Who should I send my promos to?

Written by Jon Lemmon (Managing Partner: 8DPromo / GM: Xelon Digital)

 

With more and more music competing for less and less retail dollar getting your music in the hands of key influencers or Dj’s with the right audience is more important than ever. What makes a good promo list, promo service or just what goes into a good promo campaign are things every label or producer needs to know.

 

What makes a good promo list?

A good promo list is important. The most important thing is making sure you have the appropriate people on your promo list. I see a lot of people just sending a promo out to the biggest list they can (i.e. all of their contacts). This isn’t good. You don’t want to send trance to a deep house dj, and vice versa. The quickest way to get people to unsubscribe or not pay attention is to send them a bunch of stuff you don’t want. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE. That’s the #1 thing to remember. Building trust keeps people around and interested.

 

What is a tastemaker?

A tastemaker is someone who has a voice with an active audience and is a trusted source for information (like music). People follow people they just know will always deliver the goods. Whether it’s a dj, a blogger, or whatever … if what they dig develops an active audience, that’s being a tastemaker.

 

How does a promo service help me get my music heard?

It gets your music into the hands of all of these people we’ve been talking about so far. 8DPromo, which I’m part of for example, has many email lists to ensure that each promo we send goes to the right people, and skips the ones who don’t need or probably won’t want that one.

 

What should I aim to get from a promo mail out?

You should aim to get some good feedback (that you can use in your marketing), a gauge on how much people like it. Play in mix shows, in clubs, on air. You might even get some blog features and write ups.

 

What makes a good promo campaign?

 

A good campaign is started around 4 weeks ahead of time, and is paired with all of the elements we’ve talked about here. Strategy, a good social media rollout that keeps the interest moving, a solid list of dj’s to send it to and continued push until the campaign is over a few weeks after release.

 

What is a promotional campaign example?

Email mailout in tiers - reviewers, big club dj’s 1st. Radio 2nd. Blogs and regional tastemakers 3rd. At least a post or so a week on socials with links to preview the release. A preview clip on SoundCloud or similar. Blog posts week of release.

 

How do I use promo feedback to build my profile?

It’s one of your best tools! You can use the feedback in your social push. If you get a nice review from a big / known name, you can use this when you send your notes to the world. People love to see cool news on releases, so when you get great reviews, your build credibility and increase interest. It starts getting you noticed.