Experts in Residence – Prepare Your Pitch with Sarah Hamilton

Published 21st October, 2025

Are you preparing correctly to give your releases the best chance on DSPs?

There’s a lot of debate over the worth and relevance of playlists and the value of streaming generally. Editorial vs algorithmic. Passive plays vs active. There’s a lot of nuance to this, but the fact remains that streaming is the dominant form of music consumption these days and also, for many, an important form of music discovery.

Therefore, you want to ensure that you are set-up correctly, that you are using what data you have to best leverage your release and that your pitches are designed to tell your story and attract attention. With this in mind, VMDO is pleased to offer six people a free one-hour consultation with DSP specialist Sarah Hamilton of Golden Hour.

Golden Hour is a music consulting agency created by Sarah Hamilton, who has over 15 years experience in the digital side of the music industry. Sarah has been a part of the rise of streaming and digital music in Australia since it first began, and wants to help artists and others navigate this space.

What is covered in a consult: 

- any particular struggles or questions from you relating to distribution and metadata

- Release rollout and strategy conversation

- playlist audit

- playlist targets and any additional opportunities with platforms

- team recommendations

- initial social media and marketing conversations

- DSP/platform profile review and tips, increasing organic streams 

- data review and understanding what that data means 

- any other issues - metadata clean up etc

To apply, fill in the form via the button below. Applications are open to artists, labels, managers and anyone who has reason to prepare a pitch. We particularly welcome applications from those with multiple artists who can take the learnings and use them regularly. We also welcome applications from musicians and professionals from communities with whom we don’t usually work. Applications close on November 10th at noon and we will contact successful applicants that week. Consultations will occur at a mutually agreed time in the following weeks.

KEY DATES

• Tues 21 October 2025: EOI open

• Mon 10 November 2025, 12pm: EOI closes

• One on One sessions to be arranged in November/ December