Music, money and PR ‘prats’

Steve Lawson

The final thupr was fascinating insight into the music industry as well as having more general lessons for others in PR. It’s an industry of extremes that holds a light up to so many of the things that are wrong with the way the entire PR industry has played out.   With musicians, social media practitioners, digital experts, students, PR folk and bloggers in the same room, the conversation was insightful and interesting.

So many PR people have no concept of business – with the result, in the music industry, that even apparently successful musicians in the public eye end up losing vast sums of money. The whole spin cycle creates an illusion of sex and drugs and rock and roll, a glamour that can’t be lived up to, pressure that’s taken many talented musicians to an early and unhappy grave.

You can add to that the laziness of the average music agent. Whilst I understand that the average celebrity’s PR team may not want to be constantly bombarded with requests to open a village fete (if any of these still exist) it’s nigh on impossible to find out who represents who and get past the ferocious receptionists to offer cash to musicians to be part of a campaign. Have they never heard of the Internet? A quick form fill would quickly sort the wheat from the chaff. The signs are there that music PR – like many other PR sectors –  is simply not getting the new world order.

Music blogger Halima Amin expressed her disdain of those lazy PRs who fail to engage with bloggers – or who prioritise the big titles over the niche blogging communities. Yet in terms of engagement, these niches are far more likely to bring profit to the musician than, say, a piece in the Telegraph.

On reflection, perhaps this is more about the way we (PR) measure the numbers of success? I’d stake good money on this being something to do with ‘opportunities to see’ or AVEs (Ad Equivalent Values)? Yet time and again we see clear economic proof that good engagement brings financial benefits.

Alex Thomson of the Greenhouse Group personified some of that ‘I’m a music PR’  arrogance by failing to even show up – or to send an apology - even though he’d promised Halima he’d be there .

Read more »

PR clinic at A4U

I’m going to be giving a PR clinic at A4U London (18-19 October, 2011) with my SEO PR Training hat on.

A4U is an affiliate conference, and area I know less about than SEO (search engine optimisation), but my partner at SEO PR Training, Nichola Stott, has been trying hard to educate me.

The A4U clinics should be a lot of fun, and at SEO PR Training we have a discount code for those who want to attend, but haven’t already got tickets, the code SEOPR10 will earn you a 10% discount.

The end of an era

Playing with Vodpod at thupr

Tomorrow’s thupr at The Square Pig in Holborn will be the last thupr event.

It was an accidental series that has spanned two social media weeks and produced one of the very first Google + events. We’ve gamified. We’ve played. It’s had its highs and lows, big events and small events, mostly free, but the time has come for me to say ‘farewell’ – that it was fun while it lasted, but it’s outlived itself.

It’s demise is down to me: I have a busy life as a freelancer and my clients needs have to come first, so the poor event has never had the love it should have had. Communities need time, love and attention to thrive, and although it’s been a big call on my time, I haven’t given it what it needs. Which is a shame, because the events have brought together some brilliant, brilliant people with brilliant, brilliant mins, products and services.

I’ve had sporadic and invaluable help along the way – ipadio took on an entire event, I’ve had a lovely intern working with me, help from community specialist Alexander Nikolov, and more recently some really focussed, invaluable behind the scenes support from Stephen Haggard.  I’d like to thank them hugely for all they’ve done.

Read more »

CALCULATING THE MUSIC BUDGET

You’ve briefed a composer: how do you define a budget for music within your PR campaign? Gareth Cousins explains:

PCAM (The Society Of Producers and Composers Of Applied Music) publish a guideline for composers fees, which may be used as a very rough indicator of how much it will cost to commission music. The truth of the matter is that there are not set fees for this type of work, and budgets will be vary greatly, both below and above the figures they suggest. Read more »