Do you want your new music featured on a cool blog?
A blog write-up can be a great stepping stone in your music career, even in an age dominated by playlists and social video.
A prominent blog feature not only gets you in front of that site’s existing readership, it also gives you something to share on social, brag about on your website, and — as you’ll see in this article — cross-promote to the blog’s entire social audience too.
What it takes to impress a music blog
What will a music blogger want to see in your pitch before they even consider listening to the music itself?
I asked Stefani M.C. Janelli, founder of The Music Insight Column (The MIC), a space dedicated to discussing the music of emerging artists. Through reviews, interviews, musician-of-the month picks, playlist features, and a live-performance series on YouTube, The MIC champions the independent music they love most.
In this interview, Stefani talks about what kinds of artists get her attention, what artists get wrong about blog promotion, and some of the opportunities artists seem to be leaving on the table when they get a blog feature.
Advice from blogger Stefani M.C. Janelli
What is the most important thing you need to see in an artist before you’ll consider working with them?
When we look at the artists, we need to know they’re serious.
This is something I can notice even from the photo they submit. If their headshot image is non-existent or pixelated, to us, that shows they didn’t take enough time to properly pitch. And that same mentality might show up in their music.
You can also see this by looking at their socials, which is so incredibly important. Do they have a following? What is their personality like? Are they dedicated to creating and nurturing their following?
When we offer an opportunity to an artist, of course, their music is paramount, and many musicians are good at music, but not the PR or pitching aspect. That is something we take into consideration.
What sets your blog apart?
The MIC started as simply a music blog and grew from there. We feel that interviews, articles, and music features are our biggest strengths.
We also highlight artists in a YouTube series that has been performing well, especially when we cross-promote and do collab posts with the featured artists.
Just this year we’ve expanded our offerings to continue to help artists with label services, which is a new addition we’re very excited about!
Once you’ve decided to feature an act, what does “success” look like, for you and the artist?
Many artists come in expecting a lot from a blog, in our opinion. Success looks like working together.
When an artist comes in willing to work and collaborate with you, that says a lot. Many times we’ve worked with, or attempted to work with artists, and we would get as far as agreeing to feature an interview on our site, and they’re excited and willing. But once we’ve put the effort in to create the questions and send them over, they ghosted. And this has happened a few times.
Another thing is collab Instagram posts. These types of posts are so symbiotically beneficial. Once we engage in a collab post, the reach is exponential. Their audiences see it, ours does as well, and it works well with the algorithm. But sometimes artists either agree to it and never accept the request, or ignore the request and never repost the article.
If we’re offering an opportunity to amplify your career, you engaging with the content and reposting the article or interview, is so essential! It’s about you and your band, after all.
What is the biggest misconception about music bloggers? What don’t people get about your work?
Our time and dedication! We are an independently funded blog. We have no financial backing.
When artists come to us expecting reviews, features, and interviews, they do not understand the time and effort these take. Even if we’re just featuring a song with an article on our blog, we have to listen to the track, multiple times, and create a blog post.
After that, we create all of the digital media for said article and cross-promote it on all of our channels.
And that is something that’s expected but often undervalued by artists.
What big music opportunity has captured your imagination?
The idea of independent and emerging artists having so much power in the industry, and over their own careers is extremely exciting. While that comes with its own challenges — like managing their own career, brand, and budget — I think independence is still worth pursuing.
Want to pitch your music directly to Stefani?
The MIC is currently looking to feature up to 10 ReverbNation artists on either their blog or YouTube series.
Chris Robley
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