You always get that the artist is the genius around the whole thing. Still, in most cases, they would have been nothing if it wasn’t for that perfect PR team.

I hear it all the time, artists coming up to me saying they have done the best song ever and it’s produced by some dude you never heard of in your life. Okay, it could be a really good song. But I know so many good songs even brilliant songs that never reach the big audience. To build that perfect storm that a good song needs to become a classical song, that is down to your PR team.

That is why I’m so surprised that there is no award for the PR team. We can give titles to so many people that really don’t mean that much. In many cases that producer Grammy, well without that team it wouldn’t go anywhere. And you give to mastering and mixing and even background singers and worst of all so many small genres that don’t really count. Yes like my five Grammys on children’s music. No, I don’t have them on display.

I guess this is the reason why the artist is putting so much money into the recording and not realizing that it doesn’t matter if you make the best recording if no one is able to hear it. “If I only had two dollars left I would spend one dollar on PR.” is a famous quote from Bill Gates. For the artist, it seems the motto is if I have two dollars left I pay three to make a recording.

Yes, many times the bragging is that they recorded in Abby Roads Studios. Yes, it is a nice studio and can do great things. Still, If you bring in Eilert Pilarm to record there it doesn’t matter. He is still Eilert Pilarm with any fancy equipment.

Before you say something. This guy actually was the artist of the year in UK 1999. He was the most booked artist in Sweden in 2001. He is probably more famous than most of the songs that come out from Abby Road, not all but a majority. Yes PR is the killing name in this business. It’s not enough to have a fancy studio a good song and a famous producer. It doesn’t mean a thing. You will be beaten by a mediocre song badly recorded but a very good and smart PR team.

I usllay ask for the PR team when people present stuff for me. 99% of the time I get a big question mark in the presenter’s face.

It’s strange that the best PR teams are quite anonymous. Most artists have a lot to thank these teams. In many cases, the artist has no clue who they are and what they have done. I usllay ask them when we bump into them on the Grammy Award, few know the answer.

The new industry that is ongoing I guess Bill Gates will quote “If I had two dollars left, I would spend 1,90 dollars on PR”. A lot because in the PR game you get what you pay for.