Beatrice Bugnosen is a publicist for the boutique public relations firm Absolute Pitch. They’ve represented acts such as Alexa Wilkinson, Nick Howard, Zigmat, Daria Musk and The Shells, and featured their artists in such magazines as People, Billboard, Paste, Life & Style, Us Weekly, national television spots and newspapers.
I was lucky to be introduced to Beatrice at the New York Singer Songwriter Circle Loft Event in the fall and was delighted to get to meet with her this week. Here is a piece of my conversation with Beatrice regarding my signing on as an artist, the difference between working with new, developing artists, and some of what goes into a PR campaign.
Beatrice: What we look for in an artist is someone who has a product- a finished album, and someone who has a following and is ready to tour or travel to play shows out of town. We work on building your following, working with sponsors for showcases for our artists, and getting you heard by labels and music supervisors. How many people would you say come to your shows?
Me: Anywhere from a handful to a hundred or more. I play bar gigs, because they pay well, and those have less of a draw than say a full band show at the The Bitter End.
Beatrice: How long has your album been out?
Me: I released it mid - June of last year, at The Village Underground which I organized myself. I had a manager at the time but I wasn’t aware of how to get the press release for the event and marketing the album and my manager didn’t do much to help promote it.
Beatrice: That’s understandable, you’re the artist and your focus should be on making the music and putting on the shows. What we focus on at first is setting up your EPK (electronic press kit) getting your bio done, your image marketable, and sending out press releases, quote sheets. My background is in music, so I know a lot of bookers for venues in New York, DC, Boston and often end up acting as a manager, booking shows. Our clients The Shells are playing The Viper Room this month. I also have a team of photographers and writers so that everything is consistent when it comes to the image of the artist.
On working with established versus Indie/Emerging Artists:
Beatrice: I worked with Michael Buble this past year and it was amazing. The difference working with someone who’s so established is that it wasn’t about getting them noticed, it was choosing which things he should do. Everyone wanted, him the Food Network called, just so many things, but if he’d done all of them he wouldn’t have been able to sleep or eat. With Indie artists we try to establish them. We had a client that we got a press release in Billboard, which was a huge jumping off point.
Me: Exactly, once you’re legitimized by Billboard or Paste, you’ve entered this whole other realm where so many more people will notice you, take you seriously and give you a million more opportunities to play.
I had so much fun speaking with Beatrice and am ecstatic to be able to work with her. For more information on Absolute Pitch and the artists they represent go to:
Absolute Pitch Publicity
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