Don’t Bore Us, Get to the Chorus: Country Publicists Adapt to Harsher Post-Pandemic Media Environment

Nashville’s songwriters could be metaphoric role models for country publicists, as shifts in the marketplace, accelerated by the pandemic, have made it more difficult to gain media attention. Journalists are buried in a larger volume of pitches and press releases, spurred in part by developments during the work-from-home years.

One online reporter told Quartz Hill Music Group vp of publicity Natalie Kilgore that he receives as many as 8,500 emails a day. Most of those are surely unopened and/or unanswered.

“We have to write a hook the same way a songwriter has to write a hook,” Kilgore says. “Except I think we have less time and less attention to get that hook across.”

The life of a publicist changed dramatically from early 2020 to 2022, thanks to a slew of adjustments made by the fan base, the media and the artists. 

Developments include:

That attention span has been shortened in the digital age. News notifications and social media more easily distract the average adult. A Microsoft study indicated that the typical attention span had declined from 12 seconds in 2000 to about 8 seconds in 2013, and many media decision-makers believe it has been reduced since then. 

“Not too long ago, we focused on 60- to 90-second video content,” MCA vp of media Ailie Birchfield says, “but now it’s more about 15-second clips or less.”

That helps keep the consumers’ focus, but Kilgore suggests that slimmer pitches are similarly required to maximize media interest. 

“Back in the day,” she explains, “the publicity teams basically put every single talking point in an email tailored to the outlet and told the life story of a project in order to land a pitch. Today, nobody has the time to read that. So everything needs to be short, sweet and basically written.”

That’s partially a result of an explosion in competition. Since radio is no longer the only audio medium that builds hits, a new tier of artists is breaking out through satellite radio and streaming, and most of those acts publicize their accomplishments the same way that artists on terrestrial radio do. Plus, each focus track leading up to the release of an album tends to get its own press release, meaning more artists are touting more product more often. Publicists are challenged to find novel ways to make their artists’ projects stand out.

“Releasing new music no longer guarantees media attention,” Birchfield suggests. “A song or album release needs additional layers — whether it’s a unique promotion or accompanying story — to really gain traction.”

Some of the traditional methods to garner traction with consumers have disappeared, beginning with a segment of outlets geared specifically to the genre’s most ardent fans.

“We used to have Country Weekly, we had People Country print, which now is peoplecountry.com,” observes Sweet Talk Publicity president Jensen Sussman. “There used to be GAC Headline Country, and now, with all the changes over at CMT, it feels as if our core country outlets have been getting smaller.”

The outlets are less likely to attend events, too. One publicist, speaking on background, said gatherings that used to draw 30 or more reporters, producers and talent bookers now typically attract fewer than 10. It’s not a reflection on the genre — country is in the midst of a boom.

Instead, it’s a confluence of factors that emerged — or were enhanced — during the pandemic: fewer journalists, most of them working from home instead of offices that are convenient to Music Row, with the prospect that they can avoid a hairy commute and parking hassles. They now often repurpose a press release about the event, if they cover it at all. Especially since most stories won’t explore much detail beyond the basics.

“There’s less platforms with the longer-format stories,” Sussman says. “You saw a shift where news would be a punchier short story. And so when you have an artist and you’re trying to tell a very emotional or deep story, you’re looking for very specific outlets for that.”

However, publicists have seen an expansion in one part of the post-pandemic media puzzle, thanks to the widespread acceptance of remote video. National TV shows are more receptive to artists doing “tape and release” appearances, where they play for cameras locally and send the performance to the channel in another city. It saves travel time and cuts costs that can frequently run $10,000 to $20,000. Plus, the pandemic-related rise of Zoom lets artists to meet the media without either party having to leave their base of operations. It also created new tour press options, as some local TV stations now conduct remote interviews that were previously limited to rare, in-person conversations the day of the show.

“Once artists started doing interviews on Zoom, this opened the doors where, a month ahead of a tour stop in another city, the artist could hop on their laptop, [use] good lighting and a solid background, and do the interview,” Sussman notes. 

In the big picture, post-pandemic publicity offers a wider variety of options through newer media platforms, but fewer opportunities through some historically essential outlets. It means more work to craft a campaign full of short hits, usually for a narrower audience. That means getting to the hook faster in their pitches.

“It’s a brave new world,” Kilgore says, “and we all have to adapt.”