Each week, I’ll post an interview with someone far more
knowledgeable than myself on specific marketing and publicity
subjects. This week, publicist Marisa Handren on trends in viral marketing, music sites to read, and why the indie rock world is obsessed with felines.
Marisa Handren runs Four Paws Media, an arts and music pr company in Jersey City, NJ. Before starting Four Paws, Marisa spent three years at Blue Ghost Publicity working with inspiring and accomplished artists such as Deerhoof, The Locust, Xiu Xiu and Grammy nominees Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Marisa also published the magazine Kitty Magik for ten years.
How long ago did you start your own PR firm?
Four Paws started three years ago.
Which bands does Four Paws Media represent?
The current roster includes Adam Gnade, The Advantage, Burning Star Core, Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog, Chris Brokaw, The Curtains, Deerhoof, Elliott Smith (posthumous release, New Moon), Carla Bozulich’s Evangelista, Experimental Dental School, Flying, Fog, Gorge Trio, Hawnay Troof, Heartworm Press, Little Women, Mirror Mirror, New Bloods, Numbers, People, Pale Young Gentlemen, the Seconds, Shapes and Sizes, xbxrx, and Xiu Xiu.
What kinds of things do you look for in bands? I.e. is there some kind of criteria for representation? I assume a lot of bands handle their own press (much like a lot of young classical musicians/ensembles); at what point do they make the transition to hiring a publicist?
The most important requirement is enjoying the music. No point in involving yourself with something you don’t want to listen to let alone have to talk about on a regular basis!
It’s different for every artist and label when they come to a decision about promotion. I’d say generally they’ll consider hiring a publicist when they believe a specific project would appeal to a larger audience and are in a financial position to back it.
What are some of the trends you’ve noticed in bands’ (1) album art (2) websites (3) instrumentation?
1 – limited edition packaging, interchangeable cover art, poster inserts, different art for CD and vinyl releases
2 – more free downloads, videos, blogs/writings directly from the artists to the fans, letting fans remix their songs
3 – anything goes
Can you describe the Deerhoof sheet music project? I think it’s a fantastic idea. How did that come together?
The response has been amazing! I think people are getting excited. We’re definitely excited about it.
Basically Deerhoof has offered “Fresh Born”, the first song from their new album Offend Maggie, in sheet music form, before anyone can hear Deerhoof’s version. The project invites listeners to make their own version of the song and if they record it they can then upload it to a website ( http://deerhoof.cashmusic.org/) to share with others.
To take it a step further, WNYC came out to the big Prospect Park show Deerhoof played in Brooklyn a few weekends ago and put together this great video about it. It made the Spotlight page on YouTube and it’s been posted all around the Internet since then. The project really started organically that night with fans picking up copies of the sheet music at the concert and also playing it before the show for WNYC’s cameras, but it’s been grabbing more and more people’s attention with each passing day. It’s been thrilling to hear all the submissions so far.
What other viral marketing techniques have been successful? Didn’t Vampire Weekend give out like, Staples discs with the album info scribbled on them? And obviously the Radiohead pay-what-you-want initiative was successful…
I’m not overly familiar with Vampire Weekend and don’t recall hearing about that promo idea. I guess it didn’t go so well! (Just kidding.) Of course Radiohead’s idea was great. Obviously they’re in a financial position where they could afford to do something like that but I feel if any artist really takes the time to consider what their listeners might want, you can actually bring something to them that’s interesting, unique and enjoyable for everyone involved. Consider the actual people involved and don’t look at it simply from just a financial point of view, that makes the most sense to me. People will respond the most to that.
Back to the basics: when you send out a press release, do you send it out as an attached pdf or paste it into the body of an e mail?
I use a mailing list provider so it’s all about the fancy HTML for me!
Do you send formal press releases to bloggers, or let news spread on its own?
Depends on the mood and the project. We sometimes let sites run news first so it’s an exclusive to their outlet, or I will announce it and let it spread that way, or like we did for the Deerhoof sheet music project when we let the fans pick up copies at the show and had it spread organically at first. It varies.
Deerhoof’s new album comes out on October 7, 2008. When did you start pitching it to media?
Before they started thinking about recording it! You don’t ever have to guess with that band, the record they end up making is always going to be that great. And I was right again.
We never “leak” albums in classical music. We also never give away free/exclusive downloads from popular sites. I heard somewhere that the tracks that are given out for free are always the highest sellers on iTunes, etc.. Is that true? What are the other benefits of leaking?
I actually don’t know if that’s true. I think the best benefit of leaking is that people get to hear your music. Isn’t that what every musician wants, to be heard by as many people as possible? Leaking does put a damper on my job and the labels, and the bands if no one buys their record because they can download it for free, but I also realize the ups to it. It’s a great and easy way to hear music. But part of me also misses being able to dig around for new things instead of being able to go online for instant gratification.
Why did Gawker call Pitchfork “ancient“? Is this true? For argument’s sake, let’s say Pitchfork replaced Rolling Stone. What’s going to replace Pitchfork? A new platform hasn’t been created, so is the answer just, other music blogs?
The Daily Coyote blog is going to replace everything. No one will care about music so much anymore. They will just want to adopt animals and start big pet families.
What are your three favorite music criticism sites or publications?
I like reading “Bull Tongue” in Arthur, Time Out New York, and the Xiu Xiu blog.
Last and most importantly, there appear to be a lot of feline references in the indie rock world – Four Paws Media, Asthmatic Kitty, FatCat Records. Coincidence, or…?
Animal lovers.