Getting Bloggers and Magazines to Review Your Music

By NationWide Source - Jan 13, 2014 Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

As an up-and-coming musician, you may have no idea where to begin when it comes to how to market your music. Anyone who has been successful in creative endeavors can tell you it’s no longer enough to put out a quality product and wait for attention. Your audience has to hear about that product, and they have to hear about it from a trusted, established source. While this source can be someone they know and trust, it can also be professional writers and bloggers in the music industry.

Here are some tips for reaching that group:

Do your homework

Find out which outlets fit your niche, who the contact people are, and whether or not they accept submissions. Subscribe to those magazines, read those blogs, or follow those writers.

Make contact

Send out copies of your music, press packets, and so forth. Tailor each submission to the recipient, too.

***Check their submission guidelines…* *Twice***

The press or person might require certain formats or pieces of information, or they might only communicate with managers and record labels. Don’t let a procedural mistake cost you this opportunity.

Focus on quality

Be sure that what you’re sending is as polished and professional as your budget allows, both in sound and appearance. If you want to be taken seriously as an artist, make sure your product reflects that.

Be relevant

Only send your product to appropriate people. Asking a magazine that focuses on heavy metal to review your jazz flute album probably won’t be an effective use of anyone’s time or money.

Follow up

If you haven’t heard back within a couple weeks, a polite letter, email, or (perhaps most impressively) phone call or two is acceptable. However, do NOT let this turn into nagging or begging.

Be thankful

If the press does feature you, by all means, do a happy dance. Then, send a thank you note. Be sure to share the feature on your website and social media platforms. Even if you’re not featured, thank them for their time and ask if they know of anyone in the industry who may be interested.

If you’re not sure where to start, try the music blog scene. Read and interact with music blogs like Hypebot, Digital Music News, and Ditto Music. They might answer questions you didn’t know you had, or they could simply point you on to the next link.

Have you been featured? If so, where, and how did you make this happen?

2 Comments
...Keep Reading

Know Your Niche To Get The Right Gigs

By NationWide Source - Jan 13, 2014 Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

We know that, as an artists, you are always trying to stand out and avoid being generalized. However, defining yourself and looking at how others perceive you—in other words, knowing your niche—is in your best interest.

Look Within

What is your preferred style of music? Where do you think your sound fits in? Who would you compare yourself to? What is the best sound for your performances or live recordings?

If you’re a solo artist, this is a journey you need to take on your own. If you’re a member of a band (and want to keep things that way), uncovering your niche has got to be a group effort.

Listen to Others

Once you have an outline of who you think you are, ask those you trust for their opinion. Even if you don’t see it from the get-go, as a performer you need to be open to the ways in which others perceive you. What do others think of your music? Which musicians do others most readily identify your music as being similar to? How accurate is your own view of your musical style compared to theirs? If there is a discrepancy, what changes do you need to make?

Put it to Action

Knowing your niche is a powerful tool that can help you book gigs, market your band, and reach more fans. For marketing and building a fan base, you know now how to accurately describe yourself to record stores, record labels, and potential fans. Use this knowledge to your advantage.

In terms of gigs, evaluate which venues and audiences are best suited to your niche. Does it make sense for a club DJ to play venues better suited to an acoustic duo? Or a barbershop quartet to be drowned out at a battle of the bands? Maybe you have been playing half-empty venues when you would do better to focus on more-intimate, smaller settings. Ask yourself these questions: Where is your music most readily felt? Where is your target audience? What venues allow you to connect with your audience and appropriately showcase your talent?

If you’re rehearsing or booking gigs or wanting to record and haven’t yet figured out your niche, stop what you’re doing (we mean it) and figure this out. It will be worth it in the long run. If you’ve already done this, great job! We’d love to hear what you discovered.

Have you discovered your niche yet? Has identifying your niche helped or hindered your music career?

7 Comments
...Keep Reading