Alternative music PR in London
Two lists, run as one campaign. The specialist alternative press, and the London media and venue network that gives a writer a reason to take you seriously.
Alternative is the hardest brief in music PR, because it is defined by what it is not. A band that sits between post-hardcore and indie, or between electronic and rock, gets pitched with hedging language such as genre-defying or hard to categorise, which is precisely the language that makes an editor stop reading.
What actually helps in London is scene legibility. The city's music press thinks in venues and orbits. The room you play in tells a features editor more about you than any description of your sound. A campaign that can place you inside one of those orbits will always outperform one that simply says you are from London.
An alternative campaign run from London therefore works on two levels at once. The genre list reaches the writers who cover this music seriously. The city list builds the local foundation that makes the genre pitch credible, because an artist who already has coverage, radio support and a live reputation at home is a considerably easier sell than one who arrives with only a track.
The alternative list
The layer an alternative campaign genuinely works at.
Independent UK coverage across alternative, punk and emo. Genuinely open to unsigned bands.
The smaller sites covering the space between genres, which is exactly where an alternative band belongs.
North East focused but nationally read, and generous to genuinely alternative work. Every region has one.
Regional shows are the realistic entry point, and specialist national play tends to come through them.
Open to unsigned submissions and unusually receptive to work that does not fit a format.
Late-night and specialist programming on community stations. Small, committed, and open.
The London list
London-based and London-facing media worth targeting alongside the national titles.
The default listings authority for the city. Broad reach, heavily contested, and realistic once you have a show worth listing.
Peckham-based, youth-led and genuinely influential in London's rap and R&B scenes.
Dalston-based with international reach. Extremely influential across electronic and leftfield music.
Central to London club culture across garage, grime, house and bass.
Broad remit and receptive to emerging London artists across genres.
The rooms
The Windmill in Brixton has produced more press-relevant guitar bands in the last decade than any other room in Britain, and a residency there is a story in itself. MOTH Club and The Shacklewell Arms anchor the Hackney circuit. The Lexington and Sebright Arms remain reliable proof-of-life rooms for developing bands. Corsica Studios, fold and Venue MOT cover the club end. New River Studios and Cafe OTO serve the experimental scene. For a step up, EartH, Village Underground, Scala and Electric Ballroom are the rooms that signal an artist has an audience rather than a following.
How we pitch it
One anchor, then the difference
We pick a single recognisable coordinate a writer already understands, then position what makes you unusual against it. Genre-defying says nothing. A post-punk band who write like a folk act says something a features editor can use.
Split the list, split the pitch
An alternative band frequently has two viable audiences with two entirely different press sets. We build and send two versions of the campaign rather than one compromise that suits neither.
What's included
Alternative artist in London?
Send us the track, the release date and where you have played. We will tell you what is realistic before you spend anything.