Life's A Pitch

Playbill Radio uses one of the oldest tricks in the book: puppies to sell your product. When you're in a Playbill that includes Cheyenne Jackson's headshot, these are the things you have to do to get noticed. … [Read more...]

Last.fm, an internet radio/concert listing/social networking site based out of the UK, launched an artist royalty program this morning. According to Wired's Listening Post blog, a percentage of the advertisement dollars (err, pounds) will be given to artists when ads appear next to their streaming music, regardless of an artist's position in the industry (signed, unsigned, managed, unmanaged). By virtue of having to track the numbers for payment purposes, it seems artists will gain useful marketing data from this initiative as well. From an … [Read more...]

Justin Davidson and Perez Hilton remind us that classical critics aren't the only journalists losing their jobs.In addition to The Chicago Tribune cutting 80 of its 578 newsroom jobs over the next two months, the Tribune corporation is apparently selling Long Island's Newsday, the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field. Between this and the Starbucks drama last week, maybe classical music has finally become mainstream. … [Read more...]

Last week, I walked by an Abercrombie & Fitch store, stopped, turned right, and started to walk inside. What the Joshua Bell is wrong with me, I thought:  I don't like Abercrombie clothes, I'm already late for a meeting, and there's no obligatory hot preppy "greeter" guy at the door. It just felt so cool to walk in. Literally cool. The doors were wide open and the store was pumping AC into the street. Fancy hotels pull similar stunts in the winter: you'll be hustling along, face-in-scarf, and then, all of a sudden, angels are singing … [Read more...]

When it comes time to promote multi-genre performance projects, publicists have to make a choice: which section do I pitch the story to? You only get one critic from one section, so choose wisely!This is not to say that whomever a publicist chooses to approach about a performance will actually review it (a girl can dream...), but an "angle" decision must be made before starting the process. For example, each Wordless Music Series concert features a classical chamber music group or soloist and an indie rock/electronic band or performer. One … [Read more...]