Folk music PR in Edinburgh
Two lists, run as one campaign. The specialist folk press, and the Edinburgh media and venue network that gives a writer a reason to take you seriously.
Folk moves at a different speed to every other genre we work in, and campaigns fail here mostly by being run too fast. The audience is older, more loyal and more likely to buy physical product. The press is smaller, more considered and far less interested in hype. Album cycles matter more than single cycles.
Both are manageable once you plan around them. Edinburgh artists should generally be running Scottish campaigns rather than Edinburgh ones, and should avoid August unless the release is genuinely festival-connected.
A folk campaign run from Edinburgh therefore works on two levels at once. The genre list reaches the writers who cover this music seriously. The city list builds the local foundation that makes the genre pitch credible, because an artist who already has coverage, radio support and a live reputation at home is a considerably easier sell than one who arrives with only a track.
The folk list
The layer a folk campaign at this level genuinely reaches.
Specifically oriented towards emerging folk artists. One of the best first targets in the genre.
Focused on traditional music and folk custom, with deep engagement in the tradition itself.
The smaller roots and acoustic sites, which review carefully and are open to new artists.
Folk programming on community stations across the UK, with loyal and ticket-buying audiences.
Regional shows, and for folk artists frequently a route towards national specialist attention.
Long-form formats where provenance and songwriting get proper discussion.
The Edinburgh list
Edinburgh and Scottish media.
Edinburgh-founded and Scotland's most significant independent cultural title.
Edinburgh community radio, closely tied to the city's electronic and underground scenes.
National Scottish programming, including specialist and Introducing slots.
Scottish national press with regular arts coverage. A general-audience desk that needs a news angle.
Scottish music and culture coverage.
The rooms
Sneaky Pete's is the city's most important small venue by some distance and its programming carries genuine tastemaker weight. The Mash House and Bannermans cover the small-room circuit across different genres. Summerhall is central to the more experimental and cross-artform end, and becomes a major venue during festival season. Leith Depot and Henry's Cellar Bar anchor the DIY scene. La Belle Angele and The Caves serve the mid-size. The Queen's Hall is the step into seated and classical-adjacent programming.
How we pitch it
Albums, not singles
Folk press reviews albums. A single-led campaign in this genre leaves most of the available coverage on the table, and we will usually advise waiting for the record.
Provenance is the story
Where a song came from, whose version you learned, what tradition it sits in. Folk press cares about this more than any other genre cares about anything, and a pitch without it is not a folk pitch.
What's included
Folk artist in Edinburgh?
Send us the track, the release date and where you have played. We will tell you what is realistic before you spend anything.