The Importance Of Public Relations

In the past year, I've seen a lot of media outlets and PR firms say that they are closing their doors.

I never discuss how hard it is to be publicist, but after reading another post about a PR firm closing its doors, I'd like to share how I feel.

Artists, readers, and publicists see GenClash, a media outlet that I run. What you don't see is that it's not easy and I don't make any money from it. This has never stopped me because promoting music matters more than making money. Artists are signed to labels who barely promote them, so to any publicist reading this, your efforts to promote artists matters because the labels aren't doing it. The fans are creating outlets and talking about the music they love to help others discover it.

Unlike many outlets, I check my emails, read the press releases, and listen to the artists that contact me. I feature those artists because running a media outlet is about helping people to discover music.

I'd love to post about Angel, Starz, City Boy, Strapps, Nantucket, and Harlequin every day, but I don't because I want to write about different artists. I want to promote as much music as I can because artists are not being promoted the way that they should be. To be honest, I lose interest in outlets that write about the same artists over and over again...not because I don't want to read about a certain artist, but because they aren't trying to write about a wide variety of artists besides what they consider to be their favorite artist.

If you want to run a media outlet, or if you do run a media outlet, here's a few pieces of advice:

-Read your press releases.
-If you have a featured artist on your playlist, pick one song by them.
-Use hashtags.

There are times when I wonder why I work as a music journalist. It's because I love music, and I want to help people discover artists. It's not easy for artists to get coverage because people only write about their favorite artists instead of also writing about new discoveries regardless of if you emailed them a press release or if you discovered them from someone else.

There are people who steal your ideas. This will lead you to wonder why the hell you even bother. They do this because they can't give someone credit. Do not let this deter you. Write about music because you want to.

You can believe that everyone will do press for you and this just isn't true. The person who deserves the job is the one who tells you they want to help.

There are less and less media outlets because of how we are treated. Most people are only contacting us because they want to get their song onto a playlist. Contact media outlets and share their posts. Send them your music. We are here to help.

I do everything that other outlets don't. I write about newer and older artists. I take accountability for not posting by sharing updates on what's going on. I contact artists first. Very few outlets do this.

These are my thoughts and I'm not saying that I'm right about everything here, but I'm allowed to have my opinion.

Before you judge me, take a look at how you run your outlet before judging me for how I run mine.