25 THINGS TO SAY INSTEAD OF "NEW VIDEO"
Make your announcements as creative as the work you’re promoting.
Hi, it’s Seth Werkheiser and I write about reaching your fans directly with an email newsletter because it’s only going to get harder to reach your fans via social media.
I’ve been at this for 20+ years, first on the editorial side running music blogs like Buzzgrinder and Noisecreep, then on the PR / label side of things.
Every day, a hundred bands have a new music video to promote, but these creative, gifted, genius artists only seem to know one way to announce their new creative vision to the world:
NEW VIDEO [link]
Hours of planning, hiring a director, gathering equipment, location scouting, lighting, permits, and a long ass day playing in the woods or in an abandoned warehouse, and when it’s time to announce it to the world - the creative well is empty.
Now obviously the videos below don’t need my help.
Let these serve as a imaginative starting point for your own creative projects - videos, new songs, new products, whatever you’re offering to the world.
Imagine each of these examples below as an email subject line, or a social media post, with a still shot from the video, and the short blurb as the caption.
We just shot a video at Giants Stadium in NJ!
Recognize the NYC music stores we hit while filming this video?
Hey you! Stop making out in the pit and watch us perform!
Boiling heat, summer stench - our new music video has it all
Baby goats, a dead bee keeper, lizard ladies and more
Put another Barbie on the grill!
How many Dave Mustaine’s can you count in our latest video?
Mankind has got to know… his limitations.
Zero human brains were injured in our new video
Most everything on the set for our latest video is from Rob’s house
See what it’s like to jump around in our singers house in our new video
We paid our friend $50 to walk around LA in a robot suit
It’s our first music video. Hope you like ‘Johnny Got His Gun.’
“I lost a lot of sleep over that set of guitar solos,” said our guitarist when writing this song!
It’s our first music video, and it’s black and white
The prop budget for our new video was $900,000
Oops, we blew up a Ferrari
We ordered Chinese food for everyone when we made this video
Imagine if this was the first metal video to hit a billion plays on YouTube? Hah!
Guess how many guitars C.C. played in our new video
Who else is washing dishes on a Saturday night?
Wardrobe changes? Oh, we got ‘em!
What do you wanna do with your life?
No dads were harmed in the making of this video
Dads, right?
These are tongue in cheek, of course, but you have to find the style and vibe and tone for your own work.
Make your announcements as creative as the work you’re promoting.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
Some things I’ve written since I started HEAVY METAL EMAIL back in 2021:
When we post something on IG, send a press release, or upload to a DPS or YouTube, it’s lost in the shuffle the second it’s live.
So write a good subject line for your next email, use a good photo, and send it out.
From THERE ARE TOO MANY NEWSLETTERS
“We’ve become too dependent on social media as our only way of getting our news out to you lovely people. Without paying these companies massive ad money, there’s no reliable way of getting through to you, even if you want us to,” Elder
From METAL BAND LAUNCHES EMAIL LIST
You gotta get creative.‘Sign up for updates’ is for department stores and car dealerships.”
It’s boring as shit.
From WHAT'S THE PLAN?
I’m Seth Werkheiser and I hope this email was helpful.
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Got a quick question? Shoot me an email: seth@closemondays.com