Offering exclusive content is an effective strategy to stand out to the media and their audiences. It also helps build your reputation by partnering with referral sites. There are several ways to take this approach, depending on your news and goals.

In this article, we share three concrete methods to offer exclusivity to media outlets.

1. Why exclusivity?

For the media outlet, exclusivity represents a good opportunity to attract the attention of their readers and a new audience. By having content that is not available anywhere else, the media outlet immediately stands out and gives readers a good reason to come and visit their website and other channels.

When managed rigorously, exclusivity turns into a win-win relationship for the artist and the media outlet. On the one hand, the artist enjoys extensive visibility, allowing them to reach a wider audience. On the other hand, the media outlet enriches its audience while expanding its content and attractiveness. 

2. Three ways to offer exclusivity to media outlets

2.1 Previews

Previews ares one of the best ways to deliver exclusive content. The principle: a media outlet shares your song or video clip a few days before its release. This means that the content will be available exclusively there, before being distributed on your channels and on streaming platforms.

To offer this type of partnership, it is important to target media outlets that appreciate your music, have a developed audience, and talk about your musical style. You can use the platform Groover to identify relevant targets that offer preview features.

Thanks to this exclusivity, you can benefit from a highlight on different media channels: websites, newsletters, social networks, YouTube channels… For this device to be a win-win, remember to clarify conditions such as:

• The duration of the exclusivity: how long is the content available? Generally, this duration varies between 1 week and a few days before release.
• The form of exclusivity: there can be different forms of preview: broadcast on the YouTube channel or SoundCloud account of the media outlet, an article that contains the song or music video, etc. Check what the media outlet can offer you and the size of its audience on those channels.
• Means of distribution: what promotional channels does the media offer you? Since you are offering an exclusive, it is legitimate to get a higher profile than other content.

Consider providing the journalist with information about your release (media kit, press release, visuals) to facilitate collaboration and ensure that they have access to everything necessary to create content around this exclusivity.

2.2 Interviews

As an artist, interviews are a great way to share your vision and connect with your audience through storytelling. You can explain the story around your project: how you started, your creation process, anecdotes… all elements that help humanize your project and make you stand out.

Collaborating with media outlets for interviews has several advantages: 

• Use their expertise to highlight your approach and ask you relevant questions to build a universe around your project. 
• Take advantage of their approach to highlight you in their own way, for example by shooting a video or podcast, creating visuals or offering an interview from an original angle.
• Be presented to their audience with in-depth content about your project. By appearing on a media outlet, you will be introduced to their audience and reach new potential fans.

An interview is a good opportunity to introduce yourself and gives you more space than social media content. To find media to offer an interview to, prioritize those with whom you already have a connection. To do this, you can use the following methods: 

• Social networks: Look first at the media that follows and responds to your posts. You can also find others, such as those that talk about artists in your genre.
• Online articles: If the media has already talked about you in articles, there is a good chance that they are interested in interviewing you. You can find these articles through a Google search or mentions of your accounts on social networks.
• Feedback on your titles: whether the media have talked about you or not, it is possible that they have given you feedback on your releases. The reporter may not have been able to talk about your title for a variety of reasons, but may be interested in an interview. Use the feedback received by message and via the Groover platform to identify them.

2.3 Contests

Who doesn’t love receiving gifts? Contests are extremely popular, especially on Instagram: they generate, on average, 3.5x more likes and 64x more comments than a traditional publication.

A contest makes it possible to generate visibility and has a significant viral effect. Most of the time, the requirements to participate include sharing on social networks, subscribing to the account, and mentioning friends in comments, which helps expose your content to a larger audience.

You could organize a contest yourself, but collaborating with a media outlet allows you to be visible to its audience and to rely on its experience for organization.

Before you get started, think about the prizes you are ready to give out, based on your news and the resources you have available. You don’t necessarily have to dedicate a large budget to it. Prize ideas include: 

• Signed Vinyl
• Concert tickets
• Merch (t-shirts, accessories, etc.)
• Live performance for the winner
• Meeting with you at a concert, recording session, or studio rehearsal
• Exclusive content: a preview video, access to a private community, demos of unfinished tracks…

There are a lot of possibilities, and you can be creative. If you don’t have physical products, bet on the human aspect with meetings to create links with your audience. You can also create content around these meetings (video, photo) for your social networks. 

When collaborating with a media outlet for a contest, remember to define the framework: in particular, describe the prize accurately, and ensure that the conditions of participation and draw are clear before the launch.

3. Best practices for negotiating exclusivity

As we have seen, focusing on exclusivity is a great way to boost your visibility, build relationships with media outlets, and reach their audiences. To get started, pay close attention to these points: 

• Think about your goal: Before you start, think about the result you would like to achieve: Is it to gain followers on social networks? Strengthening Relationships with Influential Media? To develop storytelling around your project? Answering these questions will allow you to choose the right exclusivity format.
• Define the duration of the exclusivity: It is essential to specify how long the content will remain exclusive on the media, without being broadcast elsewhere. 
• Agree on promotional resources: When you offer an exclusive, ask the media outlet what means of promotion it will put in place. This may include social networks, the site’s home page, the newsletter, etc. Also inform the media about the channels you will use to promote its content. Before starting, it is best to summarize everything in writing to avoid confusion.
• Being responsive: Setting up an exclusivity can take time: email exchanges, discussion of conditions, creation of content, visuals, etc. Ideally, start offering the exclusivity about a month before the start of your promotional campaign. Be reactive in your answers to secure exclusivity and move forward on collaboration.

By following these good practices, you can establish fruitful partnerships with the media and anticipate the topics to be covered in your exchanges with them.

Previews, interviews and contests are 3 ways to offer media exclusivity to boost your visibility while offering engaging content. If you want to test this approach for your next release, you can use the Groover music promotion platform to find media to contact.

– Translated by Kole Wright –

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Send your music to media for guaranteed listens and feedback!

L’article How to Offer Exclusivity to Media Outlets est apparu en premier sur Groover Blog.

Hi Paul! Could you introduce yourself?

My name’s Paul Benney and I’m the founder and CEO of DMY – a unique artist services company and media platform.

Paul Benney, founder and CEO of DMY

How did you get the idea to create DMY and how does it work?

I realised that combining artist services with a media platform would create a unique company that offers real value to artists that they can’t get elsewhere. Lots of great artists are finding it difficult to get traction as music is so congested but we can help get artists noticed by distributing their music to streaming services while amplifying them on our media platform.

Read also: How to get more Spotify streams?

Can every artist (or artist’s representative) send you their music?

Yes anyone can send us music but we only work with artists that we feel have real potential and we also need to love the music.

Send them your music 👇

How do you choose the artists you support?

We listen to all the music that artists send to us but we can only work with the artists that we feel we can help be successful. It helps if an artist already has some traction with streaming and on social media but the most important thing is that the music is brilliant!

Are there some artists discovered on DMY that you would like to share with us?

We are working with an artist called Benjiflow who has made an incredible EP that is out on January 27th – https://dmy.ffm.to/thethrill – with a single called ‘Ready’ out January 13th – https://dmy.ffm.to/ready. Definitely, one to watch for 2022.

Benjiflow

How do you think independent artists can stand out nowadays?

Firstly it always comes down to making amazing music but growing your profile on social media and playing live and connecting directly with your audience are also super important.

Read also: Music without boundaries: the Nine And A Half music label goes international

To help you gain visibility, it’s this way ⭐️

L’article DMY, a unique artist services company and media platform est apparu en premier sur Groover Blog.