Good, practical advice about writing music press releases is in short supply. As someone who’s both written and received many, many press releases, I can tell you Michele Wilson-Morris’ article “Seven Mistakes To Avoid When Writing A Press Release” is sound. Particularly on-target is #2: “Don’t Believe The Hype? Don’t Write the Hype”:
Your objective is not to make people laugh. You may state factual details about your event, but saying that your upcoming performance is “going to be the bomb” or using adjectives and/or phrases that actually infer how great it will be is taking it a little bit too far…Bragging is not professional, and it is actually quite a turnoff.
Hear hear! However, considering the number of delusional characters I’ve run into making music, I’d amend that to “Don’t write the hype — even if you truly, truly believe it with all your heart. Because you’re wrong.”
Also, as someone who has also written more than his fair share of search-optimized copy, I wouldn’t advise one to spend too much time on #6: “Keywords: A Press Release’s Best Friend”, as there’s little more painful to read than amateur attempts at search optimization — just make sure you state clearly what the release is for and include all relevant information, and let the search engines work it out for themselves. Alternately, I’d recommend hiring a search-optimization expert to do the work if that’s really a major concern for your project, or at the very least doing some serious reading about proper SEO tactics before awkwardly wedging “hottest rock band San Diego” into every other sentence.
Ha ha, oh man, I know craigslist is a lowest-common-denominator pile of idiocy even at the best of times but I just ran across this incredible post in the San Diego musicians’ listings and it’s, well,worth sharing.
“Hi! I’m the current Bass player of “Back Slot”. Yes..The guitarist is trying to get rid of me but as u see it says in there ad. we need someone to make the band go farther..well i attempted that and there kicking me out know. The drummer is supper cool but the guitarist is NOT. He has a major power trip and will ignore anything u suggest to help the band out. Don’t be 100% sure that your going to have that concert one day that they promised you or that really big gig that could of changed our lives. His mom controlls everything and let me say you will get know where with them. I have known the guitarist for 5 years, and trust me I know how hes like. YES DON I KNOW YOUR READING THIS RIGHT NOW, YES DON I KNOW EVENTUALLY YOUR GOING TO TELL WHAT JOE WROTE AND HES GOING TO BE HOVERING OVER YOUR SHOULDER READING. well guess what…I DONT GIVE A SHIT! I was always there by your side in case your bass player showed up, I was going to play guitar but u needed a bassist for your band, and guess what! i SOLD ALL MY GUITAR SHIT AND SACRIFICED ME PLAYING THE GUITAR CAUSE YOU NEED A BASSIST. and now your kicking me out after all these years i have helped..just cause i thought we would be a better band if we found a new singer….wow…if you kick me out…i will NEVER SPEAK OR LOOK AT YOU EVER AGAIN..dont even plan on it budy. That’s exactly why Brandon quite dude. cause u were being to fucking ignerant to even think about the slight possibly of getting a new singer or or a second guitarist. NO it wasnt because he didnt like punk rock its cause he didnt like a 3 person shit band that couldnt sound good live!…yet im saying all of this but i still have the heart to upload the songs to island records(which takes forever) so u guys can get somewhere….its bullshit Don. I cant believe you.”
For context, it appears this masterpiece of venting was prompted by this posting:
We are Back Slot, a pop punk rock band from san diego area.
We have been doing many shows in the area, we played at the epicentre, jumping turtle, Humphreys, channel 1225, and more….
And we need a bass player, that is at least 15 - 20yrs and that would be nice if you have your own equipment, we practice at Imperial Beach.
We just got our new ALBUM released “Now That You’re Gone” but we had some issues with our bass player.. now we need someone that will help the band go further!!
We have some shows booked too, so we need someone ASAP.
Without exaggeration or hyperbole, Liam Lynch’s homemade show Lynchland is one of my favorite things on the internet. Great fun, catchy songs, homebrew greenscreen, and self-rendered effects make for far more entertaining viewing than virtually any corporate-produced network show.
The downside to Lynch doing it all himself, of course, is that new episodes can be few and far between, especially when the show has to take a backseat to paying work. It’s been a long dry spell lately, but finally Lynchland Episode 23 is up at http://liamlynch.net–haven’t watched it yet, but with guest appearances by Robert Popper and Peter Serafinowicz (both of Look Around You) you can bet it’ll be first in the queue tonight. And hey, if you haven’t seen Lynchland before, it’s all new to you: scroll down to the bottom of the podcasts page and start at the top (maybe skip the Viewer Mail episodes).
Monday night, February 8th, I’ll be performing with Paul Szewczyk and Ryan Tully-Doyle at the Ruby Room in Hillcrest (http://www.myspace.com/therubyroomsd, http://www.yelp.com/biz/ruby-room-san-diego). I’ve never been there before myself, but the yelp reviews seem particularly positive. It’s a free show; we will be the third of four bands playing (the others are The Touchies, Starcrossed, and Fractophone), and I’m told we go on around 10:30.
Below, you can listen to a track from our recent Skybox show; you can safely assume what we play at the Ruby Room will not be too dissimilar.
Also: Paul, Ryan, and I have finally managed to settle on a band name we can all live with: Dietrich. I hope we can live up to it.
So I guess we need a myspace or something now? Do people still do that?
If you happen to be free tomorrow evening (Wednesday, January 13) I’ll be performing with Paul Szewczyk and Ryan Tully-Doyle at the Skybox (http://www.myspace.com/skyboxsportsgrill, http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-skybox-bar-and-grill-san-diego). It’s open mic night from 8-10, then we will go on around 10:15 and play a variety of original compositions and cover tunes you are unlikely to recognize. I believe it’s free to get in and drinks are cheap.
No RSVPs or apologies needed, just feel free to stop in if you’re so inclined.
Awhile ago on one of the forums I frequent, someone posted an offer for one of the many custom printing websites. Not too surprising as there are a million such services and have been ever since the internet’s inception, but this offer was notable in that one could design one’s own custom bumper sticker, upload the image, and in return for giving them your contact information they’d print one up and send it out to you, free of charge. Typically these “free custom printing” offers require some ridiculous postage and handling fee and a credit card number, but this one seemed clear of such hitches, so I thought for about two minutes, came up with an idea, whipped it together in another two minutes using Google Image Search and Irfanview (no fancy image editin’ software for me, no sirree), uploaded the design, and promptly forgot all about it.
Months later, someone bumped that thread containing the original offer, asking whether anyone had received their stickers. No one had, and I assumed it was yet another example of the internet adage, “If it sounds too good to be true, it is,” cursed them for swindling my precious email address out of me with the promise of free printed goods, and forgot all about it again. (Hey, it’s the internet, a picture of a cat can make you forget what you were doing five seconds ago.)
But then miraculously a few weeks later, people started posting saying “I got my sticker!” Still, an equal number of people posted saying their designs had been rejected due to profanity or similar concerns, so I didn’t get my hopes up, as while profanity didn’t apply in my case I could think of at least three good reasons off the top of my head why a company might not want to print and mail out my design. (So, yes, I forgot about it again).
Then, last week, an envelope in my mailbox. Recognizing the company name in the return address, I eagerly tore it open to find within a surprisingly well-made, sharply printed vinyl sticker:
Awesome.
Now I just have to figure out where to put it. Kitchen fridge, maybe?
Edit: Clueless, go here. Also note this post’s meta keywords were specially SEO’ed.
A disappointingly small percentage of the DIY zine movement survived the transition from print to digital unscathed. Fortunately Henry Owings’ Athens, Georgia-centric Chunklet crossed the rubicon not only unscathed but skillfully, maintaining the magazine’s near-obsessive love of bands few knew about then and fewer remember now, adding the ability for like-minded aficionados to download and hear rare, sometimes never-released recordings. Couldn’t do that on paper!
Looks like the most recent issue of the print magazine was about fifteen months ago, but considering there was a three-year one before that one came out I wouldn’t expect anything too quickly. Never mind, plenty of stuff here to catch up on.
Michael from Musibility contacted me recently, asking some relevant questions about copywriting, music, and the nebulous area I inhabit where the two intersect. It turned into a full-blown interview, which I found interesting enough to save, document, and post below:
Q: I found that you’re a musician as well as a copywriter. I thought you’d be the perfect candidate to know both sides. Let’s say there’s an artist who has an album releasing in 3 months and has a mailing list of 3,000 fans. The average artist would probably just email saying “coming out soon” a few times, maybe give updates as to what is going on with the album artwork or the studio progress.. and then finally announce the release. What could a well written sales copy do for them?
Aaron Poehler: Actually, as a musician, copywriter, and former music journalist I’ve experienced all sides of the music promotion game and seen some of the best and worst of each. What professional copywriting can help you achieve depends on two things: 1. where you are, and 2. where you want to be.
In the example you gave (artist who has an album in 3 months, a mailing list of 3,000 fans), this artist has probably developed a certain rapport with their fans via email/twitter updates or face-to-face at shows. In this situation, hiring the wrong copywriter could be worse than hiring none at all. If what was previously a friendly discussion between artist and fans suddenly becomes a high-pressure ‘hard sell’ campaign, longtime fans are likely to be put off and irritated, while chances of actually getting new music sales may be no higher. Music copywriting must be carefully tailored to work in tandem with who an artist is, what they wish to convey with their music, and the image (or lack of same) they project. Otherwise it’s just going to be good money after bad.
On the other hand, very often artists lack the perspective to effectively market themselves and their music. They try and cram every aspect of their music into a marketing medium which is suited to convey only simple thoughts and messages, and are unable to reduce their creativity to a simple tagline. That’s fine; it’s not their job to do so, it’s a musician’s job to make good music. A good copywriter can help connect that music with people.
A good copywriter can also help keep you from sounding like a complete idiot. I know when I was working as a music journalist I could tell from a quick perusal of a onesheet bio whether an album was getting played or going straight into the trash. Certain phrases and presentations telegraph amateurism and wannabes; needless to say, no one wants to come off this way, but the majority do. By hiring the services of a skilled, experienced copywriter, you automatically put yourself ahead of 95% of the pack.
Q: How would you recommend an artist to go about finding the right copywriters, rather than bad ones that would hurt the effort or just editors posing as copywriters? How much would they cost?
Aaron Poehler: There are really no shortcuts to finding a good copywriter — or perhaps more importantly, an appropriate one. Word of mouth is always a good sign, so ask for recommendations, but if you don’t know anyone who’s used copywriting services that may not be helpful. In that case, try to find someone with experience in the field who has professional work samples somewhat in line with what you’d like.
How much it should cost is literally impossible to say without knowing the scope of the project — I’ve done everything from help bands come up with appropriate names to writing press releases and bios to crafting entire advertising campaigns. It shouldn’t cost more than you’re willing and able to pay, but jobs can be either billed hourly or on a per-job basis. It’s generally a good idea to get at an estimate before committing to a particular individual, and make absolutely sure you have the money you’re committing to pay and you’re not spending mythical back-end dollars you think will come rolling in someday. If you stiff someone, word gets around quickly, and that’s really not the kind of word-of-mouth any musician is looking for.
Q: Sounds very reasonable, I like that you don’t fluff it up. When I was researching “copywriting for musicians” (interchanging a lot of words) I couldn’t find many that were specialized in that area until I found you. Copywriting is often confused with copyrighting. [AP note: you’re telling me!]
So if a band is in the infancy stage a copywriter (maybe even a branding agency?) could be a major help to the “stickiness” of the band name and image. But for a formed band they will often be broke and spending their money on microphones, amps, etc. So someone like you probably won’t be affordable to most bands during that time because they’ll be saving up for releasing an album or EP.
But lets say they saved up $5000 for an EP and marketing campaign. I would assume that before they ever step into the studio that they should see someone like you that knows how to do a good campaign. What can they expect for $1000 to someone like you(qualified) and $4000 on their EP? Is 20% a good amount to spend on marketing an album?
Aaron Poehler: These questions are getting into the marketing end of things rather than copywriting. A copywriter is not an advertising agency; I don’t place ads or set budgets for advertising.
I would also say your assertion that marketing should be taken into account “before they ever step into the studio” is completely wrong. Get the music right first, then figure out how to market it, not vice versa.
A copywriter will write something for you when you know what you need: press releases, blog posts, ad copy, whatever. But you have to know what you need, it’s not a copywriter’s job to tell you.
Q. You’re right on about getting the music right first. I work in a recording studio and I’ve seen artists who aren’t ready, it’s an expensive nightmare for them. I’ve also seen good albums released with no money left over for marketing them. Unfortunately in those cases by the time enough money is available to market the album, it’s 6 months old and lost it’s buzz.
Can you give an example or two of phrases that go in the trash versus those that were ahead of the pack?
Aaron Poehler: These things tend to come in cycles, where for six months or a year, people will be trying to hop on whatever they perceive as the current trend either in terms of music or in how they present themselves (image/marketing/etc.). Problem is, if you’re imitating something that’s currently popular, you’re already old hat by default — and out of the race. Hopping on today’s fad is a sure route to sounding dated and ridiculous tomorrow, and fashionable types hate nothing more than last season’s look. Be who you are, not who you think people want you to be.
I realize that isn’t very specific advice, so here are a few real-life flags that let me know without fail a band or artist does not have their act together enough for me to waste my time on their music:
A. Ridiculous lists of influences. I’m sure you genuinely believe your music was influenced by everything from Duke Ellington to Ray Charles to Faith No More to Paul Simon to John Zorn. However, if your band sounds like Phish crossed with the Grateful Dead, that’s what you should say.
B. No one cares that you got a music award in elementary school. So did everybody. It’s not amazing that you’ve been playing the piano since you were 8. You are not a child prodigy unless you are in classical music. (Even then, you are not a child prodigy.)
C. Describe the music. It’s not “like nothing else ever heard before”, trust me.
D. Don’t say how the music is “definitely going to set the world on fire.” No it’s not, and if it was, I’d have heard of it.
E. Don’t plagiarize.
F. The more elaborate, glossy, and expensive the presskit, the shittier the music.
G. Don’t forget to include all relevant information: at a minimum, website, email, phone, and US mail contact info.
H. Don’t take it personally when someone doesn’t like your music. More importantly, when you do take it personally, don’t pretend to be “a fan” and write the reviewer to complain because he or she will laugh at you and tell all their reviewer friends.
Below you may input your name and email address to receive announcements when there are new developments on AaronPoehler.com. I vow not to deluge you with forwarded chain letters and tasteless jokes.
Good, practical advice about writing music press releases is in short supply. As someone who’s both written and received many, many press releases, I can tell you Michele Wilson-Morris’ article “Seven Mistakes To Avoid When Writing A Press Release” is sound. Particularly on-target is #2: “Don’t Believe The Hype? Don’t Write the Hype”:
Ha ha, oh man, I know craigslist is a lowest-common-denominator pile of idiocy even at the best of times but I just ran across this incredible post in the San Diego musicians’ listings and it’s, well,worth sharing.
”
Without exaggeration or hyperbole, Liam Lynch’s homemade show Lynchland is one of my favorite things on the internet. Great fun, catchy songs, homebrew greenscreen, and self-rendered effects make for far more entertaining viewing than virtually any corporate-produced network show.
Monday night, February 8th, I’ll be performing with Paul Szewczyk and Ryan Tully-Doyle at the Ruby Room in Hillcrest (
Awhile ago on one of the forums I frequent, someone posted an offer for one of the many custom printing websites. Not too surprising as there are a million such services and have been ever since the internet’s inception, but this offer was notable in that one could design one’s own custom bumper sticker, upload the image, and in return for giving them your contact information they’d print one up and send it out to you, free of charge. Typically these “free custom printing” offers require some ridiculous postage and handling fee and a credit card number, but this one seemed clear of such hitches, so I thought for about two minutes, came up with an idea, whipped it together in another two minutes using Google Image Search and Irfanview (no fancy image editin’ software for me, no sirree), uploaded the design, and promptly forgot all about it.
A disappointingly small percentage of the DIY zine movement survived the transition from print to digital unscathed. Fortunately Henry Owings’ Athens, Georgia-centric 
“High Times magazine is a notch intellectually below Highlights for Children.”
Despite the vehement assertions of this track I somehow doubt anyone was ever spotted in public doing the “Ching Ching Wong”.
Michael from 