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marketing services |
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. frequently asked questions .
Who do you represent?
I represent a variety of projects and artists in Americana, alt-country and Texas music. If I have contacted you about a specific artist or artists and you need more info, please let me know and I will direct you to the appropriate page. If you are interested in Americana and alt-country in general, well, email me that, too! Click here for the contact page.
1. What is publicity?
2. Who needs publicity?
3. When does publicity make sense?
4. How much does it cost?
5. What will a publicist do/What will an artist do?
6. what is radio promotion?
7. Will publicity and radio promotion sell my CD?
8. My question isn't here but it should be! 1. What is publicity?
Publicity is NOT BOOKING. Booking is the process by which artist secure gigs at clubs, concerts and festivals. That is not publicity. I don't know where that misconception comes from, but a misconception it is.
Publicity means exposure to the media. Newspapers, radio, blogs... being serviced and represented to the media is publicity. Your publicist is the person who asks people to write about you, review your CD, mention your upcoming tour dates, feature you in articles, podcasts, television and radio shows. Your publicist is the part of your marketing effort dealing with press -- print, broadcast and online.
2. Who needs publicity?
An artist needs publicity when an artist has something that would be of interest to the media and to listeners. Think of what you read about when you read about music: You read about new CDs that have just come out, or tour dates, or upcoming concert events. You read about events in the lives of artists, such as the formation of a new independent label or a partnership with a charitable organization. Artists benefit from publicity when they have something of interest to readers and listeners. Think of publicity as a megaphone that amplifies your message and helps get it out there.
3. When does publicity make sense?
The time to think about publicity is when you are planning a project. Whether you are planning a tour or a CD or a charitable effort or a project, start thinking about how you will publicize it and what you want to do with it. For CDs, it's best to start thinking about publicity three months before your CD comes out. This gives you time to plan a release date, come up with a marketing plan that's going to help raise awareness about your CD and help it sell, and helps you form a really great effort. If your CD is already out and you are newly thinking about publicity, you haven't missed the boat. But bear in mind that many, many publications and media will only review CDs in advance of their release. To be most effective, start planning early.
4. How much does it cost?
There are so many factors influencing this, it's difficult to say. But think about how many hours go into what you want done, how many phone calls, how many emails, how many songs mailed out, how many websites scoured and how much research done, how many car rides and packages sent out, and how many years spent cultivating contacts and perfecting an approach. How much would you charge for your time to do this? When you hire someone to do it for you, you incur expenses for all of the above. Cost entirely depends on the scope of the project and the nature of it.
5. What will a publicist do/What will an artist do?
A publicist raises awareness about a project by designing a campaign that most effectively meets the team's objectives and applies effort to get results in the media. The publicist talks knowledgeably about the project, creates and pursues opportunities, supplies physical product and detail to people, arranges logistics, cheerleads, prepares marketing materials, and follows up again and again and again and again. An artist makes best use of a publicist by supplying really clear and accurate information and communicating with a publicist. The more accurate and reliable the information, the better the campaign goes. The more heartily a publicist can endorse a project and get quick answers about it, the better and more fruitful the efforts are. When the artist or artist's team is enthusiastic and proactive, this process is better and better. If an artist or teams doesn't want communication or can't make time for it, doesn't seem to be into the materials or able to really talk about it, and communication is reduced to "check my MySpace for that," the whole effort suffers. Sometimes interviewers call and want information RIGHT AWAY. Communication is essential. It's the special spark of being engaged and interested that helps the artist and publicist supply info that's accurate, persuasive and effective. THAT gets results. So expect to be involved! The more that's understood, the clearer the message over the megaphone.
6. What is radio promotion?
Radio promotion is the process by which songs get radio airplay. Sometimes radio promotion happens to try to get chart position; sometimes it happens outside of that effort. But radio promotion is a campaign to let programmers and radio know about a given artist or project.
7. Will publicity and radio promotion sell my CD?
I think it helps to draw upon personal experience here. What made YOU buy a CD? Was it glancing at a chart and seeing that a certain record was #11? Was it hearing a song on the radio? Was it getting totally blown away at a show? Was it a friend telling you about it? Was it downloading a promotional mp3? Was it knowing the artist already and reading about a new project? Was it a lot of different things? Charting is not going to make a CD fly off the shelves. If there were one thing you could do that would make it sell, everyone would do just that. WITHOUT publicity and radio promotion, it is very hard to get noticed and nearly impossible to chart. And those are pretty essential in helping you sell CDs, tickets and just generally getting appreciated by as many people as you'd like. Which is good.
8. I have a question that's not here but it should be...
Send it to me! Click here to go to contact page to send a message.
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