Our Mission at AWAL is to Partner with independent artists to tell stories that shape culture. Storytelling is at the beating heart of what artists are doing and our job is to help in those efforts. In this article, we explore one way you might work with the press to help create the narrative that pushes the project forwards and share with your growing audience.
From AWAL's Instagram Page: mxmtoon / Little Simz / femdotcom
We spoke to Xavier Abraham who runs the Pytch platform which is making really exciting moves in this space. In particular, they are offering a more affordable route to a press team that can help you start developing your story.
He’s been kind enough to share a promo code for the AWAL Artist Community for 15% off - AWAL
Press can help to build an audience but is that too simplistic a way of thinking about things? How important is it that we tell a story with/to the press?
PR is an art form, and just like any art form such as music, it can take years to master. From strategy to messaging to execution, the press can help boost credibility, generate brand awareness, tell your story, and build an audience for your music and brand. It all starts by creating a narrative, developing a story that strikes curiosity. Editors and bloggers receive a constant barrage of new product launches, projects, and songs coming in daily, it’s important to create an appealing story in this very competitive market.
Four Ways Pytch Helps You Grow (taken from Pytch.co)
With your experience in media, what do you feel is the job for a good press team?
Public Relations isn’t an easy task and, from my experience, independent music publicists can be under heavy pressure with tight deadlines, unrealistic expectations, and not enough of a window to properly execute the “big picture” due to an artist’s budget constraints. There are no guarantees in PR, that’s just the brutal truth in this business. So the job for a good press team is to manage expectations, create a great narrative for their artists, develop a solid strategy, research the right journalists, and execute the best they can. Artists should educate themselves about how PR works and expect to play the long game because results don't happen overnight. It might take time to get the attention of larger publications, so focus on building your brand and always have your press team working and finding you new opportunities — sometimes, all you need is that one review or feature on a big publication, and your music career can shift in another direction.
What should a press team be looking to achieve with an artist they're working with?
While the main goal for a music PR team is to secure press coverage for their client, there’s other objectives a press team can be looking to achieve for an artist. From stirring up interests to building followers on social media to reinventing the artist’s brand, a press team will work alongside an artist to outline and set these goals together. Nowadays we’re inundated with thousands of notifications and messages everyday, public relations is a great tool for helping artists cut through the noise.
What does Pytch do for artists?
Our main goal at Pytch is to help artists execute their PR campaigns without breaking the bank. No more expensive-high-priced monthly rates, we aim to provide a new perspective and approach on how the work can be done. Pytch differentiates itself by expediting the process through technology with a cost-effective monthly subscription model — and a team of humans. From creating an artist’s story to providing a curated outreach along with the delivery of follow-up emails, Pytch is a transparent streamlined PR solution for artist’s today. Also, we’re teaming up with different brands on a monthly basis to provide other marketing opportunities such as sync placement and brand partnerships. It’s publicity, done differently.
Here, in Part 1, we’ve looked at what a press team should be looking to achieve and you will hopefully have a better idea of what to look for in a partner. There are various options available to independent artists outside of the more old-school approaches. The press teams we partner with at AWAL come in different shapes and sizes and we strongly recommend you take some time to consider what will be the best next step for you.
In Part 2 we’ll speak to the team here to get some insight on similar questions, dive into what we try to achieve with our press partners, and in particular how they play a part in breaking an artist.
That’s all for now. ✌️
Written by Phil Loutsis
Interviewee: Xavier Abraham