Public relations, or PR, is the discipline of managing and shaping the views of your company to acquire new customers and strengthen existing customer loyalty.
Many musicians rush into Music PR without a clue, which is a severe mistake. As the PR landscape evolves, obtaining good PR becomes more difficult without a brand, a social plan, numbers, and live stream firing.
A music PR campaign can be a vital component of an overall marketing plan for an independent musician. It enables you to interact with new fans, expand your online influence, develop helpful content, and gain a better insight into your market position.
Here are the top three things to help you kickstart your music PR campaign:
Table of Contents
1. Identify Your Genre and Niche
You must first identify your unique genre and niche to succeed in the music PR business. This helps you produce the right kind of content for the right audience.
Labels are crucial because different music categories require different marketing strategies and approaches. These labels also become part of your branding, so it’s best to have that settled at the onset.
For instance, if you see yourself as a singer-songwriter, you must live up to that genre. If you are identified as a pop artist, it would be confusing if you suddenly release RnB or rock songs.
When it comes to your niche, it does not necessarily reflect your genre of music. For instance, the king of Pop, Michael Jackson, is such an icon because all kinds of demographic can relate to him.
In this day and age, listeners don’t just follow songs but follow personalities. More often than not, the niche is defined by the type of music you produce and your personal branding.
2. Prepare Your Professional Portfolio
Before you market yourself as an artist, you must prepare your professional portfolio. This does not just include photos, cover art, and demo. This also includes your social media handles, as the latter is a good indicator if you have a charismatic presence and the potential to make it big.
So make sure to prepare the following:
- Signature Story: This is your professional written bio, which tells a captivating story about who you are and what sets you apart as an artist. It has to be interesting and appealing enough to entice music producers and others to take a second look.
Moreover, it should also be a one-stop shop for bloggers to access your information, such as current or upcoming projects, a brief background, and so on.
- Promotional Photos and Cover Art: The images and cover art you choose can help your producers and audiences to click on your writeup or bio. It could be a promo photo, their latest album cover art, single, or EP (extended play). Images and videos, if used wisely, can be a strong tool to draw the crowd and increase your fan base.
- Social Media Presence: This directly affects the success of a music PR effort and should not be overlooked. For starters, most bloggers look to artists’ social media to determine who gets coverage or promotion.
Music PR is a two-way exchange, which means if other content creators feature you on their blogs, you need to acknowledge that and maybe feature them on your blog too. Collaboration is crucial for your music PR, so be on the lookout for these possibilities.
3. Produce Good Music Consistently
Finally, after all the initial legwork of kickstarting your own music PR, it all boils down to producing good music consistently. No amount of PR will be successful if your music cannot back you up.
The ideal scenario is to have at least a few singles or an upcoming 4-track EP scheduled for promotion within a month or two from the start of the music PR campaign. Most bloggers will not mention an upcoming release if there is too much time between their feature and the release.
Keep the pace and rollout tight in case something catches on. Remember that certain journalists won’t be interested if you’re trying to get the word out about music that came out more than three months ago.
Conclusion
A music PR campaign can effectively get your music noticed by the people who matter. If you’re unsure where to start, consider hiring an agency or publicist to help you get the most out of your efforts.
If you need help with your music PR campaign, AMW can deliver top-quality campaigns for your brand. Our award-winning reputation among top brands and industry leaders gives you an assurance that we can deliver the best music PR services for you. Contact us today!