How To Approach & Contact Music Press

Interview by Ben Maitland-Lewis

Ben sat down with PR man Adam Ritchie, of Adam Ritchie Brand Direction and guitarist for Boston-based, The Lights Out. Adam has been at the pulse of the media industry for nearly a decade. His work spans from big name brands to budding bands.

“Everything has to have some kind of a hook in it. Everything should relate to something and it’s never too early to bring that into your creative process.” -Adam Ritchie

As musicians and professionals operating in a creative industry, we attempt to create art drawn from emotion, inspired by our surroundings and experiences. While this can be hard enough for some, promoting it and getting press for it is an art in itself. You can sit in a cube, rehearsal space or studio, writing, creating, or building anything you want, but when it comes to getting covered in the traditional or indie media, what makes it stand out from the rest? What makes someone want to write about it? How is it that some bands get full page spreads in ‘zines while others don’t even get a blog mention? What lies on the other side of that big stone wall of media? How do we break through?Have you had some success with the press? Leave a comment below!

Quick Tips:

• Give yourself plenty of lead time. That is, time to approach press. The magazine that you’re reading on stands today was conceptualized 3 to 4 months ago.
• Know what you’re pitching and know what section you’re going for, i.e. concert previews, mp3 of the week, etc. Look at who writes those sections and send material specifically to that author. If you send your materials to an organization’s generic mailing address, you’re sending them to a black hole that is bound to end up in a landfill. You don’t want to litter do you?
• When sending materials to press accounts, your packaging is very important. If you see a creative, colorful envelope sitting next to a blah, manila envelope which one are you going to open first?
• The biggest icebreaker you’ve got is a sense of humor. No one likes a form email that sounds canned. If you write something specific and funny to that person you’ve already taken the first step.
• Be careful to not burn your bridge before it’s built. You can’t really hound Indie media (blogs and social media), from 9 to 5 like you can traditional media because it’s probably not their day job.
• If you’re written up in a publication (physical or online), you should maintain a professional relationship with the author, but don’t over do it. Be sure to let them know you appreciate their piece, but it’s best to wait a few months before pitching additional article ideas to them.
• When the time is right, it’s important to build your team and bring on experts and specialists to contribute to your career accordingly. Ideally, you should be focused on making music, so when responsibilities start creeping in you can silo those off and put them in hands that you’re confident in.
• Always remember that you’re a band and your product is fun. Be creative!