5 Music promotion cardinal Email rules

I might be repeating myself, but with every Email that drops into my mailbox gets my blood boiling a bit more 😀 It’s not like any of this is a secret, so why don’t people do their homework? Would you blindly go to war without a battle plan? So before you start spamming every person in the music industry (and their grandmothers) please read this list:

1. Do not send MP3’s as attachments!
I did not like U2 sending their new album to my iPhone, why would I like your music in my mailbox? Use
Soundcloud!

2. Do not send unsolicited Emails!
I know, crazy… So how are you supposed to get anywhere? Well, get to know the people first. Make friend with them on social media. Strike up a conversation about something they have posted, share few of their posts. Eventually you can ask them if it would be ok to send some of your tracks. Also most music business professionals have some sort of contact information on their website and if it says on it they are happy to receive submissions, then go ahead. If not, take it as “Don’t send unsolicited Emails!” It will make you look unprofessional.

3. Do not tell anybody in the business what they should or should not like
I know you think your music is the bees knees and the whole world will love it. Wrong! We all have different tastes in music, and that’s the way it just is. If someone is not a fan of your music, it does not mean that they have bad taste in music, nor does it mean that your music is necessarily is bad (it could be…). Just accept the fact that people have different tastes in music and your life will get much easier. There are very few friends of mine who know me well enough to know what I like and what I don’t like and you are not one of them!

4. Do not expect anybody to do anything for you unless you are willing to do something for them first
Let’s face it, I don’t know you. Why would I help you? In fact I don’t need anything from you… So you need to figure out something to offer me that I cannot say no to. And that is up to you to figure out, not me. After all, you are the one looking for my help.

5. If you feel the need to give out to someone, don’t!
The best way to mess up your career before it even gets off the ground is to start giving out to others, whether that is reviewer who was critical of your material, a promoter who never replied to your email, or a blogger that did not feature your latest album. When music business professionals talk together, the one thing that does come up very fast is how someone was an asshole. And guess what, if someone I respect or trust tells me you are not a nice person to work with, I most certainly will not work with you.

So keep it clean, be smart and think twice before you hit that send button. The first impression is very important and you only get one chance at that. It would be nice to think that few random Emails would get your career started, but if it did, wouldn’t we all be in the charts?

J.P.

The author J.P. Kallio is a singer songwriter
To get two of his free songs go HERE and click Download