Three different jobs, three different price tags, and a right time for each. Here is what to hire at each stage, including the stages where the answer is not us.
Hire by stage, not by logo. A first single needs a finished release, a pitch you send yourself and a small paid test. A release with a real story needs a boutique publicist who names the outlets before you sign. An artist whose numbers are already moving needs press, radio, television and playlisting run as one campaign, and that last stage is the one LUSIVEX was built for.
Most money wasted on music PR is spent one stage too early.
PR is earned coverage: articles, interviews, television and reviews that an editor or a booker chooses to run. Promotion is the pitch to the people who program music: radio, playlist editors, DJs and curators. Marketing is the part you pay for and control: paid social and video ads, creator campaigns, content and the release calendar.
A company that says it does all three for a few hundred dollars is usually doing one of them, lightly. Ask which one.
Do it yourself, and spend on the music. Pitch the release through Spotify for Artists before it comes out. Use a submission platform such as SubmitHub or Groover to reach blogs and independent curators directly. Both cost little and teach you who answers.
Then run a small paid test to find out who actually responds to the song. If you would rather not learn an ad account, Bandkick, built and run by the same team as LUSIVEX, sets up and manages a first campaign for one track at a flat $99.
A monthly PR retainer at this stage buys very little, because there is no story for a writer to tell yet.
A debut album, a notable collaborator, a tour, a number that surprised people. Now a boutique publicist earns the fee. Entry-level independent campaigns run roughly $1,500 to $3,000 per month, and mid-tier firms with national outlet reach run $3,000 to $8,000. Budget two to three months and book the firm well before release day, because writers plan their coverage weeks ahead.
Three questions sort the firms. Show me three recent campaigns for artists at my level, with links. Who works my campaign day to day? What happens if nothing lands in the first month? The full checklist is in how to choose a music PR firm.
When streams, socials or touring are compounding, a single article is no longer the goal. Press has to land in sequence with radio adds, television bookings, playlist placements and label conversations, or it produces a spike and then silence.
That sequencing is what LUSIVEX does. The same team ran the campaigns behind the first K-pop group at U.S. Top 40 pop radio (BTS era, 2016 to 2018), Monsta X on Good Morning America, TODAY and Kelly Clarkson with a top-5 Billboard 200 album, and Tiffany Young's iHeartRadio Music Award. Every one of those is publicly checkable. See the services for Marketing & PR, Top 40 radio, social and influencer campaigns and playlisting and DSP relations.
Guaranteed placements and guaranteed streams. Editorial coverage and playlist adds are decided by people who do not work for your publicist, and streaming platforms remove artificial streams. A company that guarantees either is selling something other than PR, and the cost usually lands on the artist's account, not theirs.
PR amplifies a story that is already true. Promotion gets a finished record in front of the people who program music. Marketing buys attention for a song that keeps it. None of them replaces the song.
Yes, when the moment is right. Independents with real momentum are exactly who the integrated tier exists for; earlier-stage artists usually get more value from a boutique specialist or a small managed ad campaign first, and we will say so. LUSIVEX is by invitation: request one on the artists page or email info@lusivex.com with your artist name, links, and where you want to go.
The one that fits the stage. Submission platforms for a first release, a small managed ad campaign to test the song, a boutique publicist for a release with a story, and an integrated agency when the numbers are already moving. Be wary of any service that sells a stream count.
K-pop and idol acts are our specialty, but the roster spans the globe, from Bollywood's Madhuri Dixit and India's Armaan Malik to U.S. talent like Delilah Belle and Coco Quinn, and J-pop's SG5.
With the guide to breaking into the U.S. market. Labels, agencies and management companies can go straight to the U.S. launch page.