Is your Press Kit Ready for Distribution?!
What’s a press kit, you ask?! A press kit, often referred to as a media kit in business environments, is a pre-packaged set of promotional materials of a person, company, or organization distributed to members of the media for promotional use (Wikipedia.com).
------------------------------------
Record Labels, Promoters, A&R Reps, Radio Stations and DJays receives a daily flood of music that either gets thrown away, overlooked and/or used for a Frisbee. How many times have you submitted music through email or mail and haven’t heard back from the people you sent it to?! Did you handwrite on your CD or have a multipurpose Business Card with 10 different trades on it?!
Below is a list of items to package your music to help it standout above the rest either through web mail or postal mail.
Things that should be in your Press Kit:
- Introduction: An acknowledgement is always appropriate with any type of mail you send out to grasp the attention of the reader. Don’t describe who you are before telling people who you are!
- Biography: Some artist get a biography mixed up with writing a book about your life. A biography should be about your journey to becoming the artist or group you are today. Don’t spend so much time elaborating on your start because what you’re doing with your music career now, will justify if listening to your music is worth it. Get a Journalism/ Professional Writing student at a local college to proof it and make suggestions before using it.
- Professional Photos: Professional Photography can take your press kit importance level from a two to an eight. Your press kit should include no more than 3 photos; if you are postal mailing, (1) Full Color 8x10 and (2) Black & White 5x7. 80% of your physical presentation matters whether people will buy your product or not.
- Sample/ Demo Music: Make sure that your music is mixed & mastered, copyrighted & registered before blasting it out. Remember, what is not legally yours can be easily someone else’s, don’t get caught up. Include the dirty & clean version of the ‘single’ your label is pushing. Any freestyle, professional YouTube videos and/or two other songs you have ready for exposure should be included in the press kit.
- Stats and Features: Music Reviews, Performance Feedbacks, Mixtape/ Album Features Listing, Lyrics to the Main Sample Song and/ or an upcoming performance line-up sheet would be the icing on the cake. Looking at a press kit, knowing that other people have reviewed the music, other artists have worked with you and the fact that I can make an appearance at your upcoming performance makes an artist/group standout.
- Jock Cards (Promo Cards): A Promo Card is the definition of ‘What You See is What You Get’. It should have pictures of the artist/ group, contact information, websites and newest single information. Your Promo Card will speak before your audience hears your music.
Things that should be in your Press Kit:
- Introduction: An acknowledgement is always appropriate with any type of mail you send out to grasp the attention of the reader. Don’t describe who you are before telling people who you are!
- Biography: Some artist get a biography mixed up with writing a book about your life. A biography should be about your journey to becoming the artist or group you are today. Don’t spend so much time elaborating on your start because what you’re doing with your music career now, will justify if listening to your music is worth it. Get a Journalism/ Professional Writing student at a local college to proof it and make suggestions before using it.
- Professional Photos: Professional Photography can take your press kit importance level from a two to an eight. Your press kit should include no more than 3 photos; if you are postal mailing, (1) Full Color 8x10 and (2) Black & White 5x7. 80% of your physical presentation matters whether people will buy your product or not.
- Sample/ Demo Music: Make sure that your music is mixed & mastered, copyrighted & registered before blasting it out. Remember, what is not legally yours can be easily someone else’s, don’t get caught up. Include the dirty & clean version of the ‘single’ your label is pushing. Any freestyle, professional YouTube videos and/or two other songs you have ready for exposure should be included in the press kit.
- Stats and Features: Music Reviews, Performance Feedbacks, Mixtape/ Album Features Listing, Lyrics to the Main Sample Song and/ or an upcoming performance line-up sheet would be the icing on the cake. Looking at a press kit, knowing that other people have reviewed the music, other artists have worked with you and the fact that I can make an appearance at your upcoming performance makes an artist/group standout.
- Jock Cards (Promo Cards): A Promo Card is the definition of ‘What You See is What You Get’. It should have pictures of the artist/ group, contact information, websites and newest single information. Your Promo Card will speak before your audience hears your music.
Is your music packaged right?! In Today’s world, the internet has overpopulated most types of communicating with e-mail and social networking sites. Promoting music links through
e-mail or social networks can be annoying to industry representatives that use those avenues for other reasoning. Get your Press Kit ready today!
No comments:
Post a Comment