How to send promos to DJs

1. Build a list you are allowed to email

• Start with people you know: DJs who played your music, radio hosts, journalists, other labels.
• Record how you got each address: they asked for your promos, or they are a professional contact. Under UK and EU data protection law you need a lawful basis to email them, and a record answers the question if anyone asks.
• Grow the list with a sign-up page that confirms each address by email (double opt-in).
• Never buy, rent or scrape lists. Those addresses bounce and report spam, which hurts delivery for every email you send after.
• Keep genre and country on each contact, so a techno promo doesn't go to a drum and bass DJ.

2. Prepare the files

• Masters as WAV or AIFF, 44.1 or 48 kHz. DJs want lossless files for club systems.
• Final titles and versions as they will appear in stores, for example "Night Bus (Extended Mix)".
• Square cover art, at least 1000 x 1000 pixels.
• The release details: label, catalogue number, release date and genre. BPM and key help DJs choose.

3. Pick the timing

• Send early enough for DJs to play it and give feedback before release day. Several weeks before is common for club music.
• With a large list, send to your closest DJs first and to everyone else a few days later.
• Avoid Friday night and Saturday, when many DJs are playing.

4. Write the email

• Subject: artist, title and catalogue number, for example "Example Artist: Night Bus [EXL004]".
• The first screen should show the title, the listen button and the first track. Many DJs read promos on a phone.
• Two or three short lines of notes: what the release is, the release date, and who has played it already if that is true.
• One clear button to the promo and no attachments: large files bounce.

5. Ask for feedback before the download

Feedback is what you show the artist and what you use to plan the next release. Asking for it before the download unlocks is common practice. Keep it short: a rating, a favourite track, whether they will play it and a comment of a sentence or two. Give DJs who don't want the promo a way to pass, so you know it wasn't for them.

6. Send a few reminders

One or two reminders to people who haven't opened the promo are enough; more lead to unsubscribes. Stop reminding anyone who has opened, downloaded or given feedback.

7. Tag the downloads

Put the recipient's name in each file's tags. If a promo leaks, you know whose copy it was.

8. Report to the artist

Artists want to know who listened, for how long, who downloaded and what they said. Share it without contact email addresses. Listening time tells you more than opens: many email apps load images automatically, which records an open that nobody made.

9. Keep the list clean

Remove hard bounces straight away, honour every unsubscribe, and move people who never open to their own tag instead of emailing them every time.

Doing it with Dubsend

Dubsend covers steps 1 and 4 to 9: CSV import with a consent record, a join page with double opt-in, an email with the listen button in the first screen, feedback before download by default, up to two reminders, MP3, WAV and AIFF downloads tagged with each person's name, listening time per track and a report link for the artist. The Free plan has 1 promo every 30 days, 100 recipients a month. See how it works or the FAQ.

Questions