A couple of weeks ago, we reached out to a number of bloggers and online music publishers about how we’re switching some things up. The way people consume and discover music and the way most of the music industry operates is mutually exclusive (as is common knowledge by now). But even people who stay on top of trends, such as PR firms, are also sticking to many of the old models. We wanted to change that here at Crash Avenue, and we asked for your input – specifically, how you like to receive music, and how we can be more effective in our conversations.
While the question was relatively simple, we ended up igniting a rather large dialogue with a number of the people we messaged. We listened as writers and producers of various new media aired grievances about the public relations game. And we agreed with just about everything – a lot of PR dudes are annoying as hell. While bloggers had vastly different preferences on how to receive music – physical CDs, digital downloads, streaming, et al. – almost everyone agreed on two points. First, blogs don’t operate like news agencies or papers. You can’t just send out a formal, dry press release and call it a day. Bloggers are people, and people like to be treated as such, by way of personal messages and some regard to the music the bloggers cover. The second thing – nobody wants to hear your fucking remix or mashup. Amen to the max.
I took everyone’s input, and it’s my personal goal to try to deliver music to you from the artists we work with and believe in, by way of the methods that you’ve suggested to us. And we’re still open to more. I love to rap about the music industry and awesome records all day. While it’s ironic that I’m talking about these ideas while sending out a large release (go figure), I thought you might be interested in reading some of the responses we received. Below are some of my favorite suggestions, quips, and soundbites, with names removed to protect the guilty.
And rival PR firms – take notice….
“The scourge of my inbox is “[band name] announces track listing!” / “[band name] reveals cover art” / etc – I only review albums, I don’t do news, and if I get three or four different news items around the same release, I tend to just shut off. “
“…so if I don’t respond to something, please don’t take it personally, I just don’t have time to listen to everything.”
“How refreshing to read that you go through the same thing that I do. So many PR firms send me artists and when I listen to them, it’s some kind of electronica remix crap from Denmark”
“PR letters that come only with a zip file for an entire album are not helpful for me. I dislike having to download an entire album before I can download one or two songs to see if I’m even interested in the album and I won’t do it. More and more over the years, I just toss those letters aside. If I’m in a particularly good mood, sometimes I’ll take the extra step of going to the artist’s bandcamp (or- ugh- MySpace) page to listen there. But that usually bugs me in the context of the volume of emails I receive.”
“This is the web. We can hear music ourselves. A PR letter doesn’t need to get all crazy-descriptive of the music, certainly not in advance. Let me hear it first; I’ll decide what it sounds like. Paragraphs of flowery language turn me off– not because I dislike flowery language per se (hey, I can go in that direction myself, no question) but because coming from the person who is paid to promote the record, it’s inherently smarmy. A lot of Crash Avenue PR letters, as I recall, would begin with a few paragraphs of narrative. Over time, I pretty much learned not to read them. I don’t know about other bloggers, but I don’t look to my inbox as a source of delightful story-telling. I want to know if there’s a new band with a new free & legal MP3 to listen to, period.”
“As much as I like hearing new music, I’m very suspicious of people who praise the hell out of something they’ve been paid to promote. Especially when it comes to bands that are really new. I think it’s well worth my while to explore Cheap Trick’s back catalog instead of checking out a band that formed last February, cite Cheap Trick as an influence, don’t have a bass player, and have an EP streaming on their MySpace page that sounds like it was recorded underwater.”
“I think it’s one thing to compare a band to a known band, but there’s also an implication that this band is as good as a known band. I have rarely thought that after I’ve checked out their music.”
“So, that’s where I’m at on receiving e-mails from publicists. You’re the first one to actually ask, so it’s good that you’re doing that. I get enough e-mails from people wanting follow-ups and I just delete them.”
“…my inbox looks like Tila Tequila’s Twitter feed these days, so I need to be as efficient as possible.”
“Much of what I read, while I was perusing those initial mails, was so over the top and touchy-feely, syrupy, that I likewise ignored it all, despite the fact I know you have very good taste in music and the artists you publicize (Chico Fellini et al) are impressive. I mean, Jesus, I’m a writer, a critic (and an anarchist to boot), and I’m expected to blithely consume all this stratospheric mis-hyperbole, the kind of Creative Writing 101A material I stopped writing when I was a starry-eyed teenager? C’mon, buddy, yer insulting me.”
“I appreciate your attempt at personalizing this often very impersonal business of PR emails. I get emails from some PR folk who dont even bother to write “To [Name Removed]” and just send out these mass emails. Those kind of messages get deleted immediately.”
“I have more PR agents directly sending me product outside the usual through-the-editor practices than any crit I know, quoting me in blurbs as well, so, obviously, given the long period of time I’ve been receiving your PR, you weren’t at any point very interested in anything but a quick-n-dirty sell job and on to the next shuck. I teach Rhetoric, I know its appurtenances, I train people to recognize it, especially in business applications. You’re operating on the level of boiler room operator. Don’t expect affinity or respect.” [Ouch. Treated. That's some real talk right there.]
“What would be perfect for me, is a monthly update of Crash Avenue artists. You could include new releases from artists, touring, news etc. All you need to give me are myspace links, and then i will determine whether I want the download or not. So I would listen to the artists and determine what I like and which artists I want to get behind.”
“Physical CDs are cool too, but believe me I have 100s of submissions each week and many, many, many of them will never be reviewed. We just can’t get to everything. If sending a physical CD, please don’t mail all sorts of extra crap – the fancy envelopes, folders, reams of paper, kitschy toys, stickers, business cards, t-shirts, etc. get recycled or chucked in the trash.”
