Latest Revision: June 2010

a free e-book by Chris Bracco

Originally published on

tightmixblog.com

tightmixblog.com

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Dening Your Music, Your Lifestyle, and Your Fans.....................1Finding the Best Blogs for Your Music..........................................3 Where to start your search.........................................................................................3 What keywords to use................................................................................................5 Compile a list of contact information.......................................................................6 So what about those non-music blogs?...................................................................7

BBecoming an Active Community Member...................................8Crafting a Killer Pitch Letter..........................................................9 Step One: Use Strong Subject Lines........................................................................10 Step Two: Begin with a greeting..............................................................................11 Step Three: Talk about THEM...................................................................................11 Step Four: Talk about YOU.......................................................................................11 Step Five: Provide a link to download music, pictures, and video.......................12 Step Six: Politely ask to be featured.......................................................................12 Step Seven: Thank the bloggers for their time......................................................13 Step Eight: Include an e-mail signature with contact information......................13 Still no response? Send a follow-up e-mail............................................................14

Tracking the Results of Your Hard Work.....................................15 Keep tabs on blogs that feature your music..........................................................16 Monitor your official website activity....................................................................17 Monitor the conversations about your music.......................................................17

Conclusion..........................18About the Author...............19

Table of Contents

Dening Your Music,Your Lifestyle, and Your Fans

However, getting featured on blogs is a very meticulous and time-consuming process. Blog promotion can be frustrating at rst, but if you are persistent and work hard at it, the benets for your music career can be astronomical. As with anything, it's important to have a plan before taking the leap.

WWhen deciding to start a blog promotion campaign for your music, it is important to FIRST take a few minutes to really think hard about yourself, your music, and your fans. What makes your music so special, and different than everybody else's? Bloggers will usually only feature music that is high quality, and that stands out from the rest of the pack.

Grab a pen, whip open a notebook, and jot down some dening words about you and your music, using the following categories:

1

PersonalityHometownGenres & Sub-genres

Similar artistsLifestyle & interests

Fan demographics (age, sex, location, etc)

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Music blogs have become an extremely effective medium for artists to garner positive, and sometimes career-changing exposure for musicians. Getting featured on a blog can cause significant boosts in music and ticticket sales for an artist, and there are tens of thousands of new music blogs springing up each day. The potential reach for your music in the blogosphere is HUGE!

Dening Your Music,Your Lifestyle, and Your Fans(cont’d)

I decided to take a few minutes to write down some dening characteristics about my band, The Formatters.

Here's some of what I came up with...

What kinds of words did you come up with? Many of these words will become important keywords that you will use when searching for blogs to reach out to, so keep that list handy.

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Google Blog Search is basically just Google, but only focuses on content published within the blogosphere. The search engine indexes blogs by their site feeds, which are checked often for new content. You can also subscribe to an RSS feed of your search terms, which can be a very helpful tool if you want to get the freshest content related to your search sent straight to your feed reader.

URL: http://blogsearch.google.com

Here is a list of some excellent places to start searching for music blogs:

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Where to start your search

SSearching for anything online can be a complete waste of time if you are looking in the wrong places. It is often difficult to gure out the best place to begin your search, and can be quite overwhelming. I have tried out dozens of search websites in my days with Ariel Publicity & Cyber PR, but I albut I always nd myself coming back to the same few resources.

Finding the Best Blogs for Your Music

The Hype Machine is an MP3 blog aggregator, which basically means that it re-posts the newest and most popular music from a hand-picked selection of music blogs around the globe. They make it very easy to discover new music, as well the music blogs that are hosting this new music. The best way to nd music blogs on The Hype Machine is to search for artists ththat sound similar to you, and click through to the blogs featuring that music.

URL: http://www.hypem.com

Elbo.ws is another aggregator website that features a collection of music blog posts, and acts as a snapshot of music being blogged about often. They encourage their users to visit the blogs to read the posts, buy the music, and click the sponsor ads. The site is very similar in function to The Hype Machine, so try searching again for artists that sound similar to you. They tThey track a ton of music blogs, so you should be able to nd a few more hidden gems here.

URL: http://www.elbo.ws

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Finding the Best Blogs for Your Music(cont’d)

Where to start your search

Captain Crawl boldly calls itself "The Music Blog Index," and is just as simple and effective as Google Blog Search. It may even be better, because it focuses solely on music blogs. This powerful search engine helps users nd videoclips, live concerts, mp3s, reviews, promotion material, demos, lyrics, documentations, and more. Look up some music that is similar is similar to yours, and you're guaranteed to have a healthy list of blogs in no time.

URL: http://www.captaincrawl.com

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Finding the Best Blogs for Your Music(cont’d)

What Keywords to use

Ok, remember the little exercise I talked about earlier about dening your music, lifestyle, and fans? Sift through whatever dening statements you wrote down, and handpick the most buzzworthy terms. Here are some popular keywords that I wrote down about my band:

poetry, hip-hop, rap, jam band, indie, rock, painting, drawing, New Jersey, New York, NYC, suburbs, teenagers, Nas, The Roots,

A Tribe Called Quest, Gorillaz, vinyl, records

NNow, start hitting the search engines with combinations of your most dening keywords, and visit blog after blog after blog.

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Finding the Best Blogs for Your Music(cont’d)

Compile a list of contact information

While performing your search, keep an excel spreadsheet open and input the contact information for all of the relevant blogs that you come across in your search. Most blogs will give you several ways to contact them, but some will prefer certain methods. To alleviate the confusion, create a “notes” column in your spreadsheet, and make little comments about specic submission guidelines, and anything else that differentiates a blog from the rest of the pack. This will save you tons of time and headaches once you actually start sending out e-mails to these bloggers.

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More likely than not, you and your fans share a similar lifestyle, or similar common interests. If, for example, you enjoy exercising regularly, it would be a great idea to search for blogs related to staying t. Maybe you can present the blogger with the idea of writing a post about listening to music while working out, and ask that your music be mentioned in the post. Targeting location-specic blogs is useful, too. If you're from Akron, Ohio, try to nd some blogs that only talk about things happening in Akron.

A A few weeks ago, I found a quote by hip-hop artist Zilla Rocca in the comments section of Audible Hype, and I'd like to re-post it here because he articulates this strategy really well. He even takes it a step further, suggesting that artists should reach out to forums, fan pages, and other non-blog websites too:

GGetting a feature placement or an interview for your music on a lifestyle/non-music blog is a great way to snatch up new fans. It positively reveals a side of you that fans may not have known about previously. Keep an eye out for these kinds of blogs, and don’t dismiss them in your search.

Stop catering to just bloggers. Most of them will be gone in 6 months, and even more will be gone in a year. There are a billion other websites that have nothing to do with hip hop, and whose webmasters and authors DON’T get tons of free shit flooding their inbox on a daily basis. GO AFTER THEM. They will enjoy a nice piece of quality free music delivered to them because they are jaded and edgy and tired of free music. If you rap about limited edition Dunks, look up sneaker and boutique blogs who love that stuff. If you make beats that sample Indiana Jones movies, find diehards who have forums and beats that sample Indiana Jones movies, find diehards who have forums and fan pages all about Indiana Jones. These people most likely don’t know what 2dopeboyz is, but it doesn’t mean they don’t want fresh new music that caters to their tastes. - Zilla Rocca

It is extremely important to note that getting featured on non-music blogs can be just as benecial for your music career.

Finding the Best Blogs for Your Music(cont’d)

So what about those non-music blogs?

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• Search for blogs (both music and non-music) that relate to your music, your lifestyle, and your fans.

• Compile a list of • Compile a list of contact information for you to use later on, when you start crafting your pitch e-mails.

Finding the Best Blogs for Your Music(cont’d)

Two main takeaway points:

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Once you have a healthy list of blogs related to your music, lifestyle, location, personality, and fans, it is time to pick a few and start participating in the conversation.

While participating in the ongoing conversation, share articles you enjoyed with your social networks, and let bloggers know that you did it via comments, or even a personal e-mail. Being the rst to give is a great way to get on the good side of a blogger. Sing their praises - they will remember you when you begin e-mailing them about your music.

If you are gaining respect in the community, if the discussion is extremely relevant to your music, and if somebody else could truly benet by your plug, then MAYBE consider asking other community members to check out your tunes. This is the most appropriate time to do so.

Pick 10-20 blogs that you feel are most relevant/benecial to your music, and just start reading and commenting furiously. Your comments must be absolutely genuine, and encourage further discussion about the topic. Get to know people, agree with some, disagree with others, and be real.

Resist the urge to self-promote right away. You must gain some respect and establish yourself as an active community member FIRST.

Important Note:

Becoming an Active Community Member

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NOTE:Some bloggers ask that you include a specic subject line when you submit your music to them. If that's the case, make sure you do that. It makes it easier on them, and shows that you're paying attention.

The subject line of the e-mail is the one thing bloggers see before even opening your e-mail, so it absolutely needs to hook them in. I nd that singing bloggers' praises right off the bat usually gets e-mails opened up. Try a few subject lines with something like "Hey, your blog is the best!" Ois the best!" Or, you could try being bold with subject lines like "Your blog needs this music."

Writing an excellent pitch letter is really an art form in itself. Popular music bloggers receive TONS of e-mail daily, and it's impossible for most of them to read and respond to every single submission that they get from artists. So how do you stand out in the crowd, and make sure that bloggers open up YOUR e-mail while scanning their inboxes? FFirst and foremost, your pitch letters have to be personalized. This doesn't mean that you have to start from scratch with every e-mail you send, but there should be at least a sentence or two (preferably a paragraph) tailored specically to the blogger you are e-mailing. Your pitch needs to sound more like a conversation, and less like an actual pitch. If your e-mails usually sound dry and generic, then they will be instantly lost, forgotten about, and/or deleted from the blogger's inbox.

HHere are (in my opinion) the ESSENTIAL steps to follow in order to craft the perfect music blog pitch letter:

Step One: Use strong subject lines

Crafting a Killer Pitch Letter

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Step Two: Begin with a greetingIIt is incredibly important to introduce yourself right off the bat. In one sentence, tell the blogger who you are, what you do, where you’re coming from, and why you’re contacting them. This is not the time to boost your ego with lofty descriptions of yourself. Keep it plain, simple, direct, and real.

Step Three: Talk about THEMTThe rst paragraph is always about the blogger. Talk about a particular post that you might have liked, the layout of the blog, lightning fast page load times, or any related artists that the blogger might have featured recently. This paragraph is where most of the personalization will go in your letter.

Step Four: Talk about YOUHeHere is where you make your pitch. It’s pretty easy to get carried away, but resist the temptation to blabber. Keep the pitch to a paragraph or two (max), and mention the most important things about you and your music. If there is anything that clearly stands out about you, or anything cool you may have accomplished, mention it here. The key information you you want to include is your band/stage name, your genre of music (and any subgenres), your location, any related press/awards/accolades, and a few well-known artists that sound similar to you.

Crafting a Killer Pitch Letter(cont’d)

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Step Five: Provide a link to download music, pictures, and videoTThis is probably the most important part of the letter. You can hype yourself up until your blue in the face, but if you don’t provide any links to the artist’s music, pictures, and video, the blogger simply isn’t going to care.

Upload some .zip les of Upload some .zip les of your albums (with artwork), pictures, and videos to a lesharing website like 4Shared, or Rapidshare, and paste the download link into the e-mail. Or, create an electronic press kit (EPK) on Sonicbids and upload your bio, music, some hi-res press photos, videos, and press quotes.

TTip: Place your download/EPK link right underneath your pitch. Call attention to it by inserting a blank line above and below the link, so it sits alone by itself in the middle of the e-mail.

Step Six: Politely ask the bloggers to feature youFINALFINALLY, mention to the blogger that it would be totally awesome if he or she featured your music on the blog. Make sure you know what kind of posts the blogger writes (album reviews, song reviews, strictly MP3s, videos, pictures, whatever), and ask for that specically.

Whatever you do, DON'T BEG.

Crafting a Killer Pitch Letter(cont’d)

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Step Seven: Thank the bloggers for their time

Step Eight: Include an e-mail signature with contact information

AAfter thanking them, make sure to include a detailed e-mail signature that highlights the best ways to get in contact with the artist. This is also a good place to encourage the blogger to visit your official website, and follow you on Facebook, Twitter, or any other social networks that you might be active on. If you use Gmail, I highly recommend generating a professional looking HTML E-mail signature in Gmail with this convenient website.

In the event that a blogger actually decides to open your pitch letter and read, it is vital that you include some sincere thanks for taking the time to consider featuring your music.

Crafting a Killer Pitch Letter(cont’d)

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Still no response? Send a follow-up e-mail

Always, always, always, ALWAYS send a follow-up e-mail if you do not get an initial response from a blogger. I have landed several job interviews from follow-up e-mails -- they are SO MUCH more effective than you would ever think. It is way too possible that the blogger accidently overlooked your rst e-mail, or wasn’t impressed by your initial pitch.

IIn the follow-up, briey re-introduce yourself, and politely mention that you recently contacted the blogger in regards to featuring your music. If you feel it is appropriate, include a small blurb explaining how important a feature on the blog would be for you, but don’t make it sound like your desperate for exposure. Remember: begging will only hurt your chances of getting featured.

NNext, include a slightly re-worded version of your initial artist description. Say something like “In case you missed it the rst time, here is a short blurb about the music I create...”, and try to squeeze everything into a paragraph. Finally, close out your follow-up in the same way as your initial e-mail.

IIf you think it’s necessary, offer the blogger something more exclusive the second time around, like a free MP3 download of an unreleased track, or a few photos that you have not posted anywhere before. A little bit of generosity can go a long way in the eyes of a blogger, and could be the tipping point that gets your music featured on the blog.

Follow these helpful tips, and your inbox will soon be filled with excited responses from bloggers!!

Crafting a Killer Pitch Letter(cont’d)

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After sending out all of your pitch e-mails and following up, you will probably receive a healthy amount of replies from bloggers. It's really fun to get all psyched up about this, reply immediately, and watch the fefeatures pop-up all over the web.

However, while basking in promotional glory, many artists completely forget the most important part of the entire process: keeping track of your hard work!!

TThe main reasons for undergoing a full-edged music blog promotion campaign are to raise awareness about your music, and drive web traffic back to your official website, where people can interact with you, become fans, and ultimately buy whatever it is you are selling (CD's, digital downloads, Uzi-Shaped USB drives, t-shirts, sock puppets, etc).

DDon't just blindly assume that your web traffic, number of fans, and online sales will automatically increase because of your recent efforts in blog promotion. There are tons of tips and tools out there that can help you track and measure the effectiveness of your blog promotion, so you can gure out what worked and what didn't.

WARNINGIT’S ABOUT TO GET REAL GEEKY UP IN HERE. EMBRACE IT, AND MOVE ON TO THE NEXT PAGE.

Tracking the Results of Your Hard Work

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Follow-Up Rate: 4/8, or 50%Response Rate: 4/7, or 50%Feature Rate: 3/8, or 37.5%

Keep tabs on blogs that feature your music

IIn the same Excel spreadsheet that you used to wrangle up contact information for blogs, make a new column called "Featured?" and record which blogs ended up featuring you, and which ones didn't. The percentage of blogs that featured you can be used as a rough indication for success. It may also be helpful to keep some additional notes about blogs that responded to your pitch (make a new column called "Responded?"), but may not have featured your music. With this ratio, you can determine how effective your pitch was at garnering responses from bloggers.

FFor the very short example above, these are the stats you would be calculating. They should be pretty self-explanatory. Its a very short list, but you get the idea:

Tracking the Results of Your Hard Work(cont’d)

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Monitor your official website activity

In order to measure your hard work effectively, you absolutely need to pay attention to what is going on at your own official website throughout the blog promotion campaign. Are you seeing an increase in traffic to your website? You need to know where people are coming from, what pages they are viewing, how long they are staying, and what actions they are performing (hopefully buying your music!).

GGoogle Analytics

If you haven't already done this, sign up for Google Analytics NOW and embed the code they provide you into your official website. Google Analytics provides you with all the necessary information to nd out where your web traffic is coming from, and what actions people are taking on your website. You can easily tell which blog features are driving the most traffic to your website, and set goals to see if any of this traffic is resulting in more music purchases.

NNot diggin' Google Analytics? Then try some of these other services that will track the same information, but present the data differently:

• Analytics Toolbox: 50+ Ways to Track Website Traffic • Analytics Toolbox: 50+ MORE Ways to Track Website Traffic

Monitor the conversations about your music

MMost blogs will blast out their freshest content to Facebook, Twitter, and other popular social networking sites. They also encourage their readers to share and bookmark their favorite content on the very same sites. There are an incredible amount of tools out there to help you see if there has been an increase in the conversation about your music, or if your blog featured are getting shared.

See the next page for a list of some excellent resources to help you see who’s talking about your music on the social web.

Tracking the Results of Your Hard Work(cont’d)

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Backtype

BackType is an analytics platform that will help you understand the social impact of your music. It is insanely simple to use and understand. All you have to do is type in a URL (pick one of the blog features you landed!) and you instantly receive information on who's talking about and passing along your music.

Twitter Search

TThe quickest and easiest way to monitor the conversation about you on Twitter is by performing a simple Twitter Search. Use the same keywords that you came up with earlier, as well as any keywords that bloggers may have used in their features about you. You can subscribe to an RSS feed of your Twitter search as well, so you can constantly receive updates as they come in. If you can nd the time, try to reach out and thank as many people as you can for talking about and passing along your music.

Other excellent resources

I was going to list a few more resources in this e-book, but somebody had already beat me to it!

A Wiki of Social Media Monitoring Solutions is an extensive list of tools that you can use to keep track of the conversations surrounding your music.

Tracking the Results of Your Hard Work(cont’d)

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Thanks for Reading!

Some things to keep in mind...

• Write down an extensive list of keywords that dene your music, your lifestyle, and your fans will make searching for the right blogs much easier.

• Make Google Blog Search and Captain Crawl your best friends.

• Thank every blogger in advance when sending off tracks for consideration.

• • Don't get discouraged if you don't succeed at rst. Follow up with bloggers that may not have read your e-mail the rst time around. Persistence is key!

And that just about wraps up the "How to REALLY Get Your Music on Blogs" e-book, folks. Blog promotion is no easy task, especially for an artist without an expert digital marketer on call. I have used these methods in the past to promote artists and get them some excellent feature placements on popular blogs. My hope is that this series will help some of you DIY artists out there, and inspire you to take charge, get your hands dirty, and start REALLY getting your music the blog coverage it deserves.

Conclusion

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Some ways to get in touch with me:

E-mail: cbracco415@gmail.comTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/cbraccoFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/chris.braccoLinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/cbraccoFoursquare: http://www.foursquare.com/user/cbracco

Thanks again for reading! See ya out there.

Click here to visit my blog,

Hi, my name is Chris Bracco. I just graduated from Penn State in May 2010 with a major in Business Management, and a minor in Music Technology. At my day job, I currently do digital marketing & digital label management for Intrigue Music LLC, a boutique music management rm in NYC. I have worked at seseveral music companies in the past few years, and gained invaluable experience in social media, web design, online marketing, and blog PR. I also am the author of the blog, “Tight Mix,” where this e-book was rst published as a blog series.

About the Author