I read something very amusing in a industry forum the other day. Someone, who was supposedly an industry specialist (or at least claimed to be) posted on a question someone asked about networking.

The question went: “how should I pitch my music when reaching out to industry executives, label owners and A&Rs” to which his response was: “don’t ever reach out to people you don’t already know.”

And I thought to myself - what terrible advice! Really oversimplified, terrible advice.

Let me explain why ... if you’re not reaching out to new people and taking active steps to expand your network on a consistent basis, how do you expect your network to grow? How do you expect to meet new people or make new friends in the industry? You NEED to be taking the first step. When it comes to pitching your music, 90% of the time people will either not reply or simply respond with a rejection. But if your pitch is good, 10% of the time people will respond and opportunities will come out of it.

Contrary to earlier mentioned “industry expert”’s advice, you should actually be reaching out to as many people as possible, provided you first do some background research and are polite and respectful in your pitch. The last part of that sentence is the key and unfortunately where a lot of artists fall short. In short, it’s not the act of pitching that is the mistake but the fact that the artist sending the message is going about it entirely the wrong way.

You should never be afraid to reach out to people you don’t know, as long as you do it properly. If you reach out with a properly articulated and thought through message, do you really think the CEO of a record label is going to to put your name on a blacklist and tell all of his industry friends to look out for you? Even if your pitch is bland and generic - they don't have the time! The odds are they'll just not reply and move on with their busy day.

That being said, you should try to keep in mind these things when reaching out:

1. Do the research . This should be obvious however my time spent interning at a label and sifting through the same, poorly constructed pitches sent over and over again revealed otherwise. For context; I was interning at a Deep House / Dance-Pop label. Yet you’d be amazed at how many of the submissions we received were from Indie-Rock bands and people with no connection to the core genre!

2. Make the message personalised . It’s not hard to put in a little extra effort. Use the person’s name or the name of the platform/agency you’re pitching to if necessary. Furthermore, if all you send is a stream link, or that and a message saying: “please listen!” you’re not going to get any responses. Why should you? You haven’t put in any effort, so why should they?

3. Lose the ego. If you’re pitching to a playlist curator, don’t start by saying “I have a dope new track that I know you love!”. For starters, you don’t know that the recipient will like it. By starting with a statement that tells the curator how they should feel, you’re immediately making an assumption that you know everything about them, plus they will then go in with exceedingly high expectations. Rather than them going in expecting to hear the next hit because you‘re apparently hot shit, wouldn’t it be better for them to go in with zero expectations and then be pleasantly surprised by the quality of your track? Even if your song is amazing, these people receive countless submissions all the time, so don't be naive enough to think that you're the only person sending them good music!

4. Think in value. By pitching your music, you’re immediately asking for something. But what are you giving? What value do they get out of the exchange? Once you start thinking this way, you can adjust your language. For example, if you’re pitching to a playlist curator, try something like: “Hi (name), Hope you’re well! I’d love to submit my new Deep House single for consideration for your playlist “Deep House Hits”. It has a similar vibe to “Artist - Song name” and “Artist - song name” which I noticed you placed in your list, so if you like those you might like this one to! Many thanks and all the best.” By stating the track’s genre, narrowing it down to 1 specific playlist and comparing it to other tracks shared in the same playlist, you’re saving the curator time by already having provided enough information to show that the track is appropriate for the playlist. Moreover, it’s polite without overstepping and not too long. This is of course, just 1 of many ways you could word a pitch and there's no guarantee they'll respond, however at least you haven't come across as rude or lazy.

Never be afraid to reach out and get in touch. You never know what might happen if you don’t! If you like this article and have a question for us, email us (info@sounddirectpr.com) and let’s chat!