RFI: publications/sites/writers that are worth sending CD's to for reviewing

dleone's advice seems most prudent.
m.

If the word "metal" appears in your self-description, send it right away.

-- dleone (d_leon...), November 6th, 2003.

good idea. maybe it would be worth trying to put together some kind of index of ILXer writers and what kind of music they'd be interested in hearing, etc. hm....

I might find the time and focus sometime in the near future to put together some kind of ILM critic directory, in which case, I'll get in contact with anyone who throws their hat in the ring in this thread. it might be useful to a lot of people. if anyone has any organizational ideas to offer, feel free.

this is a fantastic idea.

i totally understand the benefits a good publicist can provide, but if you're an active fan of music, and you know the good zines and websites, it's not very hard to generate your own indie publicity. good publicists are not cheap, and unlike musical instruments and recording equipment, you've gotta keep paying them on the first of every month or they stop functioning. *not* hiring one is a good way to save some money.

There's nothing wrong with it at all, except lots of reviewers would/will/do feel uneasy about dealing directly with artists, especially when it comes to negative reviews. It's sometimes sensible to have a middle-man, or at least to appear to have one: just make up a PR company name and do it yourself, but I'd advise against saying "*I* made this record and *I'd* like you to review it".

I've been in Vogue, the NME, Q, Guitar Player etc. etc. ad nauseum, thanks to having an utterly brilliant publicist, despite not having a modicum of discernable talent!

of course i don't have the time. i don't have the time to do *anything* that i do! i don't have the time to clean my apartment, i don't have the time to do my laundry, i don't have the time to cook, etc etc etc. and all things being equal, i'd much rather pay someone to clean, wash and cook for me, and do my own publicity. in the end, i guess, you've just got to choose which hassles in your life you're going to outsource and which ones you're going to suck up and do.

but as i said before, i understand the benefits a publicist *can* offer and i've got no problem whatsoever with someone using one. i just got the impression you were saying it was somehow improper to do it yourself -- maybe i misunderstood your tone -- and i just wanted to suggest that there ain't nothing at all wrong with it.

so yeah, you'll probably shut off a few opportunities if you go the DIY route.

but if you've got a good record -- an honestly, really good record -- the opportunities will present themselves no matter who's doing the publicizing, as long as you're willing to do the work it takes to actually find and pursue those opportunities. and it does take work.

and the few opportunities you're giving up -- like the chance to be on the cover of magnet -- are most likely opportunities that weren't going to happen anyway.

I mean, if anything, the Vogue appearance made *me* feel better, because it was something that people who don't care about music - my mother, my family, other friends, etc. - could actually understand as a tangible "wow that's cool, you are doing something worthwhile after all" positive thing, in a way that things like the NME and Q and Guitar Player didn't.

Because for all the things that we spent money on as a band, the publicist actually produced tangible results in a way that a lot of other things just didn't, for instance, showoff equipment. You can play the Shepherds Bush Empire and the Academy with a little tiny second hand Marshall, but without the publicist it's unlikely that we would have been there in the first place. That's what I call value for money.

ha! now there's something i can identify with!

the only reason i didn't ask the same question about q or nme or gtr player is that vogue made for a snappier, snarkier question. but i agree with you, there's not much of a difference. i don't think any particular great "placement" from any particular proper publicist is going to help anyone here very much, and that's what i was trying to get at. i mean, if someone can get you a lead, 10-star review in nme, or the cover of spin, or an appearance on "TRL," then by all means hire that someone. 'cause that will help you. but that's not what anyone on this thread is talking about.

we're talking about much more mundane, grass-roots stuff here; at least i think we are. we're talking about getting somebody, anybody, to review your record, getting your name out there, building up a presskit, selling a few records, getting some attention. this is the kind of work that people in every imaginable field do by themselves all the time. it takes time, and it takes work, and it takes at least a small bit of intelligence, but you can totally do it by yourself. and you probably don't end up in vogue, but maybe you do end up in skyscraper or venus or the big takeover or any number of places that can in fact help you establish your grass roots.