3 Erros Comuns Que Um Relações Públicas De Uma Banda Deve Evitar

Three Common PR Mistakes Bands Must Avoid

By Wade Su*on, Rocket to the Stars

As I was pu9ng the finishing touches on a recent development ar@cle, I couldn't

help but go back and look over some of the comments from Beaver County Times

entertainment editor Sco* Tady. One of the stories he relayed to me struck a chord

and it lingered in my mind for several days.

The story I am referring to is Tady's telling of having to track down a photograph of a

band he was wri@ng an ar@cle about. The short version is that Sco* was wri@ng a

piece on a band that was part of an upcoming doubleheader in Pi*sburgh. Sco*

wrote the story and contacted the band because he needed a photograph for the

ar@cle. When the band failed to get back to him, Sco* a*empted to reach the

band's publicist. The publicist, like the band, also failed to send the photograph.

Sco* was leI with few choices and ul@mately decided to run the story...with a

photograph of the other band set to perform in that show.

I'm going to tell you something very disheartening: This sort of thing happens more

oIen than many of you would believe. I find it truly amazing that so many bands do

not comprehend how quickly inadequate public rela@ons and media representa@on

can ruin their reputa@on in media circles and how much it can hold them back from

advancing in their careers. I am completely sympathe@c of bands that don't have

the money to hire the proper representa@on but, if that is the posi@on you are in, it

is vital that you give this part of your music business the a*en@on it deserves.

I am going to tell you three TRUE stories that I had to deal with all during a span of

just a few days. Some involve bands that currently have no public rela@ons or media

representa@on while others are currently under contract with firms. This is the kind

of stuff that goes on behind the scenes...

"STORY #1"

Just a few weeks ago, I reached out to a singer I was interested in covering for one of

my in-depth ar@st interviews. The ar@st is very talented and was in the process of

wrapping up a tour. My ini@al contact with her was via Twi*er and she appeared to

be genuinely enthusias@c in her responses. I requested her e-mail address so I could

send her a standard form I give all ar@sts prior to one of my interviews.

Understand that the form I send them includes a sec@on explaining that Rocket's

long-form interviews are typically conducted via Skype. I'm not going to go into

many specifics here but being able to see the person I am interviewing is an

important part of my interview methodology. A person's mannerisms, body

language, and facial expressions are all indicators of when I should increase pressure

or ease up during certain lines of ques@ons. I take the interview process so seriously

because doing so leads to the wonderful ar@st interviews published by Rocket to the

Stars. It is a ma*er of maintaining a standard with my readers in mind.

Back to the story. So I sent that form to the e-mail address provided to me by the

ar@st. Four days later, I received a response from the public rela@ons firm

represen@ng the ar@st. It said that she had agreed to the terms of the interview and

wanted to set up a @me to conduct it but, near the end of the e-mail, the public

rela@ons representa@ve includes a brief comment informing me that the interview

would be done by telephone instead of u@lizing Skype.

"Huh? That isn't how this works," I thought to myself. I sent a very polite response

to the public rela@ons representa@ve explaining that doing the interview on Skype

was part of Rocket's policy for conduc@ng and wri@ng our ar@st interviews. I also

explained the reasons for the process being what it was and even provided them

with links to previous ar@st interviews on our site so they could see what type of

ar@cle I was aiming to write about their client. They later responded saying they felt

it would be be*er to do the interview by phone and "suggested" @mes that would

be good for them to conduct the interview.

I went to Twi*er and contacted the ar@st directly in an a*empt to figure out what

the hell was going on and I asked her if there was a specific reason she didn't want

to do the interview on Skype. She responded to my inquiry and said that she was

more than willing to do the interview in that manner and was confused by the emails

I was receiving from her public rela@ons representa@ve. I suggested we set up

a @me and day to do the Skype interview (I wanted to get the interview posted

because I had other stories I needed to work on) and she suddenly became very

hesitant.

That was all I needed to know. I immediately pulled the plug on the interview. I

knew one of two things was happening: either there was a complete lack of

communica@on between the ar@st and the public rela@ons representa@ve or the

ar@st, for what ever reason, did not want to do the Skype interview and wasn't being

honest with me when we spoke about it. The interview never happened.

Journalists have more important things to do than waste @me trying to sort through

this kind of mess. Ge9ng one story from an ar@st while their PR crew is saying the

exact opposite is unprofessional and makes it very difficult for media to take you

seriously. It also makes us not want to cover you.

"STORY #2"

If you, your public rela@ons representa@ve, or your band's manager decides to

contact the media hoping to get coverage for your show, do not send one of those

stupid e-mails pretending to be a fan sugges@ng the media outlet "check out this

totally awesome local band". You think you are being slick but an experienced

journalist, even one working in a small town, will sniff that out from a mile away. Do

you want to know why we are so good at detec@ng that kind of BS? Because it

happens so oIen. It happens in music news and it runs rampant in poli@cal news

coverage.

It was just last week that somebody e-mailed me sugges@ng I watch a YouTube of

some band from New York City. The author of the e-mail went on to say they

thought the band had poten@al and he just happened to think of Rocket to the Stars

(JOY!) and he thought I might be interested in doing an interview with the band. Of

course, he just happened to have links to their YouTube videos and website.

"Seriously?" I groaned.

I immediately responded to the e-mail asking if the author was the band's manager.

Sure enough that ended up being the case. I received a message from the guy

about ten minutes later admi9ng that he was their manager.

I'm going to give you a pro @p: If the ar@st or band in ques@on is NEWSWORTHY,

journalists do not care if it is a member of the band, a manager, or a fan contac@ng

us with the @p. If you are a member of the band, a public rela@ons representa@ve,

or a manger pulling double duty, please, just say so from the beginning. We are

going to find out and it will make you look tacky and unprofessional.

And if you do feel you need to pretend to be somebody else, that act probably isn't

newsworthy enough for coverage to begin with.

"STORY #3"

If there is any one lesson ar@sts take from this ar@cle, I hope it will be this:

Journalists contac@ng you for interviews are usually working on some sort of

deadline. I know of several instances in which journalists and entertainment writers

decided to drop an interview with an ar@st because it would take so long for the

performer to get back to them. This problem is not exclusive to the music industry.

It happens in poli@cs, with community events, and several other areas of news

coverage.

You have to understand that reporters live and die by their ability to meet deadlines

and uncover stories before their compe@@on. So when a reporter suddenly seems

less interested in interviewing you and wri@ng about your band, don't start

cri@cizing and saying nasty things about them on social media. More oIen than not

those interviews are ge9ng dropped because you have a pa*ern of wai@ng three

days to respond to the journalist's inquiries. Once that pa*ern carries out over the

course of three e-mails, the reporter has already blown more than a week trying to

set up the interview and get the informa@on he or she needs.

I had this happen with three different ar@sts...just last week. Most reporters do not

have @me to deal with this kind of thing because they have deadlines they have to

meet to keep their jobs. They have editors breathing down their neck to get things

done. I don't have an editor standing over me at Rocket to the Stars but I s@ll

maintain self-imposed deadlines to guarantee new content is being posted on a

regular basis.

One more pro @p to close this thing out: If a reporter is interested in covering you,

they are probably watching you on social media. So when they wait three days for

you to respond to an e-mail while seeing you post on Facebook every twenty

minutes, well, they are probably going to drop you in favor of covering somebody

else.

And the chances of them ever covering you again are slim.