Glenn Petry, 21C Media Group

Who owns the problem of selling tickets and CDs? Is it a publicist's job to secure press that will have a direct impact on sales, or does some press accomplish something beyond or different from sales? Should marketing - ticket sales, ad copy, poster design - be kept separate from publicity, or do efforts often overlap?

While marketing departments are traditionally responsible for promoting and achieving ticket sales, the blurring of boundaries between marketing and promotion, reflecting all the changes in music promotion discussed above, makes the overlap - and the cooperation - between marketing and publicity departments much greater. We started 21C Media Group in 2000 anticipating the evolving and dovetailing roles of marketing and PR in the promotion of classical music; we sought to create a hub and a meeting point for record companies, performance venues, management organizations and promoters (all areas in which our team members have worked and gained insight and experience) to work together to solve the new challenges that come inevitably with a changing and dynamic market. Because we have all worked in these sales-driven areas of the industry, we are keenly aware of the complex and increasingly intertwining and symbiotic relationship between the marketing and publicity aspects of an artist's career.


When in their careers should artists hire a publicist?

There are two good reasons to hire a publicist. The first is to gain access to the media. The other is to manage a hungry media. With respect to the first: when an artist is ready to speak to the public, when they want to communicate about their art or beyond their art, then is the time to think about hiring a publicist. There are also more practical considerations: do you have enough bookings to both afford and warrant professional PR guidance?

With regard to the second reason for hiring a publicist: artists (both reserved and gregarious) who achieve a certain level of success - or possibly notoriety - will find themselves in such demand by the media that they need professional help in managing the attention, requiring an experienced publicist to vet, filter, prioritize and schedule their media activities.


If an artist doesn't have a publicist, what is the best advice you can offer them for
self-promotion?

Be very scrupulous with the materials you create (eg. bio, press releases, clippings, EPKs), making sure that they convey an accurate and streamlined message about your artistry, and that they reflect the level of your professionalism as an artist.


How do you choose clients? Is there a set criteria in your company, or do you decide
on a case-by-case basis?

This ties in greatly with the previous question about when an artist should hire a publicist. Timing plays a big part in these decisions. We do not have set criteria for determining which clients we choose to add to our roster. However, we do require that the artist or project under consideration has an overall, organic fit with our own artistic passions, and that we can embark on a project with a firm sense that we will be successful.


Do clients on your roster know who the other clients on the roster are? Do they
care?

Yes: when clients care, they do know.


Should publicists run Facebook pages, blogs, Twitter accounts, MySpace pages for
their clients, or is that essentially the 2009-equivalent of answering interview
questions for them?

The simple answer is no, if we are talking about a publicist masquerading as the artist. More and more artists are great bloggers and tweeters in their own words, and they deserve and earn renown for those additional gifts. That being said, there are certain elements of social networking pages that can be appropriately maintained by a publicist: specifically, updating calendars and photos and announcing events.


If you weren't a classical music publicist, what would you be?

A fisherman.