How to Write a Music Press Release (With Examples)

As a musician, artist, or band, you want to generate trdiaction and buzz, especially around your new music releases, performances, and tours. This is especially important if you’re a DIY band, an artist without a manager or label, or anytime your budget is tight.

One of the best ways to do that is to write and distribute a press release.

Table of Contents

What is a Music Press Release?

A music press release is a short document that outlines the key information a reporter needs to know to cover a newsworthy event about your music or band.

It can be digital or printed and should be sent to reporters, media personalities, influencers, bloggers, and others who cover news about your music genre.

You should be aware of two things

  1. The industry doesn’t differentiate between the term “music press release” and any other type of press release. To them, it’s all news.
  2. You may have heard a press release described as a news release or a media release. Though technically, there are differences, for practical purposes, they’re the same thing. I suggest you call yours a press release.

Why Should Musicians Issue Press Releases?

Simply stated, a press release, when it gets picked up and run in the media, can generate huge attention, awareness, deals, listens, and sales for musicians. They’re easy to write (or we can write one for you), and inexpensive to distribute. Frankly, music press releases are a must-use promotional tool in any musician’s or band’s toolbox.

When Would You Want to Issue a Press Release for Your Music?

The most important thing to remember about press releases is the purpose of a press release is to communicate news to the media so they will hopefully write a story about you. 

Press releases are perfect for issuing whenever you have something newsworthy to report. Just be careful, though, that you don’t send out a press release unless you’ve got something newsworthy – doing so wastes the journalists’ time and causes them to ignore your real news when it comes out. Just because you haven’t sent out a press release in awhile is not a sufficient reason to send out another one.

Sending Press Releases Yourself

Here are some newsworthy events a typical band or artist may want to send out a press release to announce:

  • Release of a new album or single
  • Announcing a new tour
  • Release of a new website
  • Significant sales achievement (gold album, 1 million Spotify downloads, etc.)
  • Personnel changes (new manager, new lead singer, etc.)
  • Receipt of awards (CMA award, etc.)
  • Band name or genre change
  • Specific concert dates and times sent to the media covering the local market where you will be performing
  • Etc.

Press Release Examples – Music

I bet you would like to see some examples of press releases from people in the music industry. Great, here are a few:

Press Release Template

Ready to write your own press release to promote your music? Excellent, here’s a free template download that will help you get started:

Free Press Release Template Download

How to Format Your Press Release

The template link above gives you a great, free press release template in Microsoft Word format.

Your press release should contain:

  • A release date – the earliest date this information can be released to the public, oftentimes “For Immediate Release”
  • A headline
  • A dateline (when and where the story originated)
  • The body of the press release
  • Complete media contact information
  • And three hash marks at the bottom (# # #) that state, in journalistic terms, ‘THE END.’

Here’s a detailed, step-by-step guide to writing a press release, including:

Still nervous about your ability to write a great press release? Let us write it for you!

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Distributing Your Press Release

OK, now you’ve created your press release, how do you get it into the hands of the media?

You can literally spend days gathering the contact information of every reporter, influencer, blogger, and media personality that reports on your type of music and may be willing to change your life by writing a story about your music and band.

And, that list will probably be about 60% accurate. And it will change next week.

Then you’ve got to figure out how to physically send it out to all of them. (That’s no small feat either, trust me, that’s what we do for a living!)

Or, you could just let us do it for you.

eReleases.com is the #1 distributor of press releases for small businesses. Why? Because we:

  • Have over 1.7 million journalists and social media influencers in our database

Organized by coverage areas, topics, and other key factors. We will hand-select those journalists from that list who are most likely to engage with your release and write about you!

  • Distribute your release through PR Newswire 

The oldest, and best, nationwide press release newswire. We are the only full-exposure partner of PR Newswire, meaning that we are the only company who can get your release delivered to PR Newswire’s complete nationwide network of reporters.

  • Send your press release to the Cision Influencer list

We email the personal email boxes for a hand-curated list of reporters and influencers who respect and trust our reputation, so are more likely to open and read your release.

  • Send you proof of distribution, with links you can test yourself

This report shows you exactly where your press release was distributed, including links, so you can see online sites that published your stories!

  • Give you direct access to our editors, not salespeople

When you work with us, you’ll work directly with our journalism-trained editors, not a salesperson. Our editors’ mission is to help you get great results from your press release.

Want to get amazing results from your press release?

 Get real ROI on your press release, plus save 30% on your first order.

Don’t Forget That You Need To Distribute Your Press Release to the Right People

Even the best press release is useless unless the right people receive it! That’s our specialty – custom distributing press releases to the reporters, editors, bloggers, and influencers most likely to pick up and publish your press release, or even better, to write their own story about you. Learn more about our press release distribution services here.

Want more example press releases? I’m happy to help…

Press Release Examples Across Several Industries

And, just because I know you’ll appreciate them, here are another 15+ great press release examples for situations you may encounter.

Sending Press Releases Yourself

Additional Press Release Examples

Finally, here are some tips and training to help you write an amazing press release:

Additional Press Release Resources

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