Sending Your Music Out - But How?
Sending Your Music Out - But How?
"As always, please do your research when selecting someone to represent yourself and your music"
This week we welcome Keely Bremner back on our pages; A PR and Media specialist, she sheds some light on how to approach an upcoming release.
Welcome back! Upon writing this, I’ve just returned from a weekend in Brighton for The Great Escape [the UK's biggest festival for new music, held in Brighton at the beginning of May] and am currently feeling invigorated and inspired albeit a little tired from trekking across the town trying to catch as many shows as possible.
For my last contribution we dived into the pre-release period and how to fully leverage this time. Now that you have all your assets ready to go, let’s discuss some next steps.
If you’re a DIY artist and need a little help getting your release out there, sites such as Submithub, Musosoup and Groover can be a great add-on to your campaigning activities to boost your reach. Some platforms only accept pitches via sites such as this, so they can be a very low-cost and simplified way of securing some coverage. You can also choose to receive feedback which can be incredibly valuable at the beginning of your career. However, please take this with a pinch of salt and do not be disheartened if they pass on featuring. Sometimes it just takes a couple of releases for a platform to warm up to you!
If you have a little more budget to put towards your release then you could also seek the help of a Music PR (publicist). A Music PR is someone who is able to help tell your story as an artist, build recognition around your brand and will establish those all-important relationships with journalists, forming vital connections to you and your music. Generally speaking, they will often create the press release for you, craft a researched target list, come up with a strategy or angle for your release and then pitch your song to their established network of contacts. They will aim to deliver press from Blogs, Magazines, Playlists, Youtube channels, Social media platforms etc (this may vary depending on their expertise and the type of campaign).
As always, please do your research when selecting someone to represent yourself and your music. The best way to do this, after finding a company that caters to your genre, is to go beyond looking at the coverage they have secured in the past but to actually seek out the individual artists they have worked with. Drop them a message on IG and I’m sure they’d be happy to share their experience. Feel free to also check in with me, if you have someone in mind and I’d be glad to help out where I can.
Follow Keely on Instagram
Here’s a Cool Resource For You
Recently acquired by Chartmetric, onesheet.club is a clever way to build a one-sheet with all your streaming, audience and historical statistics, nicely organised into a shiny and elegant format. Setting one up is a very quick process (almost instant) - and it’s free too (at least for now).
Spotify Shares Stats on Collaborative Releases, And It’s A Triumph
“For emerging artists, the crossover effect can help them break through in previously untapped markets, or help them define their musical identity on their own terms.
When a collaboration comes along that catches the ear of listeners, there are a variety of features on Spotify that both enhance the discovery process for fans and help expand the reach of those songs even further.
Many Spotify fans often start with a search. And when they discover a new artist through a crossover collab, we’ve noticed a sizable jump in searches for that artist.”
It all means… collaborate! It’s not only good for the soul and your creativity, but also for your streaming numbers.
A Passionate Note From The Editor
It’s Friday. I have spent the week writing about music, intensively.
One of the aspects that I most enjoy, and also the most cathartic and intriguing, is getting to know the circumstances behind a record. People don’t just make music casually: there’s always a strong reason behind it.
Often it is a reaction to what they are experiencing - perhaps a heartbreak that needs to be processed emotionally - other times it’s the complete opposite, with music representing a tool to combat the numbness of everyday living, to add some colour and texture to a personal experience that might feel grey and boring.
Usually, it’s one or the other. A lot of people are going through relationship issues, using songwriting to affirm their independence and to remind themselves they are still worthy of space and attention. Not a surprise, a fair amount of events on this planet revolve around Love.
Then there’s the slice of music makers that seek to shuffle their normality. Something we have seen a lot with the pandemic: a cascade of ex-musicians and retired songwriters that suddenly had enough time on their hands to write and perform again. Talk about a silver lining, eh?
This week in particular, all of these thoughts resonated with me more than ever. I came across a two-time Speedway champion taking on a Dj course and entering the tech-house scene. The ex-CEO of Calvin Klein now dabbling in soothing folk tunes (unconfirmed). The retiree trying to reconnect to his teenage artistic goals. The mother-daughter acoustic duo writing exceptional material.
It’s special to be able to have an insight into such a variety of generations, life journeys, cultures. It makes you appreciate the beauty and the importance of making art. The importance of “intellectual wandering” - conceptualising ideas, making them come true.
A lot of this music - sad truth - won’t be enjoyed by a large number of listeners, seeing the current saturation of the industry. Nonetheless, it still holds an essential role: enriching and brightening the day-to-day struggles of all these makers. So keep going, write music you’d like to hear, perform pieces you’d pay to witness live. Be proud of the results. Do it for yourself, and maybe - just maybe - someone else will connect to it.
Got any suggestions for The Mesmerised Stream? Want to share something with us? Contact us on Twitter at @itsmesmerized or Instagram at @mesmerized.io. Follow our music discovery activities at www.mesmerized.io
Do you have an exciting and inspiring story about your personal experience in the industry and want to share it with us? we are all ears.