Tag: music press

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How To Make Blogs Care About Your Music [Video]

music press

Getting the attention of blogs and writers is hard, but we can teach you how to get press for your music in fifteen minutes or less.

It is hard to grasp how much competition exists in music today. There are thousands of artists in every genre working hard each day to get the attention of labels, listeners, and the media. The vast majority never accomplish their goals and those that do rarely share their secrets to success. We don’t have all the answers, but we know what works best, and today, we’ll tell you everything you need to get ahead.

PLEASE NOTE: The strategies outlined in this article are aimed at new and emerging talent. The information below is not a replacement for actual PR, nor do we claim to know how publicists are able to move mountains for their clients. These tips will help you take your first steps towards getting recognized by smaller blogs and influencers until you are in a position to afford a real publicity professional.

Let’s start with the behaviors you should avoid. There are people in the music business who prey on the desperation of dreamers with false promises of instant access to high-level influences in exchange for money. We are not referring to publicists. Good PR professionals can open doors you don’t even know how to find, and they can elevate your career in ways that the information in this article cannot.

The individuals you should avoid often promote their alleged secrets under the guise of promotional service that claims to have ‘major success,’ but no facts or information to back it up. Others make a quick buck offering downloadable contact lists that cover everyone you could hope to reach in positions of power through services such as Fiverr. We’ve said it before and we will say it again: These individuals are scammers, and they cannot be trusted.

Onto the good stuff. The foundation of any great beginner promotional campaign is making sure anyone can easily access information about your career. That means creating a media kit that includes links to your music and social pages, as well as photos and videos. It would help if you also had a bio. You can include your merchandise links if you have any, but having things to sell is not a prerequisite to getting attention.

Take all the items gathered above and place create a space online where people who wish to cover your music or learn more about you can easily do so with very little effort. We recommend Haulix for your media, but you can build something yourself as well.

Once those materials are in place, the next phase of this promotional strategy involves research. You need to identify the blogs, channels, and content creators who cover the kind of music you create. There are many methods of accomplishing this, but one of the easiest is to identify 2-3 prominent artists or groups that you feel are comparable to your creative output. Be specific. Don’t choose mainstream talent, but focus on your niche and the people who reign over it.

Next, you will want to create a spreadsheet for your data. Go to Google and search “[Band 1] News.” Make a list of every publication and author writing news about that artist, as well as their contact information (social media, email, etc.). After that, search “[Band 1] Reviews,” and complete the process again. Continue this method of research by looking for podcasts, video interviews, video reviews, Twitch channels, and any other form of music promotion or coverage you can imagine. When you’re done, move on to the next band on your list and repeat this process.

Now that you have a good idea of who might be interested in your music, take the time to follow them online, and begin engaging with their efforts. Writers and publications are like musicians in that they love attention and praise. Engage with the content these people are making, and make an effort to strike up a conversation about your mutual interests. Don’t worry about promoting yourself. Instead, focus on them.

As you begin to build relationships, use your spreadsheet to track your engagement. The big list of publications and creators you started with should shrink as you refine your focus to those who are actively engaging with you on a regular basis. That will create a funnel, otherwise known as a sales funnel, which will reveal the people and places most likely to take an interest in covering your music.

When you have something new to promote, be it a song or video, review your data and begin contacting those publications and creators that you engage with most often. Don’t ask for coverage right away. Instead, ask for their input on the content. Let them know that their opinion matters to you, which will reinforce their connection to your music.

As people respond, who you should work with will become clear. Some will offer to premiere or feature your work. Some may even get ahead of you by reaching out first.

The key to getting attention from blogs and lower-level outlets is to first build strong relationships, and strong relationships stem from engagement. You need to care about others before you can expect them to care about you. When someone does choose to help you out, promote their work, and thank them. Their following will notice your interactions, and over time, many of their followers will follow you as well.

Remember: Getting attention is a process. You cannot accomplish everything outlined above in a day or week. You will likely be working on your relationships throughout your career. It’s chaos. Be kind.

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Artist Advice Business Advice Editorials Haulix News

Why Artists Need To Be More Patient With Securing Press Coverage

Anyone can find someone to post about their music, but finding the right place to promote your next release takes time.

The state of music is pretty wild right now. There are more artists than ever releasing more music than ever onto platforms that more people can access than anything that came before. The opportunities for exposure and fan creation are limitless, yet meaningful engagement and promotion are increasingly rare. People are distracted, and who can blame them? 

The music discourse is increasingly splintered. There are countless blogs and podcasts and YouTube channels claiming to know what you should be listening to, but most struggle to retain an audience as much as the artists they support. Even the biggest publications, like Rolling Stone and Alternative Press, are struggling to stay on top of everything in today’s marketplace. The reasons for this are numerous, but they largely boil down to being driven by what gets clicks over what is most important or engaging. New artists and songs from unknown talent generate far less traffic than the latest insta-update from an arena headliner. That is a hard truth pill to swallow, but it’s nonetheless true.

Some artists will tell you it has never been easier to get press coverage, and in some respects that may be true. There are an infinite number of outlets in existence, and if you email enough of them you are bound to find several who are willing to post about your latest endeavors. However, posting alone does not benefit an artist. You’ve heard the question about whether or not a tree falling in the woods makes a sound if no one is around to hear it and the same applies here. If no one is reading the blog that posts about your music, does it matter that the post happened?

As a journalist myself, young artists often share songs and videos with me that they hope will attract attention from the press. The key, I tell them, is to make as big of an impression with the initial release as possible. A song may live forever online, but if people don’t notice your talent right away the likelihood that material takes off at any point in the future is incredibly low. 

Generally speaking, artists looking to premiere a song or video need to be more patient in their hunt for coverage. Everyone wants to share everything right now, but a speedy release does nothing if the content isn’t properly supported. My advice is to allow up to six weeks to find and secure an outlet to share your content. That way, musicians can find the outlet that best suits their material and, hopefully, they can work with the writer preparing their coverage to create the best article possible. Maybe there can be a digital campaign that teases the premiere for a week before the material drops or maybe the song or video being shared can be coupled with an interview that shares insight into the artist’s career. 

Artists should treat every update as the biggest thing that has happened to their career to date. You can’t expect consumers to feel strongly about your latest activity if you don’t feel the same. If the press for your next release is rushed or sloppy or underwhelming, the impression it makes on consumers will not be good. We’re talking about your art, after all, and that is an extension of how people view you. Take your time, plan everything as much as possible, and position your next release to be the one that changes everything.

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Artist Advice Business Advice Editorials Haulix News

What promotional platforms offer artists that Soundcloud, Dropbox, etc. do not

Crowd at concert

Just because a service is free does not mean it’s right for your promotional needs.

Promotion is the name of the game in music today. As consumers spend less and less on physical media with each passing year, the need to promote music in a way that resonates with influencers and industry gatekeepers enough to produce coverage is greater than ever. The challenge of accomplishing this has never been harder either, as the competition for coverage has grown as quickly as consumers’ attention spans have diminished. 

The good news is, there have never been more avenues for music promotion and conversation. From traditional publications and music blogs to YouTube critics, playlist curators, Twitter feeds dedicated to music discussion, Instagram pages curating beautiful scenes from concerts, and countless other digital avenues, the paths to exposure in the modern age are limitless.

Getting the attention of influencers, radio, and journalists is where the battle for exposure begins. Fan support can go a long way, and it can certainly make an impact on the decision of these so-called gatekeepers to cover your music, but there remains a great value in getting exposure from people and companies that lie outside your already established circle of supporters.

Companies like Soundcloud and Dropbox are among the numerous platforms offering free or low-cost streaming and sharing of music. These services also offer private streams, which are usually protected by secret access links, as well as the ability to share that same material with the public if the artist desires to do so. The ease of access and friendly price point has made both, as well as their competitor Box, popular, but for artists and the people who represent them the benefits of using such services very minimal.

That is why most artists who succeed today, as well as labels who continue to thrive, rely on promotional distribution platforms such as Haulix to share new and upcoming releases. Haulix and its competitors match the offerings of Soundcloud or Dropbox, but they also give (much) more power and insight to artists and their teams.

Using Haulix as an example, here are just a few tools the service offers that free and low-cost streaming platforms do not:

  • Customizable landing pages complete with numerous branding opportunities.
  • Customizable messaging with branding opportunities.
  • Contact upload and contact list management.
  • In-depth analytics that reveals who is engaging with your music, how often they listen, and what songs are getting the most attention.
  • Sub-administrator accounts that allow for team interaction and company organization.

The two biggest advantages Haulix users have over those who choose to use Soundcloud or Dropbox is their ability to brand and to track individual user engagement. Soundcloud may tell you how many plays a song has, but how do you know who on your massive mailing list has been listening? Dropbox may make downloading material a breeze, but how can you showcase your brand and build name recognition when every download screen looks exactly the same?

Here’s a Haulix promo, which as you can see reinforces the artist’s name and the title of their record while conveying the aesthetic of the material.

Haulix is trusted by artists at every level of the music business to do everything from attracting press coverage to securing management, enticing promoters, developing material while members are recording in different locations, and more. You can find a list of clients currently relying on the system, including Chance The Rapper and Metallica, by visiting their official website.

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Artist Advice Editorials News

The truth about music journalism and how to get covered in 2019

Getting press in music is harder than ever before, but with a few simple steps, you can develop a meaningful relationship with industry gatekeepers.

The competition for attention in music is fierce. Whether you’re seeking to reach consumers directly or trying to get press from genre gatekeepers, there is a countless number of competing talents vying for the same thing at any given moment. Those artists lucky enough to get ahead do so first and foremost because they possess that intangible ‘it’ factor that draws people in, but that alone doesn’t make a career. The only way to continually move forward, both with fans and members of the press, is through engagement.

You can find a million articles about engaging your audience, but far less tell you how to support the members of the press and music community who find time in their busy schedules to promote your work. It’s not hard to do so, but it does take time, and hopefully you will make the decision to engage that content more often after reading this post.

But first, a few hard truths about music journalism and promotion in 2019:

  • The vast majority of publications are writing less news posts because the traffic those posts receive is declining with each passing year. Most people get their news from artists via social media, which for many makes sharing anything that is not ‘a scoop’ or an otherwise exclusive/cool piece of information a waste of time.
  • Many publications, especially larger outlets like Rolling Stone, are featuring less new talent now than ever before. The reasons for this are numerous and unique to each site, but one common argument against new music coverage is that it often fails to generate traffic. The lucky few who do receive attention from these outlets earn their appearance by first developing a dedicated following online or creating something that is undeniably special. 
  • The term ‘exclusive’ means very little in 2019. There was a time when exclusivity existed online, but these days, most content can be embedded anywhere in a matter of seconds. What matters most is the information surrounding the content. For example, appearing in Rolling Stone may be a cool thing to brag about, but if a smaller site can offer more compelling writing to accompany your latest creation that site could potentially play a larger role in earning you new fans than RS.
  • Some sites will say yes to anything. Traffic is king online, and many sites are scrambling to grow their daily readership by any means necessary in hopes they can make a few pennies more from people viewing ads. That desperation leads many to agree to anything pitched their way, which in itself is not a bad thing. Promoting new music from young artists is something to be admired in a time when many don’t make time to do so. However, many sites who agree to everything put very little time into making any one piece of content special. 
  • Writers help artists they like before anyone else. If you’re lucky, someone with influence will discover your music and take an active role in promoting it without being asked. Most artists, however, are not that lucky. You should constantly be following and engaging with writers and publications online, as well as engaging with their content. Make yourself recognizable to them without coming across as someone trying to get something in return. Journalists are inundated with requests all day long, so try to not be another person in a long line of anonymous voices screaming into someone’s inbox for attention. In other words, be a decent human who treats others like they matter. 

Got it? Good. Back to the matter at hand.

If you can overcome the immense competition for the media’s competition it is in your best interest to show appreciation for the content creator’s work. It should be clear from the points above, but the market for coverage of new artists and music from largely unknown talent is quite small. Getting someone to pay for that coverage is basically impossible, which is why so many of the best new music writing and promotion comes from people working for free out of their home, dorm, etc. They write about the music they’re passionate about, and that passion is what their audience wants. It should be what you want, too. 

Whenever you’re lucky enough to receive positive coverage you should — at the very least — engage with the content in some small way (like, favorite, heart, etc.). That small act, which takes just seconds, tells the writer you see what they’re doing and you appreciate their effort. It tells them the time they spent crafting content to help promote your music instead of someone else was not time wasted, and it makes them feel as though they are part of something bigger than themselves. They are now part of your journey, and that connection to your career may very well lead them to cover you more in the future.

You will get further ahead if you actively engage with the content through sharing or commenting on content related to your group. These actions show appreciation for the content, but it also adds something of a personal touch, especially if shares are accompanied by original text. Like parents always tell us, saying “thank you” and being polite will get you far in this life. In music, showing appreciation through promotion and direct engagement tells writers that you respect their craft as much as they respect your art. It sends a message that their content is seen and felt, which is the same thing you are searching for as an artist.

Virtually anyone can get covered once or twice, but the key to consistent press coverage is networking and the relationships you develop over time. It’s work, but it’s work that’s well worth the effort required.

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