LabelRating

About

Independence charter

Last updated : 02/10/2026

LabelRating exists for one reason: to let artists find out what working with a label is really like before they sign anything. Signing a contract often commits several years of an artist's career. Today, information about how labels actually behave travels by word of mouth, among insiders. This site makes that information public.

We are not paid, and we refuse to be. LabelRating accepts no payment, no commission, no paid partnership, no exchange of services and no gifts from any label, distributor, manager, publisher, or anyone acting on their behalf.

1. What we do not sell

To leave no room for doubt, here is the explicit list of what is not for sale on this site, and never will be:

  • Removing, editing or hiding a negative review.
  • Promoting a label in the rankings, in search results or on the home page.
  • A paid "badge", "certification" or "verified label" marker of any kind.
  • Advertising, sponsored content or product placement.
  • Any veto or preview right for a label over reviews about it.
  • The site's data, in any form.

If a label tells you it has a commercial arrangement with LabelRating, that is false. Please report it to us.

2. Our conflict of interest, stated plainly

LabelRating is published by Rylaris Music Group, which is also a music label. In other words: the publisher of this site is among the companies this site lets you rate. That is a genuine conflict of interest, and staying quiet about it would be exactly what we criticise the industry for.

So we declare it in three places: here, in the footer of every page, and in a notice shown directly on that label's own page. You don't have to go looking for it — it is written where you read the reviews.

Concretely, here are the rules we hold ourselves to, and on which you can judge us:

  • Same scoring formula. Rylaris Music Group's score is computed by the same code as any other label's. There is no coefficient, bonus or correction anywhere in the program.
  • No negative review deleted. A review criticising the publisher goes through the same moderation as any other. It is removed only if it breaks the rules set out in section 5 — the same rules, applied the same way.
  • No promotion. The publisher's label is not pinned, not lifted in the rankings, not favoured in search. It sits wherever its score puts it.
  • Open to challenge. If you believe a review concerning us was handled unfairly, write to us. A challenge on this specific point is legitimate and expected.

One honest caveat, because it matters: moderation is currently carried out by the publisher itself. So we do not claim to be a neutral third party — we claim to be transparent about what we are, to apply the same rules to everyone, and to make our failures visible and contestable. That is the only promise we can keep today, and we would rather put it that way than sell you an independence we do not have.

3. How a label enters the catalogue

Label pages are created only by the LabelRating team. Artists cannot create pages themselves: this rule prevents duplicates, joke entries and fake companies set up to game the reviews. If a label is missing, any artist can request it: we verify that it exists, then we add it.

A label cannot ask to be removed from the catalogue because it dislikes its reviews. It can, however, report a factual error on its page (name, country, year, website), and we will correct it.

4. How reviews are checked

Every review is read by a human moderator before publication. No review appears automatically. We apply the following controls:

  • Proof of collaboration required. Every review must come with a link to a release made with the label (Spotify, Bandcamp, Discogs…). We open that link and check the artist really appears on it. It is the strongest control available: a name can be invented, a discography much less so.
  • Artist name required — displayed publicly or not. Moderation always knows who the author is. The artist may however ask for their name not to appear on the site: the review then shows "Verified artist". This option exists because the industry is small, and fear of retaliation would otherwise erase the most useful accounts. A review that is anonymous to the public is never anonymous to us — it is verified like any other, or it is not published.
  • Anti-robot protection on every form (captcha), plus invisible traps for automated scripts.
  • Submission limits per device over a given period, to block mass campaigns.
  • Duplicate detection: the same device cannot post several reviews of the same label.
  • Content analysis: texts stuffed with links, repetitive text, or known spam patterns are filtered out.

5. What gets a review rejected

  • An experience that is not yours (second-hand or invented).
  • Insults, threats, discriminatory content or personal attacks.
  • Disclosure of private data: staff names, confidential clauses, figures covered by an NDA, personal contact details.
  • A review obviously written by the label itself (self-promotion) or by a competitor.
  • Advertising or promotional content disguised as a review.
  • A serious accusation presented as established fact that its author cannot stand behind. Criminal matters belong in court, not on a review site.

A rejected review is never published. A published review can be taken down later if new information shows it breaks these rules.

6. What we cannot guarantee

We read every review, but we cannot verify the truth of every statement: we have no access to contracts, royalty statements or private exchanges between an artist and a label. Published reviews are the personal opinions of their authors, not findings established by LabelRating. Read them as such: one account among others, to be cross-checked with your own research and, for any contractual commitment, with a qualified legal professional.

7. Privacy

The site collects no personal data: no accounts, no email addresses, no advertising trackers, no analytics. The artist name you enter is published because that is the whole point of a signed review; what you put there is your choice. Full details are in the privacy policy.

8. Reporting a problem

Think a review is fake, defamatory or paid for? Found an error on a label page? Write to contact@rylarismusic.com with the URL concerned and the reason. Every report is reviewed, including those from labels.