Pitching Your Music: Tips to Being Featured with Online Mags & Blogs

Pitching your music can be an extremely daunting prospect, when you are first starting out. With the contributions of some incredible founders, below, I break down and lay out some tips to being featured within online mags and blogs.

Your song is ready to go.. you have spent hours upon hours and days upon days, pouring your heart out with the creation of your song.. you have had it refined, re-written, polished.. you have been through the recording process.. perhaps, had your photos taken, cover art created.. Now what? How do you get your song heard? How do people find your music?

You can create as much music as you can dream of creating and put as many songs up on Spotify or iTunes as you like.. If no one knows about your music, it’s not going to be heard.

We are living in an incredibly exciting era.. we can sit, messy haired, in our pyjamas, in front of our computers.. and with just a formation of letters and an ‘@’ sign, we can send an email to practically anyone around the world.. we have access to any information that our minds can conjure up, just by typing a string of words into a Google search box..

This is incredible news for you as a musician.. it means that:

1. You have the ability to tell people about your music
2. Potential fans are sitting in front of their computers, messy haired and in their pyjamas.. searching the big wide web, looking for music like yours.

Why promote your music on a blog or online mag?

There are so many ways that you can promote your music, both over the internet and in the ‘real world’, but there are so many benefits to including a blog or online mag in your repertoire of promotional outlets.

1. Blogs and Online Mags have an existing following

Blogs and Online Mags have an existing following.. and by selecting a blog that has similar music to yours, you also know that they already like your style of music.

2. Ease of sharing across social media

Articles, reviews, interviews etc. featured within a blog are easily shared across social media. If fans like what they read or see, they will often share with their friends, increasing your reach.

3. Validity for potential and existing fans

When viewers see that an artist is being promoted, it provides a sense that this artist is going somewhere.. they are worth following. Being featured within a blog or online mag is an opportunity for an artist to provide their fans with that sense of validity.

4. Investment in the future of your music

Unlike social media, where posts disappear into the abyss after they have been shared, blog posts gain momentum over time. As the views and engagement gather on the post, it becomes more prevalent in searches and more eyes see the content. This is good news for you, because potential fans will continue to find you for years to come, for the work that was put in at that one time.

5. Backlinks

If you have your website and music links included within the article, it provides, what the internet world terms as a backlink. A backlink is simply a link to your site, located on another site. Google uses these records as a kind of validity that people are interested in your site and therefore, you will rank higher in Google searches.

How to approach an Online Mag or Blog

Now that you have decided to take the plunge into the world of online mags and blogs, there are some things that need to be considered when pitching our music.

It is incredibly easy for anyone to find a contact detail for submitting music to a blog and it is completely free in most cases to submit your details. For this reason, founders and editors of blogs are inundated with requests for musicians to be featured on their pages.

The below tips by Founders and Editors of Music Blogs will assist you in formulating an effective pitch, that will allow your submission to shine and to cut through the noise of the multitude of messages that are sent each day.

Do Your Research

Emma Jones, Editor of Purple Sneakers, says to “be organised, and research. Know who you’re pitching to (are they a metal blog and you’re a pop artist?)”.

Nic Kelly, Editor of Project U advises.. “Don’t waste your time emailing every publication your song. Putting the work in to find and contact publications that have run artists similar to your sound in the past, or ones that run artists at your ‘level’ (i.e. if the publication only posts about Katy Perry & Taylor Swift and you have 300 followers, it’s probably not worth it.) Targeted pitching will increase the effectiveness of your work getting to the audiences it needs to be and save you time + resentment from getting a knock-back. I listen to and respond with feedback to EVERY pop song sent to Project U, even if we only run about 5% of them”

Maggie Tra, Founder of Stimulate Your Soul says “My biggest and best advice to an artist is to make sure that the blog you contact actually covers the music you play. Do they cover similar artists or styles that are like yours? This makes it immensely easier for the media to search through 1,000,000 emails they receive and shows that you care and respect their publication by doing that little bit of research.”

Kylie O’Connell, Founder of Deafen County explains that “when creating your emails, I would recommend doing your research and finding out who you’re writing to, so you can make them as personal as possible. Email blast outs often get missed, but a considered email can stand out a little bit more than others. Make sure the body of the email is clear with artist name, info, release dates and song links. If there’s a huge/unclear amount of info overload in one email, the person is less likely to read it as they’re probably getting a lot of requests. Also, one important thing to remember when trying to get music coverage is that it’s all so subjective. Try not to be too disheartened if someone doesn’t reply to you, do a follow up email and then move on to the next contact and find the next person who loves your music.”

Below are some things to consider, when researching:

1. What style of music does the blog cover? Is it a good fit for my music?
2. Is the message within my music, in line with the messages within the blog?
3. Do I resonate with the way the posts are written?

Consider Your Message

Consider what it is about your message, that you would like to be perceived.. Always remember that there is someone at the other end, reading your email. They are looking to understand as much about you and your music as quickly as possible, to see if you’re a good fit for their blog.

Nic Kelly, Editor of Project U says to “Keep your pitch succinct. It shouldn’t take me more than 100 words to know whether I’m going to listen to the track or not.”

Emma Jones, Editor of Purple Sneakers advises, “have your quick sales pitch in the email (about a line or two), and know what you’re asking for: are you asking for an interview, review, feedback? Basically, keep it short, simple and concise!”

Email message tips to remember:

1. Consider the length of your email and keep the pitch short.
2. Keep the message simple and easily understandable
3. Know what you are asking for
4. Get straight to your key points

Personalise Your Pitch

As humans, we all love to be seen.. We are not robots, at the end of a production line, optically recognising the words in your email.. We all appreciate when someone recognises that we are a real, living, breathing person and that we have a name.. even if we can’t see the face behind the computer screen.

Nic Kelly, Editor of Project U says “be personal. Most publications will not read a mass-sent press release. I delete them immediately. Including something as simple as a “Hey Nic,” shows you’ve taken the time to personally pitch your music. Again, this is all about maximising the effectiveness of your pitching and giving you more time to do what you do best, be creative!”

Damian Nicholas, Editor of auspOp.com.au states “I’d also recommend being personal to the site you’re reaching out to; not just a straight cut and paste job or a BCC mail out.”

Consider who is at the other end of your email..

1. Who are they?
2. What is their name?
3. What do they like to write about?
4. Are there any posts that they have written that you like?

Include Images & Links

Always remember that the pitch itself is not the whole package.. Include any images, links and your press release and consider how accessible, these are for easy viewing.

Emma Jones, Editor of Purple Sneakers says “have all your assets (song, photo, press release) easily accessible within your email.”

Nic Kelly, Editor of Project U states that “Your email body should always include either a Soundcloud, Disco or Dropbox link to a song (not a live Spotify link) for private streaming, a press pic link, and a link to a press release or EPK of sorts to read further info. Include the date the song goes live, exactly what you’re hoping for from the publication, and some social links.”

Damian Nicholas, Editor of auspOp.com.au notes “I’d also recommend that they also include live links to download cover images, high res artist images (this is forgotten about a lot of the time), a quote about the song itself and, of course, somewhere to listen to the track. Perhaps a little artist history too.”

Maggie Tra, Stimulate Your Soul reminds us to “connect, be genuine and most importantly have all the assets such as press image, press release and all your social media channels. “

When putting together your images and links, remember the following:

1. Remember to include all images, links and press release documents with your email
2. Consider the resolution of your images and only include high resolution images
3. If you are submitting to a site that hosts it’s own streaming, ensure that the music link you send allows them to set this up.. if they stream from a service like spotify, then include this type of link.
4. Do you have any quotes or comments that you would like to be included in the write up?

Timing Is Everything

It is essential not to assume that your review, interview or article will be able to happen straight away.. As mentioned earlier, founders and editors are often inundated with requests. Therefore, ensure that you’re allowing enough time for them to prepare and publish, before any upcoming release dates.

Damian Nicholas, Editor of auspOp.com.au says “I’d probably recommend that they send an email to the publication a week or two prior to the track’s release, given securing coverage on any site these days is becoming more and more difficult.”

Where To Start

The valuable inside information in this article, has been provided directly from the founders themselves. Every day, they are operating online magazines or blogs for musicians and receiving many requests from musicians.. They are however regularly on the lookout for great new music and to hear from musicians that are determined to have their music discovered.

To begin, why not start by having a look at whether any of their online mags or blogs would be a good fit for your music?

Below are some links and descriptions to help you begin:

Couch Mag

Couch Mag is my Online Mag, and has been born organically, out of it’s mother musician’s platform, Sounds On The Couch. This is a platform designed to provide online performing opportunities to musicians and provide value through interviews with experts and musicians alike.

The Mag is an opportunity for musicians to utilise interview opportunities, have their music reviewed or to write articles from their own experience, that may be of benefit to other musicians, working towards a similar goal.

If you would like to be featured in Couch Mag, you can contact Karen Harding by heading to the ‘How to Contribute‘ page on the site.

AuspOp

AuspOp is an Australian based blog, featuring all things pop music. They showcase artist and album reviews, interviews and news reports.

You can contact the editor, Damian Nicholas via the contact form on the AuspOp website

Deafen County

Deafen County is a Sydney based music blog, dedicated to ‘quality noise’. The main focus of the blog is to get the music heard and contains playlists and mixes of artists. There are also artist features.

You can contact Kylie O’Connell via the email address listed on her ‘Contact Us‘ page.

Project U

Project U is a pop music blog founded by Nic Kelly, all about “Pop music & zero bullshit”

Nic has designed the blog to include features, interviews, news and showcase the music of pop artists.

You can contact Nic via the email address listed on his ‘About us‘ page.

Purple Sneakers

Purple Sneakers is an Australian based Pop, Dance and Electronic blog, that enables readers to listen to tracks, watch film clips and read music news updates.

You can contact editor, Emma Jones via the email address listed on her ‘Contact Us‘ page.

Stimulate Your Soul

Stimulate Your Soul is an Australian Made website featuring Hip Hop, Soul and R&B music.

The site features interviews, music reviews, event listings and artist’s music.

You can contact the founder, Maggie Tra at the email address listed on her ‘PR Services‘ page.

In Summary

Above all.. enjoy the process of connecting and getting your music out there.. creating and promoting your music should be a fun process, so get out there and have fun experimenting!