How To Establish Contacts With Music Blogs
As an artist getting your work published on blogs can be very helpful. Sometimes, career altering if you get featured on the right one.
However, even with all the blogs on the internet, and all the authors, it isn’t always an easy task to establish connections with these “bloggers.” Especially with the more popular sites. So how can you do it? We’re going to help you with some tips and tricks.
First things first, who are they?
In order to establish connections, you first need to know who you want to establish them with. I am sure you have some in mind already, but making the sale is more often than not, a numbers game. So you will need to start off by making a list with as many blogs associated with your music genre as possible. The more, the better. Obviously the more contacts you have, hopefully, the more blogs that pick up your story. Also, when you’re first starting out, it is tough to get on the Dancing Astronauts’ and the Your EDM’s.
So start making a list. When making this list, you not only want the name of the blog, but the contact information as well. If you can get an email address rather than use the general contact form on the site, that is much better. It will make it easier when contacting them.
A great place to start making your list is Hype Machine. They have a list of blogs they index when creating their most blogged about tracks. You can check that out here. You can also sort by genre, which is nice. Another great resource is a list that Symphonic a music distributor put together which you can check out here. Those should give you plenty to start with but if not, just do a google search.
Once you have your list it is time to start contacting them. Keep in mind when you start contacting them that many of these blogs get more submissions than they can possibly read. So you need to do whatever you can to get their attention.
One of the first things is, if you want to be taken seriously by the bigger blogs, especially as an up and comer, you should look as professional as possible. That means you should try and get some professional photos done, and put together an electronic press kit (EPK). If you’re not sure what an EPK is, just give a google search for “DJ/producer electronic press kit.”
Second thing is, figure out how you can stand out from the rest of the pack. Instead of mass emailing all of them, take some time to email them individually and address the email directly to the blog. This will help with getting noticed. If you have a direct email for a writer or editor, it is even more important to address the email to him or her.
Also it is very important to keep the email short and sweet. Don’t send them a 1,000 word email. I always found that emails that provide the most important information in the first two sentences, along with a link to stream the track are the most effective. In addition if you have some impressive stats or accolades on the track, like it was supported by a bigger artist or quotes from DJ’s, how many plays or downloads it has, that always helps to get their attention. For additional information point them to the attached EPK which should give a bio, links to socials etc.
Another thing the writers LOVE are free downloads. Hint, Hint. So give them what they like. They are a blog they need good content, and free downloads for their readers is good content. In addition if you are supplementing it with Hypeddit, you will now turn those listeners into followers and get great exposure to many of the blogs followers.
You can also make a remix of a popular track if the label published the remix stems, or even take time to create a parody. I know that might seem off the path, but that is the intent. It is out of the box and different. That will get you noticed.
Take what our recent Artist of the Month Angemi did which got him placement on many top EDM blogs including Dancing Astronauts, as well as gain him recognition and contacts with the biggest producers in the scene. He created a “what if” series and for instance asked the question, what if Hardwell remixed Oliver Heldens track Melody. What would it sound like? Then he actually would make clips of what the songs would sound like and people went nuts for it.
If you can pull off something like that, taking the time to put it together is well worth it.
Now once you start emailing all of these blogs, don’t get discouraged if you don’t get picked up right away. It will take a little time. But, when they consistently keep seeing your name, and every time you’re presenting yourself properly and sending them killer shit, you will break through.
If all of that seems like a lot, that’s because it is. It takes hard work to be the next Skrillex. Who wants it the baddest is the question.
One of the last and most effective ways to try and establish contacts is to find writers and editors directly. One of my favorite ways to do this is by using Linkedin. They are all over it. Simply search your favorite blogs and I guarantee you will get a few results. Once you find them, send out requests to connect with them. If and when they accept, message them. When you do message them, I wouldn’t try and pitch them at first. Introduce yourself, tell them you’re an up and coming producer, and you just wanted to reach out to introduce yourself. Maybe just start by asking them if you can have their email to send them promos. Let them know if you love their blog and their writing – everyone loves to get support for their craft.
To take it a step further and really establish a meaningful long lasting relationship, ask if you can help them in anyway. Use a similar approach, tell them who you are, that you love their blog, and you were wondering if you can maybe do a guest post? Or help them with their Instagram, or anything else you can think of. If you start doing guest posts, or helping them in some way, guess who will probably be able to get a post when they are looking for coverage? You.
To save yourself time you should also put together a quick template email that you can use when reaching out to new contacts. This way you don’t have to write it every single time.
We hope those tips help. Also we would love to hear what you have done to get your music featured on blogs. Share your success stories in the comments below.
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