question for the journalists: Twitter etiquette

Curious to hear what you all think about this.

Top-of-the-Billboard-200-level successful artist is playing in town later in the summer, so I hit up publicist nice and early to see about an phone interview. I give him a six-week window, pick a time and I'm there. I just need 15 minutes on the phone.

Publicist says artist isn't available and won't be at all during my window. (I think this is ridiculous, but whatever. I understand artist doesn't have to do it if they don't want to.)

Artist is active and generally responsive on Twitter.

Is it bad form on my part to ask the artist directly via tweet if they're willing to chat? (Note, if it matters: The show is in the same state as the artist, in a town about 3 hours away from artist's home that their band has played many times before, but have just worked their way up to headlining our biggest venue.)

One one hand, the artist is out in "public" and can ignore me. On the other hand, they hired a publicist to keep people like me away.

I'm a professional journalist and want to act like one, not some kid writing a college paper or whatever. So I'm leaning toward yes, it is bad form. But would like to hear what others think.

I say go for it. Very recently, I was being kept waiting by a publicist for an interview and wound up contacting the artist directly through Facebook; got the interview scheduled for the next day.

if the artist has open twitter feed, then i'd say its fair game to approach directly.

I wouldn't do this; to me, that's why they pay a publicist. But I'm sure plenty of artists wouldn't mind.

I also say go for it. and if they say yes, be sure to then ask the publicist what the hell they were playing at.

i say go for it

i've also lined up an interview thru facebook so hey

I'm not saying don't do it, but look at it this way ...
Publicist and management and label will have a planned and plotted campaign. It's probable your outlet does not fit in with their plans - maybe it would scupper an exclusive somewhere else. Maybe they just don't want to over expose. Artist, if they know this at all, probably doesn't give a shit. If you contact the artist directly, and they say yes, it's by no means unlikely the publicist then gets in tremendous shit with label and management for fucking up the schedule and not somehow preventing this happening.
I once contacted an artist directly to finalise an interview that had been stuck with the artist's management. Everyone (artist, publicist, management) wanted to do the interview - a big piece of promo with a big name writer (novelist, not music journalist) attached. I took it on myself because the writer needed a definite date immediately or I would lose them. I got the date within 24 hours. I also got the publicist in a ton of shit (though the delay was not his fault; it was management's, as the artist admitted) because the accepted path had been bypassed. I wouldn't say I regret it, but I felt bad for the publicist. So, before you do this think: will I ever need this publicist on my side ever again? If the answer is yes, think twice.

Anyone who is "Top-of-the-Billboard-200-level successful" is waaaaay too busy to organize/coordinate their own interviews via twitter. Like if publicist was jerking you around for some non-Arcade Fire Merge band or like some Thrill Jockey band with 2,000 followers, i'd say go for it—they're already street level. But it sounds like there's a real good reason the publicist is saying you can;'t talk

I wouldn't do this; to me, that's why they pay a publicist bagger. But I'm sure plenty of artists wouldn't mind.

― Mark, Thursday, April 7, 2011 11:27 AM (28 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

lol cross-boarding clusterfuck

Anyone who is "Top-of-the-Billboard-200-level successful" is waaaaay too busy to organize/coordinate their own interviews via twitter

yeah it may look like they're responsive but the tweets they answer are probably just a tiny drop in the ocean if they're at that level

Publicist may also be the one actually handling the Twitter feed.

Publicist may also be the one actually handling the Twitter feed.

^ This. I've had some dealings with behind-the-scenes social media people recently and it's surprising how much work is put into certain Twitter accounts to make them look like they're genuinely the work of a particular famous person. Twitter is basically a gigantic sock.

All the more reason to shout as loudly as possible to get your interview. Keeping publicists happy is not in a writer's job description.

No one's saying you should keep publicists happy, are they? Of course any good journalist says no to publicists about a great range of things many more times than they say yes.

All I'm saying is a writers risks doing themself more harm than good if they piss one of them off for no specially good reason. This isn't a question of right to write what you want, or resisting pressure to do something that seems wrong. The publicist has said no interview is forthcoming (not "no interview UNLESS"), and the advice is all about whether or not it's worth chasing one anyway.

As both an editor and a freelancer, I have rounded up interviews in the face of publicist stonewalling, and suffered no career setbacks for it. Many, many publicists are lazy, entitled cunts who seem to believe their job is to keep the press away, not serve as a go-between. (The fuckers at the aptly named Nasty Little Man are particularly bad about this shit.)

Personally I wouldn't go that route if the publicist has given you a flat no. On two occasions when publicist has been slow I've directly contacted artists - one said yes and spoke to me within an hour, the other (who I actually know socially) politely hedged and obviously felt awkward because a no arrived from the publicist the next day. I don't think a star of the stature you describe agrees to interviews via Twitter anyway. I only pursue people via Facebook and Twitter who don't have representation, eg ex-members of bands that I need to speak to for a retrospective feature.