We’re Rachel Hurley and Frank Keith IV, co-owners of the Sweetheart Pub. We’re music industry veterans with over 30 years of combined experience in the music business, having worked in licensing, talent buying/booking, label management, tour management, and more. Once a week, we’ll publish a new edition of this newsletter, where we’ll share some philosophy and actionable advice on all facets of the music industry.
We’ve been putting together a weekly playlist of seven songs (just enough to keep your attention) every week — check out The Sweet Spot to hear what we’ve been listening to.
What we’re thinking about this week…
If you want press at an outlet, you should be reading that outlet
When we are hired by a new client, one of the first things we do is send them an asset request. This is all of the information we need to build out their campaign, including links to their socials, links to past press, promo photos, album covers, album credits, lyrics, etc.
We also ask for a wish list of outlets that they would like to be featured in. This list will quickly tell us how much they actually pay attention to music press. Different outlets cover music in different ways, and it changes over time — a LOT! When artists take the time to read the outlets they want coverage in, they’ll understand much more clearly the way each outlet covers music. Some only do feature stories on A-listers, but might have a round-up feature or listicle for smaller acts. Some don’t do premieres, but will run track features on artists that are getting a lot of buzz…some run Q&A’s as interviews, some will fly a writer out to spend the day with a band.
There are a lot of factors that an outlet considers when determining if they are going to cover an artist including bandwidth, the band’s social following, the story angle, and their own coverage guidelines. But the most important thing is to know HOW they cover artists. You’ll save yourself and your team from a lot of disappointment if you already know what your dream outlet covers.
—Rachel
The Latest
Music Festivals Are Back, But Their Covid Risks Are All on You
DistroKid Says It Puts Out Nearly 40 Percent of the World’s New Music
Why NFT Sales in the Music Business Are Still the Wild West — and How It Might Be Tamed
What everyone gets wrong about audio discovery – but Facebook, Spotify might get right
S*** You Can Do Today
Have you registered with the MLC (Mechanical Licensing Collective) yet? If not, go ahead and get that done ASAP.
If you aren’t familiar:
In January 2021, The MLC began administering blanket mechanical licenses to eligible streaming and download services (digital service providers or DSPs) in the United States. The MLC will then collect the royalties due under those licenses from the DSPs and pay songwriters, composers, lyricists, and music publishers.
The MLC has built a publicly accessible musical works database, as well as a portal that creators and music publishers can use to submit and maintain their musical works data. These tools will help ensure that creators and music publishers are paid properly.
This assumes you’re already registered with a PRO (Performing Rights Organization — ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, etc) and you’re already registered with SoundExchange. You’ll need PRO information at the bare minimum to set yourself up for the MLC.
TikTok of the Week
Advice on being an artist from Drake
Just for Fun
Millions of songs on Spotify have been forgotten. Let’s give them new life in new ears – yours: https://www.forgotify.com/
Music Rookie Podcast
LA Weekly Music Editor, Brett Callwood, Spills the Tea on Alt-Weeklies
SUSTO on the Long Game: Going from DIY to International Tours & Record Deals
Free Advice
Have a follow-up question for one of our guests? Got a tip? Did we (*gasp*) get something wrong? Our line is always open -- hit us up and if we use your question or response in a future newsletter, we’ll give you credit and link your socials.
Don’t Forget!
As we often receive requests to work with artists who don’t have the budget to afford a full campaign, we’re launching an “Office Hours”-style consulting service where you can book us for 30 or 60-minute blocks of one-on-one time.
You can learn more here (scroll down past campaign details)
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