Reviews

How To Send Us Your Album For Review On DPRP

Last updated: 26 October 2020

Please read the guidelines on this page before submitting any material!

In this section:

Customs Declaration Form CN22

In short: sending material for review purposes falls under "Promotional Material" with no or low value!

When sending promotional material from outside the EU to our addresses in Holland or Sweden, or from the EU to our address in the UK, the package requires a CN22 form. These are available at the post office or agency, or online.

Please keep these suggestions in mind:

Item category: use "promotional material", do NOT use "gift" and preferably not "commercial sample"!
Description: the contents, so "CD", "DVD", "book", etc.
in the Description field, you could also write "promotional material, no commercial value"
Value: 0, or the promotional value (something like 2 USD/EUR/GBP per promo item)

If you use any other values for the category or value, we are being charged to pay extra taxes, so we will not collect the package.

Postal Address

Depending on where you are in the world we have three contact addresses for submissions of physical review material. Pick the one that is the most convenient for you.

Netherlands: DPRP - c/o Jan Buddenberg
Keverdijk 51
1411 SK Naarden
Netherlands
UK: DPRP - c/o Mark Hughes
19 Hayfield Road
New Mills
High Peak
Derbyshire, SK22 4JB
UK
Sweden: DPRP - c/o Jerry van Kooten
Kolforsen 39
816 93 Ockelbo
Sweden
T&T: jerry.vankooten@dprp.net (for Track & Trace to the Swedish address)

EU, UK and Brexit, Other Countries

From the UK, make sure the package has the Customs Declaration CN 22 form. Make sure the Contents section has the "commercial sample" box checked, the Description has the words "promotion copies" or "promotional", and the value is £ 5 or something, reflecting the production costs and not the retail price.

Contact Via Email

To Bands, Promoters, and Record Labels: for all questions and inquiries regarding reviews and the reviews process, please use the following email address:

Review Process

Review items are distributed among an international team of reviewers. Please submit letters and press information sheets in English only, even when sending to our Dutch or Swedish postal addresses. Thank you!

All submissions are then added to a Pipeline of releases from which the Team Members are allocated albums for review.

Remember to include any supporting material and contact details etc., especially web addresses such as Official Website, Bandcamp, Facebook, MySpace, Soundcloud, YouTube Channel, Instagram, record label, etc. If you are sending us a CD/DVD please drop us an email, so we can look out for it - things do sometimes get lost in the post!

Artists are also encouraged to send any extra information like an EPK, either via email or download link. Most of us do like to get a little background information. We also like to spice up our articles with an extra photo here and there.

Please DO NOT bombard all the Team Members with emails regarding your release! It is very irritating and unlikely to win you any favours.

Review Policy

Please read the following guidelines before submitting your material for reviewing:

DPRP will not review album streams (Spotify, Youtube, Haulix, etc.).
DPRP will not review demos.
DPRP will not review singles, single track releases, or videos of a single song.
Most reviewers will not review from MP3s. Some might listen to MP3s of 320 kbps, but chances are it will take a long time before an album enters the next stage of being reviewed. Lower quality will not be used for reviews.
DPRP will only review CD/DVDs that fall into the Progressive Rock, or related genres, and retains the right not to review material outside of this remit.
DPRP will only review CD/DVDs that are available to the general public, either through a distributor or a website.
DPRP try to review all received material as soon as possible and a Review Update normally appears twice a week.

Please take note:

We understand digital albums are taking over physical CD releases. It makes promotion cheaper and easier, too. Several reviewers have Bandcamp accounts. While sending a physical CD was very common, for an album that is available on Bandcamp, sending a Bandcamp code would be the best thing to do, so the reviewer will actually get the item in their collection.

Our Rating System

DPRP use a ten-point rating system. Until early 2021, also half-points were used.

A division into ten points might sound clear, but we get a lot of questions anyway, so here's the breakdown.

10 — the ultimate, ranks with the top classic albums of all time
9 — brilliant, one of your top 5 of the year
8 — excellent, recommended to all
7 — very good, a worthy album that you will return frequently
6 — good, an enjoyable album, not brilliant but with many good moments
5 — OK, an interesting album, but not consistent throughout
4 — below average, some redeeming value, but not much
3 — bad, wouldn't want to review another album by them
2 — very bad, hardly worth reviewing
1 — atrocious - reviewed in attempt to spare anyone else having to listen to it

As you can see, even a 7 is a pretty good album!

Please realise that the ratings are subjective. One reviewer's 5 is another's 9. And one reviewer's 9 might be something one reader knows to avoid.

Ratings are also from the point of view of a reviewer whose taste has a big overlap with progressive rock but not necessarily with all the sub-genres.

Don't just look at the ratings, read the review. Returning visitors will learn about the taste of the reviewers and will be able to interpret a reviewer's description and ratings better.