The E-Blast concept is simple: It’s a vehicle for jazz musicians to send their news – usually of a new album or upcoming project – directly into the inboxes of the decision-making promoters of venues such as clubs, art centres and festivals.

The E-blast fills a niche in the jazz market responding to a need by musicians – many of whom struggle without formal management or a booking agent – enabling them to promote themselves cost-effectively in a professional manner.

The E-blast works hand-in-hand with PR (which of course disseminates news to the press) and social media to enable jazz artists to promote themselves and their self released albums as professionally as any label provided a timings protocol is strictly adhered to. In other words – ensure that marketing commences BEFORE the album is recorded.

There’s a lot of information online and elsewhere where artists can access information about the stages of releasing an album in addition to other information to help move their careers forward. I highly recommend Chris Hodgkin’s free manual ‘Where Do You Want To Be?.

Raestar’s E-blast is sent out to 2,400 + promoters of jazz clubs, art centres, festivals and jazz press primarily within the UK – and a small percentage go out to Europe and other countries like Australia, Singapore, Japan and the US. The recipient breakdown is roughly 85% promoters; 10% press and 5 % key musicians. Click on the HOME page for examples of recent E-blasts. The E-blast you see on this page to the right is essentially ‘vintage’ – the very first one sent out on behalf of singer (and astute business woman) Julie Dexter who responded to my call-out way back in 2012 and to whom I’ll be forever grateful.

Nowadays with powerful technology literally at everyone’s fingertips it’s possible for musicians to take control of their careers by outsourcing tasks at a fraction of what a manager and/or agent would charge. Aside from the E-Blast services like Elaine Crouch’s ‘Buy Some Time’ frees busy musicians from time-wasting chores such as social networking, progressing gigs with promoters (sending out biogs, stage plans etc); promotional materials and website design etc at an extremely reasonable cost.

Musicians who prefer one-to-one advice can book hourly skype or telephone consultation sessions – click on the Raestar Services page here for more information.