Editorial Policy

Baclivelef publishes tools, creator guides, reviews, genre features and artist profiles. This policy explains the standards behind all of it. We want readers, artists and industry professionals to be able to see exactly how we work.

Our principles

• Accuracy. We only state facts we have verified, and we are open about uncertainty.
• Independence. Our opinions are our own. Nobody can pay for coverage or a positive verdict.
• Usefulness. We write to help readers make music, understand the business or find music they will love.
• Fairness. We treat artists with respect, criticise work rather than people, and correct mistakes openly.
• Originality. We write in our own words and never copy press releases, biographies or other publications.

How reviews are produced

Every Baclivelef review follows the same process:

1. Full listens. The reviewer listens to the entire release, in order, more than once, and over more than one day. We do not review music we have not heard in full.
2. Multiple devices. We listen on good headphones and on ordinary phone speakers, and on room speakers where possible, because many listeners hear music on everyday devices and production choices can sound very different across them.
3. Context research. We look at the artist’s earlier work, the scene they belong to and the credits of producers and collaborators, using primary sources.
4. Prose, not scores. We explain our conclusions in words. We do not give star ratings or numerical scores, because a single number rarely tells you whether you will enjoy a record.
5. Editing. A second person, where available, reviews each piece for accuracy, fairness and clarity before publication.

Our article how Baclivelef covers new releases explains how we choose what to review.

How guides and tools are produced

Our creator guides and tool explanations are researched from primary sources such as collection societies, industry organisations and platform documentation. Where figures vary — as royalty rates and streaming payouts do — we give ranges, explain what causes the variation and state clearly that results are estimates. We test our calculators against worked examples and explain their assumptions and limitations on every tool page.

Editorial independence

• We do not accept payment for reviews, features, artist profiles or positive coverage.
• We do not sell placements in articles or playlists.
• Advertisers, sponsors and partners have no influence over our editorial decisions, and they do not see articles before publication.
• Receiving music from an artist, label or publicist does not guarantee coverage or a favourable opinion.
• Writers must declare any personal or financial connection to an artist or company they cover, and may be removed from a piece where there is a conflict of interest.

Sources and verification

We rely on primary sources wherever possible:

• official artist and label websites and verified accounts;
• streaming service and digital store pages for titles, tracklists, credits and release dates;
• official websites of awards bodies, collection societies and industry organisations;
• the music itself, for any claim about how a record sounds.

Where only secondary sources are available, we use reputable publications and cross-check facts before relying on them. If we cannot verify a fact to a high standard, we leave it out. We do not publish rumours, leaks, unconfirmed announcements, invented quotes, fabricated statistics, chart claims we cannot verify or gossip about artists’ personal lives.

Promotional material and disclosure

Every review includes the following disclosure: “Baclivelef may receive promotional material or advance access to music. This does not guarantee positive coverage.”

Sponsored content

We may occasionally publish sponsored content. If we do, it will be clearly labelled “Sponsored” at the top of the page, kept separate from reviews, and never presented as independent editorial opinion. Sponsors cannot buy reviews. Our advertising page sets out the full rules.

AI-assisted content

We believe readers deserve to know how content is made. AI tools may be used to help draft, outline research or edit some of our content — for example, to suggest a structure for a guide or to tighten wording. When AI tools are used:

• a human editor is responsible for everything we publish, and checks facts against reliable sources before publication;
• we do not use AI to fabricate quotes, interviews, facts, statistics or sources;
• we do not use AI to write reviews of music we have not listened to — opinions in reviews come from people who have heard the music;
• we do not use AI to generate images of real artists.

How we choose artists

We prioritise emerging artists, particularly from East and Southern Africa, including Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Mozambique, Zambia and Botswana, whose music listeners are actively searching for but who have had little press coverage. We identify them using public search-interest data (for example Google Trends) and then verify each artist through their official channels and streaming profiles. Artist profiles are factual introductions, not reviews: we do not describe how music sounds in a profile unless we are reporting how the artist describes themselves. Reviews are written only after a full listen. We never link to unofficial MP3-download sites.

Lyrics

We do not reproduce song lyrics. Lyrics are protected by copyright, and reproducing them without a licence is not fair to songwriters. When discussing a song’s themes, we describe them in our own words.

Artist images

We only use images we have the right to use. Where we do not have a licensed photograph of an artist, we use an illustrative image instead, such as a stage, studio or city scene, and label it “Illustrative image, not a photograph of” the artist. Many illustrative images on Baclivelef, including article headers, are created with AI image tools. They never depict real, identifiable people and are never presented as documentary photographs of real events.

Fairness and right of reply

We aim to be fair in criticism: we critique work, not people, and we explain our reasoning. If an artist, label or representative believes we have been unfair or inaccurate, they can contact us. We will consider the concern carefully, correct any factual errors and, where appropriate, add a clarification or response. We will not change an opinion simply because someone disagrees with it.

Corrections

When we make a factual mistake, we correct it and add a note explaining the change. Read our corrections policy or email corrections@baclivelef.com.

Contact

Questions about this policy can be sent through our contact page.