5 Guaranteed Ways To NEVER Again Get Press By A Media Outlet

While most of the time we share with you how to achieve X and accomplish Y as a musician, today’s piece will make many of you laugh and just as many – cry. Why is that? Because Indie artists, and even semi-accomplished musicians, often lack media manners. Or better said, they don’t conduct themselves properly to ensure an ongoing relationship with the press outlets that decided to write about their music, interview them, review them, and include them in advantageous lists to help their career move forward. So what are these 5 guaranteed ways to never again get press for your music? Read below and know we have our fingers crossed that you hopefully didn’t already engage in any one of these behaviors.

5. Not sharing the link to the press piece!

Oh, there’s nothing “lovelier” in this world than a good team of writers who took hours and hours, sometimes days getting the article ready (putting the materials together, listening to the full catalog of music, doing the background research, formulating the questions, editing the answers, editing the article, adding all necessary links, formatting the cover image, enhancing the SEO parameters), NOT getting their final piece shared by the artist. And you know what’s funny? Good writers and curators like ourselves and our colleagues keep track of the personal and public reception of the articles. If the artist completely dismisses acknowledging the existence of a well-written interview/review of his music, be assured that the platform blacklisted them from any future press.

4. Not saying thank you in any way, shape, or form to the writer(s).

Look hun, you are not Lady Gaga to afford good reviews and press pieces to go by unnoticed and unacknowledged. Media outlets very easily calculate someone’s relevancy factor and social media engagement. Many Indie artists, for well-known reasons, are little-to-zero relevant in their online or even physical influence. Meaning a blog takes a risk every single time they write about new artists. A website’s ranking score quite literally goes down if they write about people who nobody knows about. So imagine they believe so much in the talent that they go ahead and write about the musician nonetheless only for the latter to not even send a thank you message afterward. Yup, there will be no second time.

3. Being an a-hole about some typo that makes no difference in the meaning, perception, or marketing of the artist.

You ever heard about a Karen in music version? This is her telltale sign here! Some publicists, managers, or even artists, are so up their behind that they get angsty about one typo that usually falls back on them not having been careful enough in the first place to provide the accurate title, lyrics, or factual data. Nothing will make a good writer want to never again see you or your name than “can you change the capital I from the song title in paragraph 2 of the article into a lowercase ‘i’?” When that article runs long and the writer has put in sweat and tears for days penning a thunderous piece about the artist, and the first feedback they get is to change a stupid letter, that’s a major kindly GTFO and never again submit your album or song for review.

2. Nicely screenshotting the piece and bragging on social media without ever crediting the source or writer.

The joy of seeing the artist bask in recognition, appreciation, and admiration from his/her fans without a single mention of the source or writer! You know, the vast majority of media outlets FOLLOW the subjects they write about so they see your conduct pre, during, and post-publishing. When you take all of that glory that someone put their soul in to convey into words for you then you cut them off from the reception, promise you, you are never again getting those same people supporting you. You’ve closed the door for any future coverage very loudly and your message has been seen, heard, received. Ciao ciao!

1. Spamming the source with all your future releases.

This one is so funny that it’s sad. Or so sad that it’s funny. Have your pick! But both are relevant. Listen, just because a blog or publication really loved your past song, it does not, by any means, bind them to cover all your next releases. As a musician, you have to remember every single release is a NEW PITCH. One that may go great or one that may not match your past releases in terms of commercial appeal, production quality, and formatting demands. Do not treat past writers and blogs like they owe you future coverage because THEY DON’T. You earn every single article you get. Nobody owes you anything and not all of your music is great. Even Beyoncé had a flopped album. So eat some humble pie and approach the outlet with courtesy and gracious manners when pitching another release.