Monique Wallace is the regional and online PR for Island Records. Island look after artists such as Devlin, Tinchy Stryder, Alex Clare, Lil Wayne, Drake and newcomer Josh Osho. Monique gives us her top ten tips on how you can steal her job!

1) Work Experience

Do as much of it as you can to build up your CV. Journalism and PR are really closely related. Try to do work experience in each area, it’s really is helpful to see how things work from both sides. 

2) Music

Don’t let your interest slip. Continue to love music; keep updated with what’s out there, as well as discovering older music.

3) Read

Read newspapers, magazines and blogs. It’s like constant research. Get to know the publications and their writers. Gage what their interests are and what they tend to cover. This is really useful when it comes to plugging.

4) Be open-minded

Try not to be put off by acts/genres you’re not familiar with.

5) Research

Do research for every artist you work on. Familiarising yourself with their previous work or background is really important.

6) Contacts

Networking is essential; you make contacts daily in PR. Keep in touch with them - respond to emails and return calls.

7) Spell Check

Nothing worse than a press release with a typo.

8) Organisation

Be on time, make a to-do list and use calendars. If you don’t organise yourself, who else will?

9) Use the phone

Don’t hide behind emails. It’s good to talk.

10) Be polite

Some people aren’t polite, but it doesn’t mean you can’t be.

www.islandrecords.co.uk