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Liner Notes
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How to: Photo Needs of Media For Musicians
By Joan Stewart
The Publicity Hound
What musician wouldn’t want thousands of dollars in
free publicity?
But if you’re missing a good-quality photo of yourself or your band, you also might
be missing the chance for a story on the front of the entertainment section of your local
daily newspaper, or an article in a slick national music magazine.
Why take that chance when, with a little planning and a small promotions budget, you can
have on hand enough photos and other materials to meet the needs of most media outlets?
The best place to start is with a media kit, which you must be able to deliver to any
media person who wants it. A media kit is a package of information that includes photos,
bios, fact sheets, and a variety of other information that reporters need to know about
you, packaged either in a two-pocket folder, or delivered by email, or accessible at your
website under a button called "Media Room."
If you’re on a tight budget, don’t worry. The media aren’t impressed by
fancy, gold-embossed media kits. They ARE impressed with easy-to-access, good-quality
information that will help them cover your story.
Many musicians mistakenly overlook photos. Maybe that’s because they believe any
media outlet that can’t afford to assign its own photographer isn’t worth
dealing with—a dangerous assumption.
After working as an editor and reporter at four newspapers, I know that if things can go
wrong, they will. Photos can become damaged. Sometimes they’re even lost. That big
spread the local newspaper had planned on the OTHER band, for the cover of the Friday
entertainment section, might fall through at the last minute. So if the music writer calls
you in a panic, hoping for a quick interview and a good-quality photo you can
email—and you can deliver the photo within a few minutes—guess whose band will
be featured as the replacement cover story? Next
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