"Press" covers any and every kind of written publication. While the written word can rarely relate the musical experience properly, it is said repeatedly by fans and music industry folks that the more a name is read, the greater the desire to hear the music behind the name. Radio is a more direct way to promote the music itself, but press reaches many more potential listeners. Also, words are internalized more completely and have a longer shelf-life. Musicians have a variety of uses for the press, and it is a good idea to sort them out and come up with a game plan.

The two big reasons to get your name out there are to promote a recording release and to get people to go to your performance. While it is good to dovetail the two goals, they are each a separate process.

When promoting a tour, you should research the publicity sources along the tour route. You may want to skim through this directory's cross-reference. Find the target area by city and surrounding cities and pick out press that is appropriate to you, then look them up in the prioritized listings for more information.

Pretty much every area of the U.S. that is even vaguely metropolized will have some sort of free weekly newspaper. Free weeklies usually offer the most extensive listing of music performances, whether the listings are a feature of the newspaper or they are simply pages filled with venue advertisements. Generally there is at least some coverage of the music scene in the form of previews or interviews. These papers are targeted at the younger generation and tourists, and can be found at music-related stores, book stores, cafes, populated street corners, etc. It's a good idea to check with your venue to make sure their schedule is somehow listed in the free weekly, and at the same time you should send press materials to the weekly to try to get an article or a preview. Previews can be a tremendous help, as they are usually the critics' "picks" for the best performances of that particular week, and often readers scan them first so as not to miss any event of importance. Keep in mind that many weeklies consider themselves "alternative," and these pride themselves on being the most musically open-minded, although middle-of-the-road indie rock is very often still the staple.

Daily newspapers do not target their audience as much as the weeklies, but they reach a larger mass of people. Bigger dailies usually have a weekly previews section that features concert listings and some coverage of the music scene. Just as in big radio, because dailies reach out to a wider audience, they feel the need to cover primarily the music in which the masses currently have an interest - the mainstream. Even so, the larger and more esteemed papers tend to be more daring in music coverage, although rarely extreme. Getting coverage in a daily such as the New York Times is a great accomplishment when you consider the Times is read and respected beyond its own community. Alex Ross, who writes mainly about experimental classical for the Times but also follows free jazz and indie rock, states, "With its music sections centered on mainstream events, the New York Times can't plunge into the unknown very often...My yardstick for 'experimental,' put very roughly, is resistance on whatever front to the complacent and the bathetic. But the paper's process of determining the weekly review schedule is rather byzantine, and my personal taste is just one of many factors. With the Times, it helps to be a known quantity." According to Peter Margasak, writer for the Chicago Tribune, when it comes to obscure talent, big newspapers generally look for some kind of hook to generate interest. While he is drawn to music with "quality, ambition, and ideas," he also says that for big publications "personality is just as important...that's as much the pitch as the music."

Although magazines and fanzines only occasionally cover performances, they are a better tool for promoting your recordings. Newspapers and weeklies generally do record reviews, but the world of mags and 'zines is best for national coverage. Each established magazine has its schtick, and isn't easily convinced to cover music it doesn't have a tight grip on. They do, however, come out regularly and are very well distributed. "Fanzines," on the other hand, are small press with an underground but devoted following. Experimental music can find its place in the 'zine arena often through indie rock-oriented publications, and nowadays 'zines that cover a wider range of music are well respected and are actually selling pretty well. Although only a couple thousand are printed at the most, through 'zines you hit the music fans that spend all their meager wages on records they've merely read about. Fanzine sellers claim that in the last year or so the 'zine scene has exploded, and lately their presence is catching the attention of the big press, which often covers this underground phenomenon.

Chicago Tribune's Margasak is well known for his nationally distributed fanzine Butt Rag, which covers experimental music extensively, along with every kind of adventurous jazz and rock. Like many 'zines, Butt Rag is published in a sporadic manner, which has everything to do with the fact that 'zine publishers are usually holding down full time jobs separate from the 'zine, and often need time to scrape up the cash to even put the thing out. Margasak says he is overwhelmed with recordings from musicians, but that, despite his reputation, the bulk of it is the uninteresting side of indie rock with just a trickle of experimental. He claims that there is "such a gulf between those kinds of music" and that because of this he is interested in reviewing anything even "mildly interesting...as long as there is something interesting about it." He gets so little experimental in the mail that most non-rock releases reviewed in Butt Rag Margasak had to buy. Although he also works in a record store, it is difficult for him to afford to buy large numbers of interesting recordings (the music industry notoriously has lousy pay), and so is especially enthusiastic about non-indie rock promotional copies.

Whether you are promoting an upcoming gig to a newspaper or looking for a record review in a mag, the package you send to writers and editors should be fine tuned to raise your chances of coverage. Quality music writers are open to lesser known talent, but first you must catch their attention. Ross of the Times says of concert coverage, "CD's or tapes are the best way for me to get to know music in advance; I generally disregard promotional material and listen for something arresting in the first few tracks of the disc." Because of the large number of recordings reviewers receive in the mail, however, Margasak explains that "the way it's packaged is fairly relevant." He feels he at least needs a sense that the artists have "pride in what they do," and that "by association you assume bad packaging is related to bad music." He also says "I loathe press releases because there is so much pitch and not enough info." While some background information is helpful because "it is nice to have some context to place the music in," superfluous reading material is a turn off in every level of the press. Big press needs more wooing with your credentials, small press is interested in what makes you interesting, but both will be attracted to a package whose thought and creativity reflect the music. And don't forget to include an interesting photograph to include with the written piece - a magnet for readers who are just browsing.