The Free Digital Promotion Slap In The Face

All bias aside, the true passion behind this blog post comes from real-world experiences of mine over the years of being a regular recipient of digital promos via free file hosting services like MediaFire and YouSendIt (there are others out there).


So, you are a publicist for a firm or record label and you have a budget you need to stay under.  Maybe you are an independent artist with very little money to work with for promoting your band. You already recognize how crucial it is to get written about. You want to get the most promotional bang for your buck. You've gone out and done your research.  There are a few nice digital promo services out there, but they are way too expensive and take too much time to register for, RIGHT?


You decide to use a free file hosting service, because, well, it's free!


If this person I am describing is you, I have a couple questions:

1. Do you realize how much time the average journalist (who has decided to take on your album) spends listening to your album and writing about it?

Answer: Minimum 2 hours

2. Do you care what their experience is like when consuming your promo?

Answer: Obviously not


If I'm donating my time or even getting paid to write for a publication and you send the music to me this way:

Do you think sending music to a journalist in this manner gives them the sense that you even care?  Try and count how many spots on this page try to literally trick you into clicking their ad by making the ad appear to be part of the page's user interface.  I'm not even counting the regular Target and College advertisements or the annoying pop up ad.

This is a huge slap in the face to someone who invests time to write about your music. If you take the easy (free) route when you promote, you're cheating the artist you represent, you're giving the writers a vibe that you really don't care and it makes your business look shady.  If you want the press to put in the effort to do a good job, then give them the respect of getting the music to them in a clean and efficient manner.  Use a professional digital service, have a developer wire the downloads up to your own site or send the writers physical copies.

Case closed.