Michelle Sims

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0><script type="text/javascript" src="http://hb.lycos.com/hb.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ratings.lycos.com/ratings/lycosRating.js.php"></script> <script type="text/javascript"><![CDATA[//><!]]></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://scripts.lycos.com/catman/init.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-start.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-middle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-end.js"></script> <noscript> <img src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/img/common/ot_noscript.gif?rand=378982" alt="" width="1" height="1" />  <iframe frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" width="728" height="90" src="http://ad.yieldmanager.com/st?ad_type=iframe&ad_size=728x90&section=209094"></iframe>  </noscript> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=125 BGCOLOR="#AAAAAA" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="03c467d1euxmic.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>Kristi Singer</b></FONT><B>     </b><B>|     </b><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Kristi Singer"><U><B>home</b></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id148.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mandorico"><U>Mandorico</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id186.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Marc Siegel"><U>Marc Siegel</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id140.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mark Wills"><U>Mark Wills</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id62.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mashanda Favors"><U>Mashanda Favors</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id222.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="matchbox twenty"><U>matchbox twenty</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id237.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Maybe Sunday"><U>Maybe Sunday</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id151.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Merl Saunders"><U>Merl Saunders</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id174.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Melissa Ferrick"><U>Melissa Ferrick</U></A>   |   <B>Michelle Sims</b>   |   <A HREF="id53.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tim Burton, Mighty Mighty Bosstones"><U>Tim Burton, Mighty Mighty Bosstones</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id34.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mighty Mighty Bosstones"><U>Mighty Mighty Bosstones</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id79.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Moe Black"><U>Moe Black</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id40.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Morning 40 Federation"><U>Morning 40 Federation</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id187.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mushroomhead"><U>Mushroomhead</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=190 BGCOLOR="#111111" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <A HREF="id16.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Writing Samples"><U><B>Back to Articles</b></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=355 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> Michelle Sims</div> <div> <B>Meet the Publicist: What goes into getting your name "out there?" Here's the inside scoop from a publicity specialist.</b></div> <div> <B>By Kristi Singer</b></div> <div> <I>Singer Magazine</I></div> <div> October/November issue</div> <bR> <bR> <div> MCA Records manager of national tour publicity, Michelle Sims, entered the music business at the young age of 19. Now 26, Sims has worked with some of the industry's top record labels. Rockefeller Records, Bad Boy Records, Atlantic Records and now MCA are all included on her resume. She's worked with artists like Jay-Z and Kid Rock and watched them go from unknowns to superstars. Sims recently shared her exciting seven-year journey and the industry insights she's gleaned with <I>Singer Magazine</I>.</div> <bR> <div> <B>From Pre-Med to Music</b></div> <div> A former pre-med student turned music major, Sims earned her degree in music from New York University. While her original goal was to become a doctor, she had other interests, like an obsession with reading <I>Billboard Magazine </I>to find out who was where on the charts. That started in sixth grade, yet she never really thought about working on the business side of the music industry. Like most people, Michelle was unaware of what went on behind the scenes.</div> <bR> <div> "When most people see artists on TV," she explains, "they don't realize there's a publicist out there who's putting them on TV. Or when they hear a record on the radio, it wasn't just the radio station saying 'Hey, this sounds catchy.' No, you had something like five people from the record company saying 'play my record' and bringing in all sorts of crazy ways to get them to play the record. A lot of people don't realize there's a machine behind all of that. And I was one of them," she said.</div> <bR> <div> That was until her freshman year, when she dated a producer and was first exposed to the business side of music. "I said to myself 'hey, these people go to parties all the time and it's like work.' Plus, you're dealing with artists. I thought it was a very glamorous and seductive industry so I thought this is what I want to do," Sims recalls.</div> <bR> <div> After realizing she wanted to be a part of the music business, Sims joined NYU"s record label, Village Records, where she was assigned to head the publicity department for one year. Upon graduating in 1997, Sims sent her resume out to the major record labels. She accepted a publicity assistant position at Atlantic Records in 1998 and moved to Los Angeles. After finishing her Atlantic stint as publicity coordinator, Sims got her current job with MCA in July of 2000. </div> <bR> <div> <B>What's it all about?</b></div> <div> Michelle's primary goal in her current job as tour publicist is to get publicity for touring artists in each market before they get there. This usually includes contacting TV stations to set up interviews and get footage shown on the evening news. She also contacts newspapers for interviews, written previews or to run a picture with a preview box mentioning that artist will be in town. She also works with local magazines and national publications like <I>Rolling Stone</I> when they do live or summer tour issues. "I'm constantly out there pitching to every publication," she says, "trying to get it known that my artist is out there on the road, and to get them whatever exposure I can while they're out there."</div> <bR> <div> While Sims says that national publications are the most difficult to get press</div> <div> in, she uses something she calls "bartering chips" in the form of "big name acts that everyone wants to talk to." For example, this summer she has Blink 182, a band that most publications want to talk to, on the road. "I have a group called New Found Glory who's on tour with Blink this summer," Sims explains, "and basically what I've been telling everybody is, if you want to talk to Blink, you're going to have to talk to New Found Glory too. It's a take it or leave it situation. And most people are going to take it because their editors have given them an assignment saying, get an interview with Blink."</div> <bR> <div> "Publicity is definitely an important thing. You worry when people aren't talking about you. You just have to have it out there. There are some people who are celebrities just because of their publicity... Publicity does sell records."</div> <bR> <div> <B>Human Product</b></div> <div> You may not think Sims' job would be stressful, but it is. Unlike most jobs, she</div> <div> is dealing with the marketing of a human product. "What I work with can talk back</div> <div> to me. Here I am, part of marketing an image of a person, and sometimes your 'product' can be upset at you or disappointed in you - you can get all of that. You get pressure from their end, you get pressure on your company's end and some- times you get pressure from the media end where you're trying to make a lot of things happen."</div> <bR> <div> Sims feels the worst situation to be in is when a really big act is doing very</div> <div> little to help her. She would prefer they not do anything at all. "That way I can say to everyone, 'They're not doing anything' rather than 'They're only going to do some stuff for me,' and then have to pick and choose what they're going to do. And because they're big artists, I have to get them big things to do, but at the same time it's like I want to take care of certain people."</div> <bR> <div> <B>Making the Unknowns Known </b></div> <div> Another difficult position is working a band that is unknown, which makes it difficult to get them press. "I had this one band, Nonpoint. Now they're in Ozzfest so it's a lot easier to get them press but when I started working them it was just so hard. It was like hitting a wall trying to get stuff for them. I couldn't get anyone to do it (interview them). That's the frustration you have; you get a lot of rejection. Writers will sometimes say the nastiest things to you - you just wouldn't believe it. For the most part, I work a bunch of unknown bands. That's my job, to go out and get most of them known," she said.</div> <bR> <div> Only 15% of artists on a record company label actually make back the money that the label puts into them. Most record labels have an artist roster of between 100 and 200 artists, but only about ten major names. "The rest are all unknown," Sims explains, "and you're still working all those bands, trying to get them known. Those are the priorities a publicity coordinator has. It's not all glamour."</div> <bR> <div> Even for artists like Shaggy who have had past hits, Michelle found herself slamming into a brick wall before his latest hit, <I>Hotshot</I>, was released. "I couldn't get anyone to talk to Shaggy," she remembers, "even though he was known-he had had hits before. Everybody was calling him a 'has been.' Then it went from me begging people to all of the sudden he has this hit on the radio. I went from pushing to being pulled everywhere. My phone was ringing off the hook for Shaggy"</div> <bR> <div> <B>Saying Thank You</b></div> <div> Sims admits, "The artists you really want to see succeed are the ones who are appreciative of what you're doing for them. You get very few thank you's." If you show your gratitude to the publicist, it can go a long way, like it does for MCA recording artists soulDecision. Their kindness and gratitude made them one of Sims' "pet bands."</div> <bR> <div> "I just love those guys, because every time I saw them they would say thank you and they realized all the work I was doing for them. It made me want to work that much harder for them," Sims says. "Early next year we're supposed to put an album out for them. I know definitely when it first comes out I'll be there batting for them because I just love them."</div> <bR> <div> <B>Michelle's Next Tour Stop?</b></div> <div> Jobs in the music industry often leave little time for family and other concerns. "When I worked at Atlantic, we never took lunch breaks," says Sims. "We would order in lunch every day, and a lot of times I was there from 7:30 AM to 7:30 PM. But then there are the rewards, like when you see somebody who you've worked hard for make it. That's a reward; to know you're a part of that and you helped them.</div> <bR> <div> "Right now I'm having fun doing this. I'm young, and I have the energy to do it. And it's cool that I get to travel. But is it some- thing I'm going to do forever? I don't know. But I'll tell you this, anybody who chooses to do this, you're either going to love it or hate it. A lot of people think, 'hey I like music' or 'I think that will be a fun job'-it has to mean more than that to you."</div> <bR> <div> Whether you're promoting yourself as an up-and-coming artist or are looking forward to working with a record company, knowing something about how a music industry professional like Michelle Sims does her job can only help your cause. Understanding and respect still count for something in the highly competitive music business.</div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>