This interview with Kostya Aronberg of GlobMetal Promotions dives into his work as a PR representative, exploring modern promotion strategies, industry challenges, and building lasting visibility for metal bands.
1. GlobMetal
Promotios has been active since 2012, how has the role of a PR representative
in the metal scene evolved over the past decade?
The role
has changed a lot over the past 15 years. Back in the early 2010s, promotion
was much simpler: you had websites, a few key magazines, and that was enough to
build solid exposure. If a band got reviews and interviews in the right places,
people would discover them. Today it’s a completely different game. Streaming
platforms changed how people consume music and listeners don’t search the same
way anymore, they rely on algorithms. On top of that content like reels and
clips became a major factor. Attention spans are shorter, and bands are
competing not just with other bands, but with everything online. So the role of
a PR representative is no longer just “sending music to magazines” It’s about
building a full presence combining media coverage, social visibility, and
understanding how platforms work. At the same time, one thing hasn’t changed:
credibility still comes from real sources. Reviews, interviews, and media
features still matter - they just don’t work alone anymore.
2. You
often emphasize that visibility is now a bigger challenge than music quality
itself. When did you first notice this shift happening?
I think I
started noticing it around 2014. Back then there were already a lot of good
bands, but you could still get attention if the music was strong and you pushed
it to the right magazines. The real shift came around 2015, when streaming
platforms and social media became dominant. Suddenly, there was just too much
content. Every week, thousands of new releases, and even great albums were
getting lost.
I remember
working with bands that had solid material, professional sound, everything but
without proper promotion, nothing was happening. No reviews, no interviews, no
traction. At the same time, weaker bands with better visibility were getting
more attention. That’s when it became very clear to me: quality is important,
but it’s not enough anymore. If people don’t see you, they simply don’t know
you exist.
3. Your first campaign with Metal
Scent played a key role in shaping GlobMetal. What lessons from that experience
still influence your work today?
The first
real lesson I learned is how selective the system actually is. Not every
webzine will cover your band and in many cases, it has nothing to do with
quality. If they don’t like it or if it doesn’t bring them value, they’ll just
skip it. Magazines are overloaded and receive dozens, sometimes over a hundred
releases every single day. So they have to think like a business. The priority
always goes to bigger bands, because those names bring traffic, and traffic
keeps the platform alive. That means smaller or unknown bands are not competing
on quality alone - they’re competing for very limited space. Once I understood
that, I stopped looking at promotion as “sending music” and started treating it
as positioning. You need to know where your band fits, which outlets make
sense, and how to approach them properly.
4. GlobMetal
focuses on real media placements rather than “viral” strategies. Why do you
believe this approach is more sustainable for metal bands?
The problem
with “viral” promotion is that it’s unpredictable and usually short term. A
band can get a lot of views from one clip, but that doesn’t automatically
translate into real fans or long-term growth. In Metal industry many parts of
the audience behaves differently and people don’t just follow a band because of
one trending video, they look for credibility. They read reviews, check
interviews, and want to see that the band is active and present in the scene.
That’s why I focus on real media placements. When a band gets consistent
coverage: reviews, interviews, news about the band release and radio rotations
are building something more stable. It creates a presence that doesn’t
disappear after a few days.
5. With
thousands of releases every week, what makes a band stand out to media outlets
and journalists today?
From a
media perspective, journalists are overloaded. They receive a constant flow of
new releases, and they don’t have the time to deeply check everything. So
naturally, they look for signals that help them decide quickly what’s worth
their attention. One of the strongest signals is when a band comes with a
professional agency behind it. If a magazine or journalist already knows the
agency, it immediately increases the chances of the band being noticed. There
is already a level of trust, they know what kind of material they’re going to
receive, they know the communication will be professional, and they know
they’re not wasting time on something low quality. Beyond that, presentation
plays a huge role - a well written press release, strong visuals, and a clear
identity make it easier for media to work with the band. Journalists are more
likely to cover something that is ready to publish, rather than something they
need to fix or figure out.
6. Many
bands expect quick results from PR campaigns. What is the biggest misconception
artists have about promotion?
The biggest
misconception is the expectation of instant results. A lot of bands believe
that once they sign with a PR company, they’ll wake up the next day as
superstars just because a few magazines wrote about them. That’s simply not how
it works. Promotion is not a one-time push, it’s a process. What actually
builds recognition is repetition. A band needs to appear again and again across
different platforms - news, reviews, interviews, radio, creating what I call a
“promo train”. That constant presence is what slowly builds awareness. Think
about it from a listener’s perspective. When you open a metal magazine and see
a completely unknown band mentioned once, most of the time you skip it. But if
you start seeing the same name repeatedly over time, eventually you get curious
and check it out. That’s how attention works.
I had a
case last year with a band that, within the first month of their album release,
achieved over 50 publications news posts, radio airplay, early reviews and
interviews. Objectively, that’s a very strong result. But their social media
only grew by about 20–30 followers, and they thought the campaign failed. What
they didn’t understand is that visibility comes first, conversion comes later.
Reviews and interviews also take time, especially for new bands, because media
outlets are overloaded and prioritize bigger names. PR creates momentum, not
instant fame.
7. You’ve
worked with bands from all over the world: from Thailand to Europe and beyond.
Do you see differences in how bands from different regions approach promotion?
Honestly,
after working with bands from many different countries, I don’t see a major
difference based on location. It’s much more about mindset than geography. I’ve
met bands from all over the world - Europe, Asia, Latin America and the same
patterns repeat. Some artists believe that once they release their first album,
everything will follow automatically: recognition, money, opportunities. When
that doesn’t happen, frustration builds up, and in many cases the band
disappears after a few years, sometimes blaming the industry instead of
understanding how it actually works. On the other hand, there are bands that
approach it in a much more professional way. They understand that this is a
long-term process. They keep releasing music, investing in promotion, improving
their image, and staying active even when results are slow. That’s really the
key difference. If anything, what I do sometimes see is that bands from smaller
or less connected scenes are often more motivated to break out internationally,
because they know their local market is limited. But even that only works if
the mindset is right.
8. You
often say that bands should treat themselves like businesses. What are the
first practical steps a band should take to adopt that mindset?
The first
step is actually very simple, but most bands skip it - you need to decide what
you really want. If a band is just playing for fun, that’s completely fine. But
if you want to grow, build an international audience, and maybe even make money
from your music, then you have to approach things differently. At that point,
it stops being just a “hobby” and starts becoming a responsibility. One of the
most practical things a band can do is divide roles between members. In many
bands, everything falls on one person (usually the vocalist or the founder) and
that’s one of the biggest mistakes. It slows everything down and leads to
burnout. If you have four members, you already have a small team. One person
can handle communication, reaching out to magazines, radios, promoters. Another
can focus on social media and content creation. Someone else can take care of
visuals, artwork, and branding. Another can work on booking and networking with
promoters. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but everyone should contribute
something. I also always recommend having regular check-ins - once a week or at
least once a month where each member shows what they actually did. Not what
they planned, but what they did! That creates accountability, which is
something most bands lack.
Now, even
if a band hires a PR agency, that doesn’t mean they can step back and do
nothing. That’s another common misunderstanding. A PR campaign works much
better when the band is active at the same time posting content, engaging with
people, releasing updates. At the end of the day, no one will care about your
band more than you do. You can get support, you can build a team, but the core
effort has to come from inside the band. If you treat it seriously and work on
it every day, the results will come.
9. How
important is PR when it comes to securing live shows and festival bookings in
today’s industry?
PR is
extremely important when it comes to booking shows, and I would even say it’s
one of the key factors today. When a booking agent or a festival looks at a
band, they’re not looking only at the music. Of course, the music matters, but
the next question is always: Who knows this band? What kind of visibility
do they have? Are people talking about them? Do they have media coverage,
reviews, interviews, activity?
At the end
of the day, every festival whether it’s a small local event or something
like Wacken Open Air is a business. Their goal is to attract
attention and bring people in. That means they need bands that can either sell
tickets directly or at least contribute to the overall value of the lineup. If
your band is completely unknown and has no visible presence, you’re a risk.
Even if you’re willing to play for free, you’re still taking a slot that could
go to another band that might bring an audience or has a stronger profile.
That’s just the reality. This is where PR comes in - when a band has consistent
media coverage, articles, reviews, interviews and radio play it builds a kind
of “resume”. It shows that the band is active, visible, and taken seriously.
That makes it much easier for booking agents to justify putting you on a
lineup.
Now,
there’s also the pay-to-play side of the industry. Some bands choose to pay for
opportunities, and honestly, at early stages, it can make sense if it’s the
right show. Playing in front of hundreds of new people, even if they’ve never
heard you before, can be valuable exposure. But it has to be a smart decision.
Not every paid opportunity is worth it. In the end, PR and live shows work
together. Good PR helps you get shows, and good shows help you build stronger
PR.
10. With
AI and algorithm-driven discovery becoming more important, how do you see the
future of music promotion evolving and how should bands prepare for it?
If you look
at how people discovered music over the last 20–30 years, you can clearly see
how fast things change. When I was younger, it was record stores and MTV. Then
came platforms like YouTube, Spotify, and social media, which completely
reshaped the way bands reached listeners. Around 2020, short-form platforms
started taking over, and attention spans became even shorter. Now we’re
entering another shift - AI-driven discovery. The next generation of listeners
will not search for music the way we did. Instead of browsing or randomly
clicking, they’ll ask AI systems for recommendations. Platforms
like ChatGPT, Grok, or Gemini are already moving in that
direction. These systems learn user behavior and preferences, and when someone
asks for new music, they’ll generate suggestions based on available data. And
that’s the key point - available data. AI doesn’t “discover” bands the way
humans do. It pulls information from what already exists online. That means if
your band has no presence, no articles, no reviews, no mentions across
websites, no structured information then from the AI’s perspective, you almost
don’t exist. This is exactly why PR becomes even more important, not less.
Every article, every review, every interview, every mention in a magazine or radio
station adds another data point. The more your band appears across different
platforms, the stronger your digital footprint becomes. And the stronger that
footprint is, the higher the chances that AI systems will recognize your band
as something relevant and worth recommending. It’s not about “tricking the
algorithm”, it’s about building a presence that is visible, consistent, and
spread across multiple sources. At the same time, bands need to adapt how they
present themselves. Metadata, proper tagging, consistent naming, professional
visuals all of that starts to matter more, because machines rely on structure.
If your content is messy or incomplete, you’re harder to categorize and easier
to ignore.
I don’t
think AI will completely replace platforms
like YouTube or TikTok, but it will definitely sit on top of
them as a new layer, a filter that decides what people see. And if you look at
history, every generation had its “main channel” for discovering music. MTV,
Myspace, YouTube - each one felt dominant until something new came in and
changed the rules. AI is simply the next step in that evolution. For bands, the
message is simple: don’t ignore it. You don’t have to fully understand it yet,
but you do need to build your presence in a way that both people and systems
can find you. Because in the near future, discovery won’t just depend on who
clicks your video it will depend on whether the system decides to show you at
all.
GlobMetal Promotions | International Metal PR & Promotion Agency
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