Indie Bible - zankMusic.com

ased on the subject. Titles like, “WE REQUEST YOUR AT T E N T I O N ”
or “THE NEXT BIG THING” equate to “GET THE LOWDOWN ON
THE SMALLEST CAPS” and will quickly prompt most of your potential
contacts to hit the delete button.
First contact is the most important contact. The old adage that you
never get a second chance to make a first impression holds very true …
especially with the sensitive nature with which people have been
conditioned regarding SPAM these days. So, the first lesson on the subject
is to make sure your email says what it means before it’s even opened.
“New Alternative Rock Band From NYC” is a simple, yet operative
title for an email to a new contact. They’ll get an idea of the message
you’re trying to get across and you’ll notice it wasn’t all capitalized, which
could be another form of suicide!
Next, you’ll want to make sure you tailor the body of your email to fit
your expected recipient. Address them by name (if you have it), be cordial,
introduce your act (or yourself) and get to the point. Proper grammar and
punctuation play a big role here, so if you have no clue what I mean by
that, you shouldn’t be doing PR in the first place.
Your first email should be more of a request than a release.
R e m e m b e r, you’re dealing with people that are busy, so summarizing a
description of the music, adding a few stats (including CD sales) and press
quotes is quite alright as long as you keep it to a minimum … 3 short
paragraphs will suffice. Then, you can include links and contact info for
your recipients to explore further if they’re interested. DO NOT, and I
reiterate, DO NOT email MP3 files or other attachments. This is annoying
and will piss your target off in a heartbeat.
After you’ve made your first contact, it’s wise to set a waiting period
before following up. Again, these people are busy and prone to a lot of
email, so there is a fine line between correspondence and SPA M .
F o l l o w - u p
I’m one to appreciate diligence and I’ll be the first to admit that some of
my attempts to create steady contacts have backfired on me more than
once. Now, finding myself on the receiving end, I see what I was doing
wrong. A beleaguered ally can quickly become a foe … and it’s for this
reason I find it essential to define the difference between follow-up and
p e s t i l e n c e .
L e t ’s disregard the preceding tips for a moment and imagine you’ve
emailed your press release or a request for coverage to a few addresses. It’s
possible that a few of the folks you contacted have contacted you back, but
there are some that haven’t responded. Many of them may be preoccupied
with current projects or might even be completely uninterested. You have
no way of knowing where they stand, so how do you decide when (or if) to
send a second email?
Five business days is a good rule, but hinges on when you sent your
initial correspondence. Monday through Wednesday are the best days to
get in touch with your potential outlets. Due to the fact that most schedules
revolve around the standard workweek, it stands to reason that these are the
best days to send your follow-ups. If you still get no responses, you’ll be
better to write these contacts off and continue your exchange with the
responsive set.
Mailing lists
This falls more closely under the subject of “netiquette” than etiquette. Just
because you have contact email addresses, doesn’t mean you have contacts.
The inventory of rules surrounding mailing lists is another that could be an
entire handbook … and could be one of the single most contributors to
death in the press/play world, but I’ll try to emphasize the biggest no-nos.
N e v e r, never, NEVER add arbitrary email addresses to your l i s t .
T h e re ’s no negotiating this rule … here ’s why:
Out of hundreds of emails a day, only about 30% apply to my day-to-day
dealings. Another 5%-10% are personal and the rest are just garbage. In my
c a p a c i t y, I have to consider every message as a possible contact … even
though I have a “strict” policy that defines how I want to communications
to be sent.
My standards are such that I never post uninvited news to other
sources and with that, I avoid accepting the same. I personally don’t have
time to sift through everything I get, so a great percentage is deleted out of
constraint. What does this mean? I’m flat-out not interested in getting
updates from unsolicited suppliers. It also implies that I’d like permission
from people to be added to their mailing lists … and I’m pretty sure there
are a lot of people out there that feel exactly the same way.
Not separating your contact lists is another hugely horrific move. T h i s
is a chapter right out of “BE ORGANIZED!” Sending gig updates to radio
shows or publications that specifically do CD reviews is a waste of time.
A d d i t i o n a l l y, sending the next gig on the morning of your next gig is just
plain stupid. Your fans may want to know this (even though they probably
already do), but it does no good to inform anyone else that you’ll be
playing CBGB in seven hours. Plan out your itinerary and send a release
with your calendar for the next month or so. If your target wants to
announce it, they’ll have time to get the word out.
I t ’s best to separate the lists of publications, shows, and other entities
by type … and tailor your announcements accordingly. You’ll never ruin a
contact faster than if you send a daily barrage of so-called updates and/or
messages containing your personal agenda.
Last, but NOT least is how to send to your lists. Your email program
or web-based mail will have the fields “To” “CC,” and “BCC.” Forget all
about the “CC” field when sending to multiple recipients … and I mean
F O R G E T IT! No matter your capacity in the biz, this line is bad MoJo.
Every contact in this field can be seen by every other contact that receives
the email. Use “BCC” and save yourself a bevy of pissed off contacts!
Is your news really news?
I get everything from updates on CD sales figures to reminders that bands
will be playing venues … the same venues … several times a week. T h i s
goes back to a behaviorism, and a destructive one at that. I, and many in
my position, are extremely turned off by this and are very likely to
disregard further contact.
Constant updates are not a great way to keep your act in the forefront
of our minds. We like to stay informed, but it’s good form to save up the
news. One release with the band’s future happenings, or a retrospective of
the last month or so will go a lot further than a daily barrage of minor
occurrences … no need to desensitize your awaiting public.
Press kits
Press kits are arguably the meat and potatoes of exposure for any act. T h i s
is a pretty easy subject, as you won’t likely get an address which to send
them without permission. For those that make their mailing info readily
available, it’s a good idea to look further and find an email contact. Make
your target privy of the impending envelope and allow a week for it to
arrive, but DO NOT follow up in a week!
One thing you must understand is that many of these folks get quite a
few of these packages every day. I myself get 30 per week, so I really don’t
have the time I need to properly distribute and/or review them in seven
days. In this case a good follow-up rule is probably 2 weeks … even if you
never heard back from your email.
These are the best tips I have without writing an entire book on public
relations. My advice is a culmination of my experience and that of the
professionals I work with every day. Following it can enhance your
e ffectiveness as a publicist and help create your niche in the music world
… not following it may greatly reduce your chances of success in this
fickle world we call the music biz.
John "RoadRash" Foxworthy runs Garage Radio Magazine. From event
and CD reviews to interviews and industry news, GR Magazine features all
the best new music from the people that make it happen.
Contact: www.garageradio.com, roadrash@garageradio.com