91훑괵


www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra/1xmusic/
Promotion Promote releases Introduction Generating some hype on your track involves a lot of positive energy and hard graft.혻 Read on for: Pigeonholing yourself Finding people Be Persistent Meeting people Getting help and advice Keeping records Why people don't say no Press Releases Reaction sheets Mail out agencies Being realistic Other ways "If you want people to buy your product, be prepared to work hard day and night." T. Roy Director Cafe Recordings Pigeonholing Think about who's going to buy your record and in which section of the record shop they'll be able to find it. If you don't put your music in a bracket then no-one's gonna find it because the shops won't know where to put it. Thinking about what camp your music falls into will also give you a clear idea of which deejays, journalists, distributors you should approach. Think about a quick way to describe your music - have something you can use in sales pitches and which doesn't start "It doesn't sound like anything else out there..." "I would suggest deciding which genre it's closest to and covering all angles, for example, if you have a Garage sound with Hip Hop speed, target both kind of markets." Phyllisia Adjei Project Manager Soul2Streets Finding People When it comes to getting a name-brand deejay to play your track or a heavyweight journalist to write about it you've gotta find them first. Check the backs of flyers to get promoters numbers and get in contact with the deejays through them. Every name deejay works through an agency and promoters will have their number because that's how they book them. Try talking to your local record shop or surfing the internet for more info and remember that a lot of the big boy deejays run their own labels so also try this route of contact. For commercial radio, you need to find the name of the producer of the programme you're targeting. Try calling the radio station and just asking. For print journalists you need to identify someone who reviews records from your style of music and keep phoning. Remember: don't give up if you don't get an immediate response. Successful people are busy people so don't be surprised if they're hard to reach or don't get back in touch immediately. Just remember to be respectful and maintain a professional attitude, even in the face of rejection. "Take any opportunity that you can get to put something in front of someone. Most deejays love to be first on the block with something new." Chet Selwood Owner 4am Distribution Be Persistent Building hype takes time. If you really want to make your record a success you're going to have to get used to leaving lots of voicemail messages. Many successful industry heads screen their calls because if they didn't they'd be on the phone all day and wouldn't have any time to work. Don't take it personal if they don't return your calls, just keep applying the pressure. Your ego is gonna have to get tough if you want to succeed in this game. "As an artist, deejay or producer, you have to go out there and get it, it doesn't just come to you no matter how good you are." DJ Skully UK DMC Champion Meeting People The perfect situation would be you sitting in the deejay/ journalist/ producer's office playing your tune and looking at their grill to see their reaction while they listen. The worst is putting a badly labelled jiffy bag in the post and hoping they'll find it amongst the hundreds of others they get. The reality may lie somewhere in between but the closer you can get to actually playing your track to someone, the better. We've all met someone who claims they know someone who's mates with a name-brand deejay, well difference is, now you've got to follow it up - they might even be for real. Try anything you can to get a face to face meeting because it makes it much more likely that your tune will get a listen. If you've let someone know you're sending your disk, make sure your name is on the OUTSIDE of the packaging so they know it's yours. Remember to include a reaction sheet and an SAE - they may or may not return it but they definitely won't if you don't include one. "Keep putting your music out. Get those records in the shops. Deejays buy records and people talk - that's free promotion." Joe Christie M.D. Lowlife Records Getting Help Almost everybody in this biz was a struggling new jack at one stage of their career and they know what it feels like to be starting out. As a result, if they like you and your record they really will try their hardest to help you. At the bare minimum they will give you lots of good comments, which can help your confidence and is great for quotes when you're writing press releases. You should think about this when making contact with people - if they like your attitude they're more likely to help you so be cool. If you're sending your vinyl, take the time to include a personal letter rather than a standard one. Keeping Records By now you must have realised that promoting your releases is going to involve enuff phone calls, dealing with loads of different people and following up on a whole heap of leads. Keep records of the people you've approached, the date and what was said. This will allow you to chase people without harassing them and means you're primed and ready if they suddenly call. Keep a black book because it will help you keep track of all those precious industry contacts. People Don't Say No What's worse than someone who won't say yes? It's people who won't say no! If your biggest fear is that an industry person will tell you your tracks are useless and they're not interested, don't worry it probably won't happen. It may be because they're worried you might smash and will cut them out of a share in your future success but less often it'll be because they don't want to hurt your feelings. People who won't say no can be stress as you often can't tell if they're too unorganised to return your calls or just not feeling you. "People are scared of hurting your feelings. Remember just because someone's in the industry doesn't mean they know what they're talking about. You've got to be very thick skinned." Joe Christie M.D. Lowlife Records Press Releases Because they're cheap, press releases are things you can send all over the place. You can have a much larger mailing list of publications, pirate and legal radio station DJs, anyone who can help publicise your release. The art of the press release is something you're going to have to master - writing them and targeting them at the right people. These will also be the people you'll be targeting with free gig tickets etc. See our section on 'How to... Put together a Press Pack' for more on how to write a press release. "A press release informs journalists, playlist people and any other key players about your track and the artist. It makes the artist seem human." Phyllisia Adjei Project Manager Soul2Streets Reaction Sheets One of the best ways to find out what people think of your tune is to get them to fill in and send back a reaction sheet. Make sure you include: - Your name or the name of your crew - The name of the track - The date of the release - The date you sent the reaction sheet - Your telephone number, e-mail address, postal address and, if you can, a fax number Include a short description and maybe some background info about your record. Make the sheet easy to fill out by including tick boxes (feeling it/hated it) or maybe a scale of 1 to 10 so they can just give it a rating. You could also include something to rate the crowd reaction if they play it in a club. Remember to include a comments box - this is where you'll get the deejay's personal feelings about the track. If they're good you can use them for promotional quotes.혻 "They're worth doing. They can save you money because they'll identify who will actually play your records." Joe Christie M.D. Lowlife Records Mail Out Agencies If all this sounds like too much trouble you could use a mail out agency. For a fee of around 짙2.50 a record they'll do all this for you. They'll want a minimum of around 50 records to send out and will deal with one or two different musical styles. They'll already know all the name-brand deejays you'll need to target and they'll have regular contact with them. Doing things this way means your tune is more likely to get a proper listen from one of the big boys in the scene.혻 Agencies like this make their reputation by having access to the leading names in the scene. The deal is that the DJs get the free tunes as long as they fill out the reaction sheets on a regular basis. That means you can expect around half of them back.혻 Many DJs depend on freebies like this to keep the freshest tunes coming their way. As a result, they might not wanna say if they really don't like a tune in case they get taken off the agency mailing list as being "inappropriate for our style of music". Also, every mailout agency depends on having the best names in the trade to call on so a lot of name brand deejays will be on these mailing lists and get sent enuff wack tunes as well as the slammin' ones. They end up in a similar situation as A&R people, having loads of records sitting around and having to do some serious searching to find the good ones. Finally, you miss out on the personal contact that can help build a relationship with someone who can really help you. "You can get your white labels to deejays through a promotional company. Deejays tend to trust the judgement of these companies and will give material preference over independently sent tracks." Phyllisia Adjei Project Manager Soul2Streets Be Realistic When it comes to building a career, first thing to remember is that it's going to take time and a whole lot of effort. Keep your targets realistic and reach higher each time. Sure, you'll get knock-backs but that's just how it is. Think of your career in terms of steps and it'll help you to maintain momentum and keep your dreams grounded in reality. Try to learn from the bits that don't go well in order to help you with your next step. The more heads you can get who are willing to say they like your music, the easier it is to get everyone else on your side. Even though your record was made by you, contains your ideas and thoughts and was put together by your hard work, don't take it personal if mans ain't feelin' it. Be objective. Some artists say that thinking about the track as if it wasn't theirs helps. No doubt, it can be really hard to retain a cool profile when inside all you wanna do is let out a shout of frustration but don't get vexed and stay on point. "Every release has to be treated as a stepping stone. Very few people come through with a hit on their first release." T. Roy Director Cafe Recordings Help Yourself The best way to promote your track is to clock the scene in your area. There are nuff tings you can do to get your face known by the people you need to know. Working in a record shop is one good way. You'll get to meet all the local deejays and get the low-down on which promoters and clubs are doing the business and which tracks are hurting the dance floor. If you're finding it expensive to be a regular face at the clubs you need to be at, you'll often find that you can get guest list places in exchange for an hour or two's work distributing fliers around the local bars and clubs on a weekend. Contact the promoter and see if they can use your services.혻 "Don't worry about making hits, just keep on making your music." Joe Christie M.D. Lowlife Records More... from How to... Approach the media http://www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra/1xmusic/promotion/mediap01.shtml Send out white labels/demos http://www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra/1xmusic/promotion/whitep01.shtml Hire professional PR companies http://www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra/1xmusic/promotion/prp01.shtml Use a street team http://www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra/1xmusic/promotion/streetp01.shtml Use distributors http://www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra/1xmusic/distribution/distributorsp01.shtml (c) 91훑괵 1Xtra 1XMusic 2006