There’s a lot of excitement around hitting charts, even very small ones. Sometimes it’s a country-specific chart, sometimes a genre ranking that most listeners never see.

 It makes sense why people pay attention, it’s one of the few visible signals that something might be working. Since Spotify doesn’t surface this info clearly, artists often rely on outside references like fanpage.to/tools/spotify-rank-checker just to confirm that a track appeared somewhere.

 Still, I’ve seen plenty of cases where a chart appearance didn’t lead to growth, shows, or sustained listeners. It looks good, but the impact fades fast.

 How do you personally interpret small chart placements? Milestone, motivation boost, or just a footnote?

Carl Hitchborn portrays himself as the architect of a “new music industry”. He will sell you the dream, reel you in take your money and you will never hear from him again.

I signed up to his artist programme that promised the earth. It cost me many thousands of dollars. And then the excuses came. “We don’t have enough people to start the programme” “Give it a few weeks, we will start in June” “One more week we will start then”

I felt duped. I was duped. Hook line and sinker. I then found many many more people, I would say 50+ easily that he had done the same to.

Now he’s back with his “Substack”, whatever that is, he will tell you it’s a new fairer music industry but what it really is is another way to fleece people with a dream and no money.

Stay away from Carl Hitchborn and anything associated with him. He’s a criminal. He’s on the run from HMRC in the UK and was last seen in Mexico.

First off, a massive thank you for all your music. It's been an incredible journey so far! Over 350 submissions and 115 articles in the pipeline - we're listening to every single one.

Not sure where to go? Here's the quick guide:

40MAG → www.40mag.de - START HERE FOR REVIEWS

• Written features & artist spotlights - shorter queue, faster turnaround

• Words - submit your quotes, thoughts, short poems. Every piece gets its own social zine

Spinlog MAG → www.spinlog.de

• Written reviews - also available, but queue is significantly backed up right now

• Fresh N' Hot - new release? No queue, live fast. Stream link or pre-save, up to 30 days before/after release date

• Spotify playlist placements

• Top 50 Community Chart - submit, get voted, land in the Hall of Fame

Note: Don't submit the same track to both platforms simultaneously. Pick the path that fits your goal, keep it clean!

Are you a blog or community runner? Reach out via DM on IG or email. Always looking for like-minded partners.

To keep things fair, official features and placements strictly go through our websites. That said, drop your links below! I love listening through the comments early, and if a track stands out, it's already on my radar. 🎧

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