Issue 2: Anna Jackson of Ghosted PR
Welcome to The Band Bible! I’m truly glad to have you here. If you’re a new reader, purpose of this newsletter is to address, break down, and shine a light on the business of being in a band. This is something that is often inaccessible or shrouded in mystery, and it shouldn’t be, so I hope The Band Bible is able to play even a small role in helping to change that.
Anna Jackson gets it.
She's the newly-minted founder of Ghosted PR, the first company in Scotland that has an exclusive focus on alternative music. In addition to having a genre-specific focus, Anna also works to foster inclusivity and diversity within the company ethos. If you’re reading this, then you’re likely someone who already knows that alternative music is disappointingly dominated by white guys who’re the sons or nephews of someone with a Wikipedia page, so this makes the work that Anna is doing within the genre sector so important. She is someone who is truly moving the needle forward in the right direction in our industry, and as the old saying goes, she’s in it for “the right reasons.”
Anna and I first connected early this year, and bonded over our shared goals and values within the context of entrepreneurship. In addition to sharing passions for fighting for emerging artists and heavy music, we also started developing our respective businesses as students. The amount we had in common led to Anna collaborating on recent Carnival of Oddities releases, and she has done an absolutely brilliant job plugging The Palpitations, The Silver Lines, and Paradise Row. She has been absolutely wonderful to work with, and I’m grateful for her assistance.
In light of the recent launch of Ghosted PR, I’ve asked Anna to share a bit about her perspectives on the industry, how the company came to fruition, what she looks for in prospective clients, advice she has for new bands, and more. After all, you can’t get more badass than being a young woman with her own company in a notoriously male dominated field. Anna is onto things, and if this is the first time you’re reading her name, I can assure you that it will not be the last.
What drew you towards working in the music industry, and with emerging artists specifically?
I’ve always loved music and have been extremely passionate about it. Ever since I was little I wanted to work in the music industry, and after starting in audio engineering and being a producer, I wanted to work with emerging artists I really believed in. I also wanted a bigger role helping them out outside of the studio, so that’s when I got into management!
Tell us about how you started Ghosted PR. What do you want people to know about the company?
Ghosted PR started as part of a university project, but it’s also an extension of my label and management company. Ghosted PR is the first and only alternative focused music publicity agency in Scotland! We want to uplift the voices of those who make alternative music – primarily metal, all kinds of rock, punk and alt rap – but all alternative music is welcome.
We offer our services at discounted prices from industry standard to offer a wide range of services catering to everyone no matter their financial position, and diversity and inclusiveness is at the core of our ethos!
What has it been like to launch a business as a student?
It does get complicated sometimes as I’m fairly new to all of this. However, I study music business so that gives me an upper hand plus my lecturers are very supportive and have offered their advice whenever I needed it! It’s taken a while to get off the ground and we aren’t fully there yet as much as I’d like to be due to being on a student budget, but hopefully that will be changing very soon and I can offer better support to the artists I work with!
Which qualities or sounds do you look for in a prospective client?
I look for those who I believe are extremely passionate about what they do and have the talent to match, and I also love finding those who are a little bit different to what’s already out there. I’m definitely looking for some hardcore artists at the moment as I feel Scotland seriously lacks in the metal and hardcore genres - or maybe I just can’t find them!
Is there anything you think artists should know about PR that they may not be aware of already?
I would definitely like to change the stigma of women in business positions in music. Often I have been the only woman in the room and I would love to see more women running top companies, not just in the supporting positions! I would also love to see more women in audio as I’ve only ever met a handful and it can be very intimidating. I would love to diversify the alternative music scene as well, which is why there is such a focus on bringing those minorities forward in Ghosted PR.
For artists who don't yet have a publicist, do you have any recommendations of simple steps they can take to strengthen their USP and network in the meantime?
I think that even messaging independent companies or attending music conferences like Resonate is a great way to gain advice and learn about things that you could improve on yourself, and it’s also a great way to meet people in the industry and talk to them about what it is you do and build those connections. Sitting down and having a think about what makes you different from other artists in a genre is really important, and making sure you reflect that on your social media, at your gigs, and more. There are loads of marketing centered Instagram accounts out there that give tips on how to work your way around things like advertising.
From your perspective, how would an artist know if they're ready to have a publicist?
I think a lot of artists know when they’ve reached a point where they have a steady stream of fans and interaction, but it’s been stagnant for a while and isn’t growing, or they want to start seeing more people talk about them, booking bigger gigs or have bigger projects in mind – maybe like an album. I think on the other end of the spectrum with how easy it is to become viral on social media these days, when artists start seeing major traction on their socials I think it’s then a good idea to get a publicist who can help with everything as you now suddenly have a huge audience.
Lastly, what's coming up next for Ghosted PR?
We have lots of exciting releases coming in the late summer with some fantastic artists, and we are also hoping to gain some funding from Creative Scotland that will boost our fan-to-artist and listener-to-label interactions to make every project we are working on be the best it can be.
To close out this issue of The Band Bible, I wanted to take a moment to highlight recent client work. The Silver Lines released their debut EP, SLEAZE, last month to critical acclaim and are now a mere weeks away from making their return to America to do a string of gigs in New York. They’ll be hitting the stage at some of the city’s most celebrated independent venues, including the iconic Arlene’s Grocery. Paradise Row has also released their third single, “Null & Void.” It hasn’t been off the radio for over a month, and it’s such an exciting addition to their growing discography. And, of course, a shout out to Anna for her assistance with it all.
That’s it for this issue, friends. Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you next time.
Wishing you happiness and hedonism,
Lindsay