Electronic music PR in Manchester
Two lists, run as one campaign: the national electronic press, and the Manchester media and venue network that gives a national writer a reason to take you seriously.
Electronic music is the genre where press coverage correlates least with actual traction. A record breaks because DJs play it, because a label with standing releases it, and because it works on a floor — not because a website reviewed it. Any campaign that treats editorial as the primary target is optimising for the wrong thing.
It also carries a weight of history that cuts both ways. Manchester bands get read, which is an advantage. They also get compared, immediately and often lazily, to four decades of predecessors. Getting ahead of that comparison is a specific piece of work and it belongs in the first draft of the pitch, not the fifth.
An electronic campaign run from Manchester therefore works on two levels at once. The genre list reaches the writers who cover this music nationally. The city list builds the local foundation that makes the genre pitch credible — because an artist who already has coverage, radio support and a live reputation at home is a considerably easier sell than one who arrives with only a track.
The national electronic list
The realistic target set for an electronic campaign, weighted towards the club and radio ecosystem.
The principal UK dance title. Premieres and features carry weight across the scene.
Broad electronic coverage with significant international reach.
The most credible editorial voice in underground electronic music, and correspondingly selective.
Extensive UK dance coverage, accessible to developing artists.
For the leftfield, eclectic and genuinely strange end of the genre.
Central to UK club culture and genuinely open to new music.
The Manchester list
Manchester's local music media, which is unusually strong for a UK city outside London.
Community station with strong emerging-artist support and a real audience among the city's musicians.
Long-standing Manchester station, particularly strong on dance and urban music.
Rock-oriented commercial station with genuine local commitment.
Broad reach across Greater Manchester. Its music coverage carries weight with a general audience.
Independent cultural coverage with real credibility among the city's music audience.
The rooms
Night & Day Café remains the room a Manchester band is expected to have played, and its ongoing licensing fights have made it a story in its own right. The Deaf Institute and YES cover the step up, with YES's multiple rooms making it useful at several stages of a band's development. Band on the Wall carries genuine institutional weight after its refurbishment. Soup and The Peer Hat serve the more experimental and DIY end. Gullivers and The Castle Hotel anchor the Northern Quarter small-room circuit. Beyond those, Gorilla, Academy 2 and New Century mark the transition to a real touring audience.
How we pitch it
DJ servicing before press outreach
Getting the record into the hands of the right forty DJs will usually do more than any placement. We treat this as the core of the campaign, not an afterthought.
The label is part of the pitch
In electronic music the label carries a large share of the credibility. If you are self-releasing we will be honest about how that changes the ceiling, and what to do about it.
What's included
Electronic artist in Manchester?
Send us the track, the release date and where you have played. We will tell you what is realistic before you spend anything.