I had a Spring for Music festival meeting at Opus 3 Artists this afternoon, and was extremely distracted by the truly excellent vintage posters and flyers hanging in the conference room. The best one, from a publicist’s perspective, was this Yo-Yo Ma booking flyer from the mid-70’s:
It was decided on this very blog that Yo-Yo Ma was more famous than Itzhak Perlman, after all. Also, he was on The Colbert Report.
Something I like to do is create a peer quote sheet as well, like the blurbs on the back of a book. That way, even if an artist hasn’t been reviewed by a Paper of Note, there’s some kind of critical content to a press release or press kit. Also, in an age where everyone and their dog sitter has a blog, Twitter feed and/or Facebook page, what is a “review,” anyway?
Slightly unrelated, check out these Hottie McHotties, also prominently displayed in the conference room:
Hubba hubba.
Back in the day (did I say that?), getting those quotes on the ‘PIP’ sheet or flyer was the validation that a new artist had ‘arrived’. As young artists, it was our initial ticket to being rated, so presenters could trust the manager that they were presenting an artist of value. (Funny, people used to tell me I resembled that exact picture of Mr. Barenboim when I was in my 20s!–Now I can see it looking back!)
These days, with the mass networking sites and people making personal connections, it has become more the people’s critic world, and there are many good listeners out there who now have a voice. The web site of an artist can tell a story with video, audio, reviews, history etc. The single sell sheet is still a good tool, but the web site can include so much more to get a stronger feel for the artist rather than a crammed one or two-sided flyer. But the history of the promotion is an interesting one–we all had these items when we could afford them–but the technology today allows for much more.
Back in the day, The Louisville Times & Courier Journal were great newspapers that covered the world. They were among any number of publications in “fly over” land that were well regarded nationally. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case. In fact, there are few regional publications left of that quality.