This is the magic question isn’t it? How do you find blogs to feature your music?
Not only that…how do you find “good” blogs?
Considering there are millions online – with thousands upon thousands being added or deleted daily – how the hell do you really find “good” ones; and what is a “good” music blog anyway?
At the end of this article I will provide you with a list of blogs worth looking into but, first, let’s discuss what makes a music blog “good”.
What is a “good” music blog?
I suppose I can attempt to answer this but then again – at the end of the day – a “good” music blog is a subjective topic relevant to the current speaker. However, there are a few factors you should consider when trying to separate the good from the not-so-good.
Design
A great, clean, user-friendly design definitely helps a music blog stand out but does that really do anything for exposing your music to potential new fans?
I’ve seen plenty of blogs with amazing designs but they appear to receive hardly any traffic or engagement…or hardly have any presence on social media.
If you want to get your music to potential fans, then you should NOT be worried about the design of a site.
Social Media
Check their social media profiles.
- Do they have followers (on any network not necessarily all of them)?
- Are those followers engaged (again, on any network not all of them)?
The reason I add “on any network, not all of them” is fairly obvious once I mention it.
- I have seen plenty of blogs who are killing their marketing game on Twitter but have nothing going on with FB.
- There are other blogs who spend all their time on Google+ and don’t use any other networks.
- Then you have those who are killing it on Facebook but have no presence on Twitter.
- Every once in a while you will find a blog who is popular on YouTube; these typically focus on original or exclusive video content.
With this said, it’s up to you to dig around a blog’s social profiles to determine what they have going on as far as marketing and more importantly influence (I’ll come back to this in a second).
Traffic
A blog with a constant stream of traffic is going to provide you a lot more exposure than a blog who receives no traffic.
On the flip side, traffic can be bought so 10,000 page views a day doesn’t necessarily mean that much although 10,000 potential views on your music is a lot better than 1,000, 100, or even 10.
Also, just because a blog receives a lot of daily traffic does not (necessarily) mean that traffic is landing or will land on your feature article. You then have to figure out if the blog is going to do anything extra to draw attention to your feature once it is published.
You should ask yourself…
- will it be on the front page? how long?
- how often do they publish new articles? (the more they publish the harder you will be to find)
- how many people (if any) even visit the front page?
- do they share their articles on social media?
- does the blog offer advertising or promo specials that put your feature in a more prominent place?
Traffic is obviously an important factor but there is one thing more important than traffic and that is…
Influence
Considering all the elements that go into web traffic and online traffic flow, the bottom line to getting your music exposed to more potential new fans comes down to influence.
How influential is the blog, or more specifically, the writer who is featuring your music and providing the commentary on it?
Influence can be determined by several things but what you want to pay attention to is the engagement.
- Does the blog share their articles on social media?
- Do their followers share/RT those articles?
- Are readers leaving comments on the blog?
- Are they replying with comments on social media?
It’s one thing to be featured on a highly trafficked blog…but if you can be featured on a highly trafficked blog that has influence; then you’re golden.
Traffic will do no good without people actually engaging with your feature article. You need people clicking play, reading about your story, clicking on the link to your store, and joining you on social media to further engage with and spread the gospel of your music.
You definitely want to be featured on as many blogs and websites as you can but you want to take special care and pay special attention to the ones with large amounts of traffic and high levels of influence. These will be harder to get featured on but if you manage to land a feature, it can and will do wonders for your exposure.
I recommend separating/ranking your list of blogs by influence, engagement, and traffic flow.
As an example, I have seen artists who have spreadsheets categorized by “Small sites / Medium sites / Big sites”. Ultimately the organization of your list is up to you.
It will be a lot easier to get featured on smaller or new blogs but you will need to take some extra time and care when pitching your music to the “big boys”. Approach your blog promotion in layers starting with the smaller guys and working your way up to the big ones.
Each feature from a small blog is one more addition to your press portfolio that helps you get the attention of the big guys later on. Always show love and appreciation to the little guys and use their interest in your music as the stepping stone to take yourself further.
Now, as promised, here is a list of blogs for you to check out.
“Good” Music Blogs
There are several other blogs that have put together lists of “best music blogs”, “top music blogs”, and “most influential blogs” so I am going to share links to those lists. Also, I have included links to a few blogs that I saw mentioned in the comments of the previously mentioned lists.
Hopefully you find this info valuable and can use it to find “good” blogs to feature your music. (The numbers in parentheses represent that site’s current global Alexa rank.)
- Top 25 Most Influential Music Blogs according to Hypebot (45,772)
- Top 20 Most Influential Music Blogs according to Digital Music News (27,604)
- The Best Music Blogs according to The Daily Beast (932)
- A Guide To Essential Music Blogs courtesy of Pigeons and Planes (14,439)
- The 10 Best Music Blogs That Aren’t Pitchfork according to Refinery29 (1, 452)
- Hype Machine (an aggregator / directory of music blogs chosen by staff) (9,486)
- The Music Ninja (138,079)
- My Old Kentucky Blog (703,713)
- Brooklyn Vegan (21,709)
- Indie-Verse (780 – cbslocal.com)
Bonus
If you are in the urban music genres, I have some more helpful lists for you.
- Ultimate Hip Hop Blog Directory by Praverb
- Ultimate Online Radio Station and Podcast Directory by Praverb
- Hip Hop blog list by MusikReform.com