As every independent unsigned artist or band knows, it's difficult to market and promote your project and get the awareness you need with little promotional experience and when you are on a shoe-string budget. Inexpensive or free self-promotion techniques can be effective to a degree but most times it's just not enough to bring the awareness to your project that you need, or to lift your independent music career to the next level.
To some degree, there are many methods of doing your own music publicity that can be effective.
On your own you can do things like solicit feature articles, CD reviews, and interviews. To do this on your own, you need to create a database of all your genre related web portals, and music media outlets that feature artists in your niche and music market. Contact each one, preferably by email, or by physically mailing out your press kit or online link to request a feature article, interview and review of your record. You must be extremely patient. The process can take many months. These outlets receive hundreds of submission a week. They won't accept all submissions or review everything but if your promotional package, music, and image, stand out you have a good chance of being selected. Check out each media outlet or website submission policy prior to submitting. This is important. If you don't follow their guidelines, this can cause them to reject your submission. Your chances then can be slim to none. If guidelines allow, follow up in about a month.
Doing your own publicity can be an extremely time consuming endeavor for sure. But if you do it systematically, a little each day, you can get the job done. However, there may come a time when you have done all that you can do and the time is right to hand off some of the promotional publicity work to a seasoned professional, a music publicist, with major industry contacts. But you may ask - How do can I afford this?
Well I have some good news for you.
Fortunately, there are a few good music publicists out there that work specifically for unsigned and independent artists and they do not charge an arm and a leg to do publicity for you or your band. When you've reached a point in your music career when you believe you've done all you can do, it may be time to consider getting a little help from a well connected music publicist.
A lot of very serious independent artists who are lucky enough to have a few dollars to spend on promotion, marketing, and music publicity have found that hiring a music publicist to do all this can alleviate a lot of frustration. Not only can they spend their time on the all important creative end of their career... writing, touring, and development, a good music publicist has a lot of music media connections right at their finger tips and can assure far more features, quotes, and reviews. In essence they get your material in the right hands.
Finding the right music publicist for your particular project may however, not be as simple as you may think. Be sure that the music publicist specializes in your genre of music and they have a proven track record of success. Don't just pick one out of the blue. A good music business or independent artist consultant should be able to recommend the right one for your particular scenario. Artist managers and consultants work with music publicists on a daily basis and they know the ones that are effective. Be cautious, get a word of mouth recommendation and make sure you are not just throwing your money away.
This person is basically the bridge between the independent artist and all media, including the web. He/she is the one who gets the word out for an act, so they can be critically important for the building of a fan base and industry recognition. They answer to the act's manager, or the act itself if they have no manager.
An adept publicist will do more than simply get the message out to media. They will arrange media appearances or other special promotional appearances, co-ordinate the radio-play strategy with record store promotion and your tour planning, come up with an angle that makes your story appealing, and so on.
This is where it becomes key for you to have a defined identity in terms of a genre. It is vital that the publicist is able to direct their efforts to the appropriate media outlets and any other parties appropriate to your genre, whether it be radio, zines, the web, stores, distributors or whatever.
It is a huge plus if the publicist actually specializes in your genre, or is at least very familiar with working in it and also digs your music, for they will then know all the roads to the right places without having to go through a learning curve at your expense, and they'll be enthusiastic to boot.
Look for one who seems confident and professional, but who also wants to take the time to get to know your act, your goals, your wishes and needs, so that they can best relate to others what your act is all about. They should listen to you, but you need to pay attention to them too, because they know the business of publicity and marketing a heck of a lot better than you. At the same time, you don't want to see stuff going out there that doesn't reflect who you are, so don't be afraid to speak up if there is something you don't like about a piece of material intended for the industry or the public.
How do they charge, and how much? That depends on a number of factors, including the time required to meet your needs, their experience level and status in their field (which usually translates into how in-demand they are), their business overhead (a fancy office space needs to be fed!) and what you can negotiate. A well-connected publicist who has lots of established contacts and credibility is a real plus, but will probably come at a premium. Perhaps somebody straight out of college could meet your needs at substantially less cost.
It's important to be aware that you only really need one when you have an important project happening or about to launch. Most often they work on a per-project basis, although a per-month arrangement is not unheard of in top hollywood publicists cases where they are being retained for an extended period. If it's a tour, they might even charge you on a per-date basis. Depending on factors such as those I mentioned above, you could be paying anywhere from several hundred to several thousand dollars. A single project fee would be based on the amount of time the person anticipated would be involved. If they insist on billing you by the hour, make sure their invoices clearly itemize how they've spent their time and the make-up of any extra expenses that they've charged you for.
Whichever the billing method, they will almost certainly charge you for any out-of-pocket expenses they incur on your behalf (travel beyond their locale, mail-outs and so forth), much like a lawyer or manager does, and they may require a "retainer" deposit up front.
As an important liaison between you and a world of companies and individuals out there, the publicist's job requires a special and varied skill set. It is a pressure-packed and challenging role involving a constant weight of demands and looming deadlines. Considering how much you may be shelling out for such a person, it is therefore incumbent upon you to be as well-prepared as you can to meet their needs during the relationship so that you can help them do their job most efficiently and effectively.