dickmetcalf rotcodzzaj editor OK, you’ve finalized your CD master, and you’re ready to get it out to the world (WATCH OUT, world)!
What are the things you need to do before you shoot your Press Release out?
1. The very FIRST thing you should do is look at the dates and time-frames for your release. Ask yourself when you will have hard-copies of your CD in-hand. Announcing a release without hard-copies in hand would NOT be a good thing! You also want to time your release so that most of the steps shown below have been done about 90 days (3 months) prior to your announced release date – so you can get copies out and REVIEWED prior to the actual release date!
2. The second thing you should do is to WRITE a good Press Release; that means an announcement that is free of grammatical errors, and focuses in on YOU, the artist – it should NOT be (just) a “sales pitch”, it should be written to acquaint the listener with you, your music and what you hope to achieve with your release.
3. You will also need a list of good reviewers before you start… be sure you have a letter (or email) that’s well formatted and thought out that can be sent to reviewers in a PRE-release mode (either digitally, or hard-copy, depending on how the reviewers accept submissions). (a good virtual assistant – like us – probably has a pretty good list for you to start off with, as well as a letter that already serve as a good example of what you need to include in your package)
4. Are you going to use a PROMOTER? Their services will cost you, but if you have a big enough budget – they CAN help you, with both press and radio promotion! NOTE: Musician’s Virtual Assistant is not a promoter… we just assist you, but do not run full-scale promotion services – but, because I’ve been a music reviewer for over 25 years – I can give you a list of promoters to contact!!!
5. You need to DECIDE what sites/tools you’re going to use to get your music out there! Sites like REVERBNATION are really good, but over the past couple of years, SOUNDCLOUD has improved their services, too. Are you going to create a new website, or improve on your existing one? (in my case, I already have a LABEL account at REVERBNATION, so it’s very easy for me to “wrap you in” under my label – whether you create the RN site or have me do it for you).
6. Are you going to post samples on AMAZON or CD BABY? If so, you need to make sure you’ve got your artwork and .mp3 files ready to post up there. Before you shoot out your Press Release, you need to make sure that every location you’re going to post samples has been posted already, so you can include all the appropriate links in your Press Release.
7. Begin looking – NOW – at venues that might be good for you & your style of music for a CD Release Party! Make sure your gig schedule and release party events are well-advertised (again, REVERBNATION can help you with that).
8. As you can see, there are a LOT of tasks that have to be done during pre-release, actual release, events to get your new work out to fans… one of the things that musicians often forget is that they need to be able to track all these tasks – here at Musician’s Virtual Assistant, we offer that tool as a part of your package… an easy-to-use web-based database that tracks each and every action that happens!
Of course, you can always do these things yourself (I know, I did them for many years, too, as a player); but, wouldn’t it be better to have someone you knew you could depend on do many of these jobs – so you can FOCUS on what you need to be doing – Creating, Composing, Playing and Performing!!! Check out our low, LOW rates, then make your final decision. If you have any questions or comment, please use the contact form on the right side of any page to push them to us (you will get a response)!!!!
#dickmetcalf #rotcodzzaj #editor
