WWW.JAZZFUEL.

COM

A TO Z
OF
S I C P R
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The do's & don'ts

of press outreach
 www.jazzfuel.com

A
A is for AWESOME. As in, be Awesome, and none of the following
advice will matter too much as people will be falling over
themselves to cover you. Except maybe they won't, as your
emails might not get read and you might not be heard, so being
awesome perhaps isn't enough, on its own, any more. It's an
important place to start though.

B
B is for BREVITY - Get straight to the point. Try to focus on
getting all the key points in 3 sentences or less. Include a link to
your latest piece of music and let that do the talking for you.
See also: http://three.sentenc.es

C
C is for CHASING - If you’ve not heard from someone, it’s
probably a no – but do not fear. This is a no as in, ‘no, they
haven’t read your email...’. Journalist’s inboxes are flooded with
bands, publicists, labels etc trying to get their stuff front and
centre. There’s no harm in dropping a short reminder (including
your original e-mail), just in case it genuinely did fall through
the cracks, but if you still don’t get a reply after a couple of
follow ups then endless chasing and harassment will not help
your cause. Especially if you’re chasing a news story on a
website that doesn’t post news stories (see R for Research).

D
D is for DOWNLOADS - always offer a download link along with a
stream. And forget the ‘don’t share’ warnings - if you can’t trust
the person you’re emailing then you shouldn’t be emailing them.
 www.jazzfuel.com

E
E is for ENTHUSIASM - be enthusiastic about your music, if you
don’t care, why should anyone else?

F
F is for FACTS - who are you, where are you from, who do you
sound like, where can we hear you perform live, when can we
buy your music? Put your thesaurus away, leave the descriptive
embroidery to the writer.

G
G is for GUESTLISTS – If you can, always offer a +1 to a gig or
festival for a live review. After all, the review - particularly at a
festival - should be about the whole experience and, with the
greatest will in the world, going to a gig on your own is rarely as
fun as when you have company.

H
H is for HOPE YOU’RE WELL - We’re all guilty of it from time to
time, but it’s time to put a stop this meaningless after-thought
of care. Stick to a simple ‘Hi *name*’ and cut to the chase.

I
I is for INTERVIEWS - if your band is based in California, and your
journalist in London, don’t expect the journalist to pick up the
cost of the call. Skype, FaceTime, Viber, WhatsApp, Google Chat,
are all free and reliable alternatives to a phone call and save
everyone a lot of hassle and unnecessary cash.
 www.jazzfuel.com

J
J is for JARGON - Jargon is defined as “special words or
expressions used by a profession or group that are difficult for
others to understand.” DIFFICULT. TO. UNDERSTAND. So, don’t use
jargon. This includes extraordinarily-specific genres. Yes it may
be that ElectroDubJazzCore is going to be the next big thing but
if it’s not common parlance then don’t try to introduce it.

K
K is for KNOWLEDGE – This ties in with 'R for Research', but be
knowledgeable about the who you are writing to. If you pitch
your trad jazz act to Metal Hammer Magazine you are not going
to get very far. Likewise, if you can get your piano trio on to BBC
Radio 1Xtra’s grime show then good on you, but very few who
listen to that show are going to go out and buy your music.

L
L is for LOCATION - know where your writer is based (twitter bios,
site profiles & LinkedIn are a good starting point) and if you’re
not sure - ask! Don’t just wade in with ‘come and see our gig in
New York’ if your writer is based in Chicago.

M
M is for MUSIC. All this stuff is important, but means nothing if
you're not making brilliant music. 99% of jazz journalists are in it
for the love of music. (See also 'A is for Awesome')

N
N is for NAME - get the name right of the person you’re emailing.
As a journalist called Tom once said: "Tim. It's only one letter. But
my name isn't Tim. Tim deletes all of his emails.”
 www.jazzfuel.com

O
O is for OBJECTIVE – have a clear aim; don’t just blanket email
everyone. Set realistic targets and goals founded on good
RESEARCH and work towards them.

P
P is for PERSONAL – Make all your emails personal and be
friendly. If someone does come to your gig then seek them out,
buy them a drink, say hi. Build a relationship!

Q
Q is for QUOTES - has a well-known media outlet written about
your band in the past? Were they nice? Then quote them! Don’t
quote your mates/mum.

R
R is for RESEARCH - do your research. It’s unlikely a writer who
lists Ride and Slowdive as his or her favourite acts is going to be
into your free jazz tribute to Evan Parker, so don’t waste your time.
As a starting point, reach out to the people who write about
music similar to yours. If necessary, think of a few bands in your
niche and find out the names of the people who've reviewed their
music (favourably). Research. Research. Research.
 www.jazzfuel.com

S
S is for SPECIFIC. Yes, be specific and also be succinct. The
person you're emailing is busy and underpaid and over-emailed
and that person can choose to invest 5 mins streaming a song
or an hour of their life listening to an album or a night coming
out to see your band live.

Sum it up in a sentence or three that doesn't assume

knowledge. If you can't reduce the essence of your email down
to an intriguing tweet or three coherent sentences then you're
not communicating, you're just deluging someone with
information. 
 
If you are not pitching for a specific feature or album review or
coverage in a particular column, then you're asking a very
broad question of someone that you want to be a fan. If the site
you're sending a third enquiry about a news story to hasn’t
responded, perhaps check they actually do news stories (a lot
of sites don't do news). If you're chasing an MP3 blog for an
album review you're also wasting your time and an opportunity. 
 
There's a reason pithy ideas like "the gangster Nancy Sinatra"
(Lana Del Rey) intrigued people and got them listening. 

T
T is for TIME - give enough time for journalists to listen to, digest,
listen again, write, edit, re-edit, proof, tag and upload
reviews/interviews. Most online writers do this in their spare time
for little or no pay and expecting someone to turn around a
review in 5 days just isn’t fair.

U
U is for UBER - no, not the taxi firm. Is your band really “uber high
profile”? Avoid meaningless prefixes like uber, super, mega,
hyper…
 www.jazzfuel.com

V
V is for CTRL-V: never copy and paste - always make an email
relevant to whoever you're sending it to.

W
W is for WHY. As in the who, what, when, where & WHY of your press
release. WHY is possibly the most important of all, as it's the thing
that really makes someone else want to spread your news.

X
X is for XXXX - don’t swear in your emails. “we’re really fucking
great” - you may think it makes you more ‘real’ ‘down to earth’,
‘punk’, even. But it doesn’t, it’s just unprofessional.

Y
Y is for yesterday. As in 'start thinking about this stuff YESTERDAY.
Don't wait until a week before your next gig or release to reach
out to press contacts. Plan it out and then JUST. DO. IT.

Z
Z is for ZEAL. As in "great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a
cause or objective." You've done the hard part - making great
music. Now's the time to finish the job properly by getting it the
attention it deserves.
 N E W
A L BU M
O M IN G
C
SO O N?
Good luck & check jazzfuel.com for
more info & resources, or ask about
our done-for-you press outreach.