Classical music PR in Edinburgh
Two lists, run as one campaign: the national classical press, and the Edinburgh media and venue network that gives a national writer a reason to take you seriously.
Classical publicity is the most opaque corner of the music PR market. Fees are almost never published, campaigns are usually sold as retainers, and an emerging performer or a self-releasing composer frequently cannot find out what anything costs without three weeks of email.
Both are manageable once you plan around them. Edinburgh artists should generally be running Scottish campaigns rather than Edinburgh ones, and should avoid August unless the release is genuinely festival-connected.
A classical campaign run from Edinburgh therefore works on two levels at once. The genre list reaches the writers who cover this music nationally. The city list builds the local foundation that makes the genre pitch credible — because an artist who already has coverage, radio support and a live reputation at home is a considerably easier sell than one who arrives with only a track.
The national classical list
The core UK classical press and broadcast set.
The principal classical recording review title. Reviews carry real weight with the buying audience.
Broad readership across the classical audience with significant review influence.
Essential for string players and string ensembles specifically.
Extensive concert and recording coverage with strong international reach.
The central broadcast target. In Tune, Record Review and New Generation programming each work differently.
Broader, more commercial audience. Playlist-driven and worth targeting for accessible repertoire.
The Edinburgh list
Edinburgh and Scottish media.
Edinburgh-founded and Scotland's most significant independent cultural title.
Edinburgh community radio, closely tied to the city's electronic and underground scenes.
National Scottish programming, including specialist and Introducing slots.
Scottish national press with regular arts coverage.
Scottish music and culture coverage.
The rooms
Sneaky Pete's is the city's most important small venue by some distance and its programming carries genuine tastemaker weight. The Mash House and Bannermans cover the small-room circuit across different genres. Summerhall is central to the more experimental and cross-artform end, and becomes a major venue during festival season. Leith Depot and Henry's Cellar Bar anchor the DIY scene. La Belle Angele and The Caves serve the mid-size. The Queen's Hall is the step into seated and classical-adjacent programming.
How we pitch it
Repertoire is the news
The story is almost always what is being performed rather than who is performing it. A première, a neglected work, a new edition or an unusual pairing gives a critic something to write about. A well-played standard repertoire recording by an unknown performer does not.
Get the terminology right
Nothing loses a classical desk faster than a press release with the wrong opus number, a misspelled composer or a misdescribed ensemble. This sounds trivial and it is not — it is the single most common reason emerging classical campaigns are ignored.
What's included
Classical artist in Edinburgh?
Send us the track, the release date and where you have played. We will tell you what is realistic before you spend anything.