Hey everyone,

I’m looking for some advice on how to navigate Reddit's culture around self-promotion. I’ve been a daily user on this account for a decade (my original account was my real name), but I’ve almost entirely been a lurker, just reading and upvoting from the shadows.

Recently, I’ve been building a passion project. It's essentially a decentralized public utility for underground music. An ad-free, data-mining-free, and paywall-free web app meant to automate "the hunt" for small venues and artists in local scenes. The entire goal is to bring back the feel of the old internet and 2000s zine culture using new tech.

Because it’s a grassroots movement, community and music subreddits are exactly where I feel this needs to live. But since my post history is practically non-existent over the last 10 years, I’m worried that dropping a link will make me look like a corporate bot or a spammer. I know Reddit fiercely (and rightfully) protects its communities from relentless self-promo.

How should I go about sharing this authentically?

• Should I reach out to subreddit mods before making any posts?
• Is there a specific way I should frame my posts to show I'm just a solo dev trying to build a free tool for the scene?
• Do I need to spend a few weeks building up a recent comment history first before I even mention the project?

Any advice on how to get the word out genuinely without stepping on toes would be hugely appreciated!

P.S. Looking for alpha testers immediately. Let me know in your comment if you'd be willing to help me out with that.