Contact Details for Media and Business Inquiries

Welcome to Our Inbox

Most of the good stories we've published started as a stranger's email. A tip about a warehouse rave in Tbilisi. A photographer in Lagos asking if we'd ever covered the local sneaker reselling scene. A reader who disagreed, loudly and well, with something we ran.

We like that. The Reference Council runs on curiosity, and curiosity tends to arrive unannounced.

So before you scroll to find the exact address, know this: we'd rather get a slightly misdirected message than no message at all. If you're not sure which category fits, pick the closest one. Someone will read it and pass it along. The sections below just help us answer faster, because the partnerships person and the press person are rarely the same human on any given week.

One small ask. Tell us who you are and what you're after in the first few lines. The inboxes get full, and clarity moves you to the top.

General Business Inquiries

This is the catch-all, and it works exactly the way you'd hope. Questions about our editorial process, requests to license something we've already run, corrections, billing on a piece of sponsored work — all of it lands in the same place.

Reach us at [email protected].

A few notes that save everyone time. If you're flagging a factual error, link the specific article and quote the line. We'd rather fix something fast than debate where it lives. If you're a vendor pitching a service, that's fine, but understand we're a small editorial shop and we move slowly on tooling.

And if you're a reader with a question that doesn't fit anywhere — about coverage, about why we cover what we cover, about the About The Reference Council page that left you wanting more, this is your door. We don't promise a same-day reply. We do promise a real one.

Press and Media Requests

Working on a deadline? Lead with it.

Journalists, producers, and researchers reaching out about our work, our coverage of a particular scene, or a quote from an editor should write to [email protected]. Put your outlet and your deadline in the subject line. We've had requests die in the queue simply because the urgency was buried later in the email.

We're generally happy to provide commentary on subculture, design, and the global music underground — the territory we actually live in. We're less useful as a generic talking head on topics outside that lane, and we'll tell you so rather than wing it. High-resolution logos and a short boilerplate are available on request; just ask in the same email and skip a round-trip.

Partnership Opportunities

Here's the honest version of how partnerships go at The Reference Council.

We say no more than we say yes, and not because the ideas are bad. It's because the ones that work share a trait: they respect the reader. A brand that wants to fund a longform series on a scene it genuinely cares about gets a real conversation. A brand that wants its logo stapled to whatever we were going to publish anyway does not.

If that distinction sounds like you, write to [email protected].

Tell us what you're trying to build, who it's for, and roughly what the timeline looks like. We've run editorial collaborations, event coverage, and a couple of multi-month documentary projects since the site found its footing, and the strongest ones always started with a clear creative premise rather than a media buy.

Two practical things. All sponsored or partnered content is labeled as such, no exceptions, because the trust of our readers is the only asset we can't replace. And before any deal closes, it's worth a read through our Terms of Service so the expectations are mutual from day one.

That's the whole map. Pick a door and knock.