Why Automated Music Submission Services DON’T Work

Posted on April 8, 2008 by Eric Hebert
Filed Under Blogs |

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Over the past year studying the various forms of music promotion online, one thing that I see here and there is automated music submission services.

In a nutshell, these are services that send your press release or press kit to music related places all over the ‘net - music blogs, online radio stations, music journalists, etc.

Now, some of these services provide you with the ability to target the blogs and radio stations that they submit to - which is the whole point of marketing online, to find your specific audience and get them to notice you.

The problem I see with these submission services is that they really are not effective - and I can attest to this as a blogger.

Now, maybe some musicians who have used these automated services have seem some success. If anyone has, please share your experiences in the comments.

As a blogger, I’ve signed up to some of these so that I could get free content to put on my site, as most give away pics, press kits, and even Mp3’s to give away.

What happens though, is that you start receiving TOO MUCH content. I get like 20 emails a day from these guys touting new acts, and there’s no real reason for me to check them out.

People check out music based on 2 principles:

1 - Friends. Someone they know and trust tells them about a band, and they check them out.

2 - Hype. An act gets hyped up in the media and then someone checks it out to keep up with the Joneses.

So when some automated music submission service sends me a new band, there’s really no incentive for me to check it out.

Now, ONE other thing that might get my attention is a “sounds like ____” in the email headline. Then I MIGHT take the time to check them out.

Another problem is many make you login to the service to get all the data. That I don’t have time for, people.

The way they should handle it is by offering updates through an RSS feed, where once a week I can check out the acts and maybe check out a few on my own time.

In addition, I could pull that feed through my blog or in my sidebar, so my viewers could have access to every single act that comes through, if they so wanted to.

So if you’re thinking about paying money for these submission programs, really think about the people on the other end of the line, the one’s that are going to check you out and talk about you.

Are they going to respond better to a spammy email or from a direct communication? My experience tells me the latter is going to work far better.

It’s going to take a lot of time, but contacting these people directly is the way to go. Learn about their blog or radio station, and send them an email. Be creative and engage them directly - don’t send the same email over and over again.

Convince them that they will benefit by talking about your music. Give them content to republish - bios, pics, videos, and of course some Mp3’s.

If you can give them something exclusive, even better.

This is how to really market yourself via online blogs and radio. One email at a time. One connection at a time.

The more technology creeps into our lives, the more important real human interaction needs to take place.

photo credit: thinkpanama

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