Thibaut Industry Interview

Hello, My name is Thibaut and I'm the founder and a Music Publicist at sk8 PR. sk8 PR is an independent Music PR agency from France and the name of my agency is an hommage to the Avril Lavigne "sk8er Boi" song.

A music publicist is basically the media person of the artist/band. I am charge of getting press coverage (in print, online and internationally). I contact music magazines, music podcasts, blogs and zines and schedules interviews / feature articles or single review articles. I also work for the promotion of a song, an EP, LP or a tour.

What university or program have you attended?

Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford, United Kingdom (Music Business and Innovation Degree)

Which artists have you worked with?

Hightower, The Dead Krazukies, and Wavy Trees.

Who or what inspired you to peruse a career in the industry?

 I've always been like super interested in music. I also play drums. Back in 2010, I had the amazing opportunity to go to the US with my class. We went to Berkeley in the San Francisco area. During that trip, we walked past a famous recording studio, which closed in 2018, was the Fantasy Studios. It's like a really well known studio. That is where Green Day recorded their Dookie album. Right after that experience, it completely made me want to pursue a career in the music industry. At first I was interested in artist management, but then I became interested in music PR. To me, the music publicist is the person in the back. You don't see him often. He's the main media person for the band. I've read a lot of books with music publicists, watched a lot of music documentaries, and that's probably why I became interested in music PR. Here are a couple of books that inspired me as a publicist (I Was There: Dispatches From A Life in Rock and Roll by Alan Edwards - Access All Areas: A Backstage Pass Through 50 Years of Music and Culture by Barbara Charone - Lunch With The Wild Frontiers: A History of Britpop and excess in 13 ½ chapters by Jane Savidge) 

I studied at the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford, UK in a Music Business and Innovation Degree. There's no such university in France specifically aimed at the Music Industry, so I studied there for 2 years. After working for an independent record label in Germany (KROD Records) as their Music Publicist and a few other PR agencies, I just said to myself that I could create and work with my own Music Publicity firm. 

What or like has been your favorite part about working in the industry?

Definitely talking with people from all over the world, like journalists. Getting to know an artist and what their motives are and what they want to pursue. Trying to get their message to the media and journalists by talking about their music and songwriting. Basically being the promoter for the band. 

Have you faced any challenges in the industry and how have you overcome them?

Back in 2020, I graduated on a music business course in the UK, and I was trying to get more experience working for record labels and companies, and it happened at the worst moment because during COVID, no PR companies were hiring. So I was like, maybe I can probably do it myself, and that's how I created my own agency in 2022. I probably started working like two years ago with artists from the US, for example. I think the main challenge was starting by doing it yourself opposed to working for a label. Working alone as a publicist means that you have to do everything by yourself. You don't have another publicist by your side. You have to write the press release, etc. The name of my agency is a reference to the Avril Lavigne's Skateboy song the way how it's written that's how I got my name from agency. Every music PR company has an original name. I couldn't believe that no one used the SK8 before, so that's why I chose it. I thought it was original because I like skateboarding and music and it represents both.

What is one goal you have for yourself or your PR company in the next few years? 

I'd like to work with like other artists. I haven't really worked with like any female artists so that would be like cool working with like more artists from the US or from Europe. At the moment I've only worked with like artists from the US and I've worked with a band from France also, so working with like artists from overseas would be cool.

Do you have any advice either for your younger self or any aspiring workers what would what would it be and why?

For my younger self I'd say to continue doing the work, it pays off. For people that want to specifically go into music PR, for example, I'd say you just have to get knowledge. There is a ton of resources to read. For example, there's a lot of stuff online and industry professionals released books about there's books actual books about music PR. Also, watch a lot of music documentaries. There's a ton of on YouTube there's a ton of documentaries from VH1 and MTV talking about bands and how they came up and their knowledge. Often in those documentaries they also interview the people that are close to the band like the manager and publicist and people from the label. I'd say watch a lot of documentaries, read a lot of books, and honestly it really helps. Just watching documentaries and reading a lot of books. If you have money, you can go to university also, but that's can be a bit expensive, but obviously YouTube and watching documentaries online is free. If you don't understand a particular topic or don't necessarily have the knowledge, don't be afraid to ask for help for guidance. Being honest and transparent is also something really important (especially being a Music Publicist). Kindness and consideration is essential to me and something that I particularly focus on.