The Undercover Band

An essential question for your success! As much as artists need a PR at some point in their career,  most of them actually  don't know what a PR does.  They often  confuse " promotion " and " marketing " and have misconceptions  in this entire area, and what they pay for. That's why I decided to wear my PR jacket and explain the best that I can  the differences between them, so  you can make the best decision for your next campaign,  to set the right goals and the right budget. Music promotion has changed completely from what it used to be 20 years ago, which could explain the confusion!  Originally, music marketing and promotion were one concept, designed to get to sell as many CDs as possible.  Must-Read: WHAT DOES A PITCH LOOKS LIKE? Music promotion has changed with time, how will you adapt to it? MUSIC PROMOTION Music promotion is handled by a P.R., also called a Publicist. How was  it  before the internet e...

I used to send mp3 and wav. files to radio stations, thinking that was enough to get airplay. And I thought that having the songs "properly tagged" was just about the name of the file.  Well, I was wrong, and wrong! and because of that : 1: we probably missed a lot of opportunities for airplay , as many radio stations just ignore the files that are not properly tagged (and they won't waste their time fixing them) 2: there are royalties we'll never get. When we got airplay from a file that wasn't properly tagged, it didn't make the connection to Soundexchange, or other royalties collection programs. In the radio world, metadata is information attached to audio tracks. It typically indicates a track title, contributing artist(s), album title, and publishing year. Why is that information important? Metadata helps the radio DJ search and find tracks, jingles, and other audio easily within his/her library. It also helps his/her listeners identify what t...

Submitting music to radio can usually be done online, through the stations websites or via email.  But some radios still do it the old school way : by mail only.  Many of them are important stations you don't want to miss! That's why the physical submissions shouldn't be ignored and deserve the extra effort. Before the online submissions to radios, you should plan accordingly and send the "physical submissions". That effort comes before your submit your music to radios online, because you need to consider the time frame of CD manufacturing, paper printing, going to the post office and getting the mail opened by the stations music directors. Must-Read: MY TIPS TO WRITE THE PERFECT BAND BIOGRAPHY Here comes another set of materials! You really don't need to make it fancy and spend too much money on enveloppes, paper, pictures, CD case not even CD's. My advice: go straight to the point, and send the essential. A red enveloppe and the most expensi...

Either you submit your music to online blogs, printed magazines, playlists, radios or podcasts, you need to send a "pitch"... But for the last time, what is a "pitch"? Think about the best way to sell a new product, but instead you're promoting your music..! It's basically the email you're sending to the blogs, magazines, playlists, radios, podcasts, etc In this email, and in a few phrases, you'll present the best way possible your new release, with catchy words and the best highlights (for example that your new song was produced by a Grammy award winner super famous guy). Must-Read: How to Get the Most Out of Your Radio Airplay? The content of this email (or pitch) is combined with a shorter version of your press release.  It has to make people want to listen to your music, or intrigued, or curious, or like you even before they heard your music. (it's the most difficult part!) This email should look professional, straight to the poi...

Radio plugging is very different compared to online promotion and blog submissions. It's very competitive and national radio stations have limited shows that play out emerging and unsigned artists.  Must-Read: THE PERFECT CALENDAR FOR YOUR NEXT RELEASE It’s difficult but it’s possible, so keep reading!  Here's how I submit music to radios : 1) Choose one song   In the Blogs submission email, you may be pitching a full EP or Album, but  with radio, you only need to pitch one track   so don’t send a link to a full album ; producers don’t have the time to listen to the full thing to choose which track is their favorite.  But if you feel your EP/Album has multiple styles throughout, that’s when you can look at promoting more than one song. If one track is a commercial pop and the other is a dance remix, you can push the remix to dance stations, giving you more areas to connect with and therefore more radio plays. The single that  you  cho...