Promotion

Press and Media Promotion
A great way to draw attention do your music is the press: national and regional physical print publications like Rolling Stone magazine, USA Today, Magnet, Alternative Press, Gramophone, LA Weekly and so on. To get reviewed or featured in any of these publications, you must first get a copy of your album to the editors, staff writers or freelance writers.
There are some general rules you'll want to observe:
STREET DATE
Before you even approach the press, you need some key information about your album The date that your album first becomes available to buy in retail outlets is called the "Street Date" of the album. If your album has already been released, the street date has passed.
LEAD TIME
Most of the large, influential magazines that review and cover music come out monthly, and they finalize their content four months before they plan on running it. This is called the lead time. For example, in the month of January, monthly magazines are working on the issue that comes out May. If these monthly magazines have your album four months before it is "released" (made available to the general public), it's more likely to be reviewed. Remember, these magazines want what's new, hot, fresh, "just out." For the most part, they won't review an album after it has already been available to buy in retail stores for any extended period of time.
Different types of publications have different lead times. For example, The New York Times, a daily newspaper, does not need four months lead time, whereas Spin magazine probably does.
THE PRESS WANTS TO KNOW WHEN AND WHERE YOU'RE PLAYING
Going on tour or playing a gig (even in your home town) gives press another reason to review your album or talk about your band. Identify the local weekly and daily publications in the city you are going to play in. Contact them to find the correct person at the publication and mail them your albums (or point them to where your music lives online). Be courteous and provide three to four weeks of lead time before the gig. Also, ask the person that booked you to play for a list of local press. They usually have one. TIP: The person that booked the gig wants press about you, as it might increase the number of people that come to see you play.
THE POWER OF YOUR MAILING LIST
Keep an up-to-date mailing list of names and addresses of appropriate publications where you want your album noticed. A comprehensive and accurate mailing list takes a lot of work, but it's one of the things that separates the successful artist. Some ways you can compile your own list:
Identify which magazines, fanzines and publications are best for your music. Start with your own reading list, and also go to a few book and magazine stores, see what magazines and publications are on the rack and write a list of the publications you think make sense.
Then go to the masthead (the section almost all publications have that lists the writers, publishers and editors, usually near the front) and find the names of the people that run the magazine and what each person does. If there is a reviews editor, that's probably the person you should target. Mail him or her your album.
Look in the magazine and see the names of the people that wrote the reviews. You can then call the publication (the number will be in the masthead) and ask for the mailing address of that writer. TIP: Not all writers are full-time staff for any magazine. Some are freelance writers that are hired by multiple magazines to write reviews and provide articles and features. So you need to do more than just mail a CD to a publication in the name of the reviewer, or it might not make it to the writer.
Many of these magazines also have we websites as well as email address contacts. Simply send an email to the correct recipient and ask the submission policy.
IMPORTANT: You will always get further by learning and following a publication's submission policies. Overrule them, and your music may never reach the right ears.
The Net is also a great resource. You can use places like http://newslink.org/news.html and http://www.yudkin.com/resources.htm to identify lists of all local and regional press outlets.
If you hire a publicist, they will have an up-to-date list of where to send your albums. They will either mail it for you or provide you mailing labels showing where to send your album.
PUBLICISTS
Publicists are experts you hire to promote your band and music to media and press outlets. It's their job to get writers and editors to listen to your music, learn who and what you are and (hopefully) have them write about you. Remember, a publicist can not guarantee reviews or coverage. The best you should expect is that they can get a writer or editor to learn about you, listen to your music and provide them reasons as to why they won't write about it.
Publicist will send you reports. Depending on the publicist, these reports will be provided to you each week, every two weeks or every month and will list all the activity, comments and results regarding your project in the press world. As things get updated, the report should reflect any additions or changes. If you are paying for the clipping service (a third-party service that scours all print publications for mention of your band), the publicist should also provide you copies of any all press.
A publicist will usually charge you a monthly fee and request a minimum number of months to work on your "project." Fees can range widely but tend to fall between $750 and $5,000 a month. Most publicists require a minimum commitment of three months, as they need time to properly set up and promote your album. Some publicists might be willing to charge you a flat one time fee, called "Life Of Project," rather than a monthly fee. Life Of Project fees can also range widely but tend to fall between $1,000 and $4,000.
In addition to these fees, most publicists also charge you expenses, which can vary a bit from publicist to publicist but tend to include:
Cost of their local phone charges
Cost of their long distance charges
Internet connection fees
Photocopying
Mailings and postage
Travel
Third-party services that scour all print publications for mention of your band (called "clipping services")
Messenger charges
...and more
Expenses can run anywhere from $150 to $1,000 a month, depending on the level of activity.
TIP: Most of the time, a publicist will be working on more than one artist or project. Be prepared to "work" your publicist to get them to "work" others.
A short list of our recommended publicists:
ROCK MANAGEMENT USA www.rockmanagementusa.com
WHAT TO MAIL
Although the Internet does allow the ability to email songs and albums, almost all print magazines and publications require a physical copy of your album. When you mail the CD to the writers and editors of any publication, it should contain:
a full-art CD
a completed, mastered and sequenced final version of your album
one sheet of paper including:
the name of your band
the name of your album
some biographical information on the band
any other key press points
contact information
street date

Licensing Opportunities
Your music belongs everywhere you want, even in major motion pictures, on television, in video games, in retail stores, in restaurants and much more. If your music is used, you deserve to get paid for it. We open the doors.