Stephanie G. Mathis Independent artists have a responsibility to not only create great music but also to make sure that it is heard. You may be considering how to get your music heard as widely as possible.
What is music PR, and how does it work?
Public relations is the act of obtaining media coverage. This can be done to promote a new album, tour announcements, or any other event that would make news. A PR campaign aims to inform the media about the latest news and spread awareness. This can be intimidating for a young artist. But in reality, it’s about being featured on blogs, magazines and newspapers, music websites, radios, podcasts, television, and sometimes playlists.
Music PR has many advantages.
The four main benefits of doing PR for each release are:
Awareness – It creates awareness of your new music.
Exposure: You’ll get more exposure to new audiences as an artist/band.
Credibility- Publication in the media is social proof that helps to generate buzz.
Social Media Content — If your campaign is successful, you will have radio plays to promote, as well as articles and interviews that you can share with followers. This is a better way to get your message out than posting ‘please listen to my music’ over and over again.
How do you promote your music?
In my early days as a musician and before I became a journalist, I used to see artists get cool media features or be played on the radio, and I thought that this was just a coincidence. I thought these media outlets had just stumbled across an artist and liked them, so they decided to cover them. It is rare, especially with newer artists.
Most often, the media receives information from an artist about their announcements – like new music – via an email press release. The media will then either republish the press release as a piece of news, request an interview, or play the new song on the radio.
Who sends the release to the media outlet then? The artist may have hired a PR firm, or they could be sending it themselves.
Consider a few things when hiring a public relations agency. These include whether or not they handle similar acts to yours and their previous results, which can be indicative of what contacts they have and the structure of their packages. Some agencies take both radio and playlists, as well as traditional press. Some agencies consider radio pitching to be a completely separate activity (especially in the US, where the market tends to be larger).
An agency is a great choice because it has contacts, can assist with the pitch angle, and can also handle much of the communication between pitches, such as interview coordination.
The cost of hiring a public relations agency is high, and the results may vary. There’s no way for PR agencies to force media outlets into covering you, so you can’t be sure you’ll receive the results or placements you want. Many artists believe that hiring an agency is not worth it.
DIY is another option that works well for smaller artists. You have to be able to do it because otherwise, you could end up wasting a lot more time and effort.
Why PR campaigns don’t do well
There are several reasons why PR campaigns don’t go as planned. First, many artists have unrealistic expectations. It would be best if you were realistic about where you are at in your career. You may not want to aim for a publication like Rolling Stone if you are starting or have a smaller band. Your first step is to get into independent blogs and sites.
Second, PR isn’t a one-and-done thing. Each campaign builds on the previous. To help boost future campaigns, you can use the results of previous releases, such as cool quotes and review features. Media outlets will be more inclined to check out your music as they become more familiar with you. This is why PR should be included in your budget and timeframe for every release.
Social media is one of the most common mistakes that musicians make when it comes to PR. Music journalists are mostly volunteers who love music and writing. Most publications are funded by advertising. This means they rely on website traffic to stay afloat. The fact that publications tend to focus on the bigger artists is a sure way to increase traffic.
The more shares and engagements you get on a particular post, the higher the algorithm will promote it.
PR: How to get the most out of it
You can use these tips to make your PR campaign more effective:
Respond to emails quickly – The media, and especially print media, often has deadlines. So, the sooner you respond, the better. You’d be amazed at how many artists lose out on great opportunities due to their inability to react quickly.
Share all articles on social media – This helps you and the outlet to get more exposure.
Create graphics for Instagram. For visual platforms such as Instagram, you can create an attractive graphic to promote your feature. Even something as simple as a press photo with your outlet’s logo on top of it can look more professional and be more effective than sharing a screenshot.
Twitter is a must – The media are the largest users of Twitter worldwide. You could miss out by not having a Twitter account on the tags you can use and the way to engage with your outlet and audience.
Google Alerts: You can have Google notify you each time the name of your band or artist appears in an article. You’ll be able to catch all the features. How? You can easily Google the answer!
Keep a statistics sheet – Record all of the PR features that you receive, as well as the growth in your social media and streaming stats throughout the campaign. Stats sheets are not only helpful when you pitch for larger opportunities, but they also help you keep track of what you have achieved. We are often too hard on ourselves. You’ll be surprised to see how much you have achieved when you look at your achievements.
It is important to remember that PR should not be the only element of your promotion mix. You must make sure you are promoting your release on social media in an organic way.
