ABOUT MAGNUM PR

The Beginning

Susan Zimmerman, aka SiouxZ, founded Magnum PR in 1989 while working with her first client, Nine Inch Nails. In the 25 years since, the firm has seamlessly expanded from focusing on electronic music to representing rock and roll groups, breaking new artists of all genres, and working with international brands and festivals, in the US and abroad. Magnum’s past and present client list reads like a who’s who of iconic artists: Portishead, The Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, Underworld,  Marilyn Manson, Basement Jaxx, Tiesto,  DJ Shadow, Moby, Daft Punk, Sasha and John Digweed,  Pretty Lights, Nero, Primal Scream, Gang of Four, Yoko Ono, Orbital, and many more.

Breaking Through

Magnum has a unique penchant for breaking new artists onto the world stage while maintaining their indie cred and keeping one foot rooted in the underground. Some of the artists Magnum has guided into fame include Plan B, The Streets, Gnarls Barkley, The Prodigy, DJ Shadow, Pretty Lights, Avicii, The Klaxons, Nero, Magnetic Man, Madlib, Daft Punk, Marilyn Manson, Primal Scream, Gang of Four, Calvin Harris, and The Avalanches. That many of these artists have rocketed to international fame while maintaining their loyal underground fanbase is a testament to Magnum’s ability to thoughtfully grow a client’s brand and audience, introducing them to mainstream audiences while maintaining their artistic credibility.

Awards

Artists represented by Magnum have had Gold and Platinum selling records, topped dozens of year-end lists, and graced the covers of Rolling Stone and Spin. Grammy awards or nominations have been delivered to the following artists during Magnum press campaigns: Moby (Play), NIN (The Downward Spiral), and The Chemical Brothers (for both Dig Your Own Hole and Push The Button), as well as Daft Punk, Avicii, The Basement Jaxx, Tiesto, and Yoko Ono. Magnum’s roster always receives impressive acclaim in year-end lists, having appeared Entertainment Weekly’s Must Issue, Rolling Stone’s Top 10 Bands To Look Out For, Spin’s Year End Top 40, and Billboard’s Top 200. Their artists always end up on the Top 20 of the Village Voice Pazz and Jop Poll, a hugely influential annual list created by the top music critics of the country.

Campaigns

Magnum’s always inventive and carefully engineered campaigns consist of creating and designing press releases, arranging interviews, giveaways and exclusives, contests, very thorough tour press with event previews and live reviews, and personal pitches that are picked up by top tier and regional print and online outlets, music and lifestyle publications, radio, and blogs. The Magnum ethos is to maintain artists’ original fan base and credibility while broadening their audience and recognition, and Magnum’s publicists work closely with artists, managers, agents, and press to accomplish this.

OUR INDUSTRY

Electronic

It’s no secret that Magnum’s heart is in electronic music, and their industry niche has been bringing the world’s best electronic music to the masses.  Having been in the business for over two decades, Magnum PR continues to shine with an impressive client roster that has included, aside from those listed above, living legends like Calvin Harris, Carl Cox, Armand Van Helden, Tiesto, Richie Hawtin, Eric Morillo, Roger Sanchez, Basement Jaxx, Avicii, Deep Dish, Aphex Twin, The Chemical Brothers, Axwell of Swedish House Mafia, VCMG: Vince Clarke and Martin Gore (ex-Depeche Mode), Boy George, Ian Brown and countless others.

Rock & Roll

Though Magnum is best known for their work with electronic artists, they are no strangers to the worlds of rock & roll and indie. Magnum has represented a host of acclaimed rock and indie artists, including Weekend, Radio Dept, Prayers, Baby In Vain,  Limp Bizkit, Snow Patrol, Biffy Clyro, Enter Shikari, The Violens, Dot Allison, Beak>, Anika, Saint Entiene, Death In Vegas, We Are Scientists, Tom Vek , The Klaxons, Mystery Jets,  The Futureheads, Maximo Park, The French Kicks, Art Brut, Gang of Four, Bob Mould, The Cramps, Primal Scream, The Sparks, Acid House Kings, and Badly Drawn Boy, amongst others.

Festivals

In addition to working with artists, Magnum has had their fair share of festival mayhem. For three years running, Magnum headed up PR for Ultra Music Festival in Miami, which at the time attracted over 70,000 festival goers. Magnum also created their own festival, teaming up with Chaotica Booking Agency to produce Organic Festival, which was the first live electronic festival back in 1996, featuring such luminaries as Orbital, The Chemical Brothers, and Underworld. The proliferation of electronic music festivals in the last few years is one of many examples of how Magnum remains a cutting-edge leader in the industry.

Other festivals and events Magnum has worked with include The Village Voice Siren Fest, Iceland’s – Iceland Airwaves Festival, Oslo’s Oya Festival, and Tony Wilson’s In The City Festival. In addition, Magnum has curated countless showcases at CMJ and SXSW.   Since 2013, Magnum works with Moogfest, the festival put together by Moog Music that embraces Bob Moog’s legacy.  Another client is Disco Donnie Presents, one of the leading electronic music promoters and production companies in the US. Magnum is handling Disco Donnie’s corporate PR and event press for various events throughout the US and Latin America.

International

Leading international brands and companies consistently look to Magnum PR to represent and launch their brands and talent stateside. Magnum’s past international client roster include but are not limited to The British Music Embassy, Tony Wilson (of Factory Records fame), In the City Music Conference, Ministry of Sound, Cream, Northern Ireland Emergence in Music, Iceland Music Export, New Zealand Music Export, Australia One Movement Festival launch, Norway’s Oya Festival,  and France’s YOOX.com. In addition, press junkets have been arranged by Magnum PR to many countries for massive media exposure on branding events including Berlin’s Love Parade, Sheffield’s Gatecrasher, Creamfields Festival in Dublin, Icelandic Airwaves, Manchester ITC Music Conference, and the list goes on. Magnum’s personal touch and commitment to go above and beyond the call of duty know no geographic boundaries.

OUR FOCUS

Print

Magnum’s 20 years in business have afforded them an unrivaled list of contacts, including the country’s biggest print outlets. Magnum PR’s Clients have appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone and Spin (Gnarls Barkley, NIN, The Prodigy, Marilyn Manson), as well as features and coverage with outlets like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Billboard, LA Times, USA Today, The New Yorker, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, People, Nylon, Blackbook, Time Out, Filter, Magnet, Boston Globe, Washington Post, and the San Francisco Chronicle.

Online

The online division of Magnum PR consistently delivers campaigns that see their artists becoming darlings of the blogsphere.  Their artists regularly hit the top of the charts on Hype Machine, Beatport, iTunes, and the Elbo.w music blog aggregator. Magnum artists receive coverage on wide-reaching sites such as Billboard, Rolling Stone, Spin, Yahoo, Fader, Hypetrak, V Mag, Bullett, Nylon, Complex, Quietus, Fact, NME, NPR, Pitchfork, Stereogum, Vice Noisey, Thump, Cool Hunting, Paper, Blackbook.

Magnum also has close contacts with the music-oriented online press, with artists often featured at sites Pitchfork, Resident Advisor, XLR8R, Stereogum, Fader, Vice, CMJ Monthly, Magnet, Alternative Press, URB, Under the Radar, Consequence of Sound, Resident Advisor, Pigeons and Planes, XLR8R, Okayplayer, Music Ninja, Indie Shuffle, Brooklyn Vegan, Death & Taxes, Clash, Dazed Digital, TSIS, Wired, Nest HQ, Magnetic, and  tech savvy outlets such as Wired, Mashable, Fast Co, Vice’s Creator’s Project and Motherboard. .

Magnum also maintains close ties to hundreds of smaller blogs that reach out and cater to the underground music scene, which are often the first to champion Magnum’s up-and-coming artists, creating the sort of online buzz that then trickles up to larger press outlets.

Television

Magnum’s focus has always been in building campaigns which work without the added support of radio or TV. Still, their client’s widespread print and web coverage often result in invitations for radio and TV appearances. Magnum has had huge success with their artists appearing on national TV including Portishead, Underworld, The Streets, Yoko Ono, Klaxons, Snow Patrol, Gnarls Barkley, Futureheads, The Glitch Mob, Gang of Four, French Kicks, Ian Brown, to name a few.

Magnum’s artists have appeared on shows including Leno, Conan, Letterman, Saturday Night Live, Good Morning America, MTV, Carson Daly, Craig Ferguson, Jimmy Kimmel,  Jimmy Fallon, Fuse, Live with Regis and Kelly, CBS Early Show, CNN, Current TV and a wide array of local TV stations.

Film Soundtracks

Film and its relationship to music is another key interest at Magnum PR.  SiouxZ’s first music supervision duty was the movie PI which earned ‘Best Director’ at Sundance while the soundtrack received widespread critical acclaim. With PI as his debut score, Clint Mansell is now one of the most sought after music composers in the industry and has continued to work with Darren Aronofsky on films like Requiem for A Dream, The Fountain, Black Swan, and The Wrestler.

Other music inspired movies Magnum has been at the helm of include the wildly fabulous 24 Hour Party People, Lost Highway, Groove and the infamous DIG!, not to mention Geoff Barrow of Portishead’s and Ben Salisburyrecent film score for sci-fi thriller Ex Machina.