Classical publicity, priced like a service and not a mystery
Press campaigns for classical performers, ensembles and contemporary composers, with published pricing, an approved outlet list and clear reporting.
Classical publicity is the most opaque corner of the music PR market. Fees are almost never published, campaigns are usually sold as retainers, and an emerging performer or a self-releasing composer frequently cannot find out what anything costs without three weeks of email.
The work itself is not mysterious. It is a small, professional press corps who respond to well-prepared material, correct terminology and enough lead time. What we add is the thing the sector does not offer: a fixed price you can see, a list you approve and a report you can read.
The outlets a classical campaign is built around
Where a classical campaign at this level realistically works.
Extensive concert and recording coverage with strong international reach and a genuine openness to emerging artists.
Detailed concert and recording criticism, and reachable for a well-prepared submission.
Independent critics and sites covering recordings and recitals seriously.
Retail-adjacent editorial with direct influence on recording sales.
Classical programming on regional and community stations, with committed listenerships.
Industry-facing, and useful for reaching promoters and programmers rather than audiences.
Society journals and newsletters, which reach exactly the audience for specialist repertoire.
Long-form formats where repertoire and interpretation get proper airtime.
This is an illustrative view of the landscape rather than the list you would receive. Your actual media list is built for your specific release and sent to you for approval before anything is pitched. Coverage is never guaranteed anywhere.
The tier above, named honestly
The titles and broadcast slots that carry the most weight with the classical buying audience. Long lead times and a high bar.
The principal classical recording review title. Reviews carry real weight with the buying audience.
Broad readership across the classical audience with significant review influence.
Essential for string players and string ensembles, and correspondingly competitive.
In Tune, Record Review and New Generation programming each work differently and each is heavily contested.
Broader, more commercial audience. Playlist-driven and hard to enter.
We list these so you can see the ladder, not to imply that one campaign puts you on it. If your release is genuinely in range of this tier, we will tell you, and we will tell you what it would take.
How we build a classical campaign
Repertoire is the news
The story is almost always what is being performed rather than who is performing it. A première, a neglected work, a new edition or an unusual pairing gives a critic something to write about. A well-played standard repertoire recording by an unknown performer does not.
Get the terminology right
Nothing loses a classical desk faster than a press release with the wrong opus number, a misspelled composer or a misdescribed ensemble. This sounds trivial and it is not. It is the single most common reason emerging classical campaigns are ignored.
Very long lead times
Recording reviews are planned months ahead and concert listings run to their own schedules. A classical campaign should start earlier than any other genre we work in.
Contemporary work needs a different list
New music, contemporary composition and cross-genre work reach a partly different set of writers than the core recording press. We build the list accordingly.
What we work across
Solo performers and recitalists. Chamber ensembles and quartets. Contemporary composition and new music. Early music and period performance. Choral and vocal work. Crossover and cross-genre projects. Self-released recordings, which are an increasing share of the market and the least well served by existing agencies.
What's included
The same package regardless of genre. What changes is who we pitch, how we pitch them and when.
Classical PR by city
Where local media and the local circuit change how a classical campaign should be run.
Questions
Planning a classical release?
Send us the track and the date. We will tell you which outlets are realistic, what the timeline needs to be, and whether it is worth running at all yet.