“When you don’t have money to hire PR people to run media campaigns for you, it is up to you to make sure people know about the music you are making.” – musicians.about.com
Some bands expect media groups to search their social media pages for their daily news – this is rather misguided since most media groups receive press news from bands, hence the terms: press kits, press releases and promo packages.
It simply starts with wanting to promote your music. If you feel your music has any value whatsoever, you should do an effort to promote it. This might be straightforward to most, but some bands have mastered the art of releasing material (or even releasing news on their social media pages) and expecting the world to know about it without proper promotion. When that fails, they blame everyone (fans, other bands, media, the internet, Pop music, the Lebanese state) but themselves.
Although we are a non-profit media group, we know a thing or two about how bands can always communicate with the media for better self promotion.
- Here’s how to do it
1- Send an email to promote your News or upcoming Album/EP/Demo release with the following:
A- the actual news text you want to share (be precise and keep it short)
B- short band bio + contact info + band photo
C- (if available) info about the release (recording process, release date, tracklist, etc) + artwork photos (cover, etc)
2- Send a MAIL (Bonus) (only if material is available)
A- the actual physical release (if you’re not selling any physical release, simply burn your material on a disc and mail it to the press)
B- again: info about the release (recording process, release date, tracklist, etc) + artwork photos (cover, etc)
C- again: short band bio + contact info + band photo
D- (optional) upcoming tours information, previous press coverage material
P.S: So you basically send an email with all the information you want to share, and if you’re releasing some new material, it would be great if you can also send out an additional promo package that includes all the information you already sent as an email and a physical CD with the material on it.
3- Wait for feedback to see if it was published or not, might not get a feedback if it wasn’t
4- If the press did publish your news, it’s respectful and cooperative to share the press’s links back on your social media pages
- Here’s the process from the press’ perspective
1- Receive promo package / press kit / press release from a band.
2- A neat professional email with clear information leaves a better impression and encourages cooperation
3- Publish the news on the (press’s) website/magazine/newspaper and all social media pages
4- Provide the bands with links for them to share on their own social media pages
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That’s pretty much the basics of self promotion, whether you do follow them or not is up to you, but please know that sharing news, especially music news, is a two-way process which starts with you and ends with the media groups.
A post about this topic on our Facebook page: https://facebook.com/lebmetal/posts/10152212771052822
To contact us: lebmetal.com/about-contact
