Hyperboles Are An Art

Music PR, and how I got there. Day to day.

[the11thhourradio-blog]

Join us for our Christmas special, featuring some killer punk Christmas classics and some you might not be so familiar with. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS LOVELY PEOPLE! 

[hyperboles123]

Hundred Reasons at the Forum.

[the11thhourradio-blog]

You, good sir or madam, look bloody lovely today. I’m glad you came. Can I get you a drinky? A Malibu and Coke? A Cinzano and Lemonade?

Or maybe a PUNK IPA?

This is the home of ‘The 11th Hour’, a monthly Punk Rock podcast series by two guys that share a passion for powerchords, safety pins and shouting about the things that really grind your gears.

We will have a new theme each month, this first one being 70s and 80s punk. If you would like to suggest a theme, suggest songs or get involved, click the ‘Ask’ button up there and let us know. Please direct all criticism to [email protected].

Now. Click play. Sit back. And enjoy. 

(If you’d like to download the podcast (and lets face it, why wouldn’t you?!) you can do so here https://soundcloud.com/the11thhour/70s80s)

[hyperboles123]

Hundred Reasons at The Forum 24th Nov 2012. 

[hyperboles123]

[hyperboles123]

More of this please, weatherman. (Taken with Instagram)

[hyperboles123]

Winter Freeze

Well I'm just a bit useless aren't I?! I haven't updated this blog for a long time, and I can only think it's because my fingers don't like typing when cold. This is very much a summer time blog.

Things not looking too bright at the moment for our sector of music PR. We have predominately worked in traditional print publications, but I am noticing this is becoming increasingly difficult. 

I am hearing the same story day in day out. Journos being made redundant. Entertainment pages cut. One journalist writing for a hundred different sections.

This all makes my job as a regional PR a tad difficult. It doesn't matter how well you sell a story, or how great your artist is. If they simply don't have the time of man power to write an article, it aint gonna happen.

And yes, the internet has opened up a tonne more publicity channels. But believe it or not, there are still some artists that just don't benefit from online press. And what can we do for them?

Let's just say I am very thankful for community radio stations at the moment. Some of them are doing a bloody good job. And saving my bacon.

C.

[hyperboles123]

Reach out!

Had a pretty good day today! One thing I'm finding is that after days and days of calls and emails, just when you are ready to jack it all in, people start to wake up and reply. And it feels bloody good! (especially when you have been under a sh-tonne of pressure from the boss to actually get some results).

Somebody at university once told me to never get intimidated by music journalists. They do, after all, make a living out of writing about their post. But as I'm the one sending them said post, I'm not sure what it really says about me...

I'm rambling. But I think rambling is important too! Today I had a full 10 minute conversation with a journalist about really not much at all before we even got down to the real reason I had called. And ya know, even if he doesn't give me any coverage this time round, he will remember me next time. And give me time of day. Hopefully...

Alright, laters.

C.

[hyperboles123]

Just say no to PDF

One bit of feedback I’ve heard so many times from journalists concerns the format you send your press release out.

PDFs look nice. Marvel at how it flattens everything and make your PR look like a glorious poster. And then notice that in order to open it you need to update your version of Acrobat. And once it is open its a pain in the arse to simply copy and paste the text.

In my experience journalists hate PDFs. Save them the effort and send it as .doc. They will love you for it.

You, like me, may be thinking ‘but why should that matter? Surely they just use it to get the facts and then write their piece based on it?’. And I suppose a lot of the time that’s true. But more increasingly I find a simple copy and paste from my PR goes straight into the magazine/newspaper/blog.

This in itself means you have to consider that you are no longer writing for the journalist. You have to write directly to the punter/fan/RSS feed reader.

C.

[hyperboles123]

Dear Mr music journalist man/woman,

Hi, remember me? I was the guy that you spoke to a week ago. You were all excited because we had just arranged for you to interview that guy from that band.

Well, turns out you forgot to call him at that time we had agreed. I know you probably got called out of the office and you have to run more than just the ents section. And your boss seems to think running the ents is something you could do in your spare time. But let me know next time pal yeah? That way we won't have an artist sit around for god knows how long waiting for your call when he should be in rehearsal.

Much obliged,

C.

[hyperboles123]

P.S.

I also learnt that even tap water costs £3 in some bars.

[hyperboles123]

A tough lesson

I haven't posted for a while. Sorry bout that. I have no excuse other than I was reading a real good book on the train when I would normally be writing. (6 seconds by Rick mofina seeing as you asked)

So this last week I organised a couple of interviews for a client. Went along too to make sure all went well. The first interviewer didn't turn up. Wasn't answering his phone. So I was sat with the client for a whole hour until the next interview. Awkward doesn't cover it! There are only so many times you can say ' I'm so sorry, this is bloody disgraceful. '

I should point out that it was no ones fault. The guy actually had a very good excuse for not turning up. But I know now to check more than 3 times that everything is ok for an interview.

C.

[hyperboles123]

A result

As Mondays go, this one wasn’t too bad.

Last week ended on a bit of a low as we couldn’t seem to make any progress with one of our clients. Then today, 3 interviews set up, 2 with national newspapers and one with specialist radio. Job done, money justified.

All of the journos that came through for us I had contacted a number of times. Initially through Twitter, then email, and phone calls if I could find contact numbers.

I seem to talk a lot about ‘fine lines’. But it really is a fine line between being persistent and just nagging the hell out of people. If someone says they’re not interested then my training and education has taught me this - they’re not interested. But if they say something along the lines of ‘send me some info’ then keep at them! They haven’t said no!

Unless they do actually say no. Then maybe its time to bow out gracefully. Or change the subject and offer another client.

Well my train is busier than ever and its hard to write one handed. So that’s all for now.

C.

[hyperboles123]

It can be really bleedin hard to try and find where companies in the music industry advertise for jobs. I found my current job through UK Music Jobs. (http://www.uk.music-jobs.com/) 

Now, I know I shouldn't complain. But their whole system is a bit...twisted. You have to pay a membership fee (which has just gone up to £15 a month) and for that you are 'privileged'  with the ability to apply for jobs. I happen to know that at the moment it is free to advertise your job through the site. Surely it would make more sense to charge a small ad fee, and let the job hunter save their money! But maybe I'm just biased...

There are other places to look of course. Music Week is a good contender. And keep an eye on the CMU Daily emails, they will always have some job ads. 

Sorry this wasn't a very interesting post. It's the end of the week, and I'm shattered. Three tours on the go at the same time really takes it out of you.

Have a crackin weekend.

C. 

[hyperboles123]

The Title Track

Well, I named my blog after it so I suppose I should mention it.

When you are first writing a press release (or even just composing an email) it is all too easy to take things too far, describing your act as better than the love child of Jesus and john lennon (for example) . It’s really bloody hard to speak positively without sounding like you’re shoveling too much bull. But that is the art if it I suppose.

I find it helps to put myself in the shoes of the journo that will be (hopefully) reading what you’re writing. I mean, they must see so much of ‘the most exciting thing to happen to insert genre ever!’ that it really becomes a bore. So make it different, to the point and fun! There is far too much seriousness in this game for my liking.

C.

[hyperboles123]

The best thing since sliced...audio?

Although I don't run the company I work for, I have been thinking about how you go about deciding which artists you will work with and which you won't. Maybe this is a slightly romanticised view, buy surely it should be those that you believe in? Those that you really think could go far with just a little push. And those that you just Damn like.

But, it seems, maybe in reality it is whoever will be willing to pay you.

Now ain't that a bitch.

C.

[hyperboles123]

A nothing day

After a day of calling local press for a tour we have coming up I have come to a conclusion - everyone is still in bank holiday mode (myself included).

It's funny how you notice patterns emerging relating. Some days you will just find every phone call goes well, other times not so much. Strangely enough I've found that Friday afternoon is a good time to get some calls done. I guess journos are in a good mood and will hear you out.

It's generally a good idea to make a note of each newspaper/magazine deadline day. Try to avoid calling on this day and you won't face a pissed off and stressed out news desk. (there is one paper particularly that despite my best intentions I always seem to accidentally call them on deadline day. Needless to say they bloody hate me.)

I got some good feedback from a press release I wrote recently. Always nice to hear. I'm sure I'll talk a lot more on here about writing PRs. The main secret I've learnt - PR companies like to make it sound a lot more complicated than it actually is.

Cold beer tonight I think. Why not, it is Tuesday after all.

C.