Indie music PR in London
Two lists, run as one campaign. The specialist indie press, and the London media and venue network that gives a writer a reason to take you seriously.
Indie is the most crowded desk in British music press. The editors at the titles that matter receive well over a hundred pitches a week, most of them a Dropbox link and a paragraph of adjectives. The campaigns that get through are the ones with an angle a writer can build a piece around before they have even pressed play.
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 indie 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 indie list
This is the tier a campaign at this price works hard at. It is where an indie band's audience is genuinely built, and where a first campaign can realistically land.
Independent, prolific, and consistently early on bands who go on to break. One of the more receptive desks in British indie.
Long-running and generous with coverage for developing artists who arrive with a real story.
High-volume independent coverage across guitar music, with a genuine appetite for unsigned acts.
Genuinely open to unsigned submissions and a realistic first radio play for a debut single.
Regional uploads are listened to properly, and the route from a local show to national specialist play is real.
Tom Robinson's open submissions inbox. Free to enter, widely read by other tastemakers, and a legitimate first credential.
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
Scene before sound
Editors think in scenes. A band from the Windmill orbit, the Leeds DIY circuit or the Glasgow guitar underground is a legible thing to write about. A band with influences ranging from The Smiths to Radiohead is not. We position you inside a scene an editor already covers.
The live proof point
Indie press still respects the room. A sold-out show at a well-regarded 150-capacity venue, a support slot with a credible touring act, or a festival billing gives a writer a concrete reason to move now.
What's included
Indie 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.