How bands should do a press release

Monday, December 7th, 2009
by Mark Carras

In this era of the Internet many bands are trying to do their own everything. I think this is pretty awesome and I encourage it. Sure it’s great if you can afford a few grand a week to hire some powerhouse press agent. The biggest value they have is in relationships they have with journalists all over the place. There have been times that a press agent will forget to send the email to the BCC (blind carbon copy) and expose their entire email list. I can grab that info and use it to send out my next press release. This will not do me near as much good as if I pay to have the exact same press release, sent to the exact same list of people, with everything done exactly the same way. Those contacts do not have relationships with me. So I will not get the same results as Chipster, Mazur, HerPR, HelloWendy, or any of the dozens of PR firms I work with on a regular basis. But if you can’t afford the money, have the email lists, and really need to get a message out do it yourself (DIY)!

There are a few key things to remember though. First off, the very top should have “FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE”. Yeah, I know it looks silly to do that in all caps but it is one of the many music industry standards none of us seem to have the power to stop. Put the date directly underneath that. Both of those should be in standard size text.

Second thing is to put the headline in bold and in larger text than anything else. Keep it short, sensationalistic, but honest and factual.

Third, put the body of your message. Most press releases I read blow so many proverbial flowers up the artists butt that I can’t help but dismiss the entire press release. I only read about 10% of the ones sent to me at best. So try to keep yours interesting, but full of information about your band. Most of the press releases contain zero information about the band. It drives me nuts!

Fourth thing is to put three pound signs (the tic tac toe symbol that is on the number 3 key) at the end of the information you want made public.

Lastly you can put any other information you want only press people to see. Like if you have a website to download the cd, get high rez images, or anything else. Under all of that put your name, address, phone, fax (if you have one of your own), an email address they can contact you at for further questions.

Keep your press release short, but detailed. Make it clear right away what style of music you play. In the world of Internet journalism your press release will hit the trash bin quickly if you don’t make it clear right away that the artist fits their format. We don’t want to tread through a ton of weak adjectives to find out the band plays polka. Don’t just describe the sound! That makes us think you are trying to hide something…like they play polka. Don’t tell the band’s entire life story, but cram in the important facts so they fly rapid fire when the press release is being vetted. Add links to video, graphics, and whatever else that the press can use to “pretty” up the posting.

Good luck. You’re going to need it.