A full release campaign built from scratch in two weeks.
Omjine is the project of Eomjin Cho, a singer-songwriter born in Chuncheon, South Korea and raised in Selangor, Malaysia. She has been writing and recording her own music since her teens and started experimenting with home production in 2008. Her debut EP Big Hearts came out in 2021, followed by the single Bus Driver in 2023.
She came to Ardito ahead of her third release with a clear artistic identity but no campaign infrastructure in place: no press contacts, no outreach system, no mailing list, and no experience pitching to media.
Precious One is Omjine's debut single under Ardito's management. It is written from the perspective of the antagonist in someone else's story, imagining what they would want to say back after everything had already been told. The production is sparse and home recorded, built around a strong vocal and a rhythm that keeps pulling forward.
Ardito took this campaign on without a fee. The brief came in two weeks before release date, so consider this a stress test of what's possible with a tight window and no runway.
The first thing that needed fixing was not the pitching. Omjine had never registered with a collecting society, which meant every radio play she had ever received had earned her nothing in performance royalties. She registered with KOMCA before the campaign started and backdated her catalogue. That one conversation was probably the most valuable thing that happened.
From there: 62 contacts imported from DistroKid into Mailchimp, two email campaigns written in her voice, a pre-save and a release day send. Distribution submitted with ISRC and UPC filed. Spotify for Artists editorial pitch submitted. Platform access set up across Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and DistroKid. Content planned around what she was actually comfortable making rather than what looked good on paper.
Fifteen pitch emails went out to blogs and radio stations on the Tuesday morning before release. Each one was written for the specific publication, not adapted from a template. Blogs got a private SoundCloud link. Radio got the MP3 attached directly.
SubmitHub was used on the free tier with Advanced Mode enabled. Genre tags were corrected before submission so the track reached relevant curators. Post-release submissions to Soundplate, BIRP, Indiemono, and Pitchplaylists were queued once the track was confirmed live on Spotify.
| Platform | Access |
|---|---|
| Spotify for Artists | Editor (Ardito) |
| Apple Music for Artists | Admin (Ardito) |
| YouTube | Manager |
| DistroKid | Direct — Omjine shared details |
| Mailchimp | Omjine added as user under Ardito account |
Precious One was two weeks old at the point of writing.
None of the 15 pitches received a response. For a release with no existing press profile, no prior coverage to reference, and a two-week campaign window, that is about what to expect. The contacts have the track. The second pitch, on the next release, will have context behind it.
The response that did come was off-platform. Omjine received direct messages and comments from listeners saying the song meant something to them. At this scale, people going out of their way to say that is worth paying attention to.
It came up mid-campaign with no quick fix available. Several radio contacts require one and outreach to them was limited as a result. This is now confirmed at onboarding before anything else moves.
Most independent artists at this stage have not registered with their national collecting society. Without it, every radio play goes uncompensated. For Omjine it was KOMCA. For a UK-based artist it would be PRS and PPL. It takes one conversation to fix and needs to happen before the campaign starts.
15 researched, specific emails is more useful than 50 generic ones. Publications can tell the difference between someone who read their work and someone who found their email address.
The value of the first campaign is building the contact list, getting the track in front of the right people, and having something to reference on the second release. The second pitch to the same contacts will land differently.
Blogs get a private SoundCloud link. Radio gets an MP3 attached directly, plus a Google Drive link, artwork, press shot, and bio. Getting this wrong wastes the contact.
Sync submissions are planned for Music Vine, Musicbed, Artlist, and Songtradr using the instrumental version. After that, direct outreach to UK sync agencies including Music Gateway and A&G Sync.
Streaming data will be reviewed at four weeks post-release to shape the approach for her next campaign.
Working on a release? This is what a properly managed campaign looks like.
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