With a lot of technological inventions, creating music has become so easy and convenient for those who really want to do it. If music blogs and playlists easier to create, the internet has witnessed a flood of numerous pitching opportunities for music artists and promoters. So, the question arises here is – how to pitch your music to blogs. You reach out to industry expert writers who are best in the industry and who will actually yield results with their publication.

PREPARING FOR THE PITCH AS MUSIC ARTIST GET YOUR DUCKS IN A ROW

There are hundreds, thousands of music blogs, as they cover everything from the most obscure and underground genres right from rock to pop to classical, but how do these blogs decide which artist to cover who approaches music pitching?

With a lot of options available in the market, it can be a mix of various stuff but many blogs that showcase up-and-coming artists often receive pitches via email. Email campaigns can be an excellent tool to discover and connect with new artists, if customized personally.

As an independent music artist, have you tried reaching out to the media only to find the sound of resounding silence at the other end?

It is quite possible that you’ve heard back from 2-3 blogs, who gave you a firm ‘Thank you for contacting but unfortunately we don’t have enough openings available”. You might really be lucky, if you have heard from an underground blogger who likes your track and will post your music and that is the only response you get after sending dozens and dozens of emails to get some much-needed promotion.

In this highly competitive music industry, it is highly difficult to grab the media’s attention, especially when you are an artist who is new and not on the blogger’s radar yet. There are a few overlooked tips and tricks of the trade that can help you to beat the odds and get the traction on your music blog, you’re really looking to chase.

Some simple tricks can help you make a huge difference in who pays attention to you and who reaches out to you for publishing information about your work.

Here are some pro tips on how to pitch your music to blogs successfully-

Keep some important things in place before reaching out to your first media contact. Doing this will help make a strong first impression while looking for an agency that will help you in music pitching.

Media professionals or agencies are inundated with hundreds of emails and request every day, and only a few of them get chance to pay attention to all the mails. Digital space works so fast. You get less than 30 seconds to make that impression count. The three basic aspects you should consider to be in the row are:

Once the relevant blogger has found the artist and genres he loves, they try to find out more information on the artist/band so that they can write more about them. The blogger already has many articles queued up for submissions whose information is easily accessible and they can write a legitimate post basis their information. Not having relevant information can make them a lazy journalist who does not bother to do research. At the same time you as an artist also lose some opportunity on being covered in prominent coverage. To increase your chances of being covered by many PR houses, make sure you have the following information on social media and your website or social media accounts during music pitching-

Bio
Contact information and email address
Direct link to streamed music on various platforms like Spotify
Social media links
High resolution picture
Cover Artwork of single or album

2) Define and be aware of your story thoroughly-

Now that you are aware of the type of information that should be curated for the journalist, you will then need to know how to convey the information perfectly to pitching music to journalists-

Know what your story is so that you can conveniently convey the story in a compelling way. While pitching to bloggers, they will ask you a few questions or fill out a questionnaire survey to round out the story.

Their survey will also help them in determining what kind of artist you are. Whether you are a band or a solo music artist.

Listed below are some of the questions that will help you defining your story –

Where are you from?
How has your location or your upbringing influenced your music?
Are there any recent events or projects lined up?
What do you think of things in the current music industry that influences your music?
Does any of your songs/albums binds the current events around the world?
What is your music history?
How many albums have you released till date?
Would you please share about your upcoming albums?
What are your long-term plans?

You should have an interesting bio and a story of your music journey that will make the journalist pause and listen to you with open ears.

3) Have a high resolution image that will convey your sound-

Cover art or a high-resolution publicity photo can often be a deciding factor to determine whether you are a blogger or an artist and then the media will listen to your music, see your work and write about you.

Just like your bio, you will also want to make the publicity photo compelling enough to interact and have an impression. Make sure the image represents the famous sound of music you’re in making. This task is possible with the help of a professional photographer who has worked on reputable music sites before which you can make one of the best investments by hiring him while pitching your music to labels.

If you’re not sure where to start from and how it should look like, you can refer some good artists or famous bands who are into doing similar music work and check how their cover art is and make them accordingly. Doing this will give you a high launching pad and define your vision for your band.

Suppose you plan on investing in a photographer. In that case, you should check other artists or bands in your circle and who have hired any photographer for their work and check if the photographer will be able to capture the right image that represents your sound or sound art.

4) Know who to target and if the contacts are relevant enough to make an impact on your business-

The more music bloggers you will reach out to, the more coverage you will receive. But that is not always the case. As an artist, you shouldn’t be wasting your time and the blogger’s time when you don’t make music in the specific genre; they do the coverage. If you are an emerging artist and at the stage where they only cover established artists.

Consider the following major factors to look at while creating your own press list while you search for how to pitch a song –

Check if you are targeting the right contact?
Check if they actually cover your genre?
Do they cover artists or bands of your level?

If you are not sure of any publication’s website or anything like that, search for the agency and coverage opportunities in other forms like premieres, reviews, etc. Also check if it might be a good fit for yourself, your music or your band. After that, you should look at the past articles they have covered particularly in your genre and check the artists/bands related to your genre and are at your level.

Your genre should be self-explanatory to those who you are approaching. In case yours is a different genre and doesn’t fit the publication, you shouldn’t think that you are an exception to the league. The writer you’ve approached will not listen to you, and then you will think that now it should be a great time to move away from them and find another one.

Once you are able to find the relevant blog of your type and genre according to your genre, you should then determine the best contact at that outlet.

Start off with an experienced writer who has written articles featuring artists/bands matching your genre. If you want to reach a bit closer to that, you can look at artists who have covered artists/bands who are into the same field or are similar genre.

5) Ways to pitch to music blogs like a PR –

Now that you have gotten the idea of how the blogs that you’re looking forward to and which PR agency would be interested in covering your story, you need to be ready with your pitch to start pitching to them.

The easiest way to determine how to pitch a song to an outlet that will in adherence to the music blog submission guidelines on the website. Every outlet has a different set of rules and music blog submission guidelines that allow its writers to listen to your music.

t is burdensome at your end to send 100 email blogs, with each requiring different submission guidelines. Because some guidelines can be different for others. So, focus on making sure you have all your ducks in row before optimizing content marketing for musicians.

After the pitch is ready and you can start pitching each blog. It will then be a matter of a few small tweaks and rearrangements to cater to the specific needs of the blogs you pitch.

Thereafter, you need to specify the reason why they should cover you. It isn’t all about you, it is about them too. You need to check if they have covered anything similar to your music or band before? Is there anything special they should cover about you or think about covering you and like your music? Without a valid reason, you should avoid reaching out to them.

You should specify the type of coverage you desire. Make sure the blog you are contacting does the type of coverage that resonates with your type of coverage. If in case they only cover a blog post related to MP3s, there is no point asking for PR news or review. It will make them think you don’t know anything about their niche. Check for the columns specific to your genre or story. Mention the column head to the agency. Also let them know if they can cover your story in advance to show that you’re paying attention and refrain from giving them the details which are not required of them to publish

On top of that, you should also do the following–

Share the Link of your album (single or EP) that you want to be covered.
Give the song/ album streams link of SoundCloud, Spotify, Bandcamp, YouTube etc.
Give 2-3 lines describing your music and your story
Surf for similar artists who are into the same genre for a quick frame of reference.

6) Avoid to hype about your previously done work/future projects –

Even though you might want to show about your work, just don’t do it.

Fans and people who have interests will easily see through it, when you have produced a good piece and its sale will ridiculously come up and will be visible.

Instead of using subjective descriptions to your work, give an objective description like – ‘shimmering instrumentals’ ‘groove on the beats’ that’ll help you establish a picture for the journalist for a successful playlist pitching.

What we truly mean to say is while you avoid hyping up your work, be at a creative side a bit. The creative side should be enough captivating an image of you and your music or your sound. If you do have to hype up or be proud of one thing, try to present your work as facts that will help to give your name more credibility and recognition.

Considering the above-mentioned measures will help you to become a recognized, established song producer or make your record or playlist a recognized among herd of competitors.

If you’ve played with an established artist before, or performed at a major festival, these tips will definitely prove you handy to rise in the industry and will be helpful to get your music on blogs.

Here’s how to pitch to Spotify playlists-

Follow the steps that will help you pitch your songs or playlist on most used platform Spotify –

Click on “Music” then toggle to “Upcoming”

Under the “Playlist Pitch” column on your release list, click on “Pitch a Song” that will ease you in playlist pitching on Spotify.

Add song details Like: Genre

Add description to your creation

(Only one song can be pitched one time from an artist/record label or artist manager or distributor)

After you click on release, carefully choose the category of song you would like to pitch.

There you go!

Please make a point that you cannot pitch more than one song at a time.

If you’re pitching a single that you distributed, just select the single in the list on the page.

Point to note- Spotify for Artists also post upcoming releases for pitching right on the home page.

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Spotify music promotion is not that easy but if you make the pitch well, you can do the promotion like a pro and become successful.

Wrap up

Follow up is the key

Once you follow all the above pointers and steps, do not forget to follow up. A short follow up would be in the case of a premiere of your song or art should be helpful I getting the publishers opinion whether they are ready for the coverage or not. At the end of the day, you are interacting with real people behind these blogs, so always be sure of taking follow ups and be conscious about same. Afterall you are pitching your music.