Question from Argonaut: “As someone trying to send albums out to “press people” what’s the proper way to do so in 2013? Back in day you could send a CD and press release and sometimes you get a review or feature (back when they had magazines) but now its almost worthless to press a physical CD so how do you submit it press. Zip file of the whole album? A streaming link of a song/album? It seems like everyone could just send a soundcloud/bandcamp link so that would just get lost in the shuffle. I have read the submissions on the blog sites and they want MP3s and high quality art so should I just assume all people want that these days? I know that if you have a buzz then people will be checking for it so opportunities are slim to begin with but just trying to decide if I should press this CD or just send out DL/Stream links. I know you know press people so would be interested if you could pose this question to them. Would they prefer the old way a CD/Bio or the new way MP3 stream?”
Answer: I think the format that writers prefer really varies on 1) the writer and 2) their knowledge of the group. If it’s a group I’ve never heard before, then I want to hear 1-2 songs as immediately as possible: embedded MP3 in the email works or, at least, a Soundcloud/Bandcamp link. Youtube links are ok but not ideal, mostly because the sound sucks. If it’s a group I have heard before, then a link to a full zip of the album is preferred since, most likely, I’d be writing about an album and not a song (it depends though).
Personally, I still like CDs because I can take them with me and listen to them in the car directly (i.e. I don’t have to synch my iPhone with the songs). CDs usually included some liner notes or at least a proper one-sheet with info on the release. But these are all carry-overs from the “old days” of how this all worked and since I’m of that generation, it’s more familiar to me. I don’t think that necessarily warrants a band from pressing up full CDs with liners just to make old fogeys like me happier.
Question from Raheem: “”Hi, would you be interested in selling your domain?”
Answer: No.
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