I received a press release from a fairly big record company yesterday afternoon. You’ve heard of them. The release went like this:
_______________________________
Hi blogging community,
Here at [XXXXX] (name of record label withheld), we’re on a cyber-crusade, and we want you to be part of it. We know that blogging has become a massive part of the music community and an important way of spreading word of our artists, and we want to make sure you’re kept in the loop about what’s going on at our fine label.
To make sure we don’t bother you with stuff you’re not interested in, it’d be great if you could answer a few quick questions and give us a bit of feedback on how you think we should do it. Essentially, we want to know what sort of things interest you, what you would like to be sent, how you want it sending, etc etc. This should all help in that you’ll get the best from us.
So, with that in mind…
1.) What sort of content do you want us to provide you with? Is it mp3’s and videos that float your boat, or are you looking for news stories on up-and-coming releases from our artists, or does all of that interest you? Let us know – we’ll do our best to sort you out.
2.) If videos do float your boat, then in what format do you want them sending?
3.) When it comes to providing you with music in what format do you want it sending?
4.) How would you prefer to be contacted? Would you prefer a weekly e-mail consisting of all XXXXX information that might interest you, or would you prefer content as and when it comes?
Ultimately, all this feedback should benefit you. If you provide us with answers as to what you want to be provided with as a blogger, then we’ll do out best to sort you out. Essentially, we want to tailor what we provide to suit you, so you can get the best from us.
Cheers,
[XXXXXX]
(Name of poor, misguided wretch withheld)
_______________________________
When I finally stopped laughing, a couple of hours ago, I wondered how this could be used in a constructive way to be helpful to other record labels who might want to communicate with the blogosphere.
And I came up with one simple bit of advice, which I duly returned by email to the PR person in question.
I wrote:
_______________________________
Dear [XXXXXXX],
“Hi blogging community”?!
“Cyber crusade”?!
“All this feedback should benefit you”?!
“blogging has become a massive part of the music community”?!!!Really?
Holy cow.
If one of my students wrote this in my Music Promotion and PR module, they would fail.
But rather than wish you ill, please allow me to direct you to:
Chris Brogan’s website.Read everything he’s ever written.
Change your name.
Wait five years then try again.
Right now, we are all laughing at you.
_______________________________
So maybe that was harsh, but I think not entirely unfair.
PR – especially online, and especially when it comes to music – is about relationships. I am not the blogging community. I’m not even sure there is one.
Even so, I can give you some really simple tips:
1) Don’t give me homework.
2) Don’t tell me that doing my homework is good for me
3) Don’t go on a crusade. They never end well.
4) Please never, ever use the word cyber again unless you’re going in for some sex chat.
5) Don’t ask how I would prefer to be contacted. I would prefer NOT to be contacted. I love talking to people and having conversations, but I hate being ‘contacted’.
I know it’s just PR. I know you are talking to other people – but I am not your mouthpiece and I don’t care about your music unless I decide to.
There are some people who send me stuff that I talk about and recommend, even though I know, deep down, that they’re just doing a PR job. But they do it right and I feel like we have some sort of friendship going on.
Jaz Cummins from Shiny Red gets it. She seems to be doing everything right. If she sent me stuff, I’d be quite likely to talk about it, because I know it would be relevant and interesting. Besides, we’re friends on Twitter, and I kind of feel that not helping her out would be to let her down. It’s pure strategy – but it works.
Nick Fitzsimons from Penny Distribution has given this a lot of thought too – and it just makes sense. Know who you’re talking to on an individual basis, and tailor your communication.
It might be time consuming, but saving time by addressing the blog-o-verse, or whatever you want to call it, will set your cause back another few years.
Ha… “cyber-crusade”. That’s still funny.
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26 Comments
Uh, you left the label name in on point 4. I hope no one I work with there wrote that!
Oops – nice catch. Thanks for being onto it so quickly.
Totally unintentional, but perhaps the result of cyber-karma.
“.. and we want to make sure you’re kept in the loop about what’s going on at our fine label.” Heh, theyre dead in the water.
I got an email from a pr wonk last week, wanting me to write an ‘article’ about their MOR rock band, suggesting a few ‘angles’. Complete waste of time. I blog about funk, reggae and hiphop. Why why why?
My favourite one recently (though actually it was just a dumb mistake by work experience kid at a record label I actually really like):
“I notice that you feature a lot of Brazilian music on [blogname] and was wondering…”
Noticed all that Brazilian music I’ve been featuring here on [blogname]?
He did come across as a douche bag, or at least naive but I have to say, it’s really frustrating to get bloggers to write about you… Bloggers you read and comment to all the time won’t give you the time of day. It has been harder for me to get blogs written about me than it has been to get tv and film placements or access any other part of the music business. I would like more of your opinion on how to approach bloggers because I’m in the dark as are most musicians I know.
Generally speaking, they have to actually like your music. And that’s something you may not have much control over.
A PR strategy is good enough for getting coverage in the press, but it’s just part of the equation with bloggers. They don’t have column inches to fill. They blog or they don’t.
So – er… is your music any good? And is it their thing?
Not to put too fine a point on it, but if you make friends with people, send them relevant information, read their blogs and comment – and get a bit of rapport happening, that still might not be enough. You don’t EARN coverage by doing PR well, you’re just more likely to get it.
No matter how nice you are to bloggers, they don’t owe you their writing.
If you send them stuff they’re just not really into, they’d usually rather not talk about it than either falsely big it up, or rubbish you in public.
You’re absolutely right, and I know all that. I’m mostly just speaking out of frustration and I’ve been around long enough to know that nobody owes me anything. I think the reason it’s so frustrating is that people in general do like my music and I do really well in other areas. I guess I just need to stop whining and work harder at it. Thanks for your time, as always. Your blog is the first feed I check everyday.
aron
I have to say, it does seem harsh. Cyber-crusades might be risible, but ultimately what that email’s asking is ‘what do you want from us, how do you want it, and how can we make sure we don’t piss you off?’.
As a journalist/blogger I’ve had more than my fair share of inappropriate pitches, but in this case, your response comes across as needlessly unpleasant.
I’d rather labels were asking bloggers what they want than ignoring them (or waving lawsuits at them!). By all means have a chuckle about the dad-on-the-dancefloor lingo, but outright rudeness seems counter-productive.
It’s surely as easy to send a polite ‘no thanks’, than to let rip in a way which is hardly going to improve the way they engage with those bloggers who do want to hear from them?
But my problem with the email is less the Dad on the dancefloor stuff – but more the ‘Rejoice! For I am going to send you stuff. In what format do you want it?’.
The questions that remain unasked in this email are:
1) Do you want me to send you anything at all?
2) What sort of music do you like?
3) What sorts of things are you generally interested in?
4) What do you already do on your blog?
5) What is your usual response to unsolicited music?
6) What are your opinions on major label promotions and PR campaigns generally?
… and so on. And most of that stuff can be learned by reading the blog in question or striking up a relationship with the blogger.
Translated to another medium, the email reads:
Dear Householder. We want to stick stuff through your letterbox. Would you prefer A4, A5 or letter? What colours do you prefer? Matte or Glossy? Portrait or landscape?
Those are the wrong questions. And I feel bad about being snippy – but a polite ‘no thanks’ isn’t going to change people’s behaviour. Maybe reading Brogan’s blog will convince them and teach them better ways.
This, of course, applies to businesses of all kinds – not just music ones.
Fair points – couldn’t that last comment have been the content of your email reply, rather than what you actually wrote?
Agree about Shiny Red though, although I did used to work at Shiny Media, so possibly biased!
Priceless.
Had to check that it wasn’t April again already! :0P
Don’t you just love people who want to appear ‘hip’ or even use the word ‘hip’?
It all sounded a bit try-hard but without a clue.
Thanks for sharing and cheering my Thursday morning.
I’m still sniggering! :0D
J
Well, they do say the road to (blog) hell is paved with good intentions…
Whilst we appreciate you may not wish to be contacted by record companies, we have had a considerable amount of feedback from bloggers who do want to be informed of artist news and provided with audio and video. Of course, the most important thing is to find out who does want this information, and – of equal importance – to ask how they want it delivered. Those bloggers that replied in the affirmative are only being delivered music which we think will interest them (an opinion established by us reading their blog) and only in a manner which they have requested (whichwe were trying to establish with the offending email).
I can understand your literary sensibilities may have been offended by some of the terms used (yes, ‘cyber-crusade’ was a bit much), but the purpose of the email was to ensure that we do not PR to bloggers, and certainly don’t try to push people such as Peter Mac into writing an article about our acts, much less so by “suggesting a few ‘angles’”.
But we do appreciate your tips, so we’ll stick to cyber for sex from now on.
Oh, and be assured that the poor, misguided wretch has since had the enthusiasm wrung out of him, so he won’t be making those mistakes again.
No – don’t lose the enthusiasm… that was the good bit!
But seriously – please do read that Chris Brogan blog. He’s really useful when it comes to getting this stuff right.
I know you’re from an evil corporate multinational and everything, but I don’t want to slap you down and sap your enthusiasm – and I’m not looking forward to your imminent demise like Michael Arrington (for example)…
This is what I look like when I’m trying to be helpful.
My thought process lately has been heading towards ‘What can a record label do for me that I can’t already do myself?’.
This is just amplifies that.
@Rob – Great comment!
It’s true, I want to go in to more detail about my reasons behind this, but come Monday I will have fully implemented everything I’ve been reading about for the past six months into my own strategy, and I’ll let you judge for yourselves.
Hey, big thanks Andrew! You’ve made my Friday…I’m behind on my feeds this week, tut tut.
That is a pretty cringeworthy email, your response must’ve given someone a fright, but I can’t blame you for responding like this sometimes. The whole thing, especially the questions has clear good intentions as Stuart says, but I agree with you that it’s a bit like giving you homework and comes across badly. Like you say, it’s not rocket science, it’s just about knowing who you’re talking to, reading their stuff and starting a conversation with another human being! The fact that I like a good chat is a big bonus in my job!
The pressure’s on now to keep my standards up :)
Dubber,
Beware. It’s an elaborate honey trap.
– Major label asks you which genres of their music you like
– You respond
– They send you music which you then give away as ‘evaluation only’ MP3s on your site
– People download and share these files
– Major Label has your name, email and website and you go to Copyright Jail.
Don’t worry, had you have fallen for this ruse I would have visited you in chokey and brought you a cake with a file in it….a proper file for cutting the bars on your window, not a nasty, shared MP3 file.
You’ve had a lucky escape!
@ Craig,
I think you overestimate these people!
Are you seriously suggesting that major labels are carrying out some sort of Direct Mail filesharing trap?!
If people want to download major label releases for free they don’t need to wait to be sent them by the label…
@Rob Moore
I wasn’t being entirely serious, you know.
;-)
Ah.. good!
I’m in the minority here, but I agree with Mr. Dredge. I think you could have made the same (articulate/valid) points without being so mean.
Am I being mean? Sarry.
oh, they’re just so behind the 8-ball. Thanks for a fun read!
I heard the laughter from your 2008 post echoing into 2009. That’s what caught my attention and brought me over here. Thanks for this. My laughter will echo through 2012 at least.
That should teach them to look before they leap but it could have gone a bit nicer. Maybe they needed the slap in the face to wake them from their daydream.
Thanks for the tips especially, “Please never, ever use the word cyber again unless you’re going in for some sex chat!”