BE YOUR OWN PUBLICIST

How to Run a Press Campaign from Your Laptop

By Ever Kipp

We all grew up learning about bands from magazines, radio and small press. Was it thanks to intrepid reporting and common taste across the country's press corps? No! It was thanks to well-run press campaigns by upstart publicists and, in some cases, the bands themselves. Barsuk Records publicist Ever Kipp joins us this month to lay out the process you need to follow in order to get critical media attention.

Music is communication, and there is an entire industry of writers out there getting paid to communicate about bands. It's your job as an independent musician to get their attention, and having these tools in order is the important first step to doing that.

The first thing to know about writers is that, whether staff or freelance, writers get paid to write. They're all looking for something they can pick up quickly, write a story on without having to do a lot research, and turn into a quick work. All else being equal, if it’s easier to cover you than it is to cover someone else they’ll cover you.

YOUR TOOLS

The tools that you can provide to help them do their job include a bio, quote sheet, press kit, high-resolution digital press photos, cover art, guest list, and easy access to a representative in case they have questions.

>>THE BIO

The bio is the history of the band in 500 words. Its role is to succinctly fill a writer in on the history of your band and your music. It should be factual, with little hype or spin. It's important to try and capture the interest of the reader within that framework, though, so try and walk that line as best you can. Lean on interesting, unique facts about the band and they'll hopefully hype themselves.

This is a very important document. It will form the basis of your pitch and it will be used at least in part by your booking agent, manager, publisher and anyone else involved in your band. Take as much time as you need to get it right.

Start with a single paragraph summation, expanding on each of its points in subsequent paragraphs. Refer to yourself or your band in the third person - "they" not "we". Remember, everything you can do to make the writers job easier helps.

I ask my clients to answer several basic questions and to write a rough and tumble stream of consciousness page or two about the music. From those sources, I craft a bio - talk about when the band formed, who's in it and what they play. If you're signed, mention the label. Talk about the most recent release. When it comes to describing the music I personally feel it's important to not reference other bands specifically as influences. It's fine to talk about genres and musical movements, but the whole "band X + band Z - kazoos = you" comes off as lazy. Is it really that easy to define your sound?

It's in the last paragraph that you can start to hype yourself a bit. Sum up what you've said already neatly, and spin it a bit. This is where you can start to use those tasty adverbs and adjectives. Reiterate what you've said already, but spin it. Call in the hyperbole reserves.

For example, if you'd mentioned earlier that your band "draws on Americana roots, filtered and redefined via the prism of early Prog rock," you can now say things like this: "Mixing the foot stomping swing and twang of West Virginia hill folk with the complex melodic and modal extremes of the wonkiest early '70s conceptual journeymen may sound like a terrible idea. In the hands of this band, it's music as never heard before."

Make sure you include contact information - phone, email and website - at the end. Your bio should be included with all press mailings. It should be available for download as a .pdf from your web site and the text should be both on your website and MySpace page.

>>THE QUOTE SHEET:

Once you've accumulated a dozen or so reviews in different publications, it's time to put together a quote sheet. Look through your press and search out the gold nugget sentence in each review that really sells your band. Compile these into a list in a Word .doc or .pdf that has your name at the top. Underneath each quote (use quotation marks), attribute the source.

>>THE PRESS KIT:

Choose the best three to five complete press clips. This should end up being neatly arranged feature stories or full-length reviews from print or online publications (online ones should be printed out to appear the way they do on their site). Add your bio and quote sheet. Compile them all into both a .pdf you can email and a hard copy version you can snail mail. Make the .pdf available on your web site.

>>PRESS PHOTOS:

Press photos are sometimes given short shrift, but having amazing images can give you an edge. Simply put, photo editors are more likely to run images that look great. I've had clients get full page photos run in national magazines even though they were the smallest act mentioned in the piece within which the photo ran.

You need at least three color images available at 5x7" minimum, formatted as 300dpi RGB .jpg files saved at 7 compression or better. They should be available for download from your website or Flickr page. Keep these on your laptop so that you can email them as requested from the road. If someone in the press wants an image, send them a single image and let them know that more are available. You should also have another three images squirreled away should someone need exclusives.

Good photos are one of the things bands have the most trouble with. I wish I could tell you the magic formula, but there are no hard and fast rules about what makes a great image. Look at competition. Find images to which you react instinctively, then try and study them objectively. Make a list of what you're looking for in your photos and share it with your photographer. Remember, they're working for you. You chose them because of their ability and creative vision and it's important to collaborate, but you're after a press tool first and a gallery piece second.

>>COVER ART:

Have a high resolution .jpeg of your album's cover art at the ready. It makes sense to have it available for download on your web site.

>>GUEST LIST:

If you're touring, invite writers out to the show. Even if they're not planning on giving you a write-up, impress them this time and maybe they'll cover you next time. Find out what the cool independent record store in town and invite them, too. Same goes for the local label and radio stations (college, commercial, whatever). In most cities, everyone in the business knows everyone else. If a fifth of the room is industry and you play well, you've just gone a long way towards breaking into that market.

>>ACCESS:

Put your contact information everywhere and check your e-mail and voice mail all the time. Great press opportunities can come and go in a few hours time.

>>MUSIC:

I know I know, the disc is dying and it's a digital world. Well, not quite yet. Make CDs and put them in jewel cases. Make sure the cases have a tray card with song titles, website address and contact information. Make sure your name and the record's title are plainly visible along the spine of the jewel case. It's also a good idea to upload a zipped version of the release to YouSendIt or another file distribution service in case a writer needs it right away.

YOUR CAMPAIGN

Now that you've got a great bio, press kit, some stunning press photos, and a release in a jewel case with a clearly labeled spine that won't get lost in the stacks of records cluttering every writers desk, it's time to get yourself some press.

>>GOALS

The first thing you need to do is identify your goals. Take a cold, objective look at where you are in your career. If you're just getting going, it makes sense to build a foundation on the local level. If you're a bit further along and have a record coming out nationally or a string of regional or national dates booked, you need to cast the net a bit wider.

The first step in any press campaign is coming up with a list of general press outlets to approach. Be realistic. It's better to focus your efforts on a limited list of outlets initially and be successful than it is to spread yourself too thin and get poor results.

>>RESEARCH

Once your goals are set, research specific media outlets and the appropriate contacts at each one. If you're looking for local press, you probably already know where to look. Check the websites of local alt-weeklies and mainstream daily papers for the music editors, writers and their email addresses. If there's a college in your town, there's probably a student-run newspaper to talk to. A good trick for sniffing out outlets you're not aware of is to Google well-known bands with the name of a local venue you think they might play, bringing up show reviews, listings and write-ups.

If you're going on the road, you won't have the home field advantage. The outlets you'll be looking for, though, will be the same. Track down as many possible contacts as you can. If you have dates booked, touch base with the promoters as soon as you can. Let them know you're going to be working hard to make the show a success and ask them to send you their media list.

This is a good place for me to introduce the idea of "lead time." Newspapers, magazines, and websites all gather content in advance of publication. How long in advance of publication they assign content is referred to as their lead time. Lead times can range from five months for nationally distributed monthly magazines to a few hours for a blog. In general, though, when it comes to trying to secure press around tour dates, a big local show or CD release, you want to send your first pitch three weeks to one month before the show date, and follow up once a week thereafter.

If you're about to release a record nationally you'll want to put together a good mix of magazines, newspapers, web sites and blogs. Scour the mastheads for contacts and addresses. Spend some time online researching where acts you'd consider peers are getting reviewed. The more time you spend on research, the better your chances of getting covered. Break your mailing into a few pieces. Send to the national mags in one group, the newspapers and online outlets in another and the blogs in a third, according to approximate lead times.

>>FOLLOW-UP PITCH

Your mailing is out the door and you've given the USPS a week and change to deliver the goods. It's time to follow up with an emailed pitch. While your bio and press kit should be predominately factual, your pitch is prime hyping territory. Sing your own praises. Make the argument that this tour or show or record is something really special, newsworthy and worth writing about. Drop a choice press quote in there as well. Don't forget to offer guest list spots, links to downloadable pics, and contact information.

Remember that a music editor at the alt-weekly of even a mid-sized city probably receives at least fifty unsolicited records a week. Be patient and unfailingly polite. In general, I recommend not calling writers unless they ask you to. They tend to have a work flow of varying intensity and it's hard to know what the best time to contact them is. By sending email, you give them the chance to get to your message when they have a moment. If you hear back and a writer declines to cover your music, thank them for listening. If you heard back and a writer tells you they'll "get to it when they can," give them at least a week before following up again. Remember, you want to help a writer do their job, not become an annoying obstacle at their office.

>>CONTROLLING YOUR DATA

This is one of my business mantras. It's simple but critical - Control Your Data. I can't stress that enough. Control your data. The life of a touring musician is

already very intense and trying to run a PR campaign on top of your regular duties is difficult at best. Control every bit of incoming and outgoing data. Keep meticulous notes on who you sent what and when, the last time you followed up with them, what they thought of your record - everything. I send and receive between 150 and 300 emails a day. That's a lot of information to keep track of. Every business runs more smoothly when things are organized and this is no exception. Keep things neat. It will benefit you in both the short and long run.

HIRING A PUBLICIST

If you've made it this far, you've probably realized that media relations is a full time job. There may be a time when you decide it's worth the money to hire a publicist. Here's some advice. First off, ask your peers. Find out who they've had good experiences with. Google your favorite bands plus the word "publicity" to find out who they're working with. Ask your booking agent, manager or attorney for a recommendation.

Once you've found someone you're interested in working with, have a detailed conversation before agreeing to anything. If they ask you about your budget before hearing your music, that's a bad sign, and remember that there are no guarantees when it comes to press coverage. All anyone can guarantee you is their work ethic. It's your job to be explicit in your expectations.

Please be careful and watch out for the undersell. While it's true that nothing is guaranteed, be very afraid if your publicist is telling you that seven blog reviews and tour coverage on every third show is totally worth the small fortune you paid them. Ask for several references up front and speak to past clients before giving anyone money.

Well, that's about all the time I have. I could certainly write many thousand more words on the subject, but I have to go get my bands some ink.

Ever Kipp holds down the publicity for Barsuk Records, and is president of the newly launched XXX publicity agency.