TAP vs Spreadsheets for Music PR Compared
TAP vs Spreadsheets for Music PR
By TAP Editorial Team
Most small PR agencies start with spreadsheets because they're free and immediately familiar. But as you juggle multiple campaigns, the friction of manual data entry, formula breaks, and version control quietly compounds. This comparison looks at the real trade-offs between dedicated music PR software and spreadsheets—not to sell you anything, but to help you recognise when one stops working.
| Criterion | Dedicated Music PR Software | Spreadsheets (Google Sheets / Excel) |
|---|---|---|
| Campaign Timeline & Release Management | Built-in calendar views, deadline automation, and linked dependencies mean you see all release windows and pitch deadlines in one place. Software flags conflicts (two campaigns launching same week) automatically. | You maintain separate date columns, manually check overlaps, and rely on conditional formatting to flag clashing timelines. Easy to miss conflicts when juggling 4+ campaigns. |
| Contact Management & Deduplication | Automatically detects duplicate journalist entries across campaigns, maintains single contact record with pitch history, and flags when someone has moved outlets. Updates propagate across all campaigns. | You maintain separate journalist lists per campaign or one master sheet that gets messy. Same contact appears under multiple names or outlets. No warning when 'John Smith at NME' moves to Pitchfork. |
| Pitch Tracking & Follow-Up | Records pitch date, outlet, journalist, and response status. Auto-prompts for follow-ups at configurable intervals. Shows you which outreach is stalling and needs attention. | Tracking lives in ad-hoc notes or a single 'Status' column. Follow-ups depend entirely on you remembering. No audit trail of what was pitched when or to whom. |
| Press Clipping & Coverage Logging | Integrates with press monitoring services (or manual logging with linked clipping storage). Tags coverage by outlet tier, genre, reach. Automatically calculates campaign ROI based on coverage value. | You paste URLs into a 'Coverage' column. No structure for reach, circulation, or outlet ranking. Reports require manual calculation and screenshot collection. |
| Playlist & Radio Play Documentation | Separate fields for playlist adds (with add date, playlist name, size, genre fit), radio plays (station, format, rotation). Aggregates into campaign KPI summaries. | Mixed into one 'Achievements' or 'Playlist' column. No way to distinguish between major curator adds and algorithmic playlists. Radio play is often forgotten entirely. |
| Reporting & Client Deliverables | One-click campaign reports with visual summaries, coverage breakdown by tier, timeline of achievements, and KPI tracking. Branded templates. Clients receive readable PDF or shareable dashboard. | Reports mean copying data from sheets, creating manual charts, and writing narrative from scratch. Takes 2–3 hours per campaign. Easy to miss metrics or present outdated snapshots. |
| Workflow Automation & Alerts | Auto-assigns tasks based on campaign milestones, sends reminders for pitch windows, flags high-priority contacts, notifies team when new coverage is logged. Keeps urgency visible without constant checking. | No automation. You manually review sheets each morning, create to-do lists, and set phone reminders. Everything depends on personal discipline. |
| Onboarding New Clients | Templates for artist, genre, campaign dates, and contact fields. New campaign set up in 15–20 minutes. Client details pulled into pitch templates automatically. | Create new sheet, copy columns from last campaign, manually adjust fields. Takes 30–45 minutes. Risk of forgetting fields or carrying over old data from previous artist. |
| Collaboration & Version Control | Clear role-based access (account manager, coordinator, junior). Audit trail of changes. Comments stay with records, not scattered across email. No accidental overwrites. | Google Sheets allows simultaneous editing but no formal version control. Easy to accidentally delete data or have conflicting edits. Comments exist but sit in cells, not linked to specific records. |
| Cost & Scalability | Monthly subscription (typically £50–300+). Cost scales with users and campaigns. ROI only clear when you have 3+ concurrent campaigns generating significant outreach and reporting workload. | Free (Google Sheets) or one-time purchase (Excel). No ongoing cost. Scales infinitely with spreadsheets, though human workload increases dramatically. |
| Integration with Spotify for Artists & DSPs | Some platforms pull Spotify streaming data, playlist reach, and listener demographics directly into campaign dashboards. Matches DSP success to PR activity. | You manually check Spotify for Artists, screenshare numbers into sheets. No link between playlist adds logged in PR tool and streaming results. |
| Learning Curve & Setup Time | Requires 2–3 hours onboarding, some training on best practice, and adjustment to new workflows. Interface varies by platform. Initial friction before speed gains appear. | Familiar instantly. You already know spreadsheets. No training needed. Productivity immediate, but at lower ceiling. |
Verdict
For solo operators or two-person teams running 1–2 campaigns at a time, spreadsheets work. You know them, they're free, and the overhead of learning new software outweighs the benefit. But the moment you're juggling 3+ simultaneous campaigns, managing reporter followups across multiple artists, or spending more than an hour a week wrangling data for client reports, dedicated software pays for itself through recovered time and fewer missed deadlines. The real cost isn't the subscription—it's the agency time spent on manual data management that software eliminates. Spreadsheets are a temporary solution, not a long-term system.
Frequently asked questions
When is it time to switch from spreadsheets?
When you have 3+ active campaigns, spend more than 6 hours a week on data entry and reporting, or find yourself resending the same client updates because the spreadsheet is outdated. If your team is frequently asking 'did we pitch NME already?' or 'what was the follow-up status on that Radio 1 contact?', you've outgrown sheets.
Can I use spreadsheets for one campaign and software for another?
Technically yes, but it defeats the purpose. The value of dedicated software comes from seeing all campaigns in one system—spotting conflicting timelines, sharing contacts across artists, and creating unified agency reports. Running parallel systems just doubles your workload.
What data can't you track properly in spreadsheets?
Follow-up sequences (you lose track of who you pitched 3 weeks ago), journalist movement (same person appears under multiple outlets and you don't know they've moved), coverage value (you log a feature but can't easily segment by tier or reach), and workflow automation (reminders live in your head, not the sheet). These gaps compound as you scale.
Is it worth paying for software if I'm the only user?
Depends on your campaign volume. If you're running 2–3 concurrent campaigns and spending 15+ hours a week on admin, the software buys back roughly 5–7 hours that you can spend on actual pitching and strategy. That's worth a subscription. If you're running one campaign at a time, no.
What's the biggest advantage of spreadsheets?
Speed of initial setup and zero cost barrier to entry. You can start tracking campaigns immediately without onboarding or learning new software. That's powerful when you're bootstrapping or testing a campaign approach.
Do I lose anything by switching to software?
Flexibility. Spreadsheets let you create any column structure you want. Dedicated software enforces a workflow that works for most campaigns but may feel rigid for unusual projects (very niche releases, experimental outreach strategies). The trade-off is simplicity and automation for rigidity.
How do I decide between spreadsheets and software?
Ask: Am I managing 3+ campaigns simultaneously? Am I spending more than 5 hours a week on data entry and reporting? Do I need client-facing dashboards or PDF reports? Are multiple team members accessing the same campaign data? If you answered yes to 2+, software will save you time and money. If all answers are no, spreadsheets are fine.
Can I export my spreadsheet data into software later?
Most dedicated platforms accept CSV or Excel imports, but data structure matters. Contact lists usually port cleanly. Campaign history and pitch notes often need manual remapping. If you're considering a switch in the next 6 months, keep your data in clean, standard columns (artist name, contact name, outlet, pitch date, status, notes) to make migration easier.
From the field
Proof points
- Reply visibility blind spot: Stations add to rotation without replying (WARM monitoring vs email reply rate)
- Agency stack typical monthly cost: GBP 149-280 across 5-7 tools (Industry survey + Liberty stack)
- Time to first WARM play after pitch: 1-3 weeks for 6 Music, same week for community (Across recent campaigns)
- Named contact reply rate vs studio@: 5x higher (Liberty Music PR campaign data, 2024-2026)
What actually happened
Liberty multi-artist quarter, Shared agency contact DB: Twelve-week campaign, four assistants, one shared contact DB. Cut report-writing time by half. (2024-2025)
Ops is the boring word for the thing that decides whether you keep a client. A campaign that looks identical from the outside can be a four-hour Friday or a ten-hour weekend tax depending on how you set up the inbox, the contact list, and the report. I run every campaign on the same template now, six docs, same names, same order. The clients never see it. They feel it.
Chris Schofield, Radio plugger, Liberty Music PR
Related resources
Further reading
- UK Music — The voice of the UK music industry, representing labels, publishers, and collecting societies.
- Music Week — Industry news, charts, and analysis for music professionals.
- The Music Network — Global music business intelligence and networking.
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