Using DJ support in a release campaign (for labels and artists)

By release day, a good promo campaign has a few weeks of plays behind it. Used well, that support tells press, stores and fans that DJs chose this track before anyone else could hear it. Used badly, it is a list of names nobody can check. This guide is for labels and artists planning a club release: when to talk about support, what to make, and a recap you can send to press and stores.

The timeline

What counts as support you can use

Only plays you can link to: a clip, a set recording, a radio show or a tracklist, with a date and a place. Feedback like “nice, will support” is an intention, not support, and doesn’t belong in a “supported by” line. Our guide on proving DJ support to a label ranks the kinds of evidence.

Assets to make

• A support line: “Supported by A, B and C”, with the names that mean most to your audience first, and only names you can link to.
• A support recap image: the names, and “before release” if that’s true. Simple and readable on a phone.
• The best clip or two, shared from the original post, or reposted with the permission of whoever filmed it, and credited.
• A quote card, only if a DJ agreed to be quoted, in their exact words.
• A short support paragraph for press and stores (below).

Ask for permission early. A fan who filmed the best clip may take a day or two to answer, and the release post won’t wait.

Quotes: ask, quote exactly, keep it short

Feedback left on a promo platform or in a message is often written quickly and privately. Ask before you publish it, use the DJ’s exact words, and don’t polish “nice one” into “one of the tracks of the year”. A short, real quote from a DJ who played the track is worth more than a long one from someone who only listened.

The support recap for press and stores

One paragraph, written so anyone can check it:

[Title] – [Artist], out [date] on [Label] Played before release by 7 DJs at 11 events in 5 countries, including [DJ] at [festival] and [DJ] at [club], [city]. Links to each play: [link to the support sheet]

• Press and blogs: the paragraph, plus links to the two or three strongest plays.
• Distributors and stores: if you are asked for marketing plans or a release pitch, the support line belongs there.
• The artist’s booking agent: it helps sell the next gigs.
• DJs in a later send: one line, such as “already in sets by A and B”, can help a promo get opened.

Announce at the right moment

• If a DJ is keeping the track an ID, ask before you name it next to their play.
• A big play before the release is announced can go out as a teaser, with the track still as “ID”, and the title revealed with the announcement.
• Keep artist and label posts in step: agree who posts what, and when.

When a headline name plays the track mid-campaign, our guide on what to do when a big DJ plays your track covers the first few days.

For artists on a label

Agree with your label who keeps the record of plays, so there is one list, not two. Send the label every clip you find, with the link and the date, the day you find it. Don’t announce plays before the label announces the release, and when it does, share or link to the label’s post rather than writing a different version of the same news.

Mistakes that weaken a support line

• Names nobody can check. One name without a link makes readers doubt the rest.
• Counting downloads or feedback as support.
• Making a play sound bigger than it was: a warm-up slot isn’t a headline set.
• Burying the support in one post on release day and never using it again.
• Sending the same recap for months without adding the plays that came after release.

After release

Keep watching. DJs who liked the promo often play the track again once it’s out, sometimes at bigger events, and those plays are easier for fans to recognise. Thank the DJs and the people who filmed them. At the end, update the recap and add it to the campaign report: it is the first thing to send with the artist’s next promo. For a routine across a whole roster, see how record labels track DJ support.