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Ariel Hyatt and I have an interesting relationship. See, she is a publicist and there is nothing that music industry journalists hacks like me enjoy more than publicists. She emails me and I ignore them.
Naw, not really, Ariel is cool people. She's put together this excellent article on how to be your own publicist and save yourself some cash to donate to tinfoil.music! Hit read more for Part One and be sure to visit her website as well!.
Music publicity has changed drastically in the past few years. Gone are the days when just having
a CD was considered a shoe in, and gone to are the days where staying
on the road for 6-10 months a year guaranteed a good living.
Here are the days of Pro tools, cheap CD manufacturing (or DIY at home
with a color printer) and the Internet
Immediate access free music and
total information overload at the tip of your fingers! The Internet is
both a blessing (just about everyone with a pulse has access to it) and
a curse (just about everyone with a pulse has access to it).
There are more bands on the road than ever before, over 700 brand new
releases each and every week and fewer and fewer media outlets writing
about new music. This combination from a publicists perspective is
lethal. However, it is still possible for an indie artist to get
attention.
Publicity like building a fan base takes time and dedication and a lot
of effort. When you are doing a PR campaign the effort is sometimes
Herculean compared to the result (if you gage the result solely on how
many articles get written).
Although publicity is time consuming and detail oriented. With a bit of
planning and focus, you can spin your own publicity wheel -- all it
takes is foresight, organization and patience.
An artist that plans well and understands publicity is an artist that
receives the most PR. The good news is the publicity process for any
band, no matter how big or small, is very much the same. Of course the
size of publications in which you place articles can vary dramatically
(this is based on what style of music is hot at the moment combined
with record sales and label status).
For this article, I interviewed two music journalists. Their comments
and advice are included throughout. I also included several web links
to help you along.
Writers who will come up throughout are:
Kristi Singer Writes for: American Songwriter, Singer & Musician Magazine, Sun News & The Wilmington Star News among others.
Waleed Rashidi Writes for: Alternative Press, Modern Drummer, Alarm, MeanStreet, Law of Inertia, and e-online among others.
It was fun to interview writers who usually interview my artists. It
was insightful to get their opinions on what they like to see (and what
they don't) from bands.
PART ONE THE PRINTED PRESS KIT
A
printed press kit is a critical component to add when sending out your
CD to anyone in the industry who needs to understand the details and
background information on you. Your press kit that goes out to
journalists should vary slightly from the one you send out to get gigs
(this one should include all 4 elements listed below PLUS past touring
history in detail as well as your stage plot).
MYTH: I dont need a press kit people can see all of my information on my website.
TRUTH: Your press kit is still a vital & important component to your overall marketing strategy.
Writes
are very busy people who are constantly under deadline so dont ever
make a writer work to get information about your band. Press kits help
them access information quickly and efficiently. A big fat press kit in
a folder wont impress. Writers will only become exasperated by a press
kit that is not succinct and to the point.
The 4 Steps:
The first step in your journey is to create a press kit, which consists of four steps:
1. The bio
2. The photo postcard
3. The articles 4- 6 pages of quotes, articles and CD reviews
4. The CD
STEP 1: The Bio
Create
a one-page bio that is succinct and interesting to read. I strongly
advise hiring a bio writer (if you can afford one, this should cost
between $100 - $250). If you are not ready to pony up the cash, enlist
an outside source to help you out. I find people who are great story
tellers make great bio writers.
TIP: Many
music journalists write bios as well as articles so if you read a great
profile on a band in a local paper, on a blog, in an online zine, or
in a music magazine dont hesitate, track that writer down and ask them
if they write band bios. I recently read a great article in Alternative
Press and called the writer who gave my band a DIY rate of $175. It was
professionally written and the band can now use it for the next year of
touring. I suggest updating your yourself bio every few months to keep
it fresh and current.
Waleed: A
bio does not have to be extensive. I want a general idea of the bands
history and some key shows (but please not a whole show history) I love
the recommended if you like line. I know some artists hate to compare
themselves to others but I definitely like that It makes the sorting
process easier
First and foremost
include your musical description towards the top of the page. Create an
introduction that sums up your sound, style and attitude in a few brief
sentences. This way if a writer is pressed for time, he can simply take
a sentence or two from your bio and place it directly in the
publication. If you try to make a writer dig deeply for the gist, that
writer will most likely put your press kit aside and look to one of the
other 30 press kits that arrived that week.
Avoid vague clichés such as: melodic, brilliant harmonies, masterful
guitar playing, tight rhythm section, etc. These are terms that can be
used to describe any artist and music.
TIP: Try
to create a bio with the assumption that a vast majority of music
writers may never get around to listening to your CD. Also, writers are
usually under tight deadlines to produce copy - so many CD's fall by
the wayside. But that doesnt mean that you cant get a great calendar
pick or photo inclusion.
STEP 2: The Photo
It
is very tough to create a great band photo. In the thousands that I
have encountered only a few have had creativity and depth. I know it
can seem cheesy to arrange a photo shoot but if you take this part
seriously you will deeply benefit from it in the long run.
Create a photo that is clear, light, and attention grabbing. Five
musicians sitting on a couch or backed against a brick wall is not
interesting. If you have a friend who knows how to use PhotoShop, I
highly recommend you enroll him or her to help you do some funky
editing.
MYTH: We need to have 8 X 10 photos
TRUTH: Postcards are more versatile and newspapers will download the
photos they will run directly from your website!
8X10
Photos used to be the industry standard but they are no longer the
norm. My company recommends that band print 3X5 or 4X6 double sided 4/4
color postcards. They look great and professional and extra postcards
not used in press kits can be sent to people on your mailing list, or
you can give them away at gigs.
Postcards should have an image of the band on one side and an image of
your album cover with the URL of your website on the other side. You
can also include your release date of an upcoming album, your contact
numbers and a quote about the bands sound from the media or from your
bio.
There are many great inexpensive printers online. We order our postcards from:
http://www.jakprints.com
http://www.1800postcards.com
Waleed: The
best types of photos are ones that are crop able in a vertical or
horizontal format sometimes when I have to fill a hole in the
magazine I may need a photo that will fit it into any frame. I also
like photos that have room around the photo this way I can put text
around the photo. I want a photo that depicts a band in the way they
are a junkie band should be in a junkyard a clean band should be in a
cleaner atmosphere environment wardrobe and location are all very
important as is creativity. I get an overkill of fisheye lenses and
over kill on oversaturated colors try not to copy too much of what is
going on.
TIP: Dont
make journalists hunt around for the photos they will go to someone
elses site to grab them. Downloadable COLOR photos should be readily
available on your website and at least 300 dpi and easily findable and
downloadable with less than 3 clicks. Put the band members names L-R
under the band photo to give journalists a point of reference (many
publications publish photos with all band members names L-R so save the
writers the trouble of having to ask for the names.
STEP 3: The Articles, Quotes & CD Reviews
Getting
that first article written about you can feel daunting. Two great
places to start are your local hometown papers (barring you don't live
in Manhattan or Los Angeles), and any music website that you like.
TIP: You
can archive additional articles on your website and if a writer wants
to read more than that he can visit your site for further information.
If you don't have anything written about you not to worry, this will
soon change.
TIP: Use
Google as a resource to find them or work backwards and search for
indie bands that you would compare yourself to. Call or e-mail the
reviewers that wrote about them, politely introduce yourself and ask if
you can send them your CD for consideration. This is a much better
technique than the old school method of getting a media list and
blindly mailing precious materials out in bulk.
Always Follow Up
Kristi: 75%
of all bands dont follow up with me aggressively enough I often am
on deadline and I will ask a band to call me back in a week and most
never do.
I keep new CDS in 3 piles in my office:
1. The one I am about to write about this b/c it is assigned.
2. I really want to pitch this to editors b/c I think they will like it.
3. I dont know what these CDs are and no one followed up with me on these so I never get to them.
There could be some wonderful and appropriate CDs sitting in my office
that I could write about but if no one pitched me on them they usually
get overlooked.
Waleed: I
think it is important to follow up on all mailings. 75 % 80% of indie
bands that send me stuff never follow up and those CDs always fall
through the cracks .
STEP 4: The CD
The
CD artwork, like the press kit, must be well thought out. You should
customize your press kits so that they look in sync with your CD. This
way when a writer opens up a package the press kit and the CD look like
they go together. Do not bother sending out advance burns of your CD
unless the writer requests them. Full artwork is always preferred.
Kristi: I enjoy getting full artwork CDs advances and burned CDs are not as intriguing. Presentation is very important.
Waleed: My
Micro pet peeve is - I do not like CDs that do not have jewel cases (or
at least spines). If a CD is in a baggie or a thin sleeve it makes the
CD impossible to find.
TIP:
Put your phone number and contact info in the CD so if it gets
separated from the press kit, the writer knows how to contact you.
Also, "Recommended Tracks" stickers are great for the press (suggesting
no more than two or three selections).
TIP:
Don't waste precious CD's! Unless you are sure a writer actually writes
CD reviews (few newspaper writers are given the space to run them these
days) don't waste your hard-earned dollars sending out CDs.
Waleed:
I like well organized packages as well that are stapled together so I
can take a minute to get through it and flip through cohesive info
and please put as much contact info EVERYWHERE on the CD on the bio
and on the photo. We get a lot of glossies with no band name on them
and we sometimes stack photos separately for our photo editors. If and
there is no name or # or URL on the photos they will never get used.
Printed with permission. Copyright Ariel Hyatt and not under Creativ Commons license. Special thanks to Ariel Hyatt for permission to reprint this article. Click here to visit her site.
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