Finally! Email Music Promoters and Other Music Industry and Get Responses With This Simple Method

This is the exact method I use to email music promoters and other music industry professionals – and I get responses with it. Start using it today!

The Music Submission Email Template

Nearly every time I bring up my method for how I email music promoters and other members of the music industry, I’m asked for my template. And when I Google to see what is online and available for you, frankly, I’m horrified. Do not ever use an email template to send emails to the music industry. Experienced professionals you want to take you seriously can smell an email template from across the world wide web. I understand the desire to make this process easier but you will get MORE responses from LESS emails when you craft short, simple emails using my method instead.

I promise, spend the time to write 15 emails and you will get more responses than you will to 100 quality music pros using an email template. Test it. Tell me I’m right.

Again, Do Not Use Email Templates. Respect your recipients. And please be skeptical about anyone telling you their template works. We all want to succeed faster. But those who sell you on an easier way out are usually full of s#!t.

How to Email a Music Manager or Music Promoter and Get Responses

The Subject Line

The Subject Line of your email is the most important part of your email. Simply put, if your subject isn’t compelling, your email won’t get read. Why spend time writing an email noone will ever read? When your subject line fails to attract the recipient’s attention, the rest of the work you put in is for nothing. So, invest the time you would have spent writing a perfect email to instead write a perfect subject line.

So, what is a perfect subject line?

I have three tacts I take when writing my subject lines, and they all are centered around the concept of specificity. Specificity is compelling, specific words or numbers, targeted to the recipient, to attract their attention.

Referrers

My favorite way to make contact with a music manager, music promoter, or other music industry professional is to get a referral. A referral is when a mutual friend is willing to “vouch” for me or make an introduction. The best way this works is when the mutual friend sends an initial email introducing the contact to me with us both on cc. I then follow-up with a reply to the contact with a brief note following the guidelines I spell out below.

But when that initial email is impossible or awkward to ask for, I email cold, and my subject line is solely “Referred by Bob Smith”, or whomever the mutual contact is. I also cc the referrer. If the referrer has the relationship they say they do, nine times out of ten, my email will get a response.

Someone I Have Met Previously

I talk about this in some depth during the Connected course, and it continues to work great. When I have met someone previously, during a conference or another music industry event, I will usually wear a colorful shirt or will go out of my way to make a memorable moment out of a brief conversation. I’m so shy, this is a game I’ve created to help me overcome my awkwardness with strangers in social situations. I’ll ask a question that is off-topic or is trying to inquire about something personal. Or I’ll ask a very specific question about their experience in the industry, if I have any familiarity with their biography.

What makes this technique useful, is I will use the memorable moment from that meeting as the subject line of the follow-up email. I will be specific and brief. But I will know, from the recipient’s point-of-view, they will remember that moment.

Cold Contact

Sometimes, a referral or previous meeting isn’t possible. What then? In that case, I like to use specific and compelling numbers.

For example, if I were writing a music promoter in a market, let’s say Chicago, looking to get booked, my subject line would read something like “8497 Spotify spins in Chicago in 6 days… and counting”. Notice, not only do I have a very specific number of Spotify spins, I also have put 6 days rather than 7. The reader has to twinge a little bit and wonder “why 6 days?”

It’s a small twinge, I’m sure. But every digit and every letter in your subject line matters. If changing a single digit makes the email 10% or 20% more likely to be clicked – it’s a great investment!

The Body

The First Sentence

The first sentence in the body of your email is crucial, not unlike the subject line, just less so. Check out my recent video on how to write the first line of your music bio. The methodology used there is the same here.

Usually, the first draft of my subject line is not the one I end up using. So I often find myself using it as the first line in the body of the email. The first sentence’s purpose is similar to the subject line – to keep the reader reading. So a lot of the same methodology applies – specificity is king. Imagine, if you read the first sentence of your email and you stopped – would the recipient stand, waiting for you to continue? Would they say “I am listening” as a way to invite you to read more? THAT is the reaction you want. Build on the subject line with a little more information, but not too much.

Make sure THEIR reason for reading more is clear. If you are writing a music promoter, be sure to draw a connection to their market right away. A music manager or record label will want to read more specific data letting them know they are reading about a band they SHOULD know about.

Email Body General Rules

Your email needs to be brief and to the point.

If it’s longer than a handful of sentences, say 6 or so, then it’s too long.

Write short sentences.

Sentences with more than a few words slow the reader down. Keep your sentences short. And take out any words that aren’t needed.

Get to your ask quickly.

Every music business professional knows you want something. Don’t make them dig to find out what it is. Ask near the top of the email body.

Make your ask specific. If you are asking for particular dates for gigs, identify when and let them know when you need to know by. If you are asking for feedback, be specific as to what you want feedback on. “This song” isn’t specific enough. Ask for feedback on songwriting, or a hook, or an aspect of the production. The more specific your ask, the more likely you will be to get a response. Use that response as your chance to start the relationship and ask for more. But for a cold connection, specificity is best.

Tell them when you are going to follow-up. Be specific. And do follow-up when you said you would.

Signature

Your email signature is your way of inviting the recipient to communicate with you on the platform or in the method most convenient to them. So, in addition to your name, include your phone number, two or three social media accounts, and a link to your EPK if it wasn’t included in the email earlier.

Other Advice For How to Write an Email to a Record Label or Music Promoter

Two more big pieces of advice for how to email music promoters and other industry professionals.

Do not put any words in your subject line in ALL CAPS. This is one of the easiest ways to get caught in spam filters or tossed into the “Promotions” folder of Gmail. I’ve been experimenting with all lower-case subject lines myself. I’ll have to let you know whether this has increased my response rates at a later date. Early tests are promising. Do not ever include an attachment on a cold email. That goes for mp3s, jpgs, zip files – anything. Most tech-savvy people are going to delete your email without even opening it. The only time you should ever send an attachment to anyone is if they’ve requested it.

Conclusion

Email is still one of the best ways to communicate with the music industry. Knowing how to email music promoters and record labels and other music industry professionals is key. Now you know how to do it.

Getting them to read your email, and reply, is going to be easier than ever. Create a unique, compelling, and specific subject line. Make the first sentence in the body compelling and specific as well. Get to your ask quickly. Make few, short sentences. Sign off with your name, phone number, 2 or 3 socials, and your EPK. You’re done. Now read the responses!