Music Career Talk 23

I'm going to talk about Public Relations today. What it means, when you need it, how much does that service cost and how it works.This will be short and sweet. The fastest way to describe what a publicist does is to say he (or she) is the liaison between the client (you) and the media. Of course there's a lot more to it then that. A good publicist should have the best verbal skills, great contacts in the media, and a true belief in their client. A great publicist can make their clients career flourish with success or sink like a lead weight in deep water. Public relations can be found in numerous industries, but we will focus on show biz. You can hire a single publicist or an entire P.R. firm who will have a staff of publicists with expertise in related fields. There are a number of major P.R. firms in Los Angeles specializing in entertainment and publicists within those firms who specialize in a particular area. With music it might be someone who just works the metal scene, they will have contacts with all the metal publication, labels, online metal websites etc. The same for hip-hop, pop, mainstream rock etc. you get the picture. Then there are individual publicists who can either do it all or specialize in one area of music and don't like to stray away from that. When do you need a publicist, when there's something going on in your career worth talking about. Most publicists will plot a campaign starting with "awareness" this tells people you and your project exist so the next time your in the press people will have already read your name. Then as your project moves forward so does the press. When hiring a P.R. firm or publicist you must remember most publications run 2 or 3 months ahead, so what is written in January won't be in print until February or March. Of course this is different with viral media which can be immediate, All publicists will tell you public relations is a process that takes time and nurturing which is true. Cost will really vary and can range between what ever you can work out with your budget $1000.00 - $3,000.00 per month to $10,000.00 per month. These numbers are estimations on my part and based on my experience not yours. When you interview perspective publicists you'll see they like the sound of their own voice and for public relations person that's a good thing. Choose wisely and you can quote me on that.