How Music Publicists Use DISCO For Promo, Press Releases & More
Music publicists have a lot on their plates, from servicing brand-new albums to the media, streaming, and radio to sending press releases, tracking engagement metrics, managing client relations, and a great deal more.
DISCO spoke to publicists from across the United States — Arielle Aslanyan from the Syndicate, Jacob Daneman from Pitch Perfect PR, Gabriel Birnbaum at Clandestine PR, Nathan Walker from Riot Act Media, and label owner Chris Burden at Music Website — about the DISCO features they use the most and how the platform helps them stay organized, offers insight, and enhances productivity.
The margins are so thin in the music industry right now, so DISCO’s been cool to use for streamlining our mailers, sending out feelers, being able to see if someone’s listening a bunch [with Insights and Reporting]… If you see people gravitating towards certain tracks, it helps you plan your releases.”
Using DISCO across departments: “It’s Our Go-To”
Aslanyan and The Syndicate PR team represent popular acts such as Breaking Benjamin, BODEGA, cleopatrick, Illiterate Light, Underoath, Three Days Grace, Savanna Leigh, Mon Laferte, The Altons, Ed Maverick and use DISCO “100% of the time” to distribute press releases and service new albums securely. “It’s our go-to platform,” she tells DISCO.
Aslanyan says she first heard of the service because The Syndicate’s Radio department had been using it to send music to DJs. “We discovered that we should all be on one system [DISCO] since we collaborate on campaigns frequently. They’re servicing the same records as we are and it’s just a better fit for all of us to be on this platform.”
“Journalists and radio DJs expressed a preference for DISCO”
As head of publicity at Clandestine Label Services, Birnbaum specializes in repping experimental music and free jazz. Clandestine is also affiliated with Northern Spy Records and NNA Tapes, which started using DISCO for managing their music sync library. Initially, Gabe started using DISCO to service album promos after finding out about the platform from his team members at NNA Tapes and Northern Spy.
“Some journalists and radio DJs expressed a preference for DISCO,” he says. “I think they prefer how quick the formatting is. You always know exactly where things are, and the streams load quickly. There are different format downloads, the ability to customize the look and feel of a page and include more information beyond just the artist and title.”
Organizing contacts & distributing press releases
Meanwhile, one of the most vital aspects of a music publicist’s job is to collect media contacts, whether they be music journalists and editors at a magazine or blog, DJs at commercial/non-commercial/satellite radio stations, or playlist curators at streaming platforms like Spotify or Apple Music. The whole idea is to build awareness of their acts and place them in relevant media platforms where fans frequent to discover music.
