You might be considering employing some public relations (PR) strategies if you're an artist with fresh songs you want people to hear. However, before you begin promoting your new song, you must first determine if you wish to hire a press agency or handle the PR on your own.
Below are some advantages and disadvantages of each path to consider while making your choice of whether you should hire a PR company or do your own PR marketing.
What Does Music Public Relations Involve?
Building your brand and getting your music heard are the two main objectives for musicians. Consider one-hit wonders. Their music was amazing. However, the musician's brand was not sufficiently established for people to remember them.
The technique of marketing and raising awareness for a musician's brand, general image, and music through a number of media venues and channels is known as music public relations. In addition to helping the musician become more visible, the objective is to grow a fan base, which in turn can improve music sales and the artist's overall success in the business.
DIY Music Public Relations
If you're an independent musician or not ready for an agency, you can manage many of the music marketing responsibilities alone, though there are some disadvantages to their route.
Advantages of DIY Music Public Relations
Your time and effort will be the only expenses if you decide to do your own music PR. If you're marketing a physical release and mailing review copies, you might also want to consider adding a little postage. But unquestionably, there are significant cost savings over hiring a PR agency when you DIY.
If you're a starving musician, paying PR agencies' fees could be difficult. You can save money on PR by using do-it-yourself techniques. Along with exploring the PR field, you'll have the opportunity to pick up some vital knowledge that will help you down the road if you do decide to go the DIY route.
You are usually your best publicist in many situations. You are intimately familiar with your music, understanding its essence and its narrative. Many people argue that the most ethical way to become a "true DIY artist" is through DIY PR.
Cons of DIY Music Public Relations
PR requires not just strong writing abilities but also strong IT abilities. You could find it difficult if those aren't your strong points and you don't have a significant other or bandmate who is prepared to support you in those areas.
PR can also take a great deal of time. You'll have to give up a lot of evenings to spend in front of a laptop while composing emails if you're busy doing music or working a day job.
In PR, nothing is certain, and the media is erratic. At the absolute least, a PR representative would act as a type of barrier against any unfavorable or indifferent reactions to your work.
If you are in the in between stages of doing music PR duties yourself and hiring a full-blown PR team, you can take advantage of companies like Getplaylisted, which help take some of the burden off artists like you. Getplaylisted was established to help upcoming artists get noticed on platforms like Spotify and grow their fan base.
Professional Music Public Relations
As you can see, it takes skill to become your own public relations representative and do it well. An artist's career will eventually need them to step up their game and work with a PR agency since effective PR requires a lot of work (unless they want public relations to become their full-time job). If you decide to hire a PR agency, you need to consider your partner carefully because it can be very expensive.
Advantages of Professional Music Public Relations
Finding someone who both complements your music and has excellent connections to the media you want to see you in can greatly increase your chances of being featured in those venues.
A competent publicist will collaborate with you to create a campaign that centers around your objectives. Taking the time to carefully consider your goals for your music is a valuable exercise in and of itself, and a competent press agent can assist you in determining what is feasible and desired for you.
If you are utterly untrained in producing engaging emails, keeping up with administrative tasks, and interacting via email, a press agent will probably perform the job more effectively than you.
Cons of Professional Music Public Relations
You pay for what you get when it comes to good public relations. The cost of your campaign will determine several factors, including rates, but in general, you should be extremely cautious of PR agencies that give offers that appear too good to be true.
There's a risk that you won't be able to maintain control over the message you want to convey via your music, especially if it's essential to you when you work with a PR agency. Some public relations agents just send out press releases to mailing lists without considering if the music and the blog are a good fit. Make sure you do your research on the PR agent or agency you want to work with well before you sign on the dotted line.
So When Should You Consider Hiring a PR Firm as a Musician?
If your career is just getting started and you have not yet launched a song, a public relations agency will be of little use. These are some signs for musicians that can show you now is the appropriate moment to hire a PR firm.
You Have a Schedule Tour That Will Encompass Many Locations
Touring calls for some of the most intense public relations efforts in the business. You must generate enough buzz at various locations to sell tickets and make your tour successful. Instead of taking time away from practicing before your tour to do PR tasks, hiring a music PR firm can help make your tour a success.
You Have a Steady Group of Listeners That Exceeds 100,000
Getting you or your band from regional to national success is possible with the aid of a music PR company. Using your listener analytics, a PR agency can help you gain festival spots and national media exposure if you have amassed hundreds of thousands of listeners and a sizable local fan following.
DIY or Professional Music PR: Either Way, Musicians Need a PR Presence
A PR agency can help you break into specific industries, establish your music career, or take your act from a regional to a national level. Even with all these advantages, not everyone can afford to hire a PR agency.
Don't worry; you can accomplish a lot of PR duties on your own, particularly if you have data to guide your plan and gauge its effectiveness.
Whether you decide to to go with a PR firm or stick to DIY public relations, making sure you are getting your music brand in front of the right media outlets can help you go from small artist to the big-time!
