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Labels & demos · 6 min read

Promo pool for record labels

A promo pool is a ready list of DJs and radio hosts who take promos, sorted by genre, so a label can send every release to the right people without building and cleaning that list itself. NeedlePool’s Promo pool holds 5,900+ curators, chosen by genre and country, and each release goes out under the artist’s name with a report that names who listened. The Promo pool opens with Starter, $14.99 a month.

What a promo pool does for a label

A label’s own promo list ages fast. DJs change genre, stop playing out or change address, and every bounce makes the next promo less likely to reach an inbox. Keeping a few hundred working addresses is a job in itself, and a new label has no list at all.

A promo pool does that work once for many senders: it collects promo addresses, sorts them by genre and keeps them clean, and the label picks who gets each release. It is not a record pool, which DJs pay for to download released music. A promo pool carries music before release, from the label to the DJ.

It doesn’t replace your own list. The DJs who already support the label come first; the pool adds the ones you don’t know yet.

What to check before a label uses a promo pool

  1. 1Where the addresses come fromAddresses that DJs and hosts give out for promos are worth having; scraped or bought ones bounce and annoy. Ask how the pool is built and how dead addresses are removed.
  2. 2How finely it sorts by genreA label releases one sound. A pool that only knows “electronic” sends your melodic techno to drum and bass DJs.
  3. 3Whose name is on the emailDJs open promos from artists they know. Check that each release can go out under the artist’s name rather than the label’s or the service’s.
  4. 4What you see afterwardsA total of opens and plays describes nobody. You want names: who played, who downloaded, what they wrote.
  5. 5What happens to your own listYour contacts should stay yours: hidden from other senders and kept out of the shared pool.
  6. 6How it chargesPer curator or per month. Per-curator pricing adds up across a catalogue; a monthly plan costs the same whatever you send within its allowance.

NeedlePool’s Promo pool for labels

The pool holds 5,900+ curators: DJs, radio shows and YouTube channels whose promo addresses NeedlePool collected and tagged by genre. 2,527 of them are radio shows and hosts. You choose them by genre, then country, and NeedlePool sends the campaign. You never get a list of the addresses; you see a curator’s address only if they reply to you.

Each release goes out under the artist’s name: on a label account you type the artist on the release, and the email is signed with it. Every recipient gets a personal link, so the campaign names who opened it, pressed play, downloaded and wrote back. Anyone who already got the release from you is left out of the next campaign for it.

The pool takes Audio Promo, the campaign that carries the track itself. Your own list can go in the same campaign: it stays in your account, other senders never see it, and an address on both gets one email.

Which plan fits a label

  1. 1Starter, $14.99 a monthOne artist per account. 800 recipients a month, up to 300 of them from the Promo pool.
  2. 2Artist, $28.99 a monthOne artist per account. 2,000 recipients a month, up to 800 of them from the Promo pool. Analytics and the printable report. Popular DJs in every genre — 2K to 10K followers.
  3. 3Pro, $58.99 a monthUp to 3 artists per account. 5,000 recipients a month, up to 2,000 of them from the Promo pool. The follow-up to people who didn’t open. Analytics and the printable report. Popular DJs in every genre — 2K to 10K followers. Premium DJs — 10K to 2M+ followers.
  4. 4Agency, $99.99 a monthUp to 5 artists per account. 10,000 recipients a month, up to 4,000 of them from the Promo pool. The follow-up to people who didn’t open. Analytics and the printable report. Popular DJs in every genre — 2K to 10K followers. Premium DJs — 10K to 2M+ followers.

Questions

What is a promo pool for record labels?

A list of DJs and radio hosts who take promos, sorted by genre, that a label sends releases to through a service instead of keeping its own list clean. The label picks who gets each release; the service sends it and reports back.

Will DJs see the label’s name or the artist’s?

On NeedlePool, the artist’s. On a label account you type the artist on each release, and the promo email is signed with that name, with the artist’s links in the footer.

Can we use our own DJ list as well?

Yes. Import it once and send each release to your list and the pool in one campaign; an address on both gets one email. Your contacts stay in your account and are never added to the shared pool.

Which plan should a label choose?

It depends on how many artists you send for. With one artist, any plan with the pool works, from Starter up. For a roster, start where one account sends as several artists: Pro, $58.99 a month, up to 3 artists. For a bigger one, Agency, $99.99 a month, up to 5 artists. The pricing page has every limit side by side.

Does a promo pool get my release played?

Nobody can promise that a DJ will play a track, and NeedlePool doesn’t. It sends the release to curators of its genre and shows by name who listened, downloaded and wrote back.

What does it cost?

Starting is free, with no card and no time limit: you send to your own contacts. Paid plans open our Promo pool in any genre and start at $14.99 a month (Starter).

Keep reading

Send your next release to DJs of its genre

Start free with your own contacts and see by name who listened. No card. The Promo pool opens with Starter, $14.99 a month.

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