The publicist acts as the liaison between the artist and the media, and ensures the artist gets the right media coverage for their music.

Here, Jamelia Campbell, Manager of Account Management & Marketing at The Orchard, explains what the key responsibilities of a music publicist look like, and how the publicist works in relation to the artist and the rest of the artist’s team.

Jamelia talks about how different artists require different publicity strategies, to ensure the artist’s music and message gets in front of the right audience through various different media channels, including radio, social media, TV, etc. Jamelia also gets into the art of the pitch, and why it’s important to have strong relationships across the industry, and how all of this helps to secure effective press coverage for artists.

Jamelia reflects on her career as a publicist to date, and why it’s such an exciting and special job for her. She also discusses what traits are important for a publicist to have, and offers sage advice to young people who might be interested in pursuing publicity as a career.

Jamelia Campbell is a first-generation Canadian, born and raised in Toronto by two Jamaican parents who instilled the love of music in her from an early age. Her first live show was a lawn ticket to Tina Turner’s headline tour in 1997, when she was 8 years old, and it planted a seed in her that is still growing to this day.

She graduated from York University with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, and then attended Seneca@York, where she culminated her education with a post-graduate certification in Corporate Communications. The program allowed her to marry her love of music with her studies via an internship at Sony Music Canada, in the Media Relations department; before the internship finished, she was hired full time, becoming the label’s first Black publicist. She held her role for over five years, and recently transitioned to a Marketing position at the music distribution company, The Orchard.