Alternative music PR in Manchester
Two lists, run as one campaign. The specialist alternative press, and the Manchester 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.
It also carries a weight of history that cuts both ways. Manchester bands get read, which is an advantage. They also get compared, immediately and often lazily, to four decades of predecessors. Getting ahead of that comparison is a specific piece of work and it belongs in the first draft of the pitch, not the fifth.
An alternative campaign run from Manchester 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 Manchester list
Manchester's local music media, which is unusually strong for a UK city outside London.
Community station with strong emerging-artist support and a real audience among the city's musicians.
Long-standing Manchester station, particularly strong on dance and urban music.
Rock-oriented commercial station with genuine local commitment.
Broad reach across Greater Manchester. A general-audience desk, so it needs a story rather than a release.
Independent cultural coverage with real credibility locally. Competitive, and usually reached with some coverage behind you.
The rooms
Night & Day Café remains the room a Manchester band is expected to have played, and its ongoing licensing fights have made it a story in its own right. The Deaf Institute and YES cover the step up, with YES's multiple rooms making it useful at several stages of a band's development. Band on the Wall carries genuine institutional weight after its refurbishment. Soup and The Peer Hat serve the more experimental and DIY end. Gullivers and The Castle Hotel anchor the Northern Quarter small-room circuit. Beyond those, Gorilla, Academy 2 and New Century mark the transition to a real touring audience.
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 Manchester?
Send us the track, the release date and where you have played. We will tell you what is realistic before you spend anything.