I was delighted to be interviewed by Manafest – Chris Greenwood – the founder of Smart Music Business about my latest book The Ultimate Guide to Music Publicity. It’s short and sweet and packed with great advice about public relations for musicians! We identified 5 things every artist should know about music publicity.
Let us know what you think about this list!
1. Grow Your Email List
Grow your list was the ONE piece of advice I gave Chris 10 years ago when I was his publicist that has helped him become a self-sustaining artist. Over the years I’ve given this same advice more times than I can count, but few have taken it as seriously as Chris.
This is an evergreen piece of advice that stands the test of time. All your other lists, and your social media, are circumstantial but email lists are forever. (They’re also how you make money as a musician, but that’s an article for another time…)
2. What the PR Process Is Really Like
Ok, here’s where we pull back the curtain a little bit. A strong publicity campaign has a lot to do with noticing what’s right in front of you. My book is about understanding the whole process of PR, and this is crucial for musicians, whether you’re DIYing or hiring out.
It’s a method that guides you through questions like:
What are you going to do today?
and
How are you going to build out a process for your publicity?
A lot of artists are obsessed with trying to get “big” immediately and are disappointed when they don’t obtain what they set out to get. These things take time, process, and strategy, and understanding that is a key to reaching your goals.
3. When You Think You Can Stop, The Work Is Just Beginning
You know how people say you have to love the process not just the end result? That’s what PR, and really, the whole music industry is about.
If you have friends or other artists you can talk to about their publicity experience, that’s a great place to turn because they’ll know exactly what you’re going through.
For instance, having your song premier doesn’t mean you’re done, in fact, you’re far from it. There’s always more to do and the 11 artists featured in the book share their stories about keeping the momentum.
4. What Is The Angle That Will Get You Noticed?
In other words, what’s your signature story?
It might seem like your music is the sole and most important reason for anyone to follow and support you, but the reality is that it’s the story behind the music and the brand — YOU — that makes people care. Sometimes this comes in the form of making your brand all about your inspiration or social justice or faith. .
It’s not just all about music and “listen to my music”, it’s your story from a different angle. It’s fresh and it allows you to pitch yourself to different magazines and publications. For instance, if part of your brand is that you’re a pop punk musician who loves to mess around at the skate park, and that’s evident in your videos and promo photos, you can approach skateboarding blogs or podcasts. You end up talking about the things you and others are passionate about (skateboarding in this instance) and because listeners will feel connected, they’ll be much more likely to check out your music.
Maya Azucena started performing for charity events and became known for doing such and being an activist in the women empowerment movement. She eventually performed for a charity event for the United Nations.
5. The More Voices, The Better!
One of the most common misconceptions about PR is that it’s completely effective to do these short blitz campaigns and call it a day. But for PR to work, you need consistency.
Get yourself a team that can constantly promote you. The more people pushing you and your music to multiple outlets at once, the more results you will get. A really good fan or virtual assistant can do a lot of work for you. You don’t have to hire a big fancy PR firm in order to get the results. We help our artists create marketing plans and continuously give them tasks to improve their results.
It’s about “who is actually going to make me a pre-save link, tiles for social media, etc.” whatever it is you need! If you like PR but hate graphic designing, get a graphic designer while you focus on PR. When you understand how to do it, it’s easier to hire someone else to do it.
We hope these 5 tips have been very beneficial for all your artists out there! For the full interview, click here.
If you haven’t already, purchase The Ultimate Guide to Music Publicity for even more tips and tricks! If you already have, please leave a review on Amazon!
