One of the critical problems I notice when looking at other people‘s promotion is that there isn’t a strategy or a plan. Musicians think creating a last-minute promotional post across Facebook is adequate, or they’ll promptly send the music to their entire mailing list the day before release.
They‘ll be disheartened when they don’t see results and be annoyed that blogs don’t select their music. The only time this does work is when the musician is very well-known with a vast audience and media relationships already established. For example, when Daft Punk unleashed Random Access Memories, their music publicists kept it as secret and announced right before the release date. Daft Punk can get away with this because of their stature, their audience size and because every EDM blog and magazine would feature their content. Although Daft Punk’s publicists only announced the album a couple of days before release it was executed extremely well. It was very well thought out, which I’m sure took months of planning.
So what are the 5 mistakes?
1. Not having a plan.
You must consider a plan when promoting music. I’m talking about a plan that is eight to ten weeks long and will deliver a strategy from start to finish. Beforehand, you must work out who you would like to receive your music and then you need to work out how you will deliver your music to those people. What are you trying to achieve when promoting music?
I suggest you look at your release date and then work out who you would like to feature the music. For example, if your release date in 8 weeks time you will need to work out how to gain YouTube, Spotify playlisting and magazine features and so on. This takes time and needs a solid strategy in place to accomplish it.
2. Getting itchy
We’ve all been guilty of this one. When you‘ve got a release planned, you want everybody to hear it and keeping it contained can be difficult. If you‘ve produced or signed a magnificent piece of music, don’t show the world months before the release date. You need to restrain yourself and it locked away until the time is right. Or if you‘re in contact with some top end DJs, offer the music to a handful of them and ask them to test it on their audience and gauge the crowd reaction.
3. Sending music to everybody
In my experience this is where every single young independent label goes wrong. They’ve secured their release, everything is signed off, they’ve created a mailing list and before you know it they blast it off to 1,000 email addresses. This is where things get a little bit messy. They can’t recall who they sent it to and now not sure who’s listened to it or going to feature it.
To resolve this issue your mailing list must be segmented. What this means is you have to split your mailing list into manageable chunks. If you‘ve got a contact list of 1000 DJs, blogs and journalists divide them up into categories. Once these lists are divided send them the music on separate days. This will assist you in the long run and keep you organised throughout the promotional period. Using software like Promo.ly will help streamline this and capture excellent results.
4. Forgetting to include essential details
When I used to run a blog, record labels would forget to include vital information when sending promos. This made my job difficult, and I was forever chasing the person who sent it to me. Top end blogs receive hundreds of emails per day all of which ask for music to be featured. If you forget to include the release date, artist name, album name or forgetting to include any information at all will slim down your chance of gaining features. You need to make it easy, and it should be a simple transaction. You should be able to send your music to the blogger without the blogger seeking several vital questions about the release. I know this sounds basic but it happens time and time again.
5. Sending the same music to multiple YouTube channels.
When seeking premieres on YouTube don’t send all the top channels the same music at the same time. Most channels like an exclusive and won’t feature your music if another channel already has it. As I mentioned earlier this needs to be in your plan. Start by making a list of your top 5 YouTube channels where you could see your music fitting with their audience. Start with your number one channel and contact them directly. If you don’t achieve a response or they decline the track, direct it to your number 2 channel and so on. By working in the linear approach it will solve many disagreements and grant you a higher chance of getting featured.
To summarise: formulate a plan when promoting music and segment your mailing list accordingly. It’s crucial and shouldn’t take long to come up with a strategy. Don’t send your music to everybody at the same time and send your music over several days to your different segments. Using applications like Promo.ly will keep you organised and on track. Ensure you incorporate all the relevant details like artwork, release date, artist name, album name and press release. Having a strategy during your promotional period will help attain further results.