Welcome, Joeys — KoalaQueue is officially live 🐨

G’day, Joeys. KoalaQueue is officially live — signups open, payments on, curators listening. If you have been waiting for the gate to open: it is open, and the kettle is on.

A joey is a young koala, and it is what we call everyone who is new here. Every artist starts as one. So does every curator. Nobody gets a head start for having a bigger playlist or a bigger budget, and that is on purpose.

What is in the patch today

For artists. Sign up and 5 free credits are waiting. Pick curators by genre and reach, see the price before you send, and get a written review — at least 20 words from somebody who listened for 60 seconds — inside 72 hours, or the credits come back on their own. You can also pitch free 3 times a week to curators who take free pitches.

For curators. $0.50 for every credit a review cost, the same whether you add the track or pass on it. Nothing here pays you to say yes, which is the only reason your yes is worth anything. The first 50 curators approved wear the Founding Curator badge for good.

For everyone. The charts are live — the tracks curators are actually adding, and the curators artists can count on, ranked on reliability rather than on how often they say yes. Your crate keeps your releases, collection and wantlist in one place. And Koala Radio is on loop for when you are working through a queue.

Do you have the koala-fications?

We are looking for curators. Not the biggest playlists — the most honest ones. If you run a list people really listen to, hear every track to the end of its first minute, and can say in twenty plain words why it is or is not for you, you have the koala-fications. Apply here; ownership is checked through Spotify, and a person looks at every application.

What we are planting next

A patch grows one tree at a time. Over the coming months we are building out more genres and more curators in each of them, so there is always somebody right for your track; fuller charts as the reviews add up; and more ways for a good review to turn into a fan, not just a verdict. We would rather do a few things properly than many things loudly — you will hear about each one here when it is real, not before.

And we want to hear from you. Something confusing, something missing, something you love? Write to us from the contact page. Every message is read by a person.

Where to start

Artists: claim your free credits and send your first pitch. Curators: apply. Just here for the music: make a crate and follow the artists you find.

Welcome to the gum tree, Joeys. Let’s build this patch together. 🐨🌿