Pollstar Live! Coverage: The Millisecond News Cycle – PR Strategies In A Radically Transparent World

Having to track down Ol’ Dirty Bastard and get him to an awards show was one event early in Carrie Davis’ career that “trumped all others” when it comes to moments that left an impression on her about the world of PR.  

Describing the situation as a “several day odyssey” and a “fantastical adventure” (which, someone joked, inspired the movie “Get Him To The Greek”), the Chief Communications Officer at Live Nation told the audience at Pollstar Live Feb. 5 that it “taught me the world of talent is not for the faint of heart. When you’re working for talent, that is your life, a 24/7 job. It taught me the lengths you have to go to be successful in this business … and how PR works inside the business.” 

Davis, who is self taught and started working in PR representing hip-hop clients, noted that her career has come full circle because she now gets to work with Wu-Tang “in a much different capacity” now that she’s at Live Nation.  

Along with Davis, other publicists sharing insights and tips about what it takes to be a publicist in the music industry included Kristen Foster, President of Full Coverage Communications; Ebie McFarland, Owner/Publicist at Essential Broadcast Media; Jim Merlis of Big Hassle Media; and John Vlautin; CEO of SpinLab Communications. As moderator Andy Gensler, Executive Editor of Pollstar, put it: “We have a baller panel here today.” 

When asked to share a few of her tent pole moments in her career that taught her something, Foster chimed in by saying, “How easy would it be to rep a can of Coke? It doesnt walk, it doesn’t talk, it doesn’t say dumb things on Twitter? …

“These artists feel things and live in a different head space than us business people. … How can we give them a forum? I work with Lorde, who’s a fantastically artistic person. I came to her with an offer to play SNL and she asked me, ‘What artistically am I trying to achieve by doing SNL?’ I wanted to smack her upside the head but for her it’s a legit question. You realize how passionate the artists you work with feel about something.”

Gensler pointed out that in the last few weeks, the news cycle has included major stories such as the presidential impeachment, the Grammy scandal, coronavirus, Iowa caucus, the Super Bowl, the Oscars and Kobe Bryant’s death. He asked, “Is this the new normal? What’s your take on the news cycle?”  

“It depends on what side you’re on,” Davis said. “If you’re dealing with bad news, the news cycle is your best friend, because almost nothing sticks. If you’re trying to break good news, almost nothing sticks. It goes both ways, unfortunately or fortunately.”

For getting positive news out there, like an up-and-coming band announcing a tour or an executive being promoted, Merlis noted that you can’t rely on a press release (unless you’re promoting a huge artist). 

“The press release is not going to solve the thing,” Merlis said. “It’s the one-on-one combat. You know the sound of your artist and you know the press people that like the sound. You go directly to them.” 

As for those negative situations – if a client puts their foot in their mouth and scandal ensues, for example – Foster says, “99 percent of our job is to get in front of that so it doesn’t happen in the first place.” If those situations do come about, the first step is to analyze if it’s so inflammatory that the artist needs to apologize or “is it slight enough that it will go away in 10 minutes?” 

McFarland recommends being straight and to the point, saying, for example, “He made a not-funny joke.” She adds, “If you report on something … it diffuses it. … If they get a sense you’re trying to cover it up, they’ll just want to dig deeper. So be authentic and transparent.” 

This tip referred back to a story Vlautin had brought up earlier about his stint working as Live Nation’s Chief Communications Officer. He brought up how Live Nation CEO and President Michael Rapino responded to a situation where fans were upset about something that Live Nation had done by sending out a tweet that said, “Hey, we screwed up, sorry.” I advise by clients to build the tools before you need them, lots of tools to communicate directly.” 

Davis agreed, saying, “To John’s point, you want to be authentic about it and admit when you screwed up. Trying to obscure the truth will never work in this day and age because the truth will always come out.”