How to get music industry influencers on your podcast
Podcasts are a great way of creating content around a subject you love. If you’re a music producer, you could create one around music production tips. If you’re a journalist, you could create one around interviews. The possibilities are pretty much endless. But you might be surprised as to how easy it can be to get big names within the music industry onto your podcast. In this article, we’re going to teach you how to pitch to your favorite influencers to get them to appear in your content.
Before we proceed, I’d like to start with the fact that this method won’t work for absolutely everyone. Some people will say no. But if your pitch is great and their schedule isn’t too busy, there’s a high chance of them saying yes to appearing on your podcast for a 30 minute chat.
Firstly, you have to make a list of absolutely every single person within the music industry that you want to have on your podcast. If you start with smaller people, it’s going to take a long time to grow the podcast. Instead, go for the biggest people that you can think of. After all, if they see that other big names have already been featured, they’re more likely to say yes.
That said, it’s worth staying in your niche. If you’re a music producer, stick to producers, vocalists, and artist managers within the music industry. Although you could venture out into sports and film at a later date, you want to build the audience as niche as possible when starting out. Here’s a quick list of a few potential podcast guests:
Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike
Lost Frequencies
Justin Bieber
Scooter Braun
Alex Hayes
Drew Taggart
Selena Gomez
Martin Garrix
Drake
Alan Walker
David Guetta
Now that you’ve created a list of people to approach, it’s time to create a stunning email template that you can use for pitching an interview towards this list of music industry influencers. It is highly recommended to start with a compliment in order to grab their attention. If they receive thousands of emails a day, this will certainly make them want to read on (instead of deleting it immediately). For example, you could say how much you loved their new song, or that you enjoyed a recent performance at a show. You get the idea.
Once you’ve got a great compliment for your template, you’ve got to ask them to appear on the show and tell them why they should take time out of their day to do it. Here’s an example:
“I’m reaching out because you’ve helped my career massively over the past few months. I’d love to invite you onto my podcast show to talk about tips for upcoming producers and how they can utilize their connections within the music industry.”
As you can see, it clearly states that the episode would be for producers and that the interview would be helping people achieve their ambitions by teaching them how to use their connections. No matter how small or big your audience is, it’s worth noting that influencers are still human beings. If their schedule isn’t busy and they can fill it up with an activity that allows them to help people, the chances are pretty high that they’ll say yes. This incentivizes the recipient of your email to appear on the podcast. Next, you have to consider the cost of appearing on a podcast for the influencer. This next tactic ensures a yes 99% of the time when requesting an interview.
You have to position the interview as if the time commitment is small and that it doesn’t require much from the participant. Essentially, all they do is answer a few questions. You do the rest. After all, their time is extremely valuable. Therefore, your pitch should immediately answer any questions that they may have regarding commitment. This often allows them to immediately respond saying yes – as they don’t have any concerns regarding the interview. Here’s an example:
“We’ll have a Skype audio call which will last 20-30 minutes. I will ask 5-10 questions (I can send them in advance) that will allow my audience to connect with you and fall in love with your work in the music industry. I’ll record it, edit it, and promote the podcast. As I have several thousand monthly listeners, it’ll allow you to increase your fanbase on social media.”
As you can see, that paragraph immediately addresses any queries that the recipient may have regarding time commitments, or how it will benefit them. Just send them the personalized email with the information above and it will allow you to get almost anyone you wish.