Andy Saunders has seen the music business at its messiest.
As founding father of Velocity Communications – celebrating its twenty fifth anniversary this yr – he’s spent a long time constructing tales and shaping methods for a few of music’s most outstanding corporations. However there’s one other facet to his work that hardly ever will get mentioned over well mannered business lunches: disaster administration for artists whose worlds have immediately imploded.
“My first query is all the time, ‘Did you do it?’” Saunders tells MBW. “I’ve to be 100% assured they’re telling me the reality. As a result of for those who don’t inform me the reality, I can’t provide help to.”
It’s a stark opening to our dialog, nevertheless it will get to the center of what Saunders does when he’s not selling the most recent signing or business deal. He’s on pace dial for artists (and their reps) when accusations floor on social media, when tabloids come knocking, or when a second of poor judgment threatens to derail every thing they’ve constructed.
Saunders’ ‘reputational administration’ purchasers fall into two distinct classes: (i) those that’ve been falsely accused of misdeeds and wish their reputations defended, and (ii) those that’ve genuinely transgressed and need assistance navigating the ensuing fallout.
As you’d count on, this sees Saunders wade into difficult territory. But he’s steadfast about his ethical boundaries. “I by no means needed to be Max Clifford; I don’t defend the indefensible,” he says. “Should you’re a racist, a rapist, or an abuser, I don’t need to know you, not to mention work with you.”
With typical straightforwardness, he provides: “You possibly can’t come again from one thing unforgivable that harms one other particular person. You can come again from being a fucking fool.”
Beneath, Saunders discusses the ethical traces he received’t cross, the methods that really work in disaster conditions, and why social media has basically modified the sport for anybody within the public eye…
You’re employed with artists accused of significant issues, however you say there are strict ethical limits to the instances you tackle. What are these limits?
I’m very clear on this: I don’t defend racists, I don’t defend rapists, and I don’t defend abusers. I might take the lawyer/solicitor view – ‘everyone deserves a protection’. However I’d be mendacity to myself. Some individuals, some actions, are indefensible.
My position is to mitigate conditions for individuals who have made real errors, or who’ve been falsely accused. I’m right here to work with artists to articulate an apology if wanted. And I’m right here to assist them navigate the unhealthy actors within the media who want to exploit their fame – their ‘fall from grace’ – for clicks.
I’ve turned down rather more of this work than I’ve taken on. Why? As a result of I’ve bought a spouse and daughter, as a result of I’ve bought a various group of associates, and since I wish to suppose I’m an inexpensive, respectable human being.
What offers you the arrogance that an artist is being falsely accused – that they’re not mendacity to you?
First, I look them within the eye and say: ‘Did you do it?’ And even when they then say no, I ask: ‘What had been the circumstances behind this even changing into an accusation?’
If, on the finish of that dialog, their story appears credible, I start a strategy of proof constructing. That may be so simple as web analysis or as complicated as working intently with attorneys and personal detectives.
One of the crucial critical instances I ever took on was a rock band who had been accused, through an nameless social media account, of assaulting certainly one of their followers. This account principally stated: ‘They assaulted my buddy at this specific lodge on this specific city.’ However having carried out analysis in tandem with the band’s administration, we concluded it couldn’t be true.
In the meantime, the [accusatory] tweet was getting amplified, and the band’s profession was immediately in free fall. Cowl shoots had been drying up, gigs had been being cancelled and folks had been piling in on social media with feedback like “I all the time thought they regarded like incorrect ‘uns”.
We had been ultimately capable of establish the particular person behind the nameless account, and so they agreed to submit a public apology, having confirmed the data they obtained was incorrect. The band then requested their followers to not bully this particular person, accepted the apology, and everybody moved on.
It blew over, inflicting speedy however restricted harm. But it surely’s not an exaggeration to say that if it wasn’t handled shortly, it might have destroyed careers and lives.
Nameless accusations on-line are a uniquely fashionable subject: anybody can publicly accuse anybody of something through social media whereas masking their id.
Social media has made individuals lonelier than ever. After we work together with different individuals by our units greater than we do in actual life, actuality can grow to be a bit blurred. We’re actually seeing that with AI and ‘deepfakes’ now.
Social media permits you to simply ‘different’ individuals, to deal with them as commodities or one-dimensional beings. It’s additionally gamified outrage in a method that may incentivise individuals to stretch the reality – or neglect it completely.
Individuals who lack company and energy in their very own lives can see it as a method of attracting consideration or being within the highlight. It makes them really feel like they’ve affect.
What about when artists have performed one thing incorrect? One pop star you labored with a couple of years again broke Covid guidelines, which shortly grew to become tabloid fodder.
Reassurance is a large a part of what I do, taking the warmth out of the scenario. When somebody is in the midst of a reputational disaster, it’s often the worst day of their life. It’s simple to lose perspective when all that’s going by your thoughts is: ‘What the fuck am I gonna do?!’
My job is to place a metaphorical arm round their shoulder and say, ‘You’re not the primary particular person this has occurred to, and also you’re unlikely to be the final. Let’s not enable emotion get in the way in which of pragmatism.’
“I all the time inform purchasers who’re in that preliminary panic mode that shouting ‘it’s not truthful!’ is just not a technique.”
After that, the answer may be so simple as issuing an announcement: ‘I shouldn’t have performed this; I apologize.’ And which means it!
Within the Covid artist story you’re speaking about, the transgression – critical although it was – was being made out by sure media shops to be the tip of the world, when anybody with half a mind might see that wasn’t the case. As soon as everybody understood the dynamics of that, our technique fell into place.
I all the time inform purchasers once they’re in that preliminary panic mode that shouting, ‘It’s not truthful!’ is just not a technique. It’s a must to work out what you should talk and who you should talk it to, after which execute.
Is it true that you simply’re working with Kneecap – the Irish band who’ve attracted media criticism for his or her pro-Palestine statements, in addition to some troubling public feedback made in years passed by?
I do know it’s boring, however I received’t verify or deny working with any purchasers. I’ll say this about Kneecap: I’m happy to see they’ve held their fingers up, and brazenly remorse, among the silly – probably unlawful – issues they’ve stated up to now. On the identical time, I’m happy to see they’ve doubled down on the political viewpoints they basically consider in.
These are two separate points that had been in peril of changing into conflated within the narrative.
It doesn’t matter for those who strongly disagree or strongly agree with Kneecap’s political statements. Artists have all the time had the liberty to say uncomfortable issues, and I help each artist’s proper to take action. I additionally help everybody’s proper to problem these statements.
“Artists have freedom to say uncomfortable issues. I help their proper to take action.”
We’re a poorer society once we begin clamping down on freedom of expression from any political ‘facet’. ‘Cancellation’ in that method is pure cultural cowardice.
I keep in mind being upset about Morrissey [writing about and using imagery connected to] Myra Hindley. However I nonetheless help his proper to do it. If we begin cancelling artists for expressing themselves, particularly once they’re saying issues we don’t like, the place does it cease?
You talked about working intently with attorneys on these instances. How does that play out?
Generally the attorneys really carry the instances my method, particularly if there’s potential media blowback.
I’m all the time snug getting referrals from attorneys that I’ve a variety of respect for, and who take the identical method to issues that I do. Russells is a superb instance of that, and I notably like working with their litigation specialists Steven Tregear, Dan Hoyle and Eliot Leggo.
Working with attorneys can result in actually attention-grabbing philosophical conversations about why we’re doing it, what we’re doing it for, and what we’re hoping to
obtain. Generally I assist them soften the litigation edges, and so they give me a a lot clearer framework wherein to function. In sure circumstances, the communications ingredient – the general public message – turns into simply as essential because the court docket filings.
I’m an artist falsely accused of one thing – or in sizzling water over a mistake. What are the primary three belongings you’d advise?
1) Inform me every thing. Why would this particular person even suppose of accusing you? It received’t go exterior this dialog; you’ll be able to NDA me if you would like. However I’ve to know every thing, as a result of with out all of the info on the desk, there’s no path to correctly figuring a method out of this.
2) Don’t remark. Don’t reply. Don’t submit. Don’t do something till we determine the plan. I do know each fibre of your being desires to submit on social media ‘I DIDN’T DO THIS!’ however for those who do, you would fan the flames, particularly if it’s changing into a nationwide or worldwide media story.
3) Do you should apologise? Should you do, don’t faux it. I’m not going to simply offer you a template ‘Yeah, sorry about this’ assertion. First, you’re going to understand why you should apologise. You then’re going to inform me why you’re apologising, in genuine language – and what you’ve discovered from this expertise. Then we go from there.
When executives fall from grace
Whereas a lot of Andy Saunders’ disaster work includes artists, he’s equally skilled in managing reputations for music business executives who discover themselves in sizzling water. The dynamics, he says, are basically completely different from artist instances.
“With executives, the very first thing it’s a must to perceive is the company actuality,” Saunders explains. “Artists can’t actually get ‘fired’ – executives can.”
He provides: “I had one notably high-profile exec case up to now few years, a basic ‘my life’s ended, what am I going to do?’ scenario. I needed to inform him, ‘There’s no method your organization permits you to survive in your job after this. Sure, you haven’t harmed anybody. However you’ve been silly, and your employer received’t defend you in any respect prices.’
The technique then shifts from harm limitation to planning for the longer term, says Saunders. “As soon as they’ve accepted the fact, which isn’t all the time prompt, you’ll be able to have a extra trustworthy dialog about how they will come again from it – and the way lengthy that’s going to take.”
Working with American attorneys on govt instances brings further complexity, notably in what Saunders calls “adversarial conditions” between US rivals or former companions.
“After I’ve labored with music business professionals who’ve discovered themselves in a legally adversarial scenario with an organization, it’s actually essential that they’ve a story that may play nicely with the decide and/or jury,” he says.
“Generally, within the US particularly, one of the best ways to push that narrative into the broader world is definitely by court docket filings. There are particular circumstances the place, for those who get the messaging proper, court docket filings may be the very best ‘press launch’ you would hope for.”
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