Every artist, unknown or well-known, should have a PR strategy incorporated into their marketing plan. Everyday, entrepreneurial artists find themselves in need of a way to get more people tuned into their sound, but have no idea how to make it happen.
Need more advice? Read other chapters of our Artist Guide here.
The Artist's Essential Guide to Hip-Hop is presented by Squarespace, the simplest way to register a domain and create a beautiful website.
Start your free trial today by visiting squarespace.com/A3C. When you’re ready to go live, use offer code A3C17 to save 10% on your first purchase.
Music publicity, like building a fan base, takes time, dedication and effort. With a bit of foresight, organization and grit, you can get the results you need to help advance your career.
Finding new people to listen to your music and care about your career is very difficult without some sort of press coverage. You can and should build a fanbase before you go after press, but targeting writers/bloggers and social media influencers should always be part of your plan. The right post or article can make all the difference, but it’s usually consistent coverage over a certain range of time that advances an artist to the next level.
Here are a couple reasons why press is important.
Not all fans are created equal. The most die-hard music fans that buy tickets, spend money on merchandise and tell their friends about new music also read music blogs. You want to reach avid music fans and listeners.
If you find your way onto one buzzing music blog, that link alone will help you get on others. It’s the snowball effect: bloggers are always looking for the latest releases on other sites .
Media sites are still tastemakers and gatekeepers. Consistently landing content on popular music sites is crucial for securing other opportunities with labels, brands and shows. If you want to present yourself to a new fan, a link to a recent article or featured post is going to attract more attention than your website or social media links.
It’s an immediate... “Oh cool, that site is a fan of him/her”
Why should you care about the business of blogging and websites? Like it or not, you (the artists) is dead smack in the middle of it. If you don’t understand the relationship behind the artist and media, then you won’t understand how or why you provide value to the website AND vice versa.
Websites survive on traffic. It’s no secret they make money on paid advertising, and the more eyeballs they have on their content, the better. Sometimes a group of smaller sites will form larger networks in order to sell more advertising dollars, negotiate better rates and sell custom partnership packages.
Artist’s content drives traffic to the websites. Organic search, direct links and social media account for nearly ALL of the traffic to a website, and usually, in that order. You can actually research all of this on www.SimilarWeb.com.
A sad truth for most up-and-coming artists is that their content will most often be scrolled over. Even after securing a placement, you may not get the views or streams you were hoping for. Press can help you grow your fanbase, but it generally doesn’t happen with the first few posts. A fan usually sees/hears an artist's name 10 times before they become interested enough to listen or watch.
There is a very symbiotic relationship between music blogs and the artists they feature.
If you can drive a lot of traffic, websites need you more than you need them.
If you can’t drive traffic, websites are helping generate interest and exposure.
Think of this analogy…
If an artist that can bring fans to a venue for a show, then they are valuable to the promoter.
If an artist can’t bring any fans to a venue for a show, than the promoter is helping the artist get more exposure.
Weather online or in person, the artist’s value is determined by how many people they can get to a location or to click on a link… it’s that simple.
You won’t have any success without doing your homework. You can not replace the upfront research it takes to finding the right sites and writers. Follow these steps and you’ll be on your way to getting press placements on your own:
For $0 and only a few hours, you now have the names and emails of every trafficked site that may post your videos or music. You also have the writer's name and twitter accounts that may like your stuff.
Your fan base and ultimately the quality of your content will be the most important factors writers will consider before posting your content. However, you can increase your chances by reaching out to media correctly. Here are a few tips:
Include the name of the media outlet (and name of the writer if you have it) in the body of your email. Introduce who you are and get to the point as quickly as possible or you’ll lose them. Include all of the necessary links and attach artwork.
Before someone can click play, they have to see something. Great graphics can make all the difference in the world. In addition to getting more press placements, you’ll also receive more views, clicks and likes once your content is posted.
Here come the accolades. If you have a large social media following, boatloads of Soundcloud streams, recent high quality media coverage, a popular YouTube video or just signed to a respected label, make sure you seamlessly weave in a few impressive details that outline why the publication should be interested
Writers and editors are extremely busy people who are constantly working. They get hundreds of emails a day from publicists and artists. Therefore, you should never make a writer work to get any information they may need. An electronic press kit will help organize your information so they can immediately access your music and quickly get a sense of who you are.
And just in case these things aren’t already in your EPK, every press release should include:
Editors work ‘round the clock, so always thank them for their time. As you wrap things up, let them know when you’re looking to secure the placement and that you’ll be following up prior to that date.
Bonus: For an in depth how-to, check out The FADER’s genius step-by-step guide to getting your music posted on websites.
If you’ve finally gotten a post from a website that you’d like to build with, promote the hell out of your post. If a site posts your music, and it doesn’t generate any traffic, they’ll remember.
If you don’t want to have a one and done post on the website, you’ll need to support the post like crazy… and I’m not just talking about RTing the post, though you’ll want to do that too. Here are a few other tips:
This shows them you’re supporting them and they’re more likely to see those posts. They may also share or RT which is a double win.
Email and/or DM the writer directly and thank them. This is the perfect time to build the relationship. You also want to thank them publically by tagging the writer on IG and Twitter.
This is the perfect time to invest $100 into your career. Paid Advertising is a whole new topic we’ll cover later, but this is a great way to drive traffic to your latest content, highlight the great press placement to fans (and potential fans) and show your value to the media outlet. It’s a win-win-win.
Many artists that want to get press start by hiring a PR firm. On the surface this feels right, but isn’t the right approach. Here are tips that the best people in PR will openly tell you…
PR has evolved beyond the standard outreach letter to blogs and media outlets. It’s important to continue to research new trends and identify best practices for obtaining valuable press coverage. Today, PR entails a lot more than dishing out a few press releases here and there. When you think about creating a press strategy, keep the following ideas in mind:
2. Never ever pay for a post
The short reason, you can’t pay for a media post that is worth paying for. Any blog/website that has significant traffic and a decent amount of readers didn’t get that way by getting paid to post music. They rely on their ear and quality taste in music. You’ll never get a return on your investment. Just don’t do it!
Need more advice? Read other chapters of our Artist Guide here.
The Artist's Essential Guide to Hip-Hop is presented by Squarespace, the simplest way to register a domain and create a beautiful website.
Start your free trial today by visiting squarespace.com/A3C. When you’re ready to go live, use offer code A3C17 to save 10% on your first purchase.