4 Steps To Succeed In The Aussie Music Scene: A Music Journalists Perspective

Flourishing in the Australian music scene can often seem like a daunting and somewhat impossible task, and for the most part, it truly is an upwards climb to get to the place you want to be. As a music journalist, you see so many artists both solo and in bands that come up every day, trying to promote their brand new music as the next big thing, but what truly
makes the people want to listen and engage?

I’ve put together four steps to succeed in the Aussie music scene from my perspective as both a music magazine editor and a music journalist, and while my words aren’t the bible, they are a perspective from within the industry that can help artists trying to engage with writers in an attempt to spread around their amazing new tunes.

Step One: Write-Ups Are Your Golden Key

Finding an amazing PR team to spread the news about your band is essential. Through them, your new singles, new videos and any projects that you may be planning will be spread around to all the wonderful journalists in the country. With a good PR team, your band will suddenly have write-ups that explain who you are, where you are from and what exactly your new material is all about. Not only does this help the journalists have something to say about these brand-new faces that they are only just witnessing for the first time, but it also makes your group sound engaging and fun.

Most write-ups will make your new music sound like the greatest gift to earth, and that’s exactly what you want – to oversell your music and hype yourselves up to the max. Trust me, us journalists love seeing the creative ways that write-ups can describe bands and their singles. If you have a hard time finding someone to spread the message around, there is absolutely no harm in making your own write-ups, and sending them out to anyone you can find. Journalists are a lot more willing to write about your music than you’d think. We’re here to support your amazing new stuff!

Step Two: Engage Professionally With Your Journalists

If someone writes about you, thank them personally and share the story on your socials. Whenever you find a journalist that will continue to support you and your work, build a professional relationship with them and eventually you can start bypassing the entire write-up stage. Eventually the journalists will begin to see when new music is coming from you after
following your socials, and will create articles based on the new content they see being promoted.

When speaking to journalists personally, most will prefer being emailed, but if you find a journalist who accepts DMs on their social media pages, please keep it completely professional. Treat it like a formal email essentially, and skip the pleasantries. Ultimately, this is a working relationship that benefits both parties, but when one side feels like the line
has been crossed, that entire relationship can fall apart.

Through contact with journalists personally, you can tee up interviews, song premieres and all kinds of fun things, but just be wary of where that individual is at with their current situation. Most freelance writers will not be able to get the opportunity to write about up and coming Australian artists, and that’s the sad reality of the industry. Only full-time music
journalists, of which there are only a few scattered across a couple of companies, will be able to exercise their writing talents to talk about whatever they like, including you and your band.

If the person you are in contact with is freelance, there is almost no chance that they will be able to sell an interview with you and your band to larger companies, as most places are only interested in established names that will garner clicks. Eventually though, that will be you, so keep on keeping on.

Step Three: Social Media Is Your Best Friend

If you are not active on either Twitter or Instagram, there is almost no hope for people catching eye of your hard work. A lot of times, music journalists will search Instagram and Twitter for new talent to write about, so keep the posts constant, and keep them on brand with your image. Posting humorous or well-shot content onto your Insta will get people talking
about you and your group, and then comes the following. As long as you don’t give up on the socials, your follow count will be constant, and the amount of people listening to your tunes will increase over time.

Instagram stories are the best method to keep content constant without committing to permanence, that scary thing that hovers over all of our heads whenever we post online.

Step Four: Keep The Music Playing

Without new music, there is nothing for the people to engage with, and nothing for the writers to start talking about. Don’t be afraid to release singles at frequent rates, promoting them on your socials and emailing as many people as you can to listen in if they can. With enough people listening in to your music, you can start to tour your tunes around the country, and writers will also promote your ventures alongside your music.

Eventually, you can start to put out EPs and albums, which are a lot better for fans to sink their teeth into. As long as fans can see the effort you are putting into getting better with each and every song, they will start to reward you with listens and attention towards what you will do next.