Adding a music publicist to your team is a big step. Publicity is, after all, vital to your career, and you want to get the best music publicist (and PR) you possibly can.

A million years ago – on my very first day as an intern at a fancy public relations firm in NYC – I asked my supervisor, “What is PR, exactly?” He looked at me like I had ten heads and said, “PR is, well… it’s PR!” Hmmm… okay, glad we got that straight, I thought to myself.

All this to say, if you’re a little confused on what PR is and the role of PR in your music career, you’re not alone! If you’re wondering how it differs from social media management, advertising, and other types of promotion – such as radio, which you may be looking into, I’ve got you!

This is a common confusion among the music community, and it’s keeping a lot of musicians from reaching the success they deserve. That’s why I want to clarify EXACTLY what a great music publicist will do for you, and why bringing the right person onto your team can be more than worth it.

5 Benefits Of Hiring A Great Music Publicist

A great publicist can make your life (and your career) SO MUCH BETTER. Here are just five of the things a music publicist will do for you.

(FYI: I use “she” a lot when referring to publicists because the vast majority are women (no offense to the men in my field!))

**1. A Music Publicist will do the work for you**

You know that old saying that no one should work harder for your career than you? That’s true—but a good music publicist will save you a ton of time by leveraging her contacts and relationships. Success in the music industry is based on knowing (and impressing!) the right people, and this is what publicists excel at. Forming genuine relationships takes time, and a good publicist will be able to use her hard-won contacts to get you exposure that would otherwise take you months (or years) to get by yourself. She will also know how to use outside tools that can be helpful such as submithub.

2. They’ll help you build your brand, bio, and pitch angles

A good music publicist will help you establish your brand, and create a ‘signature story’ (that’s our term for a fabulous artist bio) that bloggers and journalists won’t be able to resist or forget. She will craft a compelling pitch for you, so you can effectively sell your story on social media, over email, in an elevator… anywhere!

This is crucial because as a musician you want to be spending as much of your time on building connections with your fans and playing and making music — not chasing down journalists or figuring out your brand. That’s what a publicist’s job is. With their experience and knowledge of where the industry is at, different trends, etc, they can come up with your brand, bio, and pitch for you and use them in their pitches to journalists and media.

3. They’ll increase name awareness

Wouldn’t it be great if people just knew your name?

Your publicist will increase your name awareness to key media personas – music bloggers, podcasters, editors, music journalists, and tastemakers. She does this through press releases, pitches, and by simply talking about you to the people who are most likely to pay attention to your music. The reason they’ll listen to her is because it’s coming from someone they know and trust, who is vouching for you. That’s worth its weight in gold.

4. They’ll get you legitimate press + quotes

You know how when you go on your favorite band’s website or social media you see all these really great quotes or press placements talking about how awesome the band is or how amazing their latest release was? That’s because they had a publicist getting them legitimate press quotes and accolades.

Part of what your publicist will do is get you legitimate press quotes to add to your arsenal to attract more industry attention from booking agents, managers, etc. This is one of the key things about the press that most people don’t realize—it’s not just about the press you get it’s about who sees that and how it adds to your legitimacy. A manager or label looking at two bands — one who has these things and one who doesn’t — is a lot more likely to take the one with the quotes, accolades, and track record more seriously.

5. They’ll get you tour press

If you tour, she can get you press in the areas where you are scheduled to play, which means potentially bringing out more fans to your shows. She can also find and invite writers, photographers, and reviewers to the shows, which adds to the bandwagon effect. Meaning, that more people talking about, sharing, and posting about your show equals more of your fans who didn’t go feeling FoMo (and getting to the next show) and more of the fans who did go feeling like they’re a part of something special.

As you see, hiring a publicist can be a fantastic step in your career.

Keep in mind, though, that a publicist is only as good as the material she has to pitch. If you don’t have new tracks, photos, videos, or tour dates for her to work with, it might not be the right time to take that step. Learn more in next week’s post: 5 Misconceptions About Music Publicists (And Music Publicity In General)!