How To Get Music Blogs To Notice Your Music
If you are an artist, I'm sure you are trying to get your music on blogs and hip hop websites. Getting a feature or interview with a top publication could put you in front of a brand new audience and help propel your career to the next level. Whether you submit your music to these blogs or use a PR agency, make sure you are professional and follow the submission directions. There are hundreds of blogs but only a select few that will give you the exposure you need. In order to get on these blogs you will most likely need to build a relationship with someone at the company or get referred from a friend. The music industry has always been about relationships and I don't think it's changing anytime soon so find a way to meet these people and connect with them on a personal level. Please keep in mind that every blog have their own style/sub-genre of Hip-Hop they post about so some might not be a good fit for you.
1) Understand Your Press List
Have the individuals on your press list written about similar artists in the past? Do they only write about pop music or do they also tend to write about up and coming artists? Do they only write about certain genres of music? Does your music fall within that genre?
A quick way to see if a blog has written about an artist you think you're similar to is to do a Google Search with "site:blogname.com artist name" - Google will show you a list of search results from that blog featuring that artist.
2) Have a Detailed Subject Line
If you're going to stand out from the crowd you better have a damn good subject line. Is your song a new release? Say so. Is there an MP3/Video attached? Call that out. Is your song featuring a big name artist that might be more well-known than yourself? Call it out.
Good Examples:
MP3/Video: Fatal Lucciauno - "Big Bro" (Prod. By Kuddie Fresh) + "Flawed" Freestyle (Music Submission) Smoke - Goin Hammer (Feat. Chalie Boy and Gorilla Zoe)
3) Keep the Description Simple
Remember that the recipients of your song submission receive many submissions per day. They don't want to read a novel when determining whether or not to listen to and post a song. Tell a concise story about who you are and your music. Have you been featured elsewhere? Toured with a famous band? Have a famous cousin? Why are you different? Why should we care about you?
Confusion from Pigeons and Planes says,
"…the pitches that get my most attention are the simple ones that make it easy to check out the music. When it comes to indie/unknown artists, it all depends on the music. If I get an email with 20 attachments, a short story’s worth of writing, and links to everything the artist has ever done, I’m not likely to check it out. If I see a simple message with one song, and if I like that song, I’m going to do what I can to support."
4) Include Essential Song Assets
Music bloggers really like presentation. If you're lucky enough to have a compelling enough subject line to get an email open, further bring the music blogger into your world with well designed artwork.
Winston "Stone" Ford from The Couch Sessions makes the point,
"Any artist at this time needs artwork and presentation. If you actually have really good cover art, that’s what I gravitate towards and click on first."
Ensure that the blogger has all the assets they need to create a solid blog post. This means include links to music videos, external URLs like your website and social media presences in addition to your artwork and song description.
"Always present yourself professionally and keep a very strong brand image. It is all about keeping your brand and product as high quality as possible." - David Reyneke, Potholes In My Blog
5) The Infamous Media Player Embed
The most essential asset to include in your email is a link to your music. This is so essential that I'm giving it its own section. Realize that even successful bloggers sometimes have other day jobs that don't involve blogging. This means that a lot of work is done via mobile phone. Attach your mp3 file (or a snippet at least) to the email itself when sending so that the blogger can listen to your song while on the move. But don't stop there! Also clearly call out in your email where the blogger can go to get the media player embed code so that they can easily publish a media player with your song. If you want to get super fancy, include the actual embed code in your email as well.
