FRANZ HILBERATH (MP3 PR) - What An Artist Publicist Does And Modern Music PR

Franz Hilberath is a music publicist and founder of MP3 PR who has worked with a wide roster of bass music artists including Zedd's Dead, Rezz, Subtronics and more. He takes a customized approach to connect artists with the right publicity outlets to promote their releases, tours and more.

In this episode we talk about how the role of publicity and PR has evolved over the years, MP3's approach to working with clients, the importance of storytelling, how to pitch yourself properly and having a deeper WHY behind what you're doing.

Follow Franz and MP3 PR here:
https://www.instagram.com/franzmp3
https://www.mp3pr.com

Follow Nik Cherwink here:
https://www.instagram.com/nikcherwink

And visit my site to join the mailing list or book a free coaching call:
https://www.nikcherwink.com

Transcript

Franz: 0:00

there's so much music today. Like you have a lot of competition regardless of what genre you are. So like, I trust artists. I'm like, you are what makes the difference. You are why I stay along. You are why I get more invested. A song can certainly do wonders of that, but like, that's why there's one hit wonders, is there's not someone behind it for us to stay with and grow with, and that's imperative. To, you know, establishing a long term fan base.

Nik: 0:38

What's up, everybody? Welcome to the Headliner Mindset Podcast. Today's guest is the very first publicist I've ever had on the show. He's worked with artists like Zedd's Dead, Subtronics, Rez, and many others, helping them craft their unique stories and get placements with some of the biggest news outlets in the country. This is Franz Hilberth from MP3

Franz: 0:58

Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate that. Uh, that nice intro and you might, I might like a auditioning you for my publicist.

Nik: 1:06

Hey, well, here's the cool thing. I'm really excited to have you on because I started my music industry career in publicity. That was my very first job, my very first job in the music industry. Working at Capitol Records, and I was the assistant for the head of PR. She was the head of publicity. She was the head of creative services. Um, she also got promoted to, then we handled like the video team, the marketing team, she became a bigger executive, but like where really she was the, publicist for Katy Perry. Not only that, she did help sign, got her signed. Uh, so she had like A& R credit, but she was really a legendary publicist. Rest in peace, Angelica Cobb Baylor, my first mentor, my first person that really opened up the door for me to get into the music industry. But she was behind so many bands, like, System of a Down, Kid

Franz: 2:02

Oh, wow.

Nik: 2:03

it was like the PR chick that blew up all these bands back in the day, and um, Katy Perry was like kind of, I came in right when Katy Perry launched her first album, so that was my intro, when I wanted to be a rock publicist. That was like my initial sort of intention, but then I fell in love with dance music, and I totally shifted directions, so, I'm excited to be talking to a publicist, you're the first one on the show, um, Welcome. Welcome.

Franz: 2:31

Well, thank you so much. I'm glad to be the first of my kind on here. Um, as I said, did kid rock PR scare you out of the business? Okay,

Nik: 2:41

my time. But, um, she did tell me some stories about like waking up, you know, like fucking hammered. And this was like back in like, you know, the 90s and shit where it was like rock and roll lifestyle was very much alive. And she had she was a she was a crazy, crazy party animal for a long time. But, um, yeah, man. Well, so this is where I would love to start the conversation. Tell me first off about, you know, and what you're doing at your company.

Franz: 3:07

Sure. So, you know, I usually, obviously publicist is my big flashy title. I always start with, I'm a writer and a storyteller. I started really my writing career about six years old, writing my first novel of 30 pages that I would pass around at like the family gatherings or family reunions. And that has always been like my gift is writing is being able to convey or capture ideas and turn them into something tangible for people to learn from. So I went to college for the state where I, as an English major nerd, I got out of college and immediately started the journalism route. I probably was writing for national blogs and newspapers for around five years, interviewing a lot of dance acts. And I always really love talking with artists one on one and capturing their story and getting an artist excited about an article, which has been becoming an increasingly fleeting thing. Uh, was like, where I really started hitting off and eventually it dawned on me. I was getting all these emails from publicists and I'm like, I could do this. And it's not way better. I'm getting so many of these copy and paste emails and I'm not a copy and paste type of guy. So I started slowly moving over to the PR world, working with different independent labels, like Wakhan and Dirty Bird. I was doing things for like 20 bucks a pop. I just wanted to write the liner in the, you know, the Apple music little info saying, and. I've been very fortunate over the last 10 years, it's evolved to, you know, I run MP3 PR today. we represent a handful of not just underground acts, but, you know, some national brands we're doing PR with AEG and Red Rocks out here, you know, Zed's Dead is one of our bigger clients, Shaquille O'Neal's Diesel Project. And then a handful of like underground labels, which is still really my bread and butter. Um, so, you know, we do dead, you know, Zed's Dead's Dead Beats, Of the Trees, Memory Palace, and a bunch of different labels throughout the United States. And again, it's always really stuck with that same core energy of taking underground stories that are a little less tangible and far away from people and bringing them to light and getting, you know, kids to be interested in actually learning more about, you know, about the inspiration of music or the inspiration behind their favorite artists.

Nik: 5:11

Yeah. Yeah. I love it. And I'm excited to really dig into this because I think that. A lot of people don't really know what a publicist does. Like, what is their role? Why do they exist? What is sort of the, also the traditional role? Like, I got into the industry in 2008. I was at Capitol Records 2008 to 2011. A lot has changed since then. The role of a publicist has changed. I mean, this is what we would call PR, right? When people hear the word PR, I think a lot of people actually don't even know what that means. Public relations, right? Your relationship with the public, the artist or the client's relationship with the public and the publicist is kind of the middleman between that, right? Managing your, your public image in a way, um, you know, you have sort of the, a high end, you know, like a celebrity publicist where they're almost doing like damage control, you know, a lot of times, like I remember where it was like. Katy Perry and Russell Brand were like, getting divorced or something. And so the publicists were on the phone like, Hey, how do we want to spin this story? Like, what's the story we want the news outlets to tell? And that's a very, very high level of it. But I like what you talked about with storytelling, which is so important. And oftentimes I just think so overlooked because I remember when, and I'm just going to use Katy Perry as a thread for this whole fucking convo, because that

Franz: 6:30

I'm here for it.

Nik: 6:31

I saw it. But. we signed Katy Perry, They had to figure out, like, what's her story, right? Like, what makes her interesting? Obviously, there's the music, we've got these great hits, and the radio team is pitching that to the radio, which today would be more like, you know, you're pitching your tracks to Spotify and getting stuff there. But, our job was to figure out, like, what's interesting about this artist? And the story was that, That she was this grew up this Christian good girl and grew up on gospel music and she was the daughter of a preacher. And then she kissed a girl and she liked it and turned into this like Hollywood pop star. So that was the story that we created behind the artist. It was true, but it was a very intentionally crafted narrative. So I'd love for you to speak into that side of like, I like, I like that you're talking about this storytelling side. Can you tell me a little bit more about how you actually apply that to what you're doing and your clients?

Franz: 7:29

Yeah, for sure. Well, I think you hit on a good thing there. Some people have no idea what a publicist does, or PR. Half the people think it stands for press release. And a lot of people, I do have an idea, have this dramatized approach where, you know, are understanding that. We're controlling narrative or this or that. And while a lot of people in my field are, like I said, storytellers, writers that come from, you know, typically journalism backgrounds or somewhere in the media and understand the value of true storytelling. And like you were just saying with Katie, is if she just kissed the girl and she was on radio, it'd just be another controversial pop star. But the fact she's, you know, there's this backstory of her being, you know, raised in this religious household and breaking through the norms. There's so many people that can relate to that as they're coming of age and finding themselves and maybe shaking things up in their life. So just exactly that really PR, you know, at least from our company and MP3 PR breaks down to three kind of pillars is the first one you talked about is brand strategy. So, you know, when we first sign a client or work with someone, we get in on the ground floor and really like, you know, challenge them is like, what is the story here? Or like, you know, one of the common practices I do is tell me what's. Inspiring about, you're like really important about this project or inspires you. And then I hand them my phone and said, go find that online for someone else to find. And then usually like, well, it's on online. I'm like, cool. Why don't we get that narrative out there? A true, meaningful narrative that we all, you know, center on. That's going to create impact and further meaning with your brand and your fans. And then put that out there. So once you've organized around a brand strategy, it's about brand awareness, looking at the different places that you're, you know, Audience lives. So, you know, if you're an underground act, like, are you a SoundCloud versus Spotify guy? You know, where are the YouTube channels that are congregating? Who are the influencers that are creating content or talking about this type of music, what are the social channels that are promoting this right now? Cause that's the most relevant. You know, place to push music for these underground acts right now. And then from there, you know, if they're bigger acts like, you know, Shaq, the Bobby Eltoff podcast, or, you know, Zed's Dead, they're having their biggest tour yet and getting to find the right industry magazine to cement their long history of touring. And again, Finding out where that audience is for that story. And then from there, the last pillar is brand relations. And, you know, that happens to be my decade of experience as a publicist and writer, I know, you know, writers, editors, publishers, you know, publicists around the country know how they operate, understanding the timelines. You know, so many artists are hitting me up 48 hours before the release. Like, well, we loved what you did on this. We'd love to do PR. And I'm like, well, you're not understanding that building a story and getting it out there and then also working with tastemakers that are going to take the time to convey that story and their platforms and their mediums, they need time, you know, if you're trying to be on the cover of a magazine, that's not something that's flipped around in a week. That's a three to five month process. And that's really what we're doing, again, is helping artists understand their story, understand where that story can live, and then working with those tastemakers around the world to help make sure that story comes to life.

Nik: 10:36

totally. Totally. And it'll be really interesting to explore a bit of the evolution. I'm going to bring it back to 2008, 2011, working at Capitol Records where we were taking CDs and stuffing them in the envelope with all of these printed out articles about the previous, Press articles that had been written about that artist and mailing them to magazines, like that was the goal. The the biggest thing was getting on the cover of Rolling Stone. People were still reading magazines. I mean, they were even pitching newspapers. Newspapers had fucking music sections. The biggest golden ticket level of publicity that you really could get would be TV getting on to be a guest on Jimmy Kimmel to be a guest on Jimmy Fallon. Like any of these big shows or like, you know, the Super Bowl, the Grammys, that's technically PR as well, like they're not getting hired. Those aren't like paid gigs, that's just, that's just Getting free publicity by playing the Super Bowl is really the number one, biggest thing you can get. Now things have changed. You're not stuffing, CDs and envelopes anymore. Obviously like that's changed technically, but also like you said, where is the audience living? Even blogs, I feel like, you know, blogs have for, to a certain extent become less relevant. They're just not getting the same viewership. Like so many magazines have gone out of business. So, love to hear what you think are the best places to really be getting placed to be getting your story told. And then also just want to quickly like reemphasize that point that, you know, when you are trying to get, let's say, let's say it was a magazine or it was a blog, just the fact that you have a new track coming out. Doesn't really matter that's not interesting. This is the whole point of having the stories. It's like who is the artist? What's their story? Why are they interesting? Why are they different like this is why you got a lot of people are just like hey I got a new track. Here's my soundcloud link like who fucking cares. Everybody has a track in a soundcloud link Like what's actually interesting about you right? So that's the importance of storytelling, but I'm very curious about these days What are the main places that you're really trying to pitch and and get these placements with?

Franz: 12:47

Yeah, well, I mean, kind of like the same thing I was saying, is no copy paste emails, there's no copy and paste campaigns. Like, every story, should be unique. And there's different ways. Now to take it, like you said, back in 2008, you're stuffing envelopes. That was around the time I started writing and was writing in a newspaper. So like, I can remember getting day and hour back from the Black Keys, sending me a CD because I had covered your show three years prior. And you know, like that was an exciting time in PR because I feel like you're far more narrow, you're shooting, you're right for like the Superbowl, these bigger placements, but outside of that, you have the traditional routes, radio, TV, newspaper, magazine. And then the blogs. And you're right, today, you know, written media is not necessarily where it's at, but, or where it was, you know, like these, some of these blogs used to be some of the bigger outlets in the country, and a lot of blogs are falling off today, but there's still narrative there, and they still have their niche followings for those regions, so, how we look at it now, like modern PR is it's, it's not just the editorial, and really editorial I break down to like, your niche, like, a niche, Your region and like, you know, region or local is like, you know, those local like newspapers are some of the most valuable placements you can get even today is like where a lot of blogs or national magazines might have fallen up local newspapers still have, you know, distributions from 100 to 200, 000 and people that depend on the news to understand their community. So, if you can get a placement in a community newspaper or magazine or TV station. And now that entire, you know, community is aware of your brand. It definitely helps. And of course that like helps your SEO because those are some of the larger sites. So that was a bit of a tangent, but.

Nik: 14:25

think that Let's say we're talking about dance music artists specifically. Do you think any dance music fans are actually reading? And, and, er, newspapers specifically. Like,

Franz: 14:38

Yeah, well, so again, that's like they're serving different things here. So like if we were just pitching blogs to say we fail on our job and making sure the story gets out there, um, some of the, you know, the blogs, they still have decent traffic. I, you know, I, I'm able to see the backend of what traffic is and like, they're still, you know, hanging around. There's still some like valuable blogs in the United States that still have good traffic. And again, regionally. If they're playing a show in that area or their fan base is there and you put their name in that market's blog You know, it's going to get some exposure now again with the local stuff Do dance fans read the local newspaper now? I was that nerdy kid in high school that walked around the newspaper There's not a lot of me out there But it's like I was saying before is when someone finally takes the time to look up your name or your project or your brand What are they going to find a bunch of links to your socials? And then what? Is there something substantial that I can click on that link and now I understand that project or that backstory or get that Katy Perry backstory. And again, it's different with dance fans. That's where I come from and sort of the cornerstone of like my passion is getting that story out there. So ten years from now when someone looks this up, the first page of Google is going to be stocked with articles that really convey that story well. But you're 100 percent right. It's not just the blogs. Like again, that is the, you know, that's the first block that we do as traditional publicists, but then there's playlisting. There's YouTube, there's socials, there's in person activations. You know, there's a lot of different things to look at. It's not just blogs and written media. But somewhere, we gotta have the story published. And I just don't see that done well enough on socials where I can look at your feed and understand the story immediately, like I could an article.

Nik: 16:20

yeah, that's such a great point. So getting the press, getting the, let's say the, the long story written about you or the interview with the blog where they're telling your story, it's not necessarily that that's going to get you a ton of exposure, but it's that when I become a fan and I'm like, I want to learn more about this person and I search for them, what can I find? And. That makes total sense because I recently did that myself where I was having Lizzie Jane on the podcast and I was like, Oh, I want to know a little bit more about her. Like I can look at her Instagram. anD that tells a little bit of a story, which if you're really good at branding, you can be telling a good story there as well. But also I was like, Oh, let me go find this interview that this blog did with her. And now I can read about that. I know a lot more about her. I can ask better questions. So that's a really, really good point. Like, where's your story actually living and the value of having that actual kind of written content out there?

Franz: 17:12

Well, you hit on it at the end. You know, a lot of times I'll set up an interview for an artist and I'll get the advanced points and they're like, Why are we talking about things other than the single? I'm like, well, you know, if it was just a single, it's kind of, again, I'll keep going back to your Katy Perry thing. If it was just, I kissed a girl on a streaming thing and there's no backstory or anything about the artists themselves, I'm going to move on to the next, I kissed a girl song, you know, because there's so much music today. Like you have a lot of competition regardless of what genre you are. So like, I trust artists. I'm like, you are what makes the difference. You are why I stay along. You are why I get more invested. You know, a song can certainly do wonders of that, but like, that's why there's one hit wonders, is there's not someone behind it for us to stay with and grow with, and that's imperative. To, you know, establishing a long term fan base. Uh, I think, you know, that's going to, you know, be brand ambassadors. And, and, you know, again, goes to, you can tell me about your brand when I'm in the room with you. When you're not in the room, someone's talking about your project. Are you confident that they are explaining it right or know anything about you? And if you haven't put anything out there towards press. Probably failing on that. But you know, some people, like you said, are very good at social media. Like you can do that even just with your logo sometimes and like, you know, complimenting the branding and with graphics on your socials, but it's very hard and that's why we do everything. We're going to help you get the social stuff that helped further your brand and narrative and reach. We're going to help you track it more reach, and we're going to help your story have more value in the longterm.

Nik: 18:49

I've been having this conversation so often with clients and often here on the podcast as well. I love this. Idea in this saying that the music is the soundtrack to the movie

Franz: 19:04

Yes, that's great.

Nik: 19:06

because of the music the music is part of it The music introduces them to their world, but it is just the soundtrack. Why are people following you? The truth is there's so much music out there and if there's a lineup of people 10 artists that are all making, you know, relatively great music, kind of similar. Why am I going to choose that one artist, right? It's because of the story. It's because of the brand. It's because of what you stand for, what you're about, right? there's got, there's something there. Like I, so I really love that. You bring up that point of like, What is going to inspire someone to actually really follow your journey and really become a fan versus just like a casual listener that's like, Oh, yeah, that was a cool track. And maybe I listened to it a few times, or it's on a playlist or something. But we're talking about actually building a fan base here. So you got to give them a reason to be a fan, which, fortunately, or unfortunately, it is about more than just the music.

Franz: 19:54

100 percent be stealing that, Nick. Um, it's like, again, yeah, you don't have the movie or the world. In which the soundtrack lives in, how can it have, you know, the carryover impact that makes, you know, the iconic or something that someone's going to listen to 10 to 20 times, I'm a big believer in like the hero's journey. And, you know, I pitched Donald Miller's building a story brand all the time. And it's, if I can't follow your journey, you know, I can't be invested in it. And we understand the same principles from where we see how social media is so impactful and important today is. If you're just throwing content out there, I don't think it connects with people, but like if you're now they want all artists, they want to see in your life. They want to follow you around. They want to know what you're doing. They want to hear your personality. Why? Cause they want to be in your world. And that's why people are gonna go out and buy your merch, and go see more than one show, or bring their friends to a show. Like, why bring someone to something you can't, like, explain why it has meaning? It's just dope? Well, you're gonna age out of that eventually, you know? Like, at some point in time, something has to have meaning, and I think, again, is very cyclical, you know, albums and CDs went out of whack and now those are somehow, you know, coming back to an extent. And I think with PR, you know, when I started this about five or six years ago, I was laughed at by managers, artists, and the editors saying PR and bass music. And now some of those people are my clients. And I write, you know, do run cover stories through them, you know, so like, I think everything's very cyclical and our understanding, you know, evolves on things and like, you know, where we put value and impact on things changes. But at the core of it, it's connecting with human beings and you gotta have a story or something, you know, you're at a dinner table, if you're just asking about the weather, you ain't really gonna bring it home with anybody, but. You're able to connect with someone and tell them your story. That's what stays with people.

Nik: 21:49

yeah, yeah. So let's imagine that I'm a client. I'm coming on board to do a campaign with you. Let's walk through that process of what that would look like. Obviously it depends on, you know, who the person is, right? But just, let's just say sort of a general artist. And it sounds like our first step would be, let's sit down and get clear about like, what is the story, right? Okay. What's the story? What's interesting about you? What is it that we're really going to be pitching to people? what would our next step be then? We talked about hitting up, we'd hit up some of the editorials and by editorials you mean, that's like blogs and written, type of platforms, newspapers, blogs, things like that. Right?

Franz: 22:31

Well, for you, it'd be, you know, like I said, everything's very unique. So like, again, on paper, I know Nick runs a podcast. Nick likes hosting industry and artists conversation and creative conversations. All right. Well, Nick, where are you based? Oh, you were a publicist first. Oh, you've worked on this. Oh, where were you originally from? Texas. Okay, what area is that? What do you have coming up in the next 6 to 12 months that we could potentially play off of or talk about? Our first, very first thing is, well usually, you know, do the uh, bureaucratic stuff with management, but my very first thing is I have to meet with the artists one on one. Do these type of things where it's like, An hour plus debrief of just everything like what was your instrument? Why did you get into music? Did you start with an instrument that type of thing? So the same thing is like when did you start here? Start really understanding your story from a granular level and then brand awareness Sure, we can go find some blogs, but you just told me nick that you don't think the blogs are impactful. Okay, cool What other industry? Conventions or events. Can we line up for Nick to be a speaker at or just be in attendance and start networking at or, you know, what's the local newspaper thing that would have a significant SEO impact when people are looking up your name? Or how can we shape up your EPK? So when we're sending out info on you, it's a more full thing, really, you know, listing all of your accolades. So, you know, It's, it's really like getting under the hood and understanding everything that's in the engine and then start talking about, all right, well, here's everything you have going on. Here's your story. Now let's start figuring out all these things that can create impact for you. And again, if you're a client that comes to me, I don't want to do blogs. Cool. That's why I like my job. We have a million different routes to go and being creative to figure out where can we place you and where's your audience. If your audience might be artists, we go to a certain place. If it's strictly music fans, a certain place. If it's industry, you know, we go somewhere like Polestar where there's industry people. So understanding what are your goals in telling your story because you're now opening yourself up. So in return, I'm going to make sure you get, you know, the impact and gain what you want out of this as well. So, like I said, no copy and paste here at our team. Really try to like, understand you and understand your story and then help you understand where those stories actually live and who that audience is.

Nik: 24:44

Yeah. Okay. So can you give us an example of, um, a campaign that you've done or maybe you're doing currently and maybe the difference of where you're pitching them and why.

Franz: 24:55

Sure. Um, you know, what I always like to use is Mersive's Pretty Dark Loud campaigns. I moved out to Colorado in 2020. I'm really good at timing, with the sole goal of wanting to work with musicians or artists like Mersive. And within a couple of months, I ended up getting Connected with this team who brought me on to do PR for his debut album. And I really got to understand Mercev's story of, you know, came from Louisiana. His mother got him really started on music. His mother passed away and through that inspiration, he really fell in love with live events and creating electronic music to help people get through similar things that he was experiencing. He ends up moving to Colorado after five years, drops an album, headlines, Red Rocks. So from that point, there's a few different things. There's one, I want fans to know that story because that's what made me fall in love with him as a person. I'd take a bullet for him, I'd jump in front of a car for that guy. I truly believe, And what he's trying to do for other people and, you know, where it's all coming from. So I want to get that out to fans. So I'm going to, you know, using my press relations, acumen, and go out and find all the impactful blogs to make sure that I'm only writing about the music, understanding what Pretty Dark Loud means to his project, but also understanding the man behind it. And then from there, he's headlining his first Red Rocks. Why don't we go make sure that he gets Impulse Star so they hit, you know, highlight him as a hot star. for his touring, you know endeavors over the last three years and really capitalize that in front of industry and now agents are all seeing that and then the last piece would

Nik: 26:27

I just want to, I just want to highlight that right there as well of like, let's let the industry know about him. We're going to hit the fans. So they're going to have a place for his story to live with the blogs. But that was a really strategic move of like, we want the music industry to know who this guy is. The agents as well. Polestar is a music industry platform, right? That's who the, the managers and the labels and the agents are reading. So really cool. Yeah. Just, just to highlight that it's really cool move.

Franz: 26:51

Absolutely. Well now you have fans reading the backstory and falling in love with the human being behind this project You have industry agents who are reading these magazines month to month, seeing his name and seeing all of his endeavors. And then the third piece is, Mersive has more fellow records, his own, um, music label out here. And he's been establishing in Denver, promoting Denver artists and doing Denver curated events for a long time. He's played nearly every venue in the country. So we went out and got that print newspaper interview. We got him on Fox news to talk about. Throwing this big cultural event we did in town, and hitting the local side. We were running a Cinco de Mayo event and trying to get it, be more family centered things. So like, that's different than dance fans and understanding, all right, well, that audience on Fox, they get 1. 4 million viewers daily. And if we could bring just a few more people in, because they view this as like a community based artists willing to do family centered things, then I could bring in a few more people. And that's. You know, at the end of the day, outside of just promotion, I'm really trying to create more fans. You know, this all comes from creating mixtapes in high school and loving to tell those stories to make other people love those artists. And that's, in essence, what the business is, is getting it to the people, you know, that are gonna listen to that story, changing that story a little bit for each of them, and then, you know, getting it to run.

Nik: 28:09

I like that you mentioned how it was a part of his story with his mother passing away. And that's a very, you know, deep emotional, part of his story that you felt connected to, you felt some sort of connection to the artist, not just because of the music, but because of the story there. And I have to share. Cause I, I, I think this is great for us to talk about like how to actually pitch somebody where we had already been in contact. I think your assistant had hit me up about, pitching some artists podcast, but then he hit me up later and he was like, Hey, would you be down to interview the owner of the PR agency, my boss Franz. And he was like, This guy has been so amazing. He really gave me my, my shot at like grooming me and helping me get into the industry. And it was like this really heartfelt message that he sent along with it. And that's what made me automatically say yes, automatically. I was, I was like, fuck yeah, because of that, because I see the, how much this guy cares about you, like the love, the appreciation, just the one, like one or two little lines in there that was actually coming from a real person. Emotional place I was like, oh hell yeah, and I can't tell you like it's really cool I'm in a position now where the podcast has grown to the point that I'm getting hit up I'm getting hit up by I get press releases PR firms are hitting me up Hey, will you put this artist on or that man? I can't tell you how many copy and paste bullshit ass emails I get where I'm like, yo You don't even know what the fuck I do like had a country artist hit me like a PR agency for a country artist I have countless examples of just like The silliest pitches that I get where I'm like, you haven't even like customize this message or given me any reason to want to say yes. And even actually, even if they're like a dance music artist, I've passed on big fucking dance music artists because I'm like, yeah, you just copy pasted this email and that's just, not going to inspire me to say yes. But the minute I got that from Connor, right, Connor is his name, right? Shout out. Connor

Franz: 30:07

Shout out Connor.

Nik: 30:08

I was like, oh, fuck. Yeah, dude. I'm down. I got to meet this guy

Franz: 30:11

Yeah, well, I mean, I think that's, that's what separates, you know, the truly passionate professionals in this and just the people doing this for some, you know, tickets or side stage or don't really know what they're doing is, again, I came from the journalism background. I know a canned pitch when I see one and I pride myself on like for every release, major release I work, I sent out. A fully custom, like, me email, like, Hey, it's Franz, it's Friday, this is the latest thing I'm most excited about. Here's the story of why I love this artist. This is what's going on. I'd really love your thoughts on this. And, like, send an actual email versus, like, a news blast. And I, I've worked with different, like, agencies before. And I've worked with every type of writer. There are some writers that just want the canned pitch, they don't want your sentimentality, but like, again, it's, it kind of goes back to why should artists promote their story at all? It's like, if you're just shoving a pre save link in someone's face, versus like a creative, unique, You know, like hype up rollout campaign for an album. There's a difference there. Right. And it's the same with my profession is like, are you actually wanting to connect with this person? Are you just trying to get something? In which case, like, you know, if you have a big enough artist, you might get away with that. But I had, a former mentor of mine, Alistair Duncan at infamous PR once taught me one of the most valuable things I've ever heard is you could send a hundred pitches and get 10 responses. Or you can send 10 of the right pitches and get 10 responses. Do you want to be a 10 percent guy or a 100 percent guy? And what he meant by that is like, you can send out your canned pitch to 100 people. You can really take your time. Diving into the story, finding the right writer that actually is going to be into this, and then writing the pitch that like, it makes sense. And what I mean by that is, ah, we're looking for general coverage or anything you're interested in. Well, do you know what their byline is? Like, they do interviews, or they do a production feature, or they talk about travel deals. So why are you saying general coverage if they cover something specifically? Oh, well, you probably didn't look into their byline. So it's like understanding of when I send an email now, this might be my philosophy days in English school, is like I am sending it with the intention of I know what this response is going to be. I try not to pitch people that I don't think I'm in a response for. I don't know what I'm doing. What's the point? It's not going to be as meaningful. This person's not really connecting with it or you're not really pitching it the right way. If I can stand, take that time that I take on a hundred pitches to really get granular with, like, what is this writer actually going to connect with about this story? And rather than just pitching them a single link, you know, that's where I think that's like where the level jump is in this business is understanding the storytelling is not just in the press release. It's. How you convey it, how you connect with people, and how you follow through on getting it out there.

Nik: 33:01

Yeah. I hope you guys are taking notes because You're getting a master class right now and how to do this because the truth is If you don't have a publicist right now You are your own publicist. If you don't have a manager right now, you are your own manager. If you don't have an agent right now, you are your own agent. And this is how every business starts right now. I'm a one man show of my business, but as I grow, I'm going to hire a team. I'm going to have other people doing other things for me. I'm going to expand. I'm going to build a team. I'm going to delegate. It's the same thing as an artist. When you start off, you know, you are the CEO, you're the sales department, you're the marketing department, and you're the fucking janitor. You're the whole thing. So. Learn how to do each of these roles. We're giving you some great tips here. Uh, don't send like copy and paste bullshit to people, right? And I can speak for that as well. If I get a text from somebody, there's such a big difference between you know, maybe somebody spams me something, and it's very obvious, you just copy and paste it, but if like, someone goes out of their way and they text me, and they're like, hey Nick, I've got this EP out, or I've got a show coming up, like I'd love to see you there. I'm not going to 90 percent more likely to listen to it or to actually go to it than you put me on your mailing list that you blasted to, to a million people with the same shit, right? So I love that. A quick. Tip and strategy as well that I used to use as a manager So I was a manager for after after PR after Capitol Records. I got into management I did management for probably four or five years managing artists. So as the manager I was also the publicist for most of my clients as well, especially coming from that background But what I would do is I would look up Okay, let's say I want to get an interview or I want to get someone to write about my new release. Well, I would just search who is an artist that's pretty similar to me. And I would go find who interviewed that artist not only what's the outlet, but who's the actual human being that's who is the writer. Like, cause this writer took their time to write about this release, took their time to interview this artist. So they obviously like, they like that style of music. And so now, you know, not only the outlet that you're pitching, but you know, the human being, most people are very accessible. A lot of time their email is written right there, or I've done this. I'll follow them on Instagram. Hit them

Franz: 35:16

Oh, yeah

Nik: 35:17

but then I'll be like, Hey, I saw, I saw the article that you wrote about X, Y, and Z. That was really awesome. Like, I'm such a fan of that artist too. If you like him, you might be into what I'm doing as well. Like you're showing that you've taken the time to actually do a little bit of research and kind of build that connection. And, you know, you can like fluff them up a little bit, but not even from an insincere way, but like, Hey, That was a really great article. You're a writer. I actually respect the great questions that you asked in that interview and, and the way that you wrote, you know, so taking that extra time, like you said, that's going to get you your 10 out of 10 rather than your 10 out of a hundred.

Franz: 35:53

The short of it we can just say is be genuine, you know I think we've evolved to a point now where Everyone can see things that are disingenuine. So whether it's an ad, content, stong, story, email, text, Everyone can read it. Like, you know, you're applying to a, you know, a job and you're getting a copy paste AI written cover letter. You don't think they've read that? They want to know who you are, you know, and people want to connect with people. We don't all want to be alienated, you know, like, I don't know, with, with politics and culture. Like, everything could be so alienated now, but like, people want to connect. So, like, if you can just show that you're genuine in everything that you do, That connects with people. And you know, if there's an, if you thought about your story or your business or what you're doing and getting it to the right people and actually knowing there's an audience or a customer base for that, like. Being genuine will get you through all these things as long as you've done, you know, your due diligence as an artist or a business person and those things and you're right It's hard for artists like when you start you're you're you're everything, you know And you have to like figure all this out for you for yourselves But you know, I use this analogy all the time is the baker spends his entire life Figuring out he loves cooking and or loves baking And learning how to make the perfect loaf of bread. He's gotten so good at making this bread He's able to open a shop by himself. Well, guess what once he's opened the bakery. What's he worrying about? The bread's last He's got to run the you know, turn on the lights gotta pay utilities. He's got to pay his staff He's got to learn how to market. He's got to maybe do pr. He's got to do management. You have to do everything else So it's like yes, there's a thing but you got to really build out Build out the team right with people that understand these things that are genuine

Nik: 37:41

Yeah. So most of my listeners know that I can be a little bit woo woo and I love that and I own that. So this is a disclaimer. Everybody buckle the fuck up because we're about to go down the rabbit hole because I've been thinking about this a lot and I've just been seeing it in every area of life, every area of the artist's journey. for joining me. About ultimately just how everything is energy. Everything is energy, right? Even our, our entire universe, everything that even that appears solid is not actually solid. You know, it's like all these little atoms are moving around at millions of miles an hour. Like everything is energy and that has to be our priority. ai Probably started making music in the first place was because it was fun and there was passion and there was this energy and I'm starting to sign bigger touring clients now that seeing a common trap that people are falling into where it's like they started off Making music with a certain kind of energy behind it. It was pure. It was genuine They loved it. They were putting their heart and soul into it. And that's why they became successful And so they built a business around the art but now They're running a business and it's shifted to now I'm making art for my business and lost the passion. They've lost the spark. They've lost the fucking energy of why they were successful in the first place. And I'm just seeing this trend so often, so I've been like, yo, let's get you back into that energy. Same thing with content, same way with how you're showing up. I was doom scrolling the other night. Uh, some of you might've seen my post. It was one in the morning and I just posted this little rant cause I just was noticing. I'm like, yo, everyone is posting the same shit and I can see the tactical strategy. You're, you're posting the things you're supposed to be posting, But there's no heart and soul underneath it. There's no fucking passion. There's no energy. There's no umph underneath it. And it's like, I'm not saying ignore the strategy. There's a strategy for blowing up on social media. There's a strategy for your marketing campaign. There's a strategy for your emails that you're sending out. There's a strategy for building your business, but You gotta have it coming from the right place. And so I'm just seeing the whole matrix slow down of like, this is the number one fucking thing it boils down to is like, get your energy in the right place first and then make your art from there, build your business from there, build your relationships from there, build your strategy from there. Similarly, it's like, Hey, get clear on what your fucking story is. Get clear on who you are, what you're all about. Like do that, deeper core work. And then every move you make when it comes to strategy and tactics is actually going to have some real energy behind it. Yeah,

Franz: 40:32

trying to be cute or funny, like just trying to get reactions out of people rather than trying to create meaning or energy, like you're talking about. And I think ultimately it's those creators or artists or, you know, movers and shakers in the world are the one with those energy that gets everybody else moving and creates it and is able to pass it off and, and, To bring it back to immersive, that's one of his core principles is energy, energy, energy. Like he says it almost every set. He's like, I want to feel you. giving me energy And I'm gonna give it right back to you. And again, you can feel this through everything that you do. And you know, people can see it when it's disingenuine. And I think, you know, what you had mentioned about artists then trying to, Make art for the business. It's kind of going back to the, the Baker thing is like, now he might cut corners on the, the loaf of bread to make sure the business is successful. And I think it comes back to why I personally feel like we have, you know, value and impact with artists is like, once we've helped establish this meaningful story and your purpose, that's going to connect with other people. How could you not have energy? You know, like I, I've seen you talk about like, you know, you have your gift and then there's the service from this, right? And like I helped you find the meaning in which like is gonna be your service into like delivering it to other people. Like, you know, whether it's immersive or Z's dead or Shaq. Like, these people actually create impacted people's lives. By being willing to open up their story and having such a genuine story. So it's, I just think it's, it's so important to really identify why you're doing this and like actually have a unique purposeful reason behind it, because then that you can run behind that forever. It's when you try to be cute or whatever, and something pops off and now you have a business and a team and. Now you're trying to create meaning around something after the fact. It's a little harder.

Nik: 42:26

Exactly. Exactly. So, what's your why and your reason for doing what you do?

Franz: 42:34

My why? Um, well, like I said, my gift, I've always loved writing and getting to connect with people. and I. You know, through my life, obviously became a music guy. And like, why I fall literally fell in love with music is it's been, I think, a constant hand through my life since I was about five years old. That's my first memory is like, remember pointedly being in my dad's passenger seat, listening to Tim McGraw's where the green grass grows when I was five or six years old. And where it really had meaning is through high school, I used to have crippling social anxiety, whether it was like getting on the bus or going into class or going anywhere after school, It was really tough to me to express myself and not be overconscious of like who I was or what I'm saying and what people are thinking. And around 15, 16, when I got a license, my mom no longer had to take me to concerts. I'd start going two, three times a weekend because it was the one place where I could be somewhere where everyone has the same heartbeat, like minded, we're all here for the same reason. And now I have an easy basis to talk to you and understand you and get the sense that like, I'm connected to you in a sense. And like, that helped me evolve from a child into a young man being willing to put himself out there and go out and explore. And I, you know, ultimately found this festival scene, which. You know, very similar experience. So now I'm going from one stage of a whole group of people watching Robert plant to another one, watching future and being able to feel connected when I entered that new crowd. And that's, I think my purpose through all of this and working in music outside of the selfish thing, I love music is I've seen the good it can do. It's, you know, whether it's in my life or through my clients, fans, lives. I'm watching what that impact does for people and giving them purpose, or making them feel safe, or just making them feel happy, or giving them that, you know, kind of respite, uh, just for a little bit. So, like, I just truly believe in the power of music for what it does to people, and that's my goal. Get more stories out. But from creatives, music, musicians, and this community and festivals to help provide other people like an entry point to experience the same thing I did.

Nik: 44:43

That's beautiful, man. That's beautiful. And, uh, So true, you know, just we're talking about energy here. It's like, that's what music is. Music isn't even something you can hold really that's tangible. It's this invisible thing that hits our ears and our brain and our soul and our body. Right. And there definitely is a, a healing power to that. So to just support getting more of it out there is a, is a very beautiful mission.

Franz: 45:08

I would say, I guess there's a good, good PR example. I'm going to bring my boy, Mercive, in one more time. It's my first project I worked with them when I moved, I was working out of their house for a little while, is he had dropped a track called Osmosis. And this was right in the thick of the pandemic. And I walked into the kitchen and he's like, so this whole PR thing, like, what are we going to do with this chass? I'm like, well, I'm glad you asked. I'm like, why did you make this song? It's like, well, I made this about, you know, a couple of months into the pandemic and I was really going through it and I just felt like this sonic experience provided a really cathartic, feeling for me. And it's this heavy bass song that's just, you know, it like takes you out of where you're at in a moment, brings you into the present moment in sound is kind of his tagline. And that was our first campaign. And like the, you know, 10 to 15 articles we had come out of, it was all feeling track, cathartic, this or that. And like me, the empath music lover, like it may be pick up on some of those things from a track, but other people, it's just a song. And if it's not a banger and it's a slower song. And you're a banger type artist, people might not connect with it. But having that meaning, I've seen other people post and share that song. Like this was, it got me through the pandemic or like, this is what got me through that. And I'm like, that's what this is about. It's like, if you're, I mean, there's a time and place to create bangers. You know, you're creating the thing that people look forward to all summer or all, you know, all week to the weekend or that peak moment of their night, that's the best night of the year. So like, no matter what it is, banger, you know, ballad, anything in between, it's just. You know, giving people something that has meaning so it has the opportunity to create something in their lives like Whether it's, they're going to go home and work harder on their job, or they're going to kick this habit, or they're going to be better than their girlfriend, or they're going to create music. Like you have the opportunity to inspire people when you give them energy and art and meaning and genuine time. And that's what we do is slow it down a little bit. Let's create some genuine dialogue and, you know, hopefully some meaning out there that makes a difference in someone's life.

Nik: 47:07

yeah, and I'm seeing how You also get to play a pretty cool role to help artists potentially tap into that deeper level of their why and their purpose that they might not actually be thinking about where it's like, all right, I want to build my career and play shows and get music out and, you know, make money and all that and like, okay, cool. But when you actually slow down and you get tapped back into, you know, Why you started this shit in the first place and like what really is your purpose? What is your driving force? I think it's such an important question to ask and just deep dive to really dig into because There are going to be those days where you forget why the fuck you're doing this and life is, you know, catching up with you and it's, it's hard. It's not an easy journey. The music business, the artist path is like, this is the hero's journey. This is the road less traveled. We are out in the fucking forest by ourselves with our machete and our flashlight hacking away, paving our own damn path. So to be anchored into your purpose and. Be able to come back to that, right? In those moments, right? you ever get caught up in the madness of the music industry and bullshit and, and

Franz: 48:24

weekly.

Nik: 48:25

yeah, you're like, why the fuck am I doing this shit in the first

Franz: 48:29

that's a good segue to your point, though, is just like, I mean, my job is it looks a lot of fun and it is a lot of fun. You know, I'm getting to talk to artists every day and getting to hear their music, you know, before it coming out. But like, I'm working 60 to 70 hours a week on PR. I do manage three clients. I also run a magazine and, oh, by the way, I have a personal life and like, it could be very frying and then, you know. It's music industry. You're like, this isn't something my mom will explain. Or if I ever want that fake job, it's not really building experience there. But like, you know what I can always fall back on is I love this. Like I love this and beyond that I'm serving people so like I'm doing what I love every day So like I wake up like I have a hard time Going to bed at night because I just want to keep working on stuff But I go to bed and I'm like, all right Well, i'm gonna pop up and get to start on this next thing or wake up to some email It's a new adventure for that day So like that again goes back to like that's my gift and I unfortunately found a way to make it a full time living but really what Drives me to do this is create further impact for, you know, on one hand, the artists that I'm working with that have inspired me and done so much for me. Like it's a dream. I'm working with some of the artists that helped me on that journey I told you about myself. Uh, and then of course getting to watch fans have a better understanding of their favorite artist, or my favorite artist, and seeing that dialogue in the community, or being in that circle at the festival group, and they're talking about something that you helped place. And like, I am helping, you know, in a sense, be a historian for this community by getting artists to realize what their journey and purpose is, and then helping other people understand what that is as well.

Nik: 50:10

Yeah, yeah. And I think those are the two big things is you gotta love it. You gotta love this shit. If you're a publicist, you gotta love the work of being a publicist. If you're an artist, if you're a music producer, you gotta love making music. That's a big part of it. And The truth is you're not going to love it every day. And those are the times where we also need to be fulfilled by it. And that's where there's like, okay, there's also this deeper understanding of why I'm doing this, the contribution that I'm making. Like you said, knowing like, Hey, I am a bit of a historian. I'm playing a role in this community. I'm contributing to my little island, my little piece of history that I'm making this little difference that I'm making and being able. To know what that is for you is a place that you can turn to to get fulfillment. So hopefully we're getting joy. Hopefully we love it on the days that we not. Hopefully we can turn to, all right, there is a deeper level of fulfillment here as well. So I love that you bring that up. Uh, you mentioned that you have a magazine, which I find very interesting. Tell me about the magazine. I think like, this is, this is cool that you have a magazine.

Franz: 51:15

My story is a little longer spiel, so I skipped over that in a sense. So when I started as a writer, you know, I was writing for a lot of local newspapers and magazines out of Florida and Colorado. And my first mentor, Ray Rowe is the editor of Creative Loafing Tampa. He's one of the most amazing writers and editors in the country. He was very patient with me and letting me cover anything I wanted. You know, I was interviewing Odessa, Zed's Dead, Clive and Stroke, Rufus's Soul, these massive dance acts when they come through Tampa. And he's like, well, we, that's not really what we cover. We're like the hipster Tampa scene. We like doing bands, but he let me kind of have a loose leash. Well, after a while, I didn't like necessarily like, Oh, these outlets don't really want to talk about this festival scene, which I see is like burgeoning and like, There's a lot of exciting dialogue. So I had a breaking point where I was not making any money for newspapers. I was working an office job that closed down and then I had to start bar backing in the summer in Florida. And I was on this, working at a 10th floor rooftop hotel. And every night I would finish my shift and sit down on the corner of the roof and just be like, what are you doing with your life? Like you're writing a few articles. Sure. But like. You're not making like that impact, you know, you can, or you're not like following your passion. So I went home, I was living with my manager and I said, I'm putting in my two weeks for this job and this apartment. I need to go find my purpose in life. And I ended up packing all of my stuff in my two door Jeep, threw out everything else that couldn't fit in there. I moved into my buddy's spare office, which is about 110 square feet with a love seat that I slept on for four months. And I started what was MP3 mag, which is a print and online national North American festival magazine. So we essentially kind of built our, you know, built our platform on doing artists interviews. And I, you know, the original essence of this was a college magazine. I was offering kids internship credit in exchange for covering the local scene. In essence, being that person that I always wish I had to give me a chance in music and as we had more success with artists and festival wanting to work with us, we kind of turned it, involved it into a national brand. And yeah, you know, it's the same thing as like blogs or, you know, it's a very hard thing to start right now when kids aren't reading and like my demographics 18 to 25, but like. You know, in the three years we sold about a thousand magazines. It means a thousand kids in that age group are like, have this on their coffee table and are reading that. And like, even if it's just for one artist story, I'm doing my job. So like. There's a separation with journalistic integrity. You know, you're, if you're a publicist, you shouldn't be writing about your clients. So try to keep that separate. I have a team of about 10 kids that run the magazine for me. I got some very cool stuff coming out this summer. Everybody's going to be very excited about. But yeah, it's more my passion project. I put all my spare money into the magazine and, and, you know, whether it's interns or younger professionals, giving them an opportunity to the magazine with small jobs or part time jobs to have some experience in the music industry and figure out if they like it and at minimum learn how to write.

Nik: 54:23

that's so awesome, man. Really, really, really cool to see that. And I hope to see a return of magazines, like actually getting your fucking hands on something, you know, like I actually can see, you know, we saw the return of vinyl, that was really cool to see. And, you know, I'm a, I'm a big skateboarder. It's like, I miss like having Thrasher magazines laying around. Like I would still have a subscription to those. I don't know why I don't,

Franz: 54:48

That was actually kind of what we went with this, is like, why are magazines out of touch? There's a million reasons for that, but essentially with this, we went with A, kind of resembles a vinyl sleeve being square. And the other idea was really like creating photo centric spreads without ads that really highlight the artists with exclusive photos. And in a way that I know, cause I'm working in dance music, their story hasn't been told to that level. And essentially making it a collector's item. So really pitching these like directly to the artist fan base and like, being like, Hey, you can have a piece of their story. That was kind of our tagline for a while. And like, I've gotten, you know, the whole goal was. I just want this to be a coffee table book that's a conversation starter. If it's sitting there, someone reads a story about these artists, I'm having little wins here and there. And like, whether it's Daily Bread, or fans, like I've had so many people telling me they're either framed or on their coffee table. And like, it actually has value to those people. So, yeah, it's like you said, it's like vinyl went and died. You know, I think the same in radio sometimes is like, I just think that if someone could bring it back in a way that's actually unique and like really actually connects with people. There's, there's, there's room for it to ha you know, like, for there to be a popular magazine. You just have to do it right. And I feel like, at least my understanding from the back end is like a lot of blogs are now trying to charge for their minimal traffic for a crappy article written. A lot of magazines won't cover things unless it's like A listers that are gonna bring in an X traffic. So, I'm trying to be the middleman. Where we don't charge for support at our blog. You know, I try to constantly cover everyone that's making an impact in the North American festival scene, but like we are a true organic. Supportive of the festival scene. And like the goal is again, make these magazines somewhat culturally relevant in the festival scene where people are like, Oh, I could go grab one of these at the festival and it has the map. And I can sit down in my air couch and read about the headlining talent playing. So we're rolling it out slowly, but like most passion projects, when you have a full time job, it's, it's a little bit more of a slow burn with this one, but. You know, I really believe in the work that we're doing and like the quality of the content and the books that we're putting out That I don't feel like there's a rush. I'm i'm making an impact every day by just getting someone to read

Nik: 57:06

Yeah, I love that, man. I really just want to speak some life into that idea and what you call your passion project. But I truly think that there's a space for that. Like I, I don't know, I mean, like I said, I miss having like those, an actual tangible item that you can hold and you

Franz: 57:20

Yeah, we'll get you volume one through three. I'll send them out to

Nik: 57:23

please, please. And it's so cool for artists to also like, it's nice to get put on a blog. That's rad. But like, hey, look, my face is printed out on a piece of paper in this magazine, you know, it's like, especially this kind of, you know, newer generation, it probably never even bought a fucking magazine in their life, you know what I mean? Like, and so I can see there really being a space for that really, really cool thing that you're doing. And definitely, yeah, encourage you to keep Uh, I also just, I really love your story. I really love that you took that chance and you quit your fucking job There's nothing I love more than a good origin story like that, where you just like have to have that gut check moment where you say, fuck it, whatever I'm doing isn't lighting me up and I'm going to go in a different direction. There's nothing that I just love and admire and respect more than hearing people that have followed that internal calling and chased their dreams and their intuition, because I think that that is like, It's a 100 percent necessary part of this process for anybody wanting to go towards this path of being in the music business or being an artist. So, super cool to see what you've created for yourself since then. Uh, I'm really pumped about this conversation and really for taking the time to hop on. And, uh, yeah, stoked to connect and get some more of your artists on the show along the way as well. Send them over, man.

Franz: 58:44

I love it. Well, I appreciate you for, you know, all the things that we talked about are vital here is like how genuine you are, the energy you bring to the table and also being a leader and entrepreneur in this community because like having conversations like this and again, being willing to put your story out there, your podcast out there. Inspires people. And like, it's been really cool to see like the work that you've been doing and the impact it has. And yeah, I'm just super honored to get to have a conversation with you and hopefully it connects with some more people.

Nik: 59:13

Thanks, man. Everyone go follow Franz. Go buy a copy of the mp3 mag and thanks again for hopping on brother. We'll talk

Franz: 59:21

My pleasure, sir. Have a good one.