The Blast Blog recently set down with a Michael Bentley of Spin Doctor PR LLC for an in depth interview, to talk about the services his company offers to artists and labels, hooking up with handling marketing for FIFA as well as other topics concerning the music industry.
The Blast Blog: You have a bachelors degree in Entertainment Business and you have been apart of the industry for over 10 years, what inspired you to choose this field as a career?
Michael Bently of Spin Doctor PR LLC: I grew up in the entertainment business. My mother sang briefly and later took on a management role of a club. I have met people such as John Gotti, Frank Sinatra, Miami artists like Luke, at a young age. We traveled a lot, and I just grew up wanted to work for the major labels. The big wigs as I call them now, but as I worked "inside", I saw what it was about, so I started my own company to help Indie artists, artists with talent.
Your Spin Doctor PR Firm specializes in online marketing and publicity for artists, and bands... does your company offer any offline, or physical street team services as well?
As of right now only our FM and College Music, but hand to hand flyers, no.
What are some of the major labels that your company has worked for?
Every major label in some sort of way or fashion.
What are some of the smaller, or independent record companies that your company has worked for?
Too many to name.
Has your company ever helped an unsigned artist get signed, if so...who?
Yes, but sometimes those people don't want to get us out there like that, cause they have a team of people, but if you know a rapper who has a Gun that might be a machine and rhymes with Belly, then you might know a few of the people we mess with. Also if you can figure out that riddle, you might be able to see what label connections we have.
How did your company end up working with FIFA?
They contacted me for some grassroots things here in the states. I don't even like Soccer. Well it isn't bad, but I did watch it for 9 days and saw only one goal. It was such a success that they rehired us, which was a big deal for us!
Has there ever been a client or an account that your company had to turn down? If so, why?
Everyday we turn down musicians. If the music isn't up to par, not mixed (although we offer that service through a client), then yes we turn people down. Some of these "musicians" need to keep their day jobs. Also the models we get. WOW, not everybody should be a model.
In your opinion which is worse... an untalented artist or horrible band that actually has the budget and wants to use the Spin Doctor service or a very talented (yet hard headed and stubborn) artist or band that feels that they don't need any promotion and their talent alone (and the mp3s on their myspace page) is all they need to one day be successful? Which is the worst?
That is a really good question. The real artistic musicians, the best, they are usually just great at music, not promotions. That is why labels, people, bands, hire us in the first place, cause they understand, hey I play the guitar better than anybody, but maybe I am not the best at promoting/marketing. As for the sh***y artist, if they have money, sadly, they can go somewhere. As we don't take every artist, if an artist has money, then usually it is money that they have saved up, not family money like Tom Hanks Son, but that means that they believe they can do it, they just don't know how. So we can help with that, get them studio musicians to help, singing lessons, ghost writers, etc. It is a world where the kids want to be Kim Kardashian, sadly, so a ton of people want to be famous for NO F**KING REASON. So we deal with that everyday.
In your opinion what is one of the most common mistakes you see artists make, and what should they do differently?
their van of their mix tape. That baffles me every time. There is a list of things way to long to list here.
Is there any last minute things you would like to plug, or any additional information you would like to give about The Spin Doctor PR Firm?
If you are about your business, and feel like you are ready to make a national campaign, contact us, we are looking for artists to help. We want to help the talent. Look at our plans on our page, but if you are really good, throw those out the window!
For more information on Spin Doctor PR Firm go to
http://www.SpinDrPr.com
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