This page explains what is paid for on Music Industry Weekly and what is not. We publish it because most outlets do not, and because the honest answer is a better sales pitch than the alternative.
The short version
Artist Spotlight is advertising. Everything else is editorial. Every Spotlight carries a Sponsored Advertorial label above the headline, before you read a word of it. Editorial coverage cannot be bought, and buying a Spotlight does not make us more likely to cover you elsewhere.
What a Spotlight is
A paid, permanent, indexed feature article about you, published on this site and labeled as advertising. It is written to a professional standard and it stays up. It is the kind of thing that belongs in a press kit, on a booking pitch, or in front of a label or sync supervisor who wants to see that someone took you seriously enough to write about you properly.
What a Spotlight is not
It is not a promotional campaign. It is not fan acquisition. It is not a guarantee of streams, followers, or press pickup elsewhere. We do not sell traffic, and we will not quote you an audience number to close a sale.
If what you need is reach, buy reach. Advertising platforms sell it, they measure it, and they will show you the numbers. We would rather tell you that than take your money for the wrong thing.
How we label
Paid articles carry the words Sponsored Advertorial in a visible band above the headline. Not in the footer, not in small grey text at the end, not buried in a tag. The United States Federal Trade Commission asks that disclosures be difficult to miss and easily understood, and a label a reader only finds after reading the article fails that test. Ours appears before the headline, at readable size, on every paid article.
A note on our archive
Music Industry Weekly published paid Spotlights for several years without labeling them. That was wrong, and in 2026 we labeled the archive rather than quietly deleting it. Articles that were paid for are now marked as paid, including old ones. We also removed several bylines that did not correspond to real people.
We would rather publish that paragraph than hope nobody notices. A publication that sells placement has exactly one asset worth protecting, and it is not traffic.
Corrections
If we publish something inaccurate, tell us and we will correct it and say that we did. Email editorial@musicindustryweekly.com.
Legal analysis
Articles published under the MIW Legal byline are written and reviewed by a licensed attorney admitted in Texas and Virginia. They explain how music agreements work in general terms. They are not legal advice, they are not a substitute for your own counsel, and reading them creates no attorney-client relationship.