Four Essential Music Promo
Kit
Mailing Tips
by Bob Baker
As you surely know, one of the primary ways
to present your band or record label to the industry is through
a solid press kit. I've spent a great deal of time over the
years preaching about the art of crafting effective bios,
cover letters, press releases and more. Of course, those
tools provide an excellent way for media people to READ about
your music, but they still have to HEAR it to be truly sold.
With that idea in mind, here are four tips
to help you get your promo kit noticed and your music heard
by the media:
1) Send CDs More Than Cassettes
After having received many thousands of packages over the years, I can tell
you that CDs are by far the format of choice. And for all the obvious reasons:
sound quality, convenience and the ease of cuing up individual tracks. Some
time, just for fun, pop in a cassette you're not familiar with and try finding
the beginning of the second song ... then the third song. It's frustrating
and time consuming. So you can imagine how thrilled overworked media people
are when they have to awkwardly skip through a tape to get a feel for a new
release.
Note: If you think everyone receiving your press kit is going
to play your recording all the way through, guess again. Most of them will
breeze through it to determine if your album is worth a more in-depth listen.
CDs make this process infinitely easier. And that's your job: to make it
as easy as possible for people to give you press, radio airplay, paid gigs
and more.
2) Prioritize Who Gets What
If you want to reach a lot of media sources and simply can't afford to send
everyone CDs, do this: Send your CDs to the high-priority contacts and places
most likely to respond. Send cassettes to the rest. You can also have a third
category of lower-priority contacts to which you simply send, for instance,
your bio and a photo. In the cover letter that goes with them, ask the recipient
to contact you if they want a free review copy. That way, you're only sending
your CDs to the people who really want them.
3) Take Off the Shrink Wrap
It may seem like a minor thing, but it does take some effort to pry off that
impenetrable plastic that surrounds new CDs and cassettes. Imagine being pressed
for time and having to wrestle with a dozen (or more) of these babies at one
sitting. Again, make it easier for people to enjoy your music and you will
be rewarded!
4) Include Complete Contact Info on Everything
I'll admit it, I'm a contact information freak. If you're
going to be a lean, mean, independent music-marketing machine, you must do
everything you can to get people (both industry folks and fans) to connect
with you. Sending out your press kit and then expecting people to go to work
figuring out how to get in touch with you is pure idiocy.
Cover letters get separated from bios. Photos get removed from press releases.
J-cards drift away from the cassettes they identify. Put your contact info
on everything! Think of your music marketing tools as frisky puppies that love
to break from the leash and run away. They need identification tags so the
people who find them know who they belong to.
I hope these ideas motivate you to make it easier for others to listen to your
music and help you succeed.
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Just visit www.bob-baker.com for
details. Bob is the author of "The
Guerrilla Music Marketing Handbook" and "Branding Yourself
Online: How to Use the Internet to Become a Celebrity or
Expert in Your Field."
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