Tech Press Agents Vs Entertainment Press Agents

Press Agents

Press Agents

So recently I hired a press agent for my start up. It took me months to find a music industry press agent that had a clue about tech stuff. I was lucky enough to find one. Most music industry people are about as clueless about technology as a new born baby is to quantum physics. So why not just hire a press agent that specializes in technology and start ups? Because my start up is a music site first and a tech thing second. I would rather get press from Spin, Billboard, or Rolling Stone magazine instead of Tech Crunch, Mashable, or Read Write Web (say that ten times fast out loud). Now I want to make it clear that any press is great. As a fan I read those tech blogs more than the music publications I just listed. I would love press from all six of them! I am just more interested in coverage from the music press because this is a music site. So I found a press agent that could handle that.

Now I am able to say I have dealt with press agents both as the editor of a music publication and as a client. I have no problem with press agents. They have a job to do and there are many I think do it very well. But I come from the entertainment industry angle. In the entertainment industry press agents are “handlers”. Rock stars are not the most organized, punctual, or business savvy people around. So the press agent is part secretary, part manager, part assistant, and part guide. Without them my interviews would almost never be on time and that would be if I was lucky enough to get the interview scheduled in the first place. Not only that but their liaison role can sometimes keep the bigger celebrities from having their mobile and home numbers exposed to overly eager journalists. So add protector to that list above. In the entertainment industry press agents are very important. Journalists form a relationship with the press agents that tend to work the artists that fit their publications format.

This is not at all the case with the tech industry. When I mentioned I was getting a press agent I had some of my friends in the tech industry seriously wonder why I would do such a thing. In the tech industry press agents are looked at as spammers. They are considered to be almost parasites. They get zero respect. This is a total opposite from how they are treated in the entertainment industry. If my press agent tried to get one of the tech blogs I listed above to cover my start up, they would be treated like they were a phone solicitor. But if they tried to get coverage on a music blog they would probably have pretty good luck. So that leads me to wonder how press agents are looked at in different industries. Are they only given respect for their hard work when they are working humans? If they are working a website, gadget, tool, software, beverage, or any other non-organic entity are they treated with disdain? Does the press agent working the competitors of Makita get the brush off from carpenter magazines? Why are press agents with non-human clients treated with so little respect? I’m just curious.

So why the big divide? Can anyone answer me on this one?