Music PR in Edinburgh
Edinburgh's music scene lives in the shadow of its festivals and of Glasgow. Both facts shape how a campaign here should be timed and targeted.
Campaigns run remotely across the UK. We do not need an office near you, and you should be sceptical of anyone charging you as though they do.
Edinburgh presents two specific challenges. The first is Glasgow, fifty minutes away, which holds most of Scotland's music industry attention. The second is the festival season, which each August floods the city with more culture coverage than any campaign can compete with, then withdraws it entirely.
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.
Edinburgh media
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.
Edinburgh University station with a genuine early-support record.
Scottish listings and reviews, particularly significant during festival season.
Local outlets sit alongside the national and genre-specific targets on your list. Coverage is never guaranteed anywhere.
The Edinburgh circuit
Venues are not press, but a campaign that ignores them is missing half the story. Where you have played tells an editor more about you than any adjective in a press release.
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.
What we tell Edinburgh artists
Avoid August unless you are part of the festival. Every culture desk in Scotland is fully committed to Fringe coverage for the whole month, and a music release into that window will be ignored by outlets that would otherwise have covered it. Run a Scottish campaign rather than an Edinburgh one, and treat September as the reopening of the market.
What a Edinburgh campaign costs
The same published price as everywhere else. £695 for a single, everything below included.
Strongest genres in Edinburgh
Where the city's media and circuit give a campaign the most to work with.
Releasing from Edinburgh?
Tell us the track, the date and the rooms you have played. We will tell you what a campaign could realistically do with it.