Following up on your Play MPE music promotion campaign
Welcome back!!!
In the last installment of ‘The Follow Up”’ we covered the art of, you guessed it, following up with tastemakers after you have promoted your music with Caster. But there is of course more work to do. With every Play MPE music promotion distribution campaign your release also includes two additional resends of the promotional email!
These are key to keeping momentum in your promotion campaign but then what? Well, you want to know if tastemakers went ahead and did anything with your music, right? We’ll get to that a little further down.
Timing your promotional email resends with Caster
We know you are eager, but if you just sent out your first email blast – wait a minute. Do your first round of follow-ups and then wait at least 2 weeks to time your second one so you have something new to talk about!
Make sure you change up your subject line with something fresh, and add any new updates to the email. Do you now have an official music video to share? Did you just confirm you’re going on tour with a really cool band? Did your album get some new press since the initial blast? Add sound bites, tour dates, and links.
In between blasts, you can also make sure you are following the radio stations, music supervision companies, record labels, and media outlets that engaged with your release – on social media! Now it may seem like small fry when you know the social media managers are not the ones picking the songs. However in some cases like College radio, Indie, and community stations – they actually just might be the same people!! And of course, always use your discretion. If you find a tastemaker who has a private account, probably best to leave it alone. And it goes without saying, but we’ll say it anyway – don’t jump into their DMs asking for radio play.
When planning your final re-blast you will want to come out strong again. Did you get even more radio adds? Have your social stats gone up significantly? Did you just get brand new promo photos you want to feature in the email? If it’s NEW, FRESH, and EXCITING – highlight that! Whatever you can do to avoid sending the exact same email as the very first one. This is your last chance to get tastemakers’ attention – so make sure to finish STRONG!
You got radio play, now what?
If you get radio play, say thank you! Whether it be via email, or tagging stations on socials.
If you don’t know how to find out if you have gotten radio play – you can sign up for a radio tracking service like MTR to see when and where your release is getting spins.
Some stations will even do an Artist feature on their site or tag you on social media when they add your song. Not all stations do this but many indie and college stations do and you wouldn’t want to miss out on being able to share this great news with your friends and fans!
How to know if music media wrote about you
Sometimes the media will reach out requesting to do an interview, or will ask for more promo photos – but much of the time – they won’t. If you provided clear information in your release, and a well-written press release – they may not have to – which makes their job easier! So if you want to be made aware of any new press – a safeguard is to set up Google Alerts with your Artist name and song title, along with any other pertinent information from your release and/or PR. Sometimes you can find a review or artist feature that you never even knew was in the works. Always a really fun surprise!
Did you land a sync placement?
Music supervisors will contact you and/or your label or management to clear the use with a deal memo and then a license agreement if your song gets chosen amongst the options they’ve pitched to the Director and/or production company. In order to place music legally, they have to clear the synchronization and master use rights. You will definitely know if you got one because they have to get all pertinent signatures, as well as negotiate and pay you a fee!
Well, that’s all folks.
It isn’t. But it’s a good start to get you on the right track. And if you haven’t promoted your music yet, you can learn more about Play MPE and our music promotion distribution tool, Caster! Trusted by major labels and beloved by indies.
If you’re still hungry for more info, we suggest you stay tuned for more… HOT TIPS!