Nine Critical Things You Should Know About Music Publicity Before You Make Your First Move

1. The Definition of Promotion - First, we are going to begin out with the very basics--some definitions of what promotion is exactly. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

Publicity - "An enactment or device designed to pull public interest; specifically: information with news value issued as a agency of gaining public attending or support. Also: The airing of information or promotional material."

I couldn't have got said it better myself. Promotion is EXACTLY these things.

A music publicizer is hired as a member of your squad to stand for you to the media. Media is defined traditionally as editors and authors at newspapers, magazines, dailies, weeklies, monthlies, college newspapers, and television. Some publicizers may also cover radiocommunication for interviews on circuit stops, but if you desire to acquire on the radiocommunication charts (like CMJ), you will necessitate a radiocommunication promoter. Some publicizers also cover Internet PR, like my company, but not all traditional publicizers do! A publicist's occupation is to liaise with the press. They are not hired to acquire you a engagement agent or gig, a label deal, a statistical distribution deal, or any other type of selling deal. That is what a director is for. They will not acquire you played on radio, either. This is what a radiocommunication booster is for. A well-connected publicist, however, may be able to hook you up with all of the abovementioned things, but it is not in her occupation description.

2. You Are in the Driver's Seat – Remember creative person - you are the purchaser here and you are shopping for PR. You are in the driver's seat. It's your money and your music that maintain publicizers in business. And hiring 1 is like hiring another guitar participant for your band. Choose one that you like who suits your vision and your goals. All too many modern times I've heard that a publicizer was hired in malice of the artist's personal opinions. You should wish your publicist, and she should be the right 1 for you.

3. With Publicity, You Pay for Attempt - Never for Results - I have got had dissatisfied people name me and say, "I hired a publicizer and I only got six articles. That cost me $1,000 per article!" Okay. This is not how you quantify a praseodymium campaign. How you quantify a praseodymium political campaign is by how many record albums were sent out, what the responses were, and even if they were inconclusive or negative, it's how much attempt the publicizer made on your behalf. Of course, you should acquire some and many results. Getting nil is totally unacceptable. But you never cognize where your publicist's attempts will demo up months, and sometimes years, after your political campaign is complete.

4. A praseodymium Political Campaign Needs to be Planned Well in Progress - For long-lead press (that agency mags with national statistical distribution like Spin, Peal Rock and Paste), the editors set their publications to bed three full calendar months before they hit the newsstands. So if your cadmium is coming out in October, you must have got it pressed with full graphics and ready with stuffs to mail in July. Of course of study not all praseodymium political campaigns focusing on national fourth estate (more on that later), but no publicizer will take you on with zero Pb clip so you definitely necessitate to set up Pb clip in every case.

Good Promotion Political Political Political Political Political Campaign Lead Times:

National Campaign: 3-4 calendar months before the release

Tour Press Campaign: 4-6 hebdomads before the show

Local Campaign: 4-6 hebdomads before placement

Online Campaign: 2-3 hebdomads before placement

5. The Four Components of a Press Kit – Type A good fourth estate kit dwells of four parts: the bio; the photo; the articles, quotes, and cadmium reviews; and the CD.

* The Bio - Make a one-page bio that is succinct and interesting to read. I strongly counsel hiring a bio author (if you can afford one, this should be between $200 - $400). If you are not ready to pony up the cash, enlist an outside beginning to assist you out. I happen people who are great narrative Tellers do great bio writers.

* The Photograph - It can look bum to set up a photograph shoot, but if you take this portion seriously you will deeply benefit. Make a photograph that is clear, light, and attending grabbing. Showing motion is a asset (sitting on a sofa or up against a brick wall is not interesting). If you have got a friend who cognizes how to utilize PhotoShop, inscribe him to assist you make some funky & merriment editing.

* The Articles, Quotes & cadmium Reviews - Getting that first article written about you can experience daunting. Two great topographic points to begin are your local hometown document (barring you don't dwell in NYC or Los Angeles), and any music website that you like.

* The cadmium - The cadmium artwork, like the fourth estate kit, must be well thought out. Bash not trouble oneself sending out progress Burns of your cadmium unless the author petitions them. Full graphics is always preferred. Put your telephone figure and reach information in the cadmium so if it acquires separated from the fourth estate kit, the author cognizes how to contact you.

6. Promotion is a Marathon, Not a Dash - praseodymium is very different in nature from a radiocommunication political campaign that have a specific advertisement day of the month and a chart that you are paying to acquire placed on. Sadly for me, there is no Top 30 promotion chart. With the sheer figure of record albums coming out into the marketplace, it could take calendar months longer than your promotion political campaign runs to see results.

7. Online Promotion is Not as Important as Offline Publicity- Iodine always state that today's newspaper is tomorrow's recycling, so don't price reduction online promotion so quickly. For one, it's up and around for calendar months and sometimes for years. The new research and statistics turn out that people are reading newspapers less and less with every passing play day. People are getting their news from the Internet, so Internet arrangements are absolutely a fantastic bonus.

8. Promotion Makes Not Sell Records- If you are hiring a publicizer to see a spike in your cadmium sales, I have got news for you. There is absolutely no correlativity between getting great praseodymium and merchandising records. If that were true, I'd be a batch richer. praseodymium is designed to raise consciousness of you in the press, to assist construct a story, and also construct up critical acclaim. And of course, a great article can take to gross gross sales and being on NPR could really assist you see a spike in sales. But overall, if merchandising record albums is your goal, praseodymium is not the thing you will necessitate to attain it.

9. All Promotion is Good Promotion - I cognize we have got all heard this, but it's a great thing to really understand. If your end in praseodymium is simply to acquire your name out there (and this should be a goal), the truth is the norm individual retrieves very small of what they read. Only a bantam per centum acquires retained, so if you really believe that readers are going to retrieve a lukewarm or a poor reappraisal of your CD, the reply my dear friend is they won't. And never ever take your ain praseodymium seriously. As my favourite creative person Andy Andy Warhol once said, "Don't read your press, weigh it."