Tuesday 27 October 2015
I arrived a little later and felt worried about
being late but Claire, the press officer, told me I wasn’t expected until 10 so
I was still early.
What a relief.
First of all, I filed away a few more magazine cut
outs. As I leafed through the folder I was happy to see some of my published
works in there. My review of Behemoth in Devolution Magazine and my Blind Guardian write up in Metal Monthly were just a few. Made me rather chuffed to
know something I wrote had been read in this office.
Then Nik told me to put about 40 copies of the new
Anthrax single ‘Evil Twin’ into envelopes and sticker on the radio station
addresses. This felt like good manual labouring fun as I made up a routine of
packaging and filing. It felt good using my hands as it beat staring into a
computer screen all day.
Once that was done, I was shown how to use a
franking machine to put the postal payments on the envelopes. Doing the mail
might not have seemed like a typical music industry role, but it showed how big
the logistics of getting new music out there can be and how much manpower it
requires.
Lisa and Claire then discussed the Cradle gig last
weekend. Apparently the band played well but the dancing girls didn’t know what
to do. Someone covering that gig had already told me they were a letdown so I wasn’t
surprised.
Whilst I can see the appeal of dancing girls, and I am
not against them being used in any art form at all, I do sometimes find them
cringe worthy. And I do wonder how many young people go to those sorts of gigs
just to see a sexy woman waving her breasts around to the music.
In the afternoon I filled out more radio and TV
airplay spreadsheets. Slayer had the most plays with their new single ‘Repentless’
and I posted more social media links about the new Suicide Silence video and
what Dani Filth makes of Halloween in general.
It was a typical day at the office, but the most interesting part was when I was
on my way home and Claire had accompanied me to post the singles I’d packaged. She
told me how she’d come straight into PR from the world of Art and Sarah, the
other press officer, had studied journalism before getting into the music
world.
According to her, PR appealed as what a journalist would do without all
the hassle of research and interviewing people. Now that could come across as
spiteful to all the hard working journalists I know, but I do get what she
means. Being someone who likes to work backstage and give others a helping
hand, I can see the world of PR beckoning me closer and closer.
Music PR is definitely a worthy encounter if you
love music but aren’t sure if you could be a professional music writer. But
always keep your options open as this is my first proper experience of this
world.
