The PR Conversation the Independent Music Industry Needs to Have

By Megan Routledge | The Sound Cafe Journal

Paying for Publicity Is Not Paying for Influence. Transparency, Influence and Trust in an Industry Built on Relationships

There is an uncomfortable conversation the independent music industry needs to have.

It is a conversation about publicity, influence, relationships, disclosure and, ultimately, trust.

For an independent artist, hiring a publicist can represent a considerable financial investment. In return, the artist expects professional expertise, strategic advice, media relationships, campaign management and an understanding of how to navigate an increasingly complicated music industry.

For many artists, a publicist becomes an extension of their professional team. That makes transparency more than simply a nice thing to have. It becomes an essential part of a professional relationship.

There are many highly professional people working in music publicity who work hard on behalf of their clients. Nothing in this discussion should be interpreted as an accusation against the PR industry, nor should having multiple industry relationships automatically be regarded as misconduct.

People working in independent music frequently occupy several roles. The same individual may be involved with festivals, societies, media, awards, artist development or community organizations.

The issue is not whether people have relationships.

The issue is whether those relationships are sufficiently transparent for artists to make informed decisions about who they hire.

How much should an artist be entitled to know before handing over responsibility for promoting their career?

Who Does Your Publicist Represent?

It sounds like one of the most basic questions an artist could ask: who are your current clients?

Yet there are publicity businesses whose public-facing information may provide prospective clients with limited information about their existing professional relationships.

There can be perfectly legitimate reasons for that. Artists may request privacy, contracts may contain confidentiality provisions, and campaigns may not yet have been publicly announced.

Transparency does not mean demanding that a PR company publish confidential client information or breach contractual obligations. Protecting client confidentiality is itself an important professional responsibility.

There is, however, a difference between protecting confidential information and providing prospective clients with little meaningful information about relationships that could reasonably affect their decision to hire a publicist.

For an independent musician considering spending significant money on publicity, knowing whether a PR company represents other artists in the same genre, artists seeking similar festival opportunities, or organizations with which those artists may interact can be relevant.

These are not unreasonable questions.

They are questions that allow an artist to understand the professional environment into which they are entering.

Professional public-relations standards recognize the importance of disclosure and conflict management. The PRSA Code of Ethics addresses real, potential and perceived conflicts of interest and emphasizes disclosure where appropriate, while also recognizing the responsibility to safeguard confidential information.

The Canadian Public Relations Society similarly places importance on honesty, fairness, integrity and disclosure, including in situations involving conflicting or competing interests.

The principle is straightforward: where a professional relationship could reasonably matter to a client's decision, the relevant information should be made clear.

When Relationships Become Part of the Equation

The music industry is built on relationships.

A publicist who has spent years developing relationships with journalists, broadcasters, record labels, promoters, festivals, music societies and industry organizations will naturally possess a network that can benefit clients.

That experience has real value. It is one of the reasons artists hire experienced publicists in the first place.

But professional relationships can become more complicated when people occupy multiple positions within the same ecosystem.

A PR professional may also sit on the board of a music organization. They may provide publicity services for a festival, work on an awards program, hold a formal role within a society that organizes events or showcases, or have other professional connections to organizations with which their clients interact.

None of these things automatically represents a conflict of interest.

In many cases, overlapping roles are simply a consequence of being deeply involved in an independent music community.

The difficulty arises when those relationships become relevant to the services being provided but are not apparent to the person paying for those services.

Consider a hypothetical example.

An artist hires a publicist to promote a new album. That publicist also provides professional services to a festival where the artist hopes to perform. Neither relationship is inherently improper. The publicist may be perfectly capable of serving both clients professionally.

But the artist should understand the overlap before deciding whether the arrangement is right for them.

The question is not whether somebody has several roles. The question is whether those roles are relevant to the work they are being paid to perform, and whether the artist understands them well enough to make an informed decision.

The "Double Hat" Problem

Perhaps the easiest way to understand the issue is to think about hats.

A person can legitimately be a publicist, a board member, a festival organizer, a volunteer for a music society, an awards-program participant, an adviser to artists and someone who works regularly with media.

There is nothing inherently wrong with any of those roles.

The difficulty comes when those responsibilities overlap and it becomes unclear which responsibility takes precedence in a particular situation.

If someone is acting as a publicist, their responsibility is to their client. If they are acting as a board member, their responsibilities may be to the organization. If they are involved in selecting artists for an event, their responsibility should be to the integrity of that selection process.

Those responsibilities can coexist, but they require clear boundaries.

More importantly, those boundaries need to be understood by the people whose interests may be affected.

The issue is not that somebody has several roles.

It is whether everyone affected understands what those roles are.

Where Does Publicity End and Influence Begin?

This may be the most important distinction in the entire conversation.

There is a world of difference between having relationships within an industry and having influence over decisions made by organizations within that industry.

Knowing a festival promoter does not mean a publicist can secure a festival booking.

Knowing an awards organization does not mean a publicist determines who receives an award.

Working with a music society does not mean a publicist controls which artists are selected to perform.

Being connected to decision-makers does not automatically give someone the right to influence their decisions.

But this is precisely why transparency matters.

An artist should be able to understand the difference between access, relationships and influence, particularly when industry connections are presented as part of the value of a publicity service.

The danger comes when "industry connections" become a selling point without clearly explaining what those connections actually mean.

An artist should never be left with the impression that paying a publicity fee somehow purchases access to decisions that the publicist has no legitimate authority to influence.

Professional public-relations standards emphasize honesty, integrity and avoiding improper influence. Those principles are worth remembering throughout the music industry,

particularly in an environment where personal and professional relationships can overlap so easily.

Paying for Publicity Is Not Paying for Influence

This distinction deserves particular attention.

An artist pays a publicist to promote their work. That can include media pitching, campaign strategy, interview coordination, press releases, relationship management, event promotion and many other legitimate services.

But there is a line between paying for publicity and believing that a payment buys influence.

If a publicist says they have relationships with a particular festival, awards organization, society or media outlet, an artist should be able to understand what that means.

Does it mean the publicist can submit material?

Does it mean they can make an introduction?

Does it mean they can request consideration?

Or does the artist somehow believe it means a decision will be influenced?

Those are very different propositions.

PR ethics also recognize the importance of disclosure when commercial relationships intersect with media exposure or other forms of public communication.

The broader principle is useful here.

Artists should know what they are paying for. Media should know when relationships are commercial. Organizations should understand when professional relationships overlap.

Audiences should be able to trust that editorial and selection decisions remain independent.

The Hidden Network

The independent music industry can sometimes be remarkably small.

The same people appear repeatedly in different roles. A promoter may also sit on a festival committee. A festival organizer may be involved with a music society. A society may have relationships with an awards organization. A publicist may represent artists appearing at those events. A journalist may cover them, while a broadcaster may sponsor them.

None of this is unusual.

In fact, it is one of the reasons independent music communities can work so effectively.

People build relationships over decades, often because they have volunteered their time, supported artists and contributed to the development of their local or national music scenes.

The problem is not the existence of those relationships.

The problem arises when the relationships become difficult for artists to see or understand.

An artist should not have to piece together the professional ecosystem surrounding their publicist through old event programs, social media posts, organizational websites and years of archived announcements.

Where a relationship is material to the services being provided, disclosure should be the starting point.

That does not mean every personal connection needs to be published. It means significant professional relationships and potential conflicts should be disclosed when they are relevant to the client relationship.

What Should a Professional PR Relationship Look Like?

Perhaps the industry needs to make this much simpler.

A professional publicity relationship should begin with clarity.

The artist should understand what services are being provided, what the campaign is intended to achieve, what the publicist can realistically deliver and what those services will cost.

They should also know whether the publicist represents other artists whose interests could materially overlap with theirs and, where relevant, whether the publicist has significant professional affiliations that could create an actual or perceived conflict.

Professional public-relations standards also recognize that practitioners should not guarantee specified results beyond their capacity to achieve.

That is an important principle for the music business.

A professional can promise effort, expertise, strategy and advocacy. They can promise to approach media, develop a campaign and use their professional experience to present an artist's work effectively.

They cannot honestly promise an outcome they do not control.

That distinction should be clear from the beginning of the relationship.

Artists Are Often the Least Informed People in the Room

This matters particularly for emerging musicians.

An established artist may have management, legal advice, label support and years of experience navigating the industry.

An emerging independent artist often has none of those things.

They may be trying to understand contracts, distribution, streaming, publicity, booking, publishing, awards, festivals and media simultaneously.

They may have little idea how the industry actually works.

That makes professional advice incredibly valuable. It also creates an imbalance of knowledge.

When one party understands the industry considerably better than the other, the responsibility for making the relationship clear becomes even greater.

An artist should never be embarrassed for asking questions about a publicist's clients, affiliations, relationships or expectations.

They should be encouraged to ask them.

A good professional relationship should not depend upon an artist being afraid to question the person they are paying.

What Artists Should Ask

Before hiring a PR company, artists should consider asking some straightforward questions:

Who are your current clients, where disclosure is possible?

Do you represent artists in my genre?

Do you represent artists who may be competing for the same opportunities?

What organizations are you formally affiliated with?

Do you sit on any boards or committees?

Do you provide paid services to festivals, awards programs or music societies?

Do any of those relationships overlap with opportunities available to your clients?

How would you handle a potential conflict of interest?

If a conflict arises between my interests and those of another client or organization you work with, how will you handle it?

What exactly is included in my publicity campaign, and what can I reasonably expect from it?

None of these questions should be viewed as confrontational.

They are professional questions, and a professional relationship should be able to withstand them.

In fact, a willingness to answer them may be one of the clearest indicators that an artist is dealing with someone who understands the importance of transparency.

The Industry Needs a Better Transparency Standard

Perhaps the solution is not complicated.

Publicity companies could voluntarily establish a basic transparency standard.

Where confidentiality permits, they could identify current clients, disclose significant

organizational affiliations, identify board and governance positions held by principals and disclose significant publicity contracts with festivals, awards programs and industry organizations.

Where a genuine potential conflict exists, they could also explain how it is managed.

This would not eliminate relationships.

It would simply make those relationships easier to understand.

It would also allow artists to compare PR companies based on the actual services they provide rather than simply the reputation or perceived influence of the people behind them.

That would ultimately benefit the industry as a whole.

Transparency Benefits Good Publicists

There is an important point that should not be overlooked: greater transparency is not a threat to professional publicists.

It could actually strengthen the reputation of the best ones.

A publicist who operates ethically, clearly identifies their services, explains relevant relationships and manages potential conflicts openly has little to fear from transparency.

In fact, it provides another reason for artists to trust them.

The professionals who have built their reputations through years of honest work should not have to compete with vague promises of access and influence.

The industry should reward professionalism.

It should reward clear communication, realistic expectations, strong campaigns and relationships that are built on trust rather than suggestion.

This Isn't About Eliminating Relationships

It would be unrealistic to suggest that music professionals should never hold multiple positions within the industry.

The independent music world depends upon people volunteering their time, serving on boards, organizing events, running societies, supporting awards programs and helping artists.

Many of the people doing this work are doing so because they genuinely care about music and want to contribute to its development.

The answer is not to eliminate those relationships.

It is to make them visible when they are relevant.

The questions should always be:

Who knows what?

Who represents whom?

Who is responsible for making the decision?

If those answers are clear, relationships can coexist without undermining confidence.

People can work across different parts of the industry without every overlapping connection automatically being interpreted as a conflict.

What matters is that everyone involved understands where professional responsibilities begin and end.

Trust Is the Real Currency

At its heart, this is not really a story about PR.

It is a story about trust.

An artist trusts a publicist with their money. They trust them with their music, their story and their reputation. They also trust them to be honest about what they can and cannot deliver.

That trust becomes particularly important when the person being hired occupies several positions within the same industry.

The independent music industry does not need fewer relationships.

It needs more transparency around those relationships.

It does not need fewer people involved.

It needs clearer boundaries.

And it certainly does not need artists believing that they have purchased influence when what they have actually purchased is publicity.

There is nothing wrong with having connections. There is nothing wrong with serving the industry in multiple capacities. There is nothing wrong with building a career through relationships.

But when those relationships intersect, disclosure becomes increasingly important.

Because transparency is not an accusation.

It is not an attack.

It is not an assumption of wrongdoing.

It is simply the foundation upon which professional trust should be built.

Perhaps the independent music industry is ready to start asking a little more of everyone involved, not because everyone is doing something wrong, but because an industry that asks artists to trust it should be willing to show them exactly how it works.

The Sound Cafe Journal

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Where the story behind the music matters.

Find Out More About Megan Routledge HERE

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