StoryAmp Launches To Connect Indie Artists With Journalists [GET 3 MONTHS FREE]

In August, StoryAmp released an ebook titled "Amplify Your Story: Getting More Press through the Art of the Pitch" that articulated the founder's perspective on the need to focus on storytelling when seeking press for one's musical activities.  It also sparked anticipation for their upcoming site. Now StoryAmp has launched providing a service that connects independent musicians and labels with music journalists.

[See below for promo codes offering Hypebot readers three free months of their premium account for artists.]

I got a tour of the newly launched StoryAmp platform by CEO and Founder Dmitri Vietze who has an extendive background in music PR. The service was initially intended to be a revamped FlipSwitch PR but was instead pivoted to become a neutral platform for connecting indie artists and music journalists.

StoryAmp is free for journalists and is designed to give journalists a lot of control over how they receive and discover news. This is actually a key element of the platform that potentially affects both free and premium artist accounts in that journalists tend to be overwhelmed with promo material and are likely to be more receptive in an environment they control.

Music Journalists' Recommended Page

Music journalists will typically be informed of or discover artists' announcements of events and releases, including albums, singles and videos, via two means. Journalists will receive a maximum of one daily email from StoryAmp featuring the "short pitches" for the events or releases announced in paid distributions from premium artist accounts. When journalists log into their StoryAmp accounts they'll be taken to a "recommended page" which features a discovery stream of all upcoming short pitches from both free and premium accounts.

Paid distributions of news announcements are available to premium accounts ($10 a month) and go out in waves of three at 6 weeks, 4 weeks and 2 weeks before the date of the event or release. Journalists can choose how often to receive emails or simply login for updates.

In addition to the free for all discovery stream, journalists have the option of streaming a radio channel featuring a single from each artist with upcoming news that have premium accounts.

Though journalists' activities will often be identified via media outlet only, musicians have robust metrics to find out how many journalists viewed their releases and whether or not they did such things as bookmarking them for later consideration. Such features are one of the reasons that, though StoryAmp is designed for the DIY crowd, it may well become of use for professional music marketers.

The strengths of StoryAmp include a well-designed platform that doesn't try to offer too much and a distribution list from FlipSwitch focused on music journalists in traditional media outlets built over a 12 year period. StoryAmp is currently most useful for musicians promoting tour dates in specific areas or releases in specific genres. It's definitely worth going ahead and checking out since free accounts already include useful features.

HYEPBOT READERS: TRY STORYAMP OUT FREE

Promo Code: To receive three free months of the Premium Account for artists (normally $10/month), create a free StoryAmp account and enter the promo code hypebot1221 (lower-case, no spaces) when you upgrade. This offer is only good through December 21, 2011.

Hypebot contributor Clyde Smith maintains his freelance writing hub at Flux Research and blogs at All World Dance and This Business of Blogging. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.