Skip to main content

Maverick Ad

Home

Main navigation

  • Home
  • Cover Stories
  • Features
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Cashbox Legacy Awards
  • Past Covers
  • Weekly Archive
Get Your Story Right

Breadcrumb

  • Home
  • Get Your Story Right
Peter Åstedt
Fri Mar 26, 2021
Peter Åstedt

I recently saw an interview with the Swedish megastar Zara Larsson. It was some famous magazine that was getting the grand tour of her apartment. Then she was in various Swedish media coverage saying that she had been smoking a lot of weed lately but has now stopped doing that.  Strange thing is I first noticed that we haven’t heard from Zara for long while. I looked in both interviews but none said anything about new music.

Then just days later I saw an ad for her new album “Postergirl”. Of course Zara Larsson has great, smart teams working around her to get her exposure. The two interview looks like they are just taken out of the blue, that she just one day felt like showing off her apartment for a magazine or doing a “dark” confession. The truth is that in today’s media world the fact that you release new music is not good enough news.

This is a trap that really many new artists fall into easily. I get a lot of new press releases and you can easily see when you get it from a bigger established artist there is usually a story around it. The story very often contains things that have nothing to do with the music. On the opposite to that is what the new artist is doing; they ramble on which producers they had, what plugins they used, and what the songs mean to them. The problem is that information is not so sexy to write or speak about. Yes, of course if you use a mega-producer it might be fun asking about how it was to work with that producer. Unfortunately, most of the time it’s a producer that has some obscure connection to an album with a semi-big artist.

You need that story even as a small artist. I have worked a lot with my bands to try to create those stories and with more time in,  you have them automatically. When you toured enough and have big things behind you, this comes with the career. This is why it’s so easier to  do an interview with a legendary artist. They have all stories to tell. When you are new you just have to make them up.

In some cases it’s just pure lies. How many people haven’t heard that Dee Snider from Twisted Sister had sharpened his teeth to look like fangs? It was a rumor in the 80:s maybe it’s true maybe it’s not. Another rumor was that Marilyn Manson had an operation that took out his bottom rib bones to be able to suck himself off. I spoke about this subject in a panel at a conference once and mentioned that it just was probably a rumor but had worked to his advantage. Then the guy next to me in the panel confessed he was the one who created that rumor.

He was the PR agent for Marilyn in a smaller country in Europe. He had done a deal with a newspaper to give them a new story around the artist for a couple of weeks before the concert in that country. Back then Marilyn Manson was fairly new and was just famous for his stage show and strange looks. Of course, they had run out of stories to tell. They knew though that this newspaper was very Christian and as we all know Marilyn Manson is kind of the opposite. Out of desperation, they created the story that he had operatedto remove his rib bones. They thought it’s such a small country and the paper also Christian so he thought that they wouldn’t write it because it was too shocking. But even they did not write it they had fulfilled their deal. This was too good of a story to miss so the newspaper just blasted it out. Suddenly all the newspapers in that country had the story on their first page. Tickets to the show were sold out in minutes. They had thought to call Brian (Marilyn Manson) to tell him what they had done. He just laughed and in the interviews, later while he did the concerts he never denied if this rumor was true or not. It still lies around on the internet.

In this case it was somebody else that made the thing up. But many artists create a rumor in one interview to then later deny it in the next to make it be more mysterious.

No, I don’t encourage people to lie or make up stories. What I’m pointing out here is that you need to have another good story when you release new music. Also, that the story doesn’t really connect with the music. It should be able to stand on its own. In addition, if you are doing different magazines create this story to fit whatever this magazine is about so do your homework. If it is a lifestyle magazine you just tell them about your big collection of toy elephants that you have at home. If they want to have a photo session in your apartment with you just hurry down to a couple of thrift shops and buy every elephant you can get your hands on.

Even if the story is not true, if it’s good enough it will be told, and you need to make sure that people are talking about you to get your music heard.

Editor’s Note: Peter Åstedt has been working in the music industry for over 30 years. He has started record labels, distribution systems, and publishing companies. Peter also runs several major showcase festivals and is an advisor for INES and co-founder of MusicHelp/Discover Sensation. He has worked with the Top Ten most streamed songs and had music on both the Olympics and Super Bowl. Peter has currently taken up the seat of Station Manager of Cashbox Radio, working with MD, PD and station owner, Sandy Graham. His latest venture is a new Showcase Festival in Sweden, Future Echoes scheduled for September 16-18, 2021.

Features
Music
Peter Åstedt
Month: Dec 2021
The Band’s Classic Fourth Album, Cahoots 50th Anniversary Edition Release Dec 17
Cashbox Radio Christmas & Holiday Pick Hits Pt. 2 Dec 10
Country Artist Lisa Richard Gives Ode to the Spirit of Christmas with “Jolly Ol… Dec 10
Great Big Sea Co-Founder Séan McCann Releases New Single “10,000 Miles Away” Dec 10
Nothing Will Be Perfect! Dec 10
Jesse Cook Combines Spanish Guitar with Modern Trap & 808 Beats in… Dec 10
Tommy James Welcomes You To His Rock Party! Dec 10
Jonny Dovercourt Releases Season 2 of Any Night of the Week: A Walking… Dec 10
Waves That Stray Exposes the Vulnerability of Self-Reflection with Single “Inside… Dec 03
The Honeyrunners Release New Music Video For“Ghosts” That Will Make You Scream Dec 03
Peter Astedt Explains It Has To Be Good! Dec 03
Reggae Legend Jay Douglas Goes Big-Band with Soulful New Holiday Single, “… Dec 03
Cashbox Radio Christmas & Holiday Pick Hits December 2021 Dec 03
The Tradition Continues…Andy Kim Christmas Live Concert Massey Hall… Dec 03
Month: Nov 2021
Putting the Online Events In The Past Nov 26
Lily Frost Releases New Single Video Rock Me Baby Nov 26
40+ Years of Beloved Classics, Legendary Band Spoons Releases Two Greatest… Nov 26
I’m Not Allowed to Write a Bad Song? Nov 19
JUNO-Nominated Girl Pow-R Soar with Supercharged Remix of “This Is Us” Nov 19
D.O. Gibson is "Still Driven” With New Album and Book Release "On This Grind… Nov 19

Pagination

  • First page « First
  • Previous page ‹ Previous
  • …
  • Page 25
  • Page 26
  • Page 27
  • Page 28
  • Current page 29
  • Page 30
  • Page 31
  • Page 32
  • Page 33
  • …
  • Next page Next ›
  • Last page Last »

CEO/PUBLISHER/EDITOR IN CHIEF
SANDY GRAHAM

email:sandygrahamemg@gmail.com 

Canadian Journalists:

Contributing Journalist - Canada and Global
Don Graham
email: dongrahamwriter@gmail.com

Contributing Journalist - Canada and Global
Lisa Hartt
email: lisahartt87@hotmail.com

Contributing Journalist - Canada 
Michael Williams
email: greydread@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

International Journalists:

Contributing Journalist - Sweden
Malin Osth
email: malin@musicdays.se

Contributing Journalist - Sweden
Jonas Tancred
email: jonas@musicdays.se

Contributing Journalist - USA
Rob Durkee 
email: rockster2746@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Web Developer/Technical Support
Chris Wardman

email: info@chriswardman.com
website: chriswardman.com

Cashbox Cover Design and Graphic Artist
Jain McMillan

email: jainmcmillan@gmail.com

Contributing Photographer 
Tracey Savein - South Paw Productions
southpawproductions@rogers.com

 

 

 

Footer menu

  • Home
  • Features
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Cashbox Archive
  • Issue Archive
  • Past Covers