Electronic music PR in Manchester
Two lists, run as one campaign. The specialist electronic press, and the Manchester media and venue network that gives a writer a reason to take you seriously.
Electronic music is the genre where press coverage correlates least with actual traction. A record breaks because DJs play it, because a label with standing releases it, and because it works on a floor. Not because a website reviewed it. Any campaign that treats editorial as the primary target is optimising for the wrong thing.
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 electronic 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 electronic list
Where the work actually happens in an electronic campaign at this level.
Direct servicing to DJs and selectors. In this genre, frequently the highest-value activity in the whole campaign.
Noods, 1020, Balamii, EH-FM, Clyde Built and their equivalents. Small on paper, genuinely influential in practice, and open to new music.
Extensive UK dance coverage that is accessible to developing artists.
For the leftfield, eclectic and genuinely strange end of the genre.
The smaller sites and newsletters covering specific corners of the genre properly.
Guest mixes and podcast slots, which in electronic music do more than a review ever will.
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
DJ servicing before press outreach
Getting the record into the hands of the right forty DJs will usually do more than any placement. We treat this as the core of the campaign, not an afterthought.
The label is part of the pitch
In electronic music the label carries a large share of the credibility. If you are self-releasing we will be honest about how that changes the ceiling, and what to do about it.
What's included
Electronic 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.