Alex Fordham - Music PR

The music business has traditionally split its consumer PR into two divisions – the press department, who try to get newspapers and magazines to review and write about artists and releases, and the promotions or plugging department, who try to persaude radio stations, DJs and TV shows to play their music. Most labels and agencies will have different departments and people to handle each area.

But in more recent years music companies have had to establish a third strand to their publicity work – digital. With young music fans among the earliest adopters to the internet, those in music PR quickly had to learn about and communicate with a whole plethora of new e-zines, chat rooms, fan groups and streaming music services in order to reach a demographic that increasingly shun more traditional media.

Alex Fordham recently launched an online department at music PR firm Scruffy Bird, having previously been involved in online PR at independent record company V2 and two other music PR companies. Unicorn Jobs spoke to Alex about his career so far, what online PR involves, and what tips he’d have for others considering a career PRing music.

By Unicorn Jobs

How did you get into music PR?

When I first moved to London I had a friend working as a TV plugger at an agency. A position in their online PR department became vacant and she put me forward for the job and put in a good word. I was interviewed and got the position purely based on my passion for music. I was very fortunate not to have to start on reception, or licking envelopes, and started immediately working with labels like Rough Trade and Domino Records, with bands like The Libertines and Franz Ferdinand.

Tell us about your career to date – what did you do before working at Scruffy Bird?

I started out working in record shops while studying sound engineering in Manchester. I moved to London and got my first job with Anglo Plugging in October 2003. After two years at Anglo i was approached by [online music PR agency] The Motion Group, and moved there in 2005.

After only eight months there I was approached by V2 Records, which was a record label I’d always wanted to work at. So, I took the position of Digital Manager, and worked on digital marketing and online PR campaigns for Stereophonics, Elbow and Ray Davies to name but a few.

When Universal bought V2 last year I was made redundant and took some time out. During this time I met Duncan Ellis, one of the directors of Scruffy Bird. They were looking to start an online department, and in January of this year I started at Scruffy, as the head of online media.

What does Scruffy Bird do? When does it get involved in an artist’s career?

Scruffy Bird has five departments. Four in publicity – print press, radio plugging, TV plugging and online PR – plus an artist management department. We work with brand new unsigned acts, all the way through to established acts signed to major record labels.

How does working in an agency compare with working in-house at a record company?

Working in house at a label is great – there’s a great sense of team work when you get a hit. But I think the main difference now I’m at an independent agency, is that I have the luxury of picking and choosing what I work on. We are approached on a regular basis by labels, artist managers and bands directly, who send unsolicited demos. I’m in the position now to only take on things I’m truly into, meaning I can sell them with real conviction.

What role does a publicist have in marketing an artist – does in vary between in-house and agency?

I think it varies quite a bit. When I was in-house at V2 we were very much in charge of coming up with marketing initiatives, and putting them into action, as well as backing them up with traditional online PR. Now I’m at an independent company, there is more emphasis on the traditional PR, as the labels have in-house marketing managers who look after the other side of things. That said, if we come up with a good marketing idea, we’ll use it, and we always work very closely with labels in-house digital teams.

You specialise in digital PR – how important is online media in the promotion of music?

Very important. A lot of websites these days get way more hits than certain music magazines are now selling. The industry is slowly coming round to this, and online is now much higher on the agenda.

In order to break a band you need to start the campaign with online PR, in many cases even before hiring a traditional print press agent. Giving a band an early online presence will lead to larger press features and help find early fans, who will visit the forums and social networking sites etc…

A strong, early online presence may also help to convince journalists at bigger publications and broadsheets that there is enough going on to write about a particular act.

Has the music industry cracked how to use the net to promote its artists and products, or does it still have a lot to learn?

Its definitely getting there, but yeah, I think there is still a lot to learn. I don’t think anyone has got it quite right yet, but there are some new companies with the right idea. Sites such as People’s Music Store, which mixes a traditional download platform with a social networking site, are on the right track, and I can see the industry going further down this route in the future.

How can you use the net to establish a brand new band?

There are no real set rules when it comes to establishing a new band online, but there are several key areas that need to be covered early on to help this happen. A MySpace profile is pretty essential, but an official site with a forum and fan interaction is also really important.

For us, getting a new act featured in as many ‘New Band’ type features is the first thing we’ll look at securing. The Guardian’s ‘New Band Of The Day’ slot, Q4 Music’s ‘Track Of The Day’ and NME.com’s daily download are three examples of places I would aim to tick off early on.

Single reviews, interviews, competitions, live reviews and video streams are all important when establishing a new band, and the more presence you have in these areas, the more established the band will become.

What advice would you have for someone thinking of embarking on a career in music PR?

If you’ve got a passion for music then go for it. I realised early on that pretty much all I talk about is music, so why not try and get paid for it? And the perks are pretty good too – free CDs, gig tickets and entry to all the festivals etc.

What advice would you give someone working in another area of PR thinking about moving into the music industry?

I guess it depends on what area of PR. I don’t think the money is as good in music as it is in, say, consumer brand PR. But for me the perks make it worthwhile.

Music PR is pretty competitive also, so if you are working in an agency there is always the challenge of winning new clients – there are always several agencies going for the same bands. But that makes it pretty rewarding when you win that contract.

You can find out more about Scruffy Bird on their MySpace at www.myspace.com/scruffybird