% of your finished submissions expire.
  • "In a row" means with no review in between, so one review breaks a streak. "Finished" means you reviewed it, refunded it, or it expired. The percentage looks at your last 90 days, but it never looks back before pauses started or before a reinstatement. It only applies once you have at least 20 finished submissions in that time.

For everyone:

  • We never pause you without a formal warning first, based on the same count. For new curators, that's the warning after your first expiry.
  • There are always at least 24 hours between the warning and a pause. When the 24 hours are up, we check again. If you're no longer over the pause line, there's no pause.
  • Warnings don't carry over. A warning sent before pauses started, or before a reinstatement, never counts toward a pause.
  • Some things never count as an expiry: an expiry we mark as caused by a problem on our side, and refunds that happen because the artist cancelled, because a song was released in error, or because you turned on vacation mode.
  • Vacation mode refunds whatever's waiting and stops new submissions. If you know you're going to be away, turn it on before you go. Real breaks are always fine. Switching it on again and again just before songs would expire, to dodge these rules, counts as breaking the agreement, and we'd check in with you about it.
  • Delegation: if someone else runs a playlist for you, its expiries count against the person running it, not the owner.
  • Personal-queue expiries count. Editorial reviews don't.
  • Timing: pauses start on October 21, and only expiries from that date count toward one.

What a pause means

  • A pause covers all of your curator access: the playlists you run yourself, your personal queue, and any playlist you run for someone else. Those come off the marketplace, and any songs waiting for you are refunded to the artists. If you run a playlist for someone else, that arrangement ends and the playlist goes back to its owner. If someone else runs one of your playlists for you, it keeps running with them.
  • Your earned balance is still yours, and you can still cash it out. A pause for expired submissions never holds your cashouts or takes tokens away. Tokens earned by breaking the rules, like fake reviews or reviewing your own songs, are different: while we look into something like that, cashouts may wait for a manual check, and those tokens can be held or forfeited under section 3.6 of the Creator Agreement.
  • To appeal a pause, email info@magicnothing.com within 30 days. A person reads every appeal, and we handle appeals as soon as we can. After 30 days you can still write to us, and we'll read it, but whether you come back is then up to us.
  • If we reinstate you:
    • your playlists come back switched off for submissions, and you turn accepting back on whenever you're ready
    • your counts start fresh, and you're on probation for 90 days
    • if your access is paused again during probation, under the expiry rules or for breaking the Creator Agreement, that pause is final unless we decide otherwise on appeal