Having a good radio plugger can make the difference between a great track becoming a hit or not. But what does the job involve and how do you get into it? Here, Ben Mainwaring, a freelance radio plugger, and Terry Hollingsworth, director of Radio and Press plugging company 10 X Better share their thoughts on the role and career of a plugger.
Question: How did you get into the music industry, and radio plugging?
Ben Mainwaring - I started out in the industry on a "gap year" from my degree (which stretched to a couple of years) with a marketing and plugging company in London. Here I was lucky enough to get to work on some big records including Destiny's Child, Michael Jackson, Prince, Cypress Hill... Over the course of this couple of years I built up my own network of contacts etc and so when I graduated I found that I had the 'infrastructure' and the experience to be able to start doing this work on my own, so since then I have been operating as an independent plugger for a range of artists and labels.
Terry Hollingsworth - I hung around the fringes of the music business when I was about 16. I managed a band and hung around with musicians - I guess I was always going to end up working with music, I just didn't know it at that time! I got a job at WEA as a post boy when I was 17 and from there went on to work my way up inside the company. I had a brief spell in press (and hated it!) and then got a job as office junior in the Promotions department. I then started plugging Radio London, World Services and BFBS and then progressed onto Radio 2 and eventually moved on to Radio 1.
I stayed in the promotions department for another 6 or 7 years and then went into A&R. I think that every A&R man should be a plugger and every plugger should be an A&R man - that way they would have a better understanding of what's being asked from each person/department.
What particular skills are required by a radio plugger?
BM - I think honestly the skills that are key are general people skills. When someone engages you on a plugging project - effectively what they are buying is your "black book" and access to your relationships with the key figures in radio and press. If you're a good networker, you've got a good grounding. On top of that you need to be highly organised and very pushy. Its not normally an attractive character trait, but as a plugger you've gotta be tenacious and keep on getting in peoples faces and in their offices to make sure that you keep your artists right at the top of their agenda.
TH - I think you need to be a very good communicator, you need to be organised and able to organise other people, you must have a great deal of self belief, which is built up over time, you need to be able to look at other options and find different ways to get your product to a wider audience, in other words don't give up when your first choice says no! and you need to be totally unashamed, there's a saying in the north of England, where I live now, "shy bairns (kids) get no toys" - in other words if you don't ask you don't get! And of course you need to have a thick skin, but I think that's true of everybody who works in this industry.
What's the best avenue for someone to follow to become a plugger?
BM - It's a much worn cliche in recent times but the opportunities for networking and research afforded by the net, means that anyone can become their own plugger. If your prepared to do the research and the hard work, then a couple of months of phone calls and meetings and introducing yourself to people will give you an instant black book and network of contacts. Once you've got that in place - you need to find an act(s). Start local perhaps and don't be afraid to work for cost or indeed free at the outset of a project. If you find an act you genuinely believe in, then making yourself a key part of that team will be far more profitable and worthwhile long term than hamstringing yourself early on by forcing the issue of payment for a mailout. In the beginning the key is to try and think long term...
TH - Just start doing it! There are plenty of bands out there looking for exposure, start contacting them and taking their records to the radio, the more you do the job the better you will get at it. If you're any good you can start charging people for the work you are doing or some one will notice you and offer you a job.
What are the rewards for plugging (financial and emotional!)
BM - Financial... Depends entirely on the project and often its success. Pluggers get kicked around sometimes for money as a lot of what they do is result-driven... not always ideal and its important to make sure there is some level of trust involved in a project - especially if your doing work up front with no guarantee of payment... As I say initially its key to try not to think to much about the financial side of things, and when you do, weigh them up with the longer term possibilities of the project. For me, the rewards are far more emotional - hearing a song on the radio or reading a piece in a magazine that you've put there, engenders a great sense of pride... that's the buzz I do this work for...
TH - I know of a few pluggers who have made plenty of money from plugging (I'm not one of them!) but to be honest I think if you spoke to each one of them they would say that financial rewards aren't that important. I didn't get involved in this industry for the money and I'm sure I could have earned more doing something else, but the music industry is like a drug and once your involved it's very difficult to get a 9-5 job. My parents still ask me when I'm going to get a "proper" job and I'm 50 this year! The highs are higher and the lows are lower - I like being around creative people and I like being involved in the process of making the public aware of an artist or record.
