Virtual Publicist Notes

Plain-language notes on music promotion and music marketing for independent artists.

• Loudness Normalization for Independent Artists: What Spotify Does to Your Master, in Plain EnglishYou finish a master, upload it, add it to a playlist next to a big release, and it sounds quieter. Or it sounds louder but flatter. Before you pay for…
• Building a Fan Email List Without Breaking the Rules: What the UK and US Regulations SaySocial platforms decide who sees your posts. An email list is the one channel where you decide. That makes it one of the most valuable free promotion…
• Getting Your Lyrics on Spotify and Apple Music: A Step-by-Step Guide for Independent ArtistsLyrics on streaming services are easy to overlook. Your song is live, the cover looks right, and the lyrics panel is empty or, worse, wrong. Getting them…
• The Blog-Ready Submission: A Checklist of What Music Writers Ask Artists to IncludeMusic blogs publish submission pages for a reason: they receive far more email than they can read, and every missing piece costs the writer time. The…
• Fix Your Metadata Before You Submit Anywhere: A Pre-Submission ChecklistEditors, curators and radio hosts often see your release for the first time as a link, a title and a cover. If the artist name is inconsistent, a credit…
• Music Marketing vs Music Promotion: Where They Overlap and Where They Don'tPeople use "music marketing" and "music promotion" interchangeably, and in everyday conversation that is fine. For planning, it helps to separate them.…
• TikTok for Artists in Plain English: What Has to Happen Before You Get AccessMany artists hear "get on TikTok for Artists" and assume it is a sign-up form. It is closer to a short checklist, and the order matters. These are the…