June 17, 2010 How to REALLY Get Your Music on Blogs: Finding the Best Blogs for Your Music
This post is part two of the “How to REALLY Get Your Music on Blogs” blog series here on Tight Mix. You can download the entire series for free in the form of a .pdf e-book here.
In the first part of this blog series, I suggested that you write down some defining characteristics about your music, your lifestyle, and your fans. I hope you kept that piece of paper, because now you are going to use those keywords in your search to find the best blogs to approach with your music.
Where to start your search
Searching for anything online can be a complete waste of time if you are looking in the wrong places. It is often difficult to figure out the best place to begin your search, and can be quite overwhelming. I have tried out dozens of search websites in my days with Ariel Publicity & Cyber PR, but I always find myself coming back to the same few resources. Here is a list of some excellent places to start searching for music blogs:
Google Blog Search
Google Blog Search is basically just Google, but only focuses on content published within the blogosphere. The search engine indexes blogs by their site feeds, which are checked often for new content. You can also subscribe to an RSS feed of your search terms, which can be a very helpful tool if you want to get the freshest content related to your search sent straight to your feed reader.
The Hype Machine
The Hype Machine is an MP3 blog aggregator, which basically means that it re-posts the newest and most popular music from a hand-picked selection of music blogs around the globe. They make it very easy to discover new music, as well the music blogs that are hosting this new music. The best way to find music blogs on The Hype Machine is to search for artists that sound similar to you, and click through to the blogs featuring that music.
ELBO.WS
Elbo.ws is another aggregator website that features a collection of great music blog posts and acts as a snapshot of what music being blogged about often. They encourage their users to visit the blogs to read the posts, buy the music, and click the sponsor ads. The site is very similar in function to The Hype Machine, so you should try searching again for artists that sound similar to you. They track a ton of music blogs, so you should be able to find a few more hidden gems here.
Captain Crawl
Captain Crawl boldly calls itself “The Music Blog Index,” and is just as simple and effective as Google Blog Search. It may even be better, because it focuses solely on music blogs. This powerful search engine helps users find videoclips, live concerts, mp3s, reviews, promotion material, demos, lyrics, documentations, and more. Look up some music that is similar to yours, and you’re guaranteed to have a healthy list of blogs in no time.
What keywords to use in your search
Ok, remember the little exercise I talked about in part one of this blog series? Sift through whatever defining statements you wrote down, and handpick the most buzzworthy terms. Here are some popular keywords that I wrote down about my band:
poetry, hip-hop, rap, jam band, indie, rock, painting, drawing, New Jersey, New York, NYC, suburbs, teenagers, Nas, The Roots, A Tribe Called Quest, Gorillaz, vinyl, records
Now, start hitting the search engines with combinations of your most defining keywords, and visit blog after blog after blog.
Compile a list of contact information
While performing your search, keep an excel spreadsheet open and input the contact information for all of the relevant blogs that you come across in your search. Most blogs will give you several ways to contact them, but some will prefer certain methods. To alleviate the confusion, create a “notes” column in your spreadsheet, and make little comments about specific submission guidelines, and anything else that differentiates a blog from the rest of the pack. This will save you tons of time and headaches once you actually start sending out e-mails to these bloggers.
What about all those other, non-music blogs?
It is extremely important to note that getting featured on non-music blogs can be just as beneficial for your music career. More likely than not, you and your fans share a similar lifestyle, or similar common interests. If, for example, you enjoy exercising regularly, it would be a great idea to search for blogs related to staying fit. Maybe you can present the blogger with the idea of writing a post about listening to music while working out, and ask that your music be mentioned in the post. Targeting location-specific blogs is useful, too. If you’re from Akron, Ohio, try to find some blogs that only talk about things happening in Akron. A few weeks ago, I found this quote by Zilla Rocca in the comments section of Audible Hype, and I’d like to re-post it here because he articulates this strategy really well.
He even takes it a step further, suggesting that artists should reach out to forums, fan pages, and other non-blog websites too:
Stop catering to just bloggers. Most of them will be gone in 6 months, and even more will be gone in a year. There are a billion other websites that have nothing to do with hip hop, and whose webmasters and authors DON’T get tons of free shit flooding their inbox on a daily basis. GO AFTER THEM. They will enjoy a nice piece of quality free music delivered to them because they are jaded and edgy and tired of free music. If you rap about limited edition Dunks, look up sneaker and boutique blogs who love that stuff. If you make beats that sample Indiana Jones movies, find diehards who have forums and fan pages all about Indiana Jones. These people most likely don’t know what 2dopeboyz is, but it doesn’t mean they don’t want fresh new music that caters to their tastes.
- Zilla Rocca
Getting a feature placement or an interview for your music on a lifestyle/non-music blog is a great way to snatch up new fans. It positively reveals a side of you that fans may not have known about previously. Keep an eye out for these kinds of blogs, and don’t dismiss them in your search.
Some takeaways:
- Scope out blogs (both music and non-music) that relate to your music, your lifestyle, and your fans.
- Compile a list of contact information for you to use later on, when you start crafting your pitch letters (more on this later).
Chris Bracco is currently the digital marketing coordinator at Intrigue Music, LLC, a boutique music management company in NYC. This post was originally published as a five-part series on his blog, Tight Mix, on June 10, 2010. You can download the entire series for free as a .pdf e-book here.
In the next installment of “How to REALLY Get Your Music on Blogs,” I’m going to stress the importance of becoming an active member within blog communities.
In case you missed it, click here to read to read part 1, “Defining Your Music, Your Lifestyle, and Your Fans.”
Reader Comments (27)
Dope! I had never heard of captain crawl before. THANK YOU.
Thank you! I'm about to submit Jennifer E. Kemp's music for reviews using your approach. Thanks a bunch!!! www.jenniferEkemp.com
Dang, Chris - some SERIOUS help here - you da man!!
@Justin no prob, bob.
@Jennifer .. awesome! let me know how it works out for you. feel free to e-mail me.
@Dg thx man :)
Nice insights as to how to effectively find quality blogs. As you mentioned some are here and gone before you know it.
As you mention, having a plan to reach out to blogs, forums, etc. should be a part of your overall marketing strategy. Having a Marketing Strategy is essential to being successful. Many utilize a random or shotgun approach which leads to frustration and minimal success.
Thanks again!
Greg
great post again. huge thanks!!
and greetings from Hungary ;)
Thanks, and greetings from New Jersey! :)
FYI...I just released an updated version of this e-book, if interested please head on over here: http://tght.me/pJrOZm
Thanks!
Thank You ! for giving me right advice to get my favorite songs via another musical blog or non musical blog.
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I review ALL music - my primary criteria is the "energy" the players project for the playing... my 'zine, IMPROVIJAZZATION NATION, has been reviewing top-flite music since 1990! Go here to view the site: http://rotcodzzaj.com/wordpress/?page_id=42
Some good advice on getting your music onto a blog can be found here
http://www.loudat.com/how-to-get-blogged
A very helpful post! I would also like to emphasize how important the point regarding the Contact list information is. It will save you so much time and grievance if you do this properly, and be sure to add a field to that list where you note down how you are received by the different blogs you approach for future reference, it will help you a long way!
P.S on a curious note, since you mentioned Akron, Ohio in the post. Check out Akron's (Ohio's?) best Rock band The Suede Brothers - http://thesuedebrothers.posterous.com - Proper Rust Belt Rock!!
hey this great .. i am in a Seattle indie rock band called THE BLAKES. we are looking at releasing a record again soon and want to see how much we can do on our own.
thanks for the info
http://soundcloud.com/theblakesband/sets/art-of-losses-record
Really helpful post thanks! I'm doing Ariel Hyatt's Music Success in Nine Weeks blogging challenge right now, and we're in the week about connecting with bloggers so this is especially timely for me!
The only thing is, do you have a working link for part one about defining characteristics about your music, your lifestyle, and your fans, etc? I tried to follow the link, but it says "not found". I'd love to hear your thoughts on how to compile a list of search terms for my music.
Regards, Karyn
Nice blog!! It will save you so much time and grievance.Thanks for sharing keep on sharing.
I love piano music. Do you have a list of websites from where i can download my favorite piano songs?
Nice Post Great Valid Info..I Just Created a Music Blog And Im Now Accepting New Talent In The Hip Hop And reggaeton World its an all spanish music blog but i also promote english hip hop also Feel Free To Check It Out And Summit Your Music...Again Thanx ALOT for This Awesome Site!!
http://www.MusicaConCalle.NeT
thank you. Will start making my rounds for my band far*out
www.werefarout.com
-Dio
Skins Hitter, Band Manager, War Whistler, Arm Wrestler, Drink Pisser Extraordinaire for far*out
Hello all,
I just was checking on a possible music from Mr. Dashboard and ran across the post from Tube Promoter and felt that I had to put in my $20. In the message, it states that it is a suprise that there are music interest members through my site http://tubepromoter.net/ to this site and that Tube Promoter should have more of a fan base. On both accounts, I agree.Video marketing claims to countless who are trying to construct their community profile and get additional YouTube views If anyone made it thru this whole thing, hope I didn't put you to enjoy and have a great day.
Hello all,
I just was checking on a possible music from Mr. Dashboard and ran across the post from Tube Promoter and felt that I had to put in my $20. In the message, it states that it is a suprise that there are music interest members through my site http://tubepromoter.net/ to this site and that Tube Promoter should have more of a fan base. On both accounts, I agree.Video marketing claims to countless who are trying to construct their community profile and get additional YouTube views If anyone made it thru this whole thing, hope I didn't put you to enjoy and have a great day.
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This is great. Thanks a ton. Just what I needed to get my music and rap beats infront of more people that visit blogs! :)
The album is beautiful and easily much better than her first album in my opinion. I agree the songs that are joyous are quite joyous as the others that are sad, are quite sad. Yet the whole album is moving either way, the sounds are just so beautiful. I cant stop listening to “Anything Could Happen”
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Thanks for handing over your kind advice. Sorry for digging up an old post but glad I found it all the same.
Ryan
This is a great advice.
I really love listening music. It's my drug, lol.
http://www.loveradio.com.ph/
Thank you for the great post sir! Really helping a ton of musicians for sure. We also post videos and tracks on our homepage :) http://www.Dopeinstrumentals.com/