In today’s competitive industry, a well-executed music marketing campaign can be the difference between obscurity and breakthrough success. Whether you’re an emerging act or an established name looking to reignite momentum, understanding the core strategies of music publicity is essential.

For artists navigating the vibrant Australian scene, working with professionals who understand the nuances of Melbourne music publicity, for example, can offer a powerful edge. In this feature, we’ll break down how artists can craft campaigns that cut through the noise, build fanbases, and get noticed by the right people.

One of our Melbourne music publicists, Bianca, shares some of her tips on how artists can set themselves up to succeed.

1. I’m an artist engaging in my first ever music publicity / music marketing campaign – what does the initial conversation with my publicist look like? What can I expect from the experience?

I’d say the initial conversation is largely about your timeline!

So much of PR is about being organised and on top of the release before we even kick off, so figuring out what your timeline looks like (and explaining how that will line up with each stage of our own process) is a super important part when getting started.

Particularly for greener bands and artists who may not have used PR before, we’re always happy to answer any and all questions you have about the process so that there are no surprises along the way!

2. How can artists be the best prepared going into any music publicity / music marketing campaign? 

The most important thing is to ensure you will 100% have all of your assets ready to go by the time we get started on a campaign.

If you’re keen to set up a campaign but still don’t know – for example– when your masters will be ready by, it’ll always be better to push back the timing rather than spend the whole campaign feeling like it’s a last-minute chase!

3. In your experience, what makes a successful music publicity / music marketing campaign?

Organisation for sure! As mentioned above, being able to have everything on hand right when you need it is great.

But I’d also say having clear (but realistic) expectations of what you want to get out of publicity. Sure, wanting rotation on your favourite radio station won’t necessarily mean it’ll land this time around, but knowing that A,B and C are important goals for you, whereas D, E and F are things you’re not so fussed about, is a great way to ensure that we find the right angles and tailor the campaign to you wherever possible.

4. How important is an artist’s creative input for a successful campaign (ie. helping facilitate content ideas etc)?

It’s definitely super important! Every step of the way is a collaborative effort between us and you.

When we draft up a press release, we want your input to make sure that it is capturing all of the points that are important to you as the artist. Particularly when it comes to things like content, we would ALWAYS prefer to have to rework and rethink ideas and come up with something you like, rather than be pitching out content pieces that feel tired and empty because you were never quite happy with them.

5. You have worked as a music publicist across a number of different genres – what have you learned about the way our industry interacts with new music/new Australian artists?

I’d say that people always surprise you, particularly when it comes to things like genre and mood. Every space has its own corresponding section of media within the industry; outlets and programs and people who interact more regularly with one genre than any other.

And yet, in such an exciting age where people are less afraid to play with the intersections between genres and scenes, you sometimes find yourself landing the most unexpected releases with folks you’d expect to be on the total opposite end of the spectrum.

It’s our job to make sure that the music gets to the right people, and I love continuously learning where these sweet spots lay when it’s not what you might expect.

6. What is one of the most common questions you have been asked by a client, or what is a common query you have found you are answering before or during any music publicity campaign?

Probably questions to do with the programming process of triple j 🙂 We love working with our friends at triple j, and they have an UNBELIEVABLE amount of new music come through their doors every day.

So while we might not be able to have frequent updates on how / where your music is sitting with their team behind closed doors, we will always endeavour to collect that feedback where possible and ensure we get your music in front of them for consideration. 

7. Trust between an artist and their team, including their publicist, is imperative to any successful campaign – in your experience, how important is communication at all stages to ensure the best results?

I’d say it’s probably the most important part of PR. Having weekly updates to ensure that our artists always know where we’ve been pushing, who we’ve been pitching to, and where we’re at in the overall campaign, is SO important to minimise the anxiety that so often comes with the rollout process of a new release!

We want to ensure that we’re aiming for the right goalposts throughout the whole campaign, so the process needs to be as transparent and consistent as possible.