{"id":826,"date":"2020-12-03T13:36:04","date_gmt":"2020-12-03T12:36:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.haumeamagazine.com\/?p=826"},"modified":"2021-03-22T17:09:06","modified_gmt":"2021-03-22T16:09:06","slug":"how-can-you-promote-your-music-when-you-are-an-independent-artist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.haumeamagazine.com\/en\/how-can-you-promote-your-music-when-you-are-an-independent-artist\/","title":{"rendered":"How can you promote your music when you are an independent artist ?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Working your way up as an independent artist is not easy, and when you start talking about music promotion, things get even more complex. Having someone else \u2013 a PR agent \u2013 do it for you is often necessary. However, the work of a PR agent is not always understood by artists, and their prices are often the first obstacle to overcome. Therefore, some artists switch to platforms like Groover, HumanHuman, SubmitHub and more, in order to manage their PR themselves. It is a legitimate alternative, but it can be time consuming.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So, how do you effectively promote your music when you are an independent artist ? What is best between a sharing platform and a PR agent ? Well, we have done the work for you by asking questions in this double interview to Dorian Perron, co-founder of the Groover platform, and to Manon L’Huillier, PR agent at Phunk Promotion, a French PR agency.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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“In PR, our duty is to support an artist, a festival or an event and to highlight it in the media<\/span><\/span>” – Manon, PR agent at Phunk Promotion.<\/h3>\n

Manon works at Phunk Promotion, a PR agency that promotes music to all medias : print, web, TV and radio.\u00a0This agency takes care of the PR of artists like Fhin, Christian L\u00f6ffler, Sirens of Lesbos or Sabrina Bellaouel, as well as the PR of events such as the N\u00f6rdik Impact festival or Entente Nocturne. This wide spectrum of artists and events allows them to constantly be in touch with journalists working at all kinds of media and thus maintain lasting relationships with them. But what exactly does their work look like ?<\/span><\/p>\n

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Hi Manon, and thank you for responding to our interview request ! Can you first explain to us what your job consists of ?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

On a daily basis, my job mainly consists of living with headphones on my head ! More seriously, in PR, our duty is to support an artist, a festival or an event and to highlight it in the media (press, TV, radio or web depending on our client’s needs) and thus make sure that the public hears of it. Our work ranges from the implementation of a strategy and its schedule, communication and marketing advice, but also the preparation of the press releases, and of course having regular conversations with journalists so that they can write articles about them, interview them, host shows etc. We can work for months or sometimes years until the date of the event or the record’s release.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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What type of artists and clients do you work with ?<\/strong><\/p>\n

What I love about my job and especially about the agency I work with is that we work with very diverse artists and events. They range from an artist established abroad who wants to gain visibility on the French territory to a very well known label in France who entrusts us with their new releases. We also work for emerging bands that need to work their way up, and festivals in France and abroad.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Is this the same type of artist you worked with when you were independent? <\/strong>(before working for Phunk Promotion, Manon was self-employed)<\/em> <\/span><\/p>\n

Not at all ! When I decided to go freelance I mainly worked with French artists and labels who for the most part had just released one or two EPs. There was a “development” aspect to it.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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I now have a delicate but necessary question.\u00a0<\/strong>How much does a PR agent cost ?<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n

It’s a question that is very complicated to answer because I cannot both speak for everyone and be precise at the same time. The price range is really wide because different criteria come into play. It, first off, depends on whether you decide to work with an agency or with an independent agent. The price also varies according to what the artist will have planned (tour, music videos, album or EP releases\u2026). The price will also be adjusted if the project needs to target all the media scope or only a segment, and then there is the estimated duration of the mission, whether the project is niche or more mainstream etc. The best thing to do as an artist is to present your project with as much detail as possible and with solid elements to a PR agent. It will therefore be much easier to talk about the estimate. (I speak on behalf of the majority who do not have fixed prices).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Even though it is difficult to give an estimate, are the prices the same when you are a freelance PR agent ?<\/strong><\/p>\n

They can be a little lower because the costs are sometimes less substantial than for an agency. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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How much time do you spend on average on an artist’s campaign ? <\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It really varies according to their release plans which for some are very dense and for some others are very sparse. It also depends on the potential reach of the project, whether it is closer to the mainstream music than to the so-called “niche” projects, which does not reach the same amount of media.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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What is the average response rate that you get on a campaign ?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just like I said previously, and it is often the case in this profession, it varies enormously. The famous sentence “we have\u00a0an obligation of means rather than one of result\u201d that is used by PR agents summarizes the \u201cresponse rate\u201d. For me, the success rate is not to be found in the number of clicks in a newsletter but rather on the articles I obtain in the medias I was initially targeting. My goal is to obtain a logical and quality “mesh” that corresponds to what the project should get. This is when I judge whether this is a good “rate” or not !<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\"retomb\u00e9es<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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What role do you think you play in the development of an artist’s career ?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In this industry, there are so many people an artist can work with that can help them in the development of their career. Without managers, bookers, publishers etc. we cannot be efficient. My role is to see the big picture on a schedule that can go up to months. Then, I have to know how to use this time intelligently from a media point of view, while being as close as possible to the artist, to listen to them, to adapt to their needs and rethink strategies if necessary. Especially during a health crisis like the one we are experiencing.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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What do you recommend to an independent artist who is now looking for a PR agent ?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Choose wisely and carefully, it’s essential. You’ll be working as a team so if you’re not clear and precise with your work and wants you may end up making errors. It’s always difficult to catch up on mistakes.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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And according to you, is having a PR agent the best option to promote your music ? <\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It is always possible to use platforms that put you in touch with medias for a fee, but these choices remain limited (although very practical). On the other hand, it will be necessary to hire a PR agent to reach national media or to reach some that are not on those platforms. A PR agent has the expertise and a database that will make all the difference.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"promouvoir<\/p>\n

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“We wanted them to no longer have the impression of sending bottles into the sea and never get an answer. We wanted to finally break the “wall of the first listen”” – Dorian, co-founder of Groover.<\/h3>\n

Groover is a platform that has existed since 2018. It is a platform that connects artists (or their managers) with “influencers”, as they call them, who are in fact media, labels or\u00a0“mentors” \u2013 mostly managers and music professionals. This platform gathers members of the music industry from all over the world, and has the slogan “Music Promotion With Results”.<\/span><\/p>\n

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How was Groover founded ?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Romain, Rafa\u00ebl, Jonas and I (Dorian) met in California in September 2017. Jonas and Romain had released albums and were struggling to make themselves known. On my side, I created the webzine Indeflagration<\/a><\/span> in 2013 and I received hundreds of emails a day from artists who wanted me to write about their music. Yet, I did not have the time to even read their emails.<\/p>\n

We had already realized that artists needed help and that it is really difficult to be heard when more than 40,000 new songs are released on Spotify every day. We called over 200 musicians and music professionals and understood that the most difficult thing to do was promotion. And promotion is what happens after the song is created, recorded, mixed \/ mastered and distributed. The barriers to production have already been completely lowered with production software, and those of distribution have been lowered too thanks to online listening platforms and independent digital music distributors.<\/span> Our goal since the very beginning is to help artists stand out thanks to more influential people. We wanted to guarantee that their tracks would be heard and that they would receive feedback. We wanted them to no longer have the impression of sending bottles into the sea and never get an answer. We wanted to finally break the “wall of the first listen”.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Can you quickly explain to us how an artist can use the platform to promote their music ?<\/strong><\/p>\n

On Groover<\/a><\/span>, it is pretty simple. The artists or their representatives pay 2 Grooviz (= 2 \u20ac) per selected influencer. They choose whoever they want to contact from a growing list of more than 850 media, radio stations, and labels. They are then guaranteed that the media \/ pro will listen to the song and write at least a feedback. The artist also knows that whatever their decision is, they will be paid 1 Grooviz (= 1 \u20ac). If a media \/ pro does not respond within 7 days, the artist gets 2 Grooviz back per unanswered response and can resubmit it elsewhere.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Groover<\/p>\n

Screenshot of Groover’s platform<\/em><\/p>\n

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With this system, artists and their representatives are finally sure to get answers from the media \/ pros they contact for an affordable budget.\u00a0The response rate is currently over 85%, the acceptance rate (article, addition to playlist, sharing, radio broadcast, meeting request etc.) is around 20%<\/strong>, 80,000 shares have taken place since Groover’s early age and more than 100 signatures in label, edition, tour, and management.<\/span><\/p>\n

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What types of media can they reach ? <\/strong><\/p>\n

So there is more than just medias on Groover. Artists will find three types of influencers :<\/p>\n