Virtual Publicist is an AI-powered platform that gives artists access to their career essentials. Providing a singular network to conduct all of their marketing and promotional outreach, musicians now have a host of digital assistants to optimize their strategy, focus their targeting, and manage their campaigns. In this guide we take a look at what music marketing and promotion is and how Virtual Publicist can help with marketing your music release.
What is music marketing & promotion ?
Music marketing and promotion is both the art and science of releasing your music to the public. By using a carefully planed strategy, the right tools, and the right platforms to feature your music, an artist can exponentially grow their fanbase and successfully distribute their music.
Marketing and promoting your music includes a variety of tasks such as:
- Advertising
- Public relations or PR
- Social media marketing
- Content creation
- Event organizing
How Virtual Publicist uses suggestive AI
Different artists and record labels will have different needs in terms of how they promote their music. Because not all artists have the same audience, musical style or reach, Virtual Publicist uses a suggestive AI to correlate their career needs, based on their level in the industry.
Some musicians, for instance, may need to prioritize expanding their online presence by posting frequently therefore the AI will suggest influencers or other creators first. Where as other artist may have an established circuit for venue gigs, the system will suggest them to branch out to booking agents who will support a bigger tour.
Music promotion and marketing are essential components of the music business and may significantly affect an artist’s or band’s level of success. A larger fan following, more revenue from sales and streams, and more visibility within the business may all result from smart marketing and promotion.
How to use Virtual Publicist for your communications?
Marketing your music business is something that needs to occur in scale, and needs a holistic method to resonate with your market. Within the Virtual Publicist ecosystem, the database can provide a wide range of contacts to reach out as well as provide musicians with the correct method to communicate with their audiences.
Start by selecting what kind of release you are going to be focusing on. From there, take a look at the campaign types below that will help you visualize execution and resources you require for each one. You can find a more detailed version of each specific campaign in our learn section.
If ever you are looking to create a multi-artist campaign we highly recommend reaching out to our team for a custom set-up of your Virtual Publicist.
In this guide we will review the following campaigns all of which are essential for a musician in their own time and place. Each will have a short section that shows how to use the Virtual Publicist system when executing this process.
- Types of Music Release Campaigns
- Post-Post Production
- Preparing your networks
- Optimizing your content
- Outlets & Playlists
- Radio & Fanbase
- PR and Media syndication
- Influencers and Celebrities
- Collabs and Socials
What kinds of marketing and promotion campaigns can a musician do?
As an artist, the excitement of creating new music and releasing it to the world is unique. But, once the recording process is complete, and it’s time to put the pedal to the metal, it can be confusing on where or how to start first.
With the right strategy and a Virtual Publicist by your side , you can optimize this entire process and create a lasting buzz by connecting with outlets and other creators in a meaningful way. From traditional PR and advertising to cutting-edge social media tactics, there are endless possibilities for promoting your release, what matters most is managing all the pieces of the puzzle.
1. Single Release Campaigns:
A single is a unique song that is being distributed as a stand-alone track. Unlike an EP which is composed of 3-4 songs, a single needs to have a more focused campaign that reinforces your base, and opens up to a new audience.
Starting with the right distributor that will place your song on streaming platforms, a single release should also include a press component to announce the arrival of new content. Press will help your online reputation and will expose the song to a wide audience that are loyal to that media source.
Press is particularly important if the song is a debut or a new release after a long creative pause. Your name after all, needs to be revived in search engines and promoted as new creator.
Using Virtual Publicist to release a single:
The Virtual Publicist database will have key contacts to reach out too and suggest outlets that are the most likely to accept your submission. When writing your pitch, make sure to select a template, or answer the AI writer, with all the relevant information related to a single release as opposed to an EP or album.
Playlist curators on Spotify are also a very important step in this process, as this will help you solidify a position within streaming network that cater to an international audience.
Best targets to look for when releasing a single:
- Playlist Curators
- Media Blogs
- Journalists
- Music Reviewers
2. Album Release Campaigns:
Similar to single-release campaigns, this type of campaign is focused on promoting the release of an entire album. An album is usually 9-12 songs and is a compilation of previously released singles or EP’s. Here, the anticipation leading to the release is just as important as the release itself. In the pre-release timeline, you need to make sure that the outlets that were targeted during the single are contacted as they will have a logical narrative to build content on.
From here, interviews, radio outreach and advertising, both digital and physical, will take precedence over streaming as it is more difficult to curate an entire album. By redirecting traffic towards your artist page rather than the singular song, your profile will be gaining followers at a higher rate than listeners which will ultimately increase your visibility and reach for future releases.
Best targets to look for on Virtual Publicist when releasing an album:
- Journalists
- Editors
- Radio interviews & airplay partners
- Influencers
- Advertising centers
3. Gig & Touring Campaigns:
Gigs, venue performances and touring are an essential part of an artists career. Once an album is released, and you have sufficiently practiced your live performance, it is essential to reach out to venues to showcase your music live. Start by targeting your local venues, and from there, branch out to surrounding cities, and eventually states.
By taking a look at your traffic on streaming accounts you can see where you have pockets of fans. If their happens to be a large group in another country, it might be time for you to reach out to a talent or booking agent from there and see if they can help you set up a local tour. Keep in mind, in this phase of a campaign, the key is to sell your popularity to the venue or booker who is ultimately trying to sell tickets.
Best targets to look for on Virtual Publicist when starting a tour:
- Talent buyers
- Booking agents
- Tour managers
- Tastemakers
- Journalists
4. Collaboration Campaigns:
One of Virtual Publicist most significant features, is the access it gives you to influencers and content creators. Once your music has been released, it is now time to expand its creativity by collaborating with other artists or influencers. This gives your music a new spin or a thematic niche on social media that will ultimately grow your audience.
Here are some examples of collaborations that you can initiate using the Virtual Publicist platform:
- Instagram or TikTok content
- Remix and electronic versions
- Acoustic performance
- Guest performance
- Cross-promotion
- Co-creation
- Spoken word version of the song
- Unique music video
- Brand or organization representation
Best targets to look for on Virtual Publicist when starting a collaboration campaign:
- Instagarm influencers
- TikTok Creators
- Youtube Performers
- Dj’s and electronic producers
5. Social media campaigns:
Every artists should be using social media to promote their music releases. As the largest and most accesible online communities, social media provides a huge base of audiences that you can redirect to anyone of your other channels. This includes platforms like Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat, Reddit and even Discord.
Using a combination of on-platform advertising, content creation and direct engagement with your community, you can leverage the visibility of these huge networks to create a viral following for your music. Most importantly, you need to consider the content and culture of each individual platform to properly interact with its audiences and algorithm.
Best targets to look for on Virtual Publicist when starting a social media campaign:
- Influencers
- Videographers
- Content Creators
- Photographers
6. Radio campaigns:
A big part of the Virtual Publicist database is the selection of radio stations, as contact these institutions is usually one of the more difficult contact types to reach out to as a musician. Radio campaigns although a traditional method to marketing and promoting are still one of the most impactful ways to expand your reach as an artist. Radio campaigns will allow you to get airplay as well as live interviews.
Now, don’t be frightened, a live interview just takes practice and authenticity to properly deliver. When starting a campaign of this type, start by researching local radio stations, internet radio outlets , satellite radio and finally college radio stations that accept submissions. Naturally, this is streamlined by the Virtual Publicist system, as it gives you direct access to the DJ’s and show producers who manage the entire station and curate its content.
Best targets to look for on Virtual Publicist when starting a radio campaign:
- Radio DJ’s
- Radio producers
- Program directors
- Host n Celebrities
7. PR and Press campaigns:
Pr and press campaigns are essential to create both an image and a reputation for an artist. As magazines, blogs and music websites are all traffic based business models, it is in your best interest to have publications on a variety of outlets. There are essentially 3 types of press outlets to consider when showcasing your story.
- Print:
- Newspapers
- Journals
- Magazines
- Digital:
- Blogs
- Forums
- Communities
- Social media pages
- Podcasts
- Hybrid
- Press & Media – these combine both digital editions of their articles as well as special print editions for their reader community.
Best targets to look for on Virtual Publicist when starting a Press & PR campaign
- Magazines
- Media
- Blogs
- Journalists
- Editors
- Community Moderators
- Podcaster