EMILY TAN Media Relations

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I represent an up-and-coming electronic dance music (EDM) artist who is also a DJ and music producer. As his rep, I’ve managed and developed his career for the past six years, supporting him on his performances, music releases, and social media presence.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire EMILY TAN Media Relations?

We needed a PR representative who had experience promoting EDM artists. After corresponding with EMILY TAN Media Relations, we agreed to a six-month paid trial that we could cancel at any time. 

What were your goals for this project?

Our main objective was to further promote our artist through magazine, newspaper, and radio/television appearances. We wanted to build out our brand in the music industry.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We found Emily (Owner, EMILY TAN Media Relations) by searching on Google for EDM PR companies. Her LinkedIn profile listed several appealing past clients as well as some highly-coveted artists. 

However, beyond her Facebook page and a few self-published interviews, we couldn’t find any independently published reviews of her work by artists. When we asked her to give us a sense of what we could expect from the collaboration, she insisted that any evaluation would occur after payment.

Ultimately, we agreed to a six-month paid trial since PR agencies specializing in EDM artists are few and far between. We accepted her rates without negotiation.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Emily was responsible for sending us an overview of all of her services following our initial talk so that we could determine the best course of action. We gave her PR assets, including social links, graphics, and music samples, and she told us that she had several ideas brewing for early promotional initiatives. 

Eventually, she started to tell us that she was pursuing exclusive digital/print interviews with prominent DJ publications and blogs as well as other opportunities. However, we didn’t receive the interview questions until much later and didn’t see receive any confirmation of publication until the fifth month.

What was the team composition?

Emily was a one-person operation. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

What started as a hopeful relationship ended poorly. Emily brought a lot of initial energy to the project, promising that she had ideas and opportunities for our artist. However, her inconsistent communication, lack of a concrete PR strategy, and refusal to be transparent made the situation intolerable. 

One of the most frustrating things was that she never delivered any outlines that she agreed to, so it was difficult to know if she was actively pitching our artist. When confronted about her correspondence, she would give excuses or empty promises. She would also ask for assets that we’d already provided multiple times. 

Eventually, she claimed that we did receive a feature in one magazine and promised to send us copies but never did. We had to check online to see if our feature was published. This was after having paid $10,000 over the course of five months. 

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We lost a lot of time during the process due to her inefficient workflow and had little to show for it. After some initial resistance, we convinced Emily to provide weekly reports on her progress and initiatives, but she never gave concrete plans or insights into her PR strategy. Her emails were littered with slick buzz words to make us believe that she was pursuing big opportunities on the rise, which we never saw. 

It was also exasperating that she would never communicate beyond once a week, even if we replied to her message within minutes. When she did respond, she would focus on the opportunities that she found for other clients and imply that we were being a nuisance by asking for concrete, measurable progress details. Her invoices were, in contrast, regular, and she would insist on payment before providing any semblance of service.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Although she claimed that she was in the process of closing other opportunities for us, we opted not to continue working with her because we saw minimal results by the fifth and final month of the engagement. I would not recommend working with EMILY TAN Media Relations nor would I work with her again.

Are there any areas for improvement?

In addition to my comments above, she shouldn’t market herself as a registered business when she’s really a freelance agent.

Company Responses

The vendor responded on February 1st, 2021.

Now entering our 31st year in business representing the brightest talents in the EDM/pop space, EMILY TAN MEDIA RELATIONS is devoted to the satisfaction of the agency's clients. Still at the helm of her eponymous agency after three decades, Emily Tan is a widely recognized figure in the global EDM industry. She personally gives all of herself to running her agency with a team of like-minded go-getters. While most artists/clients recognize that "making it" in the highly-competitive music industry demands grit and perseverance, the truth is that some have what it takes; others simply don't.

We wish this anonymous, alleged "former client" serenity and inner-peace in attaining the self-fulfillment s/he seeks. For more information, visit www.emilytanmediarelations.com