WHY DOES A SONG NEED TO BE PROMOTED ?

Our life as musicians should be simple: 
write and record awesome songs and then wait for the world to hear them...

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple : 
Getting music, and the stories behind the songs, out into the world is just as important as writing them.

music-promotion


How do we do that? 

Music magazines and websites are our first outlet.
They can premiere our songs, interview us or write a review of our latest release...
Getting this coverage is not something we generally know how to do, and we’re unlikely to get on the cover of a magazine without having made a name for ourselves.. 

First of all, it's ok to dream big, but you'll need to start with local news sites and small blogs.
Once you secure a series of articles and bring interest to your music, you'll grow and so will your publications.


music-promotion


Rule #1: Always keep in mind that you have competition! Blogs and Magazines receive hundreds of artists and music submissions every week. They have no time to waste. 
If your email doesn't make a good impression to start with, they'll go no further and you'll never hear from them. If you didn't submit the right materials for them to write an article, they won't send you an email with a list of documents. And If your press release doesn't tell an appealing story, forget about it... 
If you contact them yourself, you'll have to be as professional and organized as you can!

Rule #2: DO YOUR RESEARCH AND LEARN WHO YOU’RE PITCHING TO 
-> look for blogs and magazine that cover artists of your size and musical style. 
-> Then look for the right person to contact. 


Rule #3: LEARN HOW TO PITCH  
-> If you’re promoting a new song or album you need to make the audio available in advance of the release date on a private link to stream the music . 
-> You'll also need to include a good quality promotional picture that is reflective of you or your band as artists. Two pictures, one landscape and one portrait, are best.
-> I advise that you include the artwork cover that goes with your single / EP / album.
-> Of course you'll need to provide an updated biography and a press release that contains the name of the artist, release date, the news you'd like them to share and a link to the song. (you can re-send this on the day of release with an updated link to the audio on streaming services). 
-> your email should look professional, straight to the point, not too long, not too short either with enough elements related to you and your release, a download link (dropbox for example) to all the documents you're sending, and all your socials/websites links to your band and music.

Monthly magazines can work anything up to three months in advance so, if your album is scheduled for a September release you need to be getting it out there in June. This gives editors time to put that month’s issue together, get a writer on the job and for that writer to file his or her piece. 
Websites are more flexible and generally accept your materials a month ahead of release.  


Here's my list of favorite blogs, they were the first to support me and my band, and I'm grateful for all the cool articles, words of encouragement, and their hard work to promote indie artists like us through their social medias, websites and networks.

- Indie Music Bus Walter and Darlene are true music passionate and write about the music they love and share it everywhere they possibly can, on socials, several websites, playlists, and even a podcast!

- RockStages Steve and Xzeem write the most technical, objective and detailed reviews of the songs they like or dislike! They are musicians and they both write and give their opinions in most of the reviews, so sometimes they disagree, and I think it's cool! :) check out their band by the way, these guys rock!! 

- Muso Muso Steve is another passionate and advocate of independent musicians! He is in the UK and even organizes festivals and shows. I don't know how his days look like but he is a busy man!

- Pete’s Rock and News Pete is a #1 supporter, he never misses a release, updates his website on a daily basis and listens to all the new music.

- Eclectic Music Lover Jeff is a lifelong music lover, his blog looks better than ever and he introduces bands and artists he passionately curated, while distilling his opinion in the finest way. He releases his Top 30 songs every week... that's at least how much music he's busy listening to!

- Underground Music Collective Gerard, the founder of UMC, is a one of a kind, inspiring character who writes quality reviews, covers diverse topics related to the industry, supervises the Quinn Spinn podcast and shares music playlists.. Besides being a strong supporter of indie music and artists stories, his journey is rich of many experiences... Read his bio, you'll feel inspired instantly!

- Tune Bubble's blog These guys are everywhere! they are hardcore promo and indie bands allies! Blogs, playlists, daily posts... You'll be happy to be part of their family too!

- Volatile Weekly Jarod is a talented photographer, music blogger and passionate. He shares all the music news of interest on his blog, and I love that it looks like a News channel website! Get in touch with him whenever you need professional pictures or to send him your press release, he's always there.

- Electric Music Magazine Paul conducts insightful and deep interviews. His passion and interest for indie artists reflect in the questions he asks them. As musicians, his questions made us think about things we thought weren't "things" and allowed us to reflect on who we are.

- KOBZR Magazine He is German and write the most fun and complete reviews about new music, and then he also shares his opinion about the song in a video on his youtube channel (in German of course!).


We wouldn't have all the coverage and attention we got if it weren't for them in the first place.


I'll get more into the details in my next posts about 
- how to write a good biography, 
- how to write a "perfect pitch" (no puns intended :) ), 
- how to write a professional press release 
and many, many, many other stuff! 
I hope you're not in a hurry, because DIY music PR will request a lot of thoughts, writing and organizations!!!


And if it's too much to handle
if you have zero patience
if you're disorganized
if you have no time for all of this
if you don't know where to start
if you have no clue what i'm talking about
if... if... if only...
Just shoot me an email, i can help ! :)


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