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

1. The Definition of Publicity – 1st, we are going to start out with the eminently basic s–some definitions of what publicity is exactly. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

Publicity – “An act or device designed to attract public interest; specifically : information with news value issued as a means of gaining public attention or help. likewise : The dissemination of information or promotional material.”

I may n’t have said it better myself. Publicity is EXACTLY these things.

A music publicist is hired as a member of your team to represent you to the media. Media is defined traditionally as editors and writers at newspapers, magazines, dailies, weeklies, monthlies, college newspapers, and television. Some publicists may additionally cover radio for interviews on tour stops, but if you want to get on the radio charts ( prefer CMJ), you will need a radio  promoter. Some publicists additionally cover Internet PR, prefer my company, but not all traditional publicists do! A publicist’s job is to liaise with the press. They are not hired to get you a booking agent or gig, a label deal, a distribution deal, or any other type of marketing deal. That’s what a manager is for. They won’t get you played on radio, either. This is what a radio  promoter is for. A well-connected publicist, however, can be able to hook you up with all of the abovementioned things, but it is not in her job description.

2. You Are in the Driver’s Seat – Don’t forget musician – you’re the buyer here and you’re shopping for PR. You are in the driver’s seat. It’s your resources and your music that keep publicists in business. And engaging one is prefer engaging another guitar player for your band. Choose one that you prefer who fits your vision and your goals. All many times I’ve heard that a publicist has been hired in spite of the  performer’s  individual opinions. You should prefer your publicist, and she should be the right one for you.

3. With Publicity, You Pay for Effort – Never for Results – I have had disgruntled artists call me and say, “I hired a publicist and I only got six articles. That cost me $1,000 per article!” Okay. This isn’t how you quantify a Public Relations campaign. How you quantify a Public Relations campaign is by how a lot of albums were sent out, what the responses were, and even If they were inconclusive or negative, it is how much resolution the publicist made on your behalf. Of course, you ought to get some and a lot of solutions. Getting hardly anything is totally unacceptable. But you never know where your publicist’s resolutions will show up months, and every now and then years, following your campaign is complete.

4. A PR Campaign Needs to be Planned Well in Advance – For long-lead press (that means magazines with national distribution like Spin, Rolling Stone and Paste), the editors put their publications to bed three full months before they hit the newsstands. So if your CD  is coming out in October, you must have it pressed with full artwork and ready with materials to mail in July. Of course not all PR campaigns focus on national press (more on that later), but no publicist will take you on with zero persuade time so you definitely need to prepare persuade time in every case.

Good Publicity Campaign Lead Times:

National Campaign: 3-4 months before the release

Tour Press Campaign: 4-6 weeks before the show

Local/Regional Campaign: 4-6 weeks before placement

Internet Campaign: 2-3 weeks before placement

5. The Four Components of a Press Kit – A wonderful press kit consists of four parts: the bio; the photo; the articles, quotes, and CD  reviews; and the CD.

• The Bio – Create a one-page bio that’s succinct and interesting to read. I strongly advise hiring a bio writer (if you can afford one, this should fee amidst $200 – $400). If you’re not ready to pony up the cash, enlist an outside source to endorse you out. I find people who are exceptional story tellers make exceptional bio writers.

• The Photo – It could seem cheesy to arrange a photo shoot, but if you take this part meaningful ly you’ll deeply benefit. Start a photo that’s undeniable, light, and attention grabbing. Showing movement is a plus (sitting on a couch or up against a brick wall is not interesting). If you have a friend who knows how to use PhotoShop, enroll him to advocate you do some funky & fun editing.

• The Articles, Quotes & compact disc  Reviews – Getting that 1st article written about you can feel daunting. Two excellent places to start are your Local/Regional hometown papers (barring you don’t live in NYC or Los Angeles), and any music web site that you like.

• The compact disc  – The compact disc  artwork, prefer the press kit, must be well thought out. Do not disturb sending out advance burns of your compact disc  unless the writer requests them. Full artwork is always like red. Put your phone number and contact info in the compact disc  so if it gets separated from the press kit, the writer knows how to contact you.

6. Publicity is a Marathon, Not a Sprint – Public Relations (PR) is exceedingly varying in nature from a radio campaign that has a specific ad date and a chart that you’re paying to get placed on. Sadly for me, there is no Top 30 publicity chart. With the sheer number of albums coming out into the marketplace, it can take months longer than your publicity campaign runs to see determinations.

7. Web Publicity is Not as Important as Offline Publicity- I always say that today’s newspaper is tomorrow’s recycling, so don’t discount Web publicity so hastily. For one, it is up and around for months and every now and then for years. The new research and statistics prove that people are reading newspapers less and less with every passing day. people are getting their news from the Web, so Web placements are absolutely a excellent bonus.

8. Publicity Does Not Sell Records- If you are engaging a publicist to see a spike in your CD  sales, I’ve news for you. There’s absolutely no correlation among getting great Public Relations and selling records. If that were true, I’d be a lot richer. Public Relations is designed to raise awareness of you in the press, to advocate build a story, and likewise build up critical acclaim. And of course, a great article might drive to sales and being on N Public Relations might really advocate you see a spike in sales. But overall, if selling albums is your goal, Public Relations is not the thing you’ll need to reach it.

9. All Publicity is Good Publicity – I know we have all heard this, but it is a exceptional thing to really understand. If your goal in Public Relations (PR) is simply to get your name out there (and this ought to be a goal), the truth is the average person recalls wonderfully little of what they read. Only a tiny percentage gets retained, so if you really think that readers are going to recall a tepid or a mediocre review of your compact disc, the answer my dear friend is they won’t. And never ever take your own Public Relations (PR) meaningful ly. As my preferred musician Andy Warhol once said, “ Don’t read your press, weigh it.”