How to Write a Press Release for an Audio Plugin (+ Template)

A press release for an audio plugin is a one-page, factual announcement an editor can publish almost verbatim: a clear headline, a dateline, a one-sentence lede answering what shipped and why it matters, a short body with formats and pricing, one human quote, and a boilerplate. Keep it under 400 words, send it on launch day, and personalize the email around it.

That last part matters more than the document. The press release is the attachment to your outreach, not the outreach itself. Outlets like KVR Audio take your release nearly as-is, while Gearnews explicitly refuses "soulless industry press releases" and wants a story angle. So you write one clean release, then decide per outlet whether to send it straight or lead with a pitch. This guide gives you the structure, an annotated fill-in template, a worked example, and the timing and targeting rules that decide where it lands.

What an audio press release actually is (and isn't)

A press release is a factual record of an event — your plugin's release — written so a busy editor can lift facts, quotes, and specs without rewriting. It is not an ad, not a sales pitch, and not a personal email. It answers the five W's about a release: what the plugin is, who made it, when it ships, where to get it, and why it's worth covering.

Editors at outlets like MusicRadar, MusicTech, and Ask.Audio receive these all day and skim them in seconds. Ask.Audio in particular often runs releases close to verbatim, which means a clean, publish-ready document can become coverage with almost no friction. A sloppy one gets deleted. The job of the release is to make saying "yes" require zero extra work from the editor.

It's also distinct from a story pitch. A pitch is a short, personal email that frames an angle — "the first saturation plugin built around tape bias drift," say — aimed at outlets that want narrative, not specs. You'll often send both: the pitch in the email body, the press release attached or pasted below the fold. More on that split at the end.

The seven parts of a plugin press release

Every effective audio plugin release has the same skeleton. Fill each part with facts, not adjectives.

1. Headline — what shipped, in plain language. Developer Releases [Plugin] — [One-Line What-It-Does]. No hype words; KVR will strip them anyway, so write factually from the start.
2. Dateline — CITY, Country — Month Day, Year — opening the first paragraph. Anchors the news to a date so editors know it's current.
3. Lede — one sentence that fully answers what the plugin is and why it matters. If an editor reads only this line, they should be able to write a headline.
4. Body — two or three short paragraphs: what problem it solves, the key features, the formats (VST3/AU/AAX) and supported DAWs/OSes. Specifics over superlatives.
5. Quote — one or two sentences attributed to you, the developer. This is the only place personality is allowed. Editors lift quotes directly.
6. Pricing & availability — exact price, intro discount and its end date if any, where to buy (your site, Plugin Boutique, KVR), and the system requirements.
7. Boilerplate — a fixed 2–3 sentence "About [Your Company]" paragraph plus contact email and press-kit/asset link. Reuse it unchanged across every release.

Below the boilerplate, add a one-line ### Press materials note pointing to demos, screenshots, and an audio walkthrough. Editors won't chase you for assets — give them everything up front.

Annotated fill-in template

Copy this, replace the brackets, delete the annotations. Aim for the whole thing under 400 words.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

[DEVELOPER NAME] Releases [PLUGIN NAME], a [PLUGIN TYPE]
for [WHAT IT DOES IN 4-6 WORDS]
  ← Headline: factual, no "revolutionary"/"game-changing". KVR strips hype.

[CITY, COUNTRY] — [MONTH DAY, YEAR] — [Developer] today released
[Plugin], a [VST3/AU/AAX] [effect/instrument] that [the one concrete
thing it does better than what exists].
  ← Dateline + lede in one paragraph. The lede must stand alone.

[Plugin] [solves this specific problem] by [the mechanism — what it
actually does to the audio]. [Second feature]. [Third feature].
  ← Body para 1: the "why it exists" + headline features. Concrete verbs.

[Plugin] runs as [VST3, AU, AAX] on [macOS 11+ / Windows 10+] in
[Ableton Live, Logic Pro, Pro Tools, etc.]. [Preset count, CPU note,
or any spec a reviewer will ask about].
  ← Body para 2: formats, OSes, DAWs, specs. Pre-empt reviewer questions.

"[One or two sentences in your real voice — why you built it, who it's
for]," said [Your Name], founder of [Developer].
  ← The quote. The ONLY place for personality. Editors paste this as-is.

[Plugin] is available now for [$XX] ([intro price $XX until DATE]) at
[yoursite.com] and [Plugin Boutique / KVR]. A [free trial / demo /
NFR for reviewers] is available.
  ← Pricing & availability: exact numbers, real dates, buy links.

About [Developer]
[2-3 fixed sentences: who you are, what you make, where you're based.]
Press contact: [name] — [email]. Press kit: [link].
  ← Boilerplate. Write once, reuse verbatim forever.

A worked example

Here's the template filled for a fictional tape-saturation plugin, to show the tone — factual, tight, publish-ready:

Northbeat Audio Releases DRIFT, a VST3/AU Tape Saturation Plugin with Modeled Bias Instability

BERLIN, Germany — June 12, 2026 — Northbeat Audio today released DRIFT, a VST3, AU, and AAX saturation plugin that models the bias drift and wow of worn tape machines rather than a single static curve.

DRIFT continuously varies its saturation character over time, the way an aging tape deck does, so sustained sources move instead of sitting still. It includes per-channel drift depth, a switchable 15/30 IPS character, and 40 presets built from real machine captures.

DRIFT runs as VST3, AU, and AAX on macOS 11+ and Windows 10+ in Ableton Live, Logic Pro, Pro Tools, and other major DAWs. CPU load is low enough for use across a full mix bus.

"I built DRIFT because every tape plugin I owned sounded frozen — real tape is never the same twice," said Lena Voss, founder of Northbeat Audio.

DRIFT is available now for $49 (intro price $39 until July 1, 2026) at northbeataudio.com and Plugin Boutique. A 14-day trial and NFR licenses for reviewers are available.

About Northbeat Audio Northbeat Audio is a one-person studio in Berlin building character-driven analog emulations. Press contact: Lena Voss — press@northbeataudio.com. Press kit: northbeataudio.com/press.

Note what's not there: no "stunning," no "industry-leading," no exclamation marks. Every line is a fact an editor can verify and publish.

Length, format, and send timing

Length: one page, ideally 250–400 words. Editors skim; a two-page release gets the same treatment as a one-liner, minus the goodwill. If you can't say it in 400 words, the problem is focus, not length.

Format: paste the release as plain text in the email body and attach a PDF. Never send only an attachment — many editors won't open one from an unknown sender. Put assets (screenshots, a 60-second audio demo, your logo) in a linked folder, not as megabytes of attachments.

Timing: send on launch day, in the morning of the editor's timezone, so the news is current when they read it. For bigger releases, email a few trusted reviewers a day or two early under a soft embargo ("releasing Thursday, here's early access") — but only outlets you already have a relationship with. Don't blast embargoes cold.

A clean release is one step in a sequence; see the plugin launch checklist for where it sits relative to building your assets, lining up reviewers, and going live.

Press release vs. story pitch: which outlets get what

The single biggest mistake is sending the same press release to every outlet. Different outlets want different things, and matching the format to the outlet is what separates coverage from the trash folder.

The pattern: news outlets (KVR, Rekkerd, Ask.Audio) take the press release straight. Angle-driven outlets (Gearnews) want a pitch built around a hook, with the release as backup. Reviewers (Production Expert, In The Mix, Venus Theory) want a personal note and an NFR license, not a document. Production Expert publishes its review policy and accepts not-for-resale keys for impartial coverage — so for them, the release is just context attached to the offer.

Write the press release once; it's your factual baseline. Then layer the right wrapper on top per outlet. SignalChain's outlet directory tags each of its 27 outlets by what it wants, and the app can draft both the release and the per-outlet pitch from your plugin's details. For the deeper craft of the personalized email, see press outreach for plugin developers and how to get your plugin reviewed. For the full launch picture, start from the pillar: how to promote a VST plugin.