DIY PR Tip #1: Using Dropbox to Look Professional

Jul 23, 2012 by Justin Wayne

This is a guest blog post from David Jordan of Beatnik Geek Records and Promotions. I get so many new music submissions and see people doing it wrong all the time, but David knows how to do it right, and he uses free software! So, I asked him to share some of his wisdom and he was all too eager to share. Thanks David!

Most radio stations and record companies hate MP3’s and especially WAV files being attached to emails. We were once sent a whole album one track at a time as WAV files (nearly 500mb) which crashed our email account!

We were not happy, we certainly did not email back and definitely did not listen to the album!

The answer is to send a Dropbox link in your email along with a brief sentence or two explaining who and what the link is about.

Here’s how :

Get yourself a free Dropbox account here: http://db.tt/oiuimw2k (I am nothing to do with dropbox, however the link is a referral from my account and if you sign up I get extra space.)
Once you have installed the program, make a directory within dropbox, for instance “My Debut Single” and save your MP3 or WAV file inside. Note: The directory does not have to be in the ‘Public’ Folder
From the Dropbox icon (bottom right of your screen) Launch the Dropbox website and then click the little paperclip at the end of the directory you made, the directory will open in your web browser.
Copy the URL from the top address bar and paste this in your email as a link. (Send to a friend first to check so your confident the way it looks.)

When your happy everything is OK, include this link in your email and it should look something like this :

Dear Record Company,

Please listen to my demo track “My top ten hit” – Here is a dropbox link to my MP3 file http://XXXXXXXXXX

Now all the record company gets is a short email and they decide what to download!

You could even save a band/artist bio as a PDF or DOC file along with the MP3 or WAV file so the radio station or record company has all your information with your song.

Of course your Dropbox directory could contain a whole album and the recipient can download all or just one track to listen to, but at least it’s their choice and not that 64mb wav file holding up their emails that they can do nothing about.

David Jordan – Beatnik Geek Records