Uncommon Approach: Hunting & Gathering

‘Uncommon Approach’ is a column written by Paul “Nasa” Loverro, owner of independent label Uncommon Records. With this frequent column, he gives readers an all access look at the ups and downs of running an independent Hip Hop label in this day and age. An in-depth column from the perspective of an Indie label owner. 

At this point, I’m starting to get the promotional campaign ready for the Agartha Audio release (Produced by Dig Dug called “The Hollow Earth”).  I have to say, it’s been a few months since our last release of a full length (from W.A.S.T.E.L.A.N.D.S.) back in March and even in that short time a few things have changed in the way we need to go about things in our online promotion.

There’s now a simple work flow for collection of information on who to send records too.

Twitter > Twitter Searching > Find Bloggers > Scan Blogrolls

This seems simple and it is.  Right now, it’s the main way I’ve been collecting info on who send music to.  Here’s an example of my typical day when I’m prepping to send out a release:

The best place to start, if your a musician or a label on Twitter is with the blogs that follow you.  That’s a no brainer, hit them up for their email right away through either an @ or DM message.  They will usually give it up, because they live for free music, if they don’t then fuck ’em, there are a million of them out there.  Then you start to dig deeper.  Take a look at the Twitter pages of Musicians that you like and that make similar music to you.  Check out who’s following them and who they follow, through this you will get to see lots of other bloggers, writers and even potential listeners. 

Bloggers
I can’t officially endorse the “slash & burn” tactic of following people just to get them to follow you, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t employ it at Uncommon. In fairness, I follow those heads for about a week and if they turn out to be interesting I’ll keep following.  But, back to the topic at hand, you’d be surprised how many bloggers that are willing to give your music a spin are on Twitter.  If I were a blogger I would be on Twitter because it’s the best way to get eyes on your website by drawing attention to everything you post.  Most savvy bloggers are on Twitter and those are the people that may just put enough work in to listen to you and give you a shot since they have already proven to be dilligent enough to self promote themselves.

Blogrolls
Now that you’ve done that, and found a nice crop of bloggers/writers/djs and collected emails from @’s or DM’s, you can go to the next level.  The Blogrolls of your favorite blogs or sites can also be a goldmine for more connections.  Click through them and you may find more blogs that are down to mention or post your music (with your damn permission).  Legitimate blogs usually have a contact e-mail openly posted, some won’t have that, but will have a link to their Twitter page, and then you just complete the cycle that way.  If you find a blog that is what I would deem, illegitmate, where they just post albums without permission, don’t waste your time with them.  It’s empty promotion in my eyes.  Firstly, the people that go to those blogs will never buy your stuff even if they like it, and second the bloggers there won’t put the time into giving you a nice write up or cross promoting that post anywhere.

E-mails
You would be surprised at how many e-mails you can collect doing this and how quickly you can do it.  Don’t bother to add e-mails of people that haven’t given them away freely either on their blog or to you on Twitter.  Almost every “list” I’m on that I didn’t ask for gets ignored, blocked or deleted.  It’s just not a wise strategy anymore, plus there are plenty of people that are down anyway. 

My list has grown very rapidly since using Twitter as a source of info.  It’s become the epicenter for Blogger Nation, and these days, that’s who you need to reach.  It’s also a great source for finding DJ’s, Print Writers, Listeners and Collaborators.  Don’t sleep and don’t hate.  My e-mail blasts will be much bigger then yours, son!

I’ll get into our process for actually sending these email blasts and how that too has changed a bit, in a future post.