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5 Tips for Approaching Music Blogs, Writers, and Other Music Press - Insight for Independent Artists

 

Part of being a DIY artist is marketing yourself like an entrepreneur or small business owner. You're presenting the brand of "You, Inc.," comprised of all the unique things about your music and you as an artist. And while putting some tracks up on social media platforms like Facebook and MySpace – and your own website – is an important part of your marketing plan, you can't just leave it at that and hope someone will simply stumble across your music.

 

An important part of your PR efforts as a DIY artist is to effectively present yourself to music blogs, podcasts, online music communities, websites, and magazines. It's a given that if you're at the stage where you're ready to approach the music press, you should have at least two things:

1) a professional-sounding collection of your songs that represents you at your best;

2) tangible proof that you are playing regularly and working hard at providing an engaging experience for your fan base.

 

Assuming you have both those things going for you, what comes next? Unless you have networked at a conference or have had the chance to meet a blogger, podcaster, etc. in person, there's a good chance your first interaction with the music press will be via email. A well-crafted introduction email might land you more free promotion than you could ever afford – a poorly executed email will immediately make its way to the "deleted" folder. You don't have to be a trained writer or even a great natural marketer to put together an attention-getting email. But if you're serious about making music your career, you do have to approach the media thoughtfully and professionally and think like a business owner whenever you're presenting yourself and your music.

Here are five tips to think about before (long before!) you hit "send" on that next email.

 

1) Have a clear grasp on your story

You love your music and you think people should hear it. But you have to think of yourself like any other company or brand. In order to get people to tune into you, you must have a good handle on your story and mission statement as an artist, and be able to persuade potential fans with short attention spans why they should give your music a listen. "I've been passionate about music ever since I was five and I like to write songs," or, "I grew up watching MTV and know my music is better than what I've seen on there" isn't going to cut it. Clichés aren't going to set you apart from the other thousands of indies who have the same story. Instead, think about which unique qualities set the story of how you came into music – something personal and specific. Perhaps you were raised by circus performers who were hip hop fans, which led you to develop an interest in playing the accordion and writing clown-themed raps. (You certainly wouldn't have to try to stand out if that were your story). Even if you are a guitar-driven indie rock band or a traditional singer/songwriter, think about the personal experiences that have led you to pursue music and how that comes through in what you do. Then write that story out, in no more than three sentences. People with the power to write about and recommend your music to others often get hundreds of emails daily, and they will tune out if you don't get to the point quickly. If they want to know more, they will ask. After you write down your short story – aka, your "elevator pitch" – repeat it over and over to yourself, so you can rattle it off when someone asks you. And relay it in every email you send to someone you think should be listening to your music, along with a direct link to some songs.

 

2) Keep it local

When you're deciding which media outlets to contact about your music, start with those that write about musicians or events that are located near you. If you're at the beginning of your career – and especially if you're at a point where you're regularly starting to see more than just your four closest friends at your shows – you need to focus on getting attention in your home city/local area. In the beginning, reaching people who can actually come out to see you play, understand where you come from, and who can interact with you personally is an important part of establishing personal relationships with fans. The closer they feel to you, the more likely they will be to recommend you to friends, and the more often all of them will want to download/buy your music, buy your t-shirts, or come to see you perform.

 

3) Do focused research

As a DIY artist, there's nothing that can waste your precious PR time more than blindly sending out "listen to my music" emails to every person on the planet who listens to music. Still, a lot of bands do just that, thinking that indiscriminately casting a wide net will increase the odds that someone will respond. Think of it this way – if you don't own a house, would you like to get repeated, unsolicited emails about homeowners' insurance? If you front a country band and you randomly email bloggers that write exclusively about heavy metal or someone that runs a steampunk zine begging them to listen to your music, you're committing the same crime of irrelevancy and wasting your own time. You could also be building a bad reputation for yourself in the industry. Thanks to Google, it's quick and painless to search for the media outlets that regularly talk about the exact type of music you play and to find the people that might be interested in hearing from you, which ups the chance of a positive response to your email significantly. Along those same lines, know which type of outlet you're emailing before you send any emails so you can set realistic expectations about the response you might get. A blog, a newspaper, and a magazine all take very different approaches when it comes to writing about and talking to artists. Also, before you start to send emails, make a list of sources. You can add to and subtract from that list as you go along.

 

4) Send personalized emails

Once you've made a list of media outlets to email – even if that list is long – resist the temptation to send a form letter. Take the time to craft each email separately and include a few personalized details you've learned through your research about the person/publication/source in question. If you are sticking to the "short and sweet" rule of emailing, this level of detail shouldn't take too long to add, and it will show the person on the other end that you've taken a little time to learn about who they are, that you're legitimately interested in their feedback, and are serious about your career.

 

5) Don't send more than two emails

Along the same lines as "keep it short and sweet," when you're reaching out to someone you've never communicated with, limit yourself to two emails: an email with links and a follow-up email, sent at a later date. People writing about music hear from a lot of artists, every day. And the best journalists and bloggers – those that truly care about what they do and have a legitimate love of music – are going to actually take the time to thoughtfully read and listen to almost every email and music link they get. You can't expect to get a "yes" or "no" right away, so you need to be patient. You might get a quick "Thanks for sending this! I'll listen to it within [a certain time period] and get back to you." If that happens, wait the amount of time the person specified and then send a follow-up message a few days after that. If you get no response to your initial email – which, frankly, quite often happens – wait at least a week before sending your follow up. In either case, if you don't hear back after your second email, end it there and move on. As you think about the process of sending emails to the press about your unique artist brand, try to remember the last time you heard anyone say, "I love this new band. I had never heard of them before. All they had to do was send me a link to a free download of their album, and I was sold!" Likely, you can't, because that never happens. In order to get the attention of music journalists – or anyone for that matter – you need to provide compelling reasons for them to listen and fall in love with your music. And if you can create that magnetic pull to your "creative products" (your music!) through all your marketing efforts, you will continue to add to your roster of "loyal customers" (your fans!).

 

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Independent Music Advise

If you want to succeed in today’s music industry, you need to treat your music as a business. There’s no two ways about it; If you aren’t willing to put in the work to promote and market your music, you may as well give up now. In order to be successful, you need to do what works. And what works right now is getting off your butt and putting the work in to the right places.
In this article we will be looking at the business of music, and why you need to learn this side of things if you want to do well in your music career. Whether you do independent music or you’re signed to a record label, you need to learn what it is that makes people successful, other then their vocals.
Knowledge is power, so read on and see how much of this you can apply to your independent music career today.

Why You Need To Learn The Music Business

So, why do you need to treat music as a business? Simple, because without you carrying out proven marketing and promotion methods for your songs, people won’t even know you exist. And the people, who are aware of you, may not take to you as well due to ineffective or inconsistent branding.
Learning the music business involves learning how you promote yourself, how to build connections within the industry, learning various selling tactics, learning how to get gigs, planning out all the steps you need to achieve your goals, and much more. As someone who makes independent music, you haven’t got someone who will do all these things for you.

You in effect have to do all the jobs a record label team does on your own.
Why you obviously won’t be able to get the same mass reach as a wealthy record label, it is possible for you to get out there using the right music business strategies.
The bottom line is this: If you learn what business practices work in the music industry and put them into practice, you will greatly increase your chances of doing well with your music. I tell no word of a lie.

 

 

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Do You Treat Music As A Business?

 

Ok, so enough about the general advice for everyone who does independent music. Right now, I want you to look at how your music career is going. Ask yourself:

• Are you simply recording songs and putting them out for free, or are you sticking to a set release and revenue-generating plan?
• Are you doing gigs as and when they come up, or are you actively seeking out new shows to do?
• Are you sitting at home all day ‘promoting’ your music on social networking websites, or are you working on getting your music mass broadcasted on radio and TV?

If you answered yes to any of the first options, you are not taking your music as a business as much as you could be.
You need to ask yourself how far you want to take your music. If you are simply making music for the fun of it, then carry on doing what you’re doing. It’s a hobby for you; so only make music as and when you want. If however your aim is to make a career from your music, then you need to start re-evaluating how you handle things.

Prove To Record Labels You Treat Music As A Business

 

It used to be standard procedure for record labels to handle the business side of the music industry for you. They would pump a lot of time and money into your career, and all you had to do was turn up, look presentable and sing. Things however are changing. Due to there being a lot less money in the music industry, record labels want to see you are capable of being successful as an independent musician before they even consider signing you for a record deal. This means that whether or not you want to get signed, you have a lot of work to do.
While it is still possible to get signed to a record label just based on your talent, you are much more likely to get a record deal (Or is it called a CD deal now?) if you have a proven track record. And guess what? It’s up to you to provide that track record for all to see! That means you need to demonstrate that you can sell units, that you can get gigs to perform at, that you can draw people in to see you perform live, and that you music potentially has mass appeal. You will also need to demonstrate that you have a good core following, and that you can come out with good songs both now and in future. Sound like a lot of work? It is, so you better get started hadn’t ya!

 

 

Learn The Music Business

As with anything, in order to succeed in music, you need to put the work in. Not only that however, but you need to put the work in to the right places. It’ll be no good you sitting at home all day adding people on Facebook and Twitter for example. Yes you will have done a lot of work, but you won’t get much reward from it in the end. Instead, it’s all about putting in the time and effort in the areas where you will benefit most from it.

So, where are these areas? While these aren’t the only places you should put your effort, here are some of the key areas:

• Getting your music and videos played on mass promotion channels (E.G. Radio and TV). This will get your music in front of a large amount of people fairly quickly, rather then reaching each person individually. A lot of musicians attempt to get in front of new fans one by one by adding them on Facebook and Twitter. The problem with this, is not only does it take a long time to do, but you are often contacting people who don’t want to be sold to. If they don’t want to be sold to, then they won’t take notice. If you let people come to you after they have heard your song on radio however, this person is much more likely to become a fan.
• Capturing you fan’s contact details from any exposure you gain from these mass promotion channels. The best way to do this is to have a opt in box on your website, and collect people’s information for your music mailing list. This will allow you to contact them whenever you want, and if you have a good relationship with them (Or at least don’t annoy them) they may buy your music / show tickets / merchandise etc in future. Your true fans will do a lot of promotion for you, and help get other people interested in your music. Don’t under estimate how important it is to have these dedicated fans in your corner; they will make work a lot easier for you.
• Getting and performing gigs. Not only will this get your face out there more, but it will generate revenue for you. Even if you’re not getting paid for the show initially, you can still make money from selling your CDs after you have performed. You can also raise a lot of awareness at shows. Here is  a free guide on how to get gigs, so check it out for more info.

 

While this is a brief explanation of what you should be doing, this is the core of things that will get you the most results. You will of course need to do other things such as recording new material and communicating with your fans, but you should put a limit on the amount of time you dedicate to these activities.

You want new songs yes, but you don’t want to overload your fans with songs. Flooding the market with your music will make your brand appear cheap, and too easily available. When it comes to you putting out new audio, it will be no big deal to people as they get your new stuff all the time. Hold back and only release material every now and then though, and you will give fans time to miss you and crave your next release. This will cause a bigger buzz all round.

While communication with fans is important, you shouldn’t over do it. As a general rule of thumb, communication with a lot of your fans individually is a bad idea. Not only is it a time drain, but you also make yourself seem too available. When people see as much of you as they want, they won’t crave you in the same way anymore. Eventually, they will get bored and move on to the next big thing.
If you make it so you’re communicating with fans on a mass level now and then (Say make a YouTube video for your fans and put it on your website) then people will appreciate this and look forward to your next video or communication. You will also give yourself a bit of mystery, and make people wonder what you have been up to.
Both of these strategies are worth implementing in your music career. Here are some additional music business strategies worth learning, each building on the three areas I’ve mentioned you focus on in this article. These will help expose your music on a wider scale, and ensure you’re taking steps to getting where you want to be in the music business.