Getting Press Passes?

[Marc Whiffen]

Hi,

I run a music website and social media pages called The Indie Masterplan,

I only started a few years back, but it has really taken off better then I thought.

My next step, I would like to report from festivals, interview bands and review sets. This would be a first for me though, I am not 100% on how to gain this sort of pass and what my chances would be of obtaining one.

Are they really picky? Would having the website increase my chances?

I also help out promoting new bands in my 'Ones To Watch' section.

Thank you for reading this, any help would be amazing, I don't want to just jump into contacting everyone, I want to make a smart, calculated approach.

[The Indie Masterplan]

Well since posting this I have gained passes for The Rifles, Tramlines, Pennfest, Truck Fest and The Libertines arena. 

 

Thank you for your help.

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

13 hours ago, The Indie Masterplan said:

Well since posting this I have gained passes for The Rifles, Tramlines, Pennfest, Truck Fest and The Libertines arena. 

 

Thank you for your help.

Don't be too disheartened. We can't really help if we haven't got a fucking clue about getting free passes. Congratulations on what you have currently achieved though, that's very impressive. The only two pieces of advice that I could give are;

(1) The same piece of advice that my first ever manager gave to me. This is that 'bullshit baffles brains'. It soon became clear to me that it was indeed the case, as I watched him defraud the organisation, whilst telling the executive management that he was the dog's back sacks.

(2) Use 'The Force'. This is one that one of my older brothers advised me to use, where necessary. He is a master of it. I recall the first time that I saw him use it. We were in a very long queue to get in somewhere, when he said something along the lines of'' Fuck this, I'm off to have a word with the bouncers'. He then proceeded to ignore the queue, walk up to the bouncers and say something to them. Their reaction was to indicate for us to come to the front of the queue, lift the rope from the roped off section to let us in, and then inform us that there was no need for us to pay, and please be their guests. So, we went in to the venue. When inside, we asked my brother what on earth that he had said to the bouncers. His answer was that he couldn't recall because he was using ' The Force' at the time.

I also sometimes use 'The Force', when completely drunk. In fact, there's probably a school of thought that says that I actually abuse 'The Force' given the regularity of it's usage by myself.