A press release is a fact sheet with a headline. Writers use it to check details, not to be persuaded. Here is how to build one they can use.
Lead with the news in one line. Put who, what, when and where in the first paragraph. Add one quote that says something real. List the facts a writer needs to check: date, title, label or distributor, credits, tour dates, links. End with a contact name and email.
Keep it to one page. Cut every adjective a stranger could not verify.
Writers rarely publish a release as it stands. They read it to decide whether there is a story, then use it as a reference while they write their own piece. So the release has two jobs: make the news clear in seconds, and get every fact right.
It is not a pitch email. The pitch is the short personal note that goes to one writer. The release is the document you link to from that note and post in your press kit. Our guide to getting press coverage as an independent artist covers the pitch.
One line, present tense, with the artist's name and the news. "Mara Vell announces debut album Low Tide, out March 6" works. "A bold new chapter for a rising star" does not, because it contains no news.
If there is a strong second fact, use a subhead. A notable producer, a tour, a premiere partner.
This paragraph carries the whole release. A writer who reads nothing else should know who the artist is, what is happening, when, and why it matters.
Start with a dateline (city and date) in the format your market uses. Then the news. Then the one detail that makes it worth covering: the collaborator, the tour, the number, the story behind the song.
The second and third paragraphs add context. Where the record was made and with whom. What the lead single is about, in plain words. What happened on the last release, if it can be checked.
Then one quote from the artist. A good quote sounds like a person talking and says something only they could say. "I wrote this in the week my father sold the boat" is a quote. "I'm so proud of this project" is filler.
Below the body, list the details in a scannable form:
This block is what writers copy from. Check every spelling and date twice.
End with a two- or three-sentence "about" paragraph on the artist that can be reused on every release. Then the press contact: one name, one email, one phone number if you have one. Not a contact form.
The release below is an example for a fictional artist. Mara Vell, the album, the label and every detail in it are invented to show the format. It is 150 words.
EXAMPLE PRESS RELEASE (fictional artist, for illustration only)
Mara Vell announces debut album Low Tide, out March 6
PORTLAND, Maine, January 14, 2027. Singer-songwriter Mara Vell will release her debut album, Low Tide, on March 6 through Saltline Records. The ten songs were recorded over four winter weeks in a converted boathouse with producer Jonah Reyes.
The lead single, "Harbor Light," is out today. Vell wrote it the week her father sold the fishing boat the family had worked on for thirty years.
"Every song on this record is about something that left," Vell says. "Writing them was how I kept track."
Vell will play twelve East Coast dates in March and April, opening in Portland on March 7.
About Mara Vell: a songwriter from Portland, Maine, whose first EP, Driftwood, was recorded in her parents' kitchen.
Low Tide: 10 tracks, Saltline Records, March 6, 2027
Single: "Harbor Light," out January 14
Press photos and private stream: [link]
Press contact: [name], [email]
Notice what is missing. No "rising star," no "one of a kind," no claims a writer would have to take on faith.
No news. If nothing is happening on a specific date, wait until something is.
Adjectives instead of facts. Writers delete "stunning" and look for the date.
Burying the lead. The best fact belongs in the headline or the first sentence, not paragraph four.
Attachments instead of links. Send a link to a press kit with the release, photos and stream. Our electronic press kit checklist lists what belongs there.
Wrong details. A misspelled producer or a wrong date can end up in print. Read it aloud before it goes.
A release is one tool. It works best inside a plan where press, radio, playlisting and video land in the same weeks. For how that plan is staffed and what it costs, see music PR, promotion and marketing for independent artists and the Marketing & PR service.
One page, roughly 300 to 500 words for an album, less for a single. The example above is 150 words and carries everything a writer needs for a short news item.
They read them as reference. Most writers decide from a short personal pitch, then open the release to check names, dates and credits. Make it easy to scan.
You can. Write it plainly, check every fact, and ask someone who has not heard the record to read it. A publicist will usually rewrite it to fit how they pitch, so a clean fact-based draft saves them time.
Labels and management companies taking a release to America can start on the U.S. launch page.