Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Keep up
Given the scale of the downsizing that has gone on in the music business in the last few years one would have thought that the left hand was in a better position to know what the right hand was doing. I put together the CDs that come with every issue of Word and in this capacity I get lots of approaches from PRs. Today I was contacted by one who suggested I might be interested in listening to a certain artist with a view to inclusion on one of our CDs in the near future. I was able to point that this act had in fact been included on the CD with the March edition. The reaction from the PR was faint embarrassment masked by indignation that nobody had told them. The notion that a PR is someone who has a right to be informed rather than a duty to inform themselves must be a recent innovation.
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That goes beyond unprofessionalism. That's just bad manners.
ReplyDeleteWas it a major label, big indie or small label act? Either way, you'd think an clued up pr would see each issue of The Word. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThey sound like someone who works for Foxtons! A bit lazy and not very clever.
ReplyDeleteFreelance telephone jockeys are cheaper to use, than seasoned employees who actually know what they are plugging. Afraid we are back to an ethos of 'keep throwing **it at the wall until something sticks'
ReplyDeleteWhy does everything have to have an economic explanation? This wasn't a junior, low pay employee. This sort of thing knows no boundaries of pay grade or seniority.
ReplyDeleteHe/she was probably too busy thinking about themselves to notice.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I deal with them every day.
My mate is a PR (you probably know her from her rock and roll past), and in her current office, NOBODY BUT HER reads the papers which are delivered every day. How crap is that?
ReplyDeleteThe quality of PRs is falling for sure; there are so many who think they're more important than their clients, and everything seems to be the journalist's fault.
Friend of mine was once phoned up on a monday morning and asked it he’s be interested in interviewing Roy Orbison. He had to tell the PR that “The Big O’s” death had been announced over the weekend.
ReplyDeleteThe PR in question was neither fool nor knave and went on to become a very successful magazine editor.
I suppose being a music industry PR is the same as being a music journalist. Sometimes you’re dealing with stuff you’re interested in and care about. Often you’re not. And sometimes you take your eye off the ball.
Not sure it’s a “recent innovation” though. In my experience it’s pretty common for one arm of a business concern not to know what the other arm’s doing.
Oops. Shocking typos there. For “it he’s” read “if he’d”
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