In this last workshop of HEMI Music Awards phase 1, the 27 nominees of CSEE had the chance to find out how the Music PR process works in Germany. Sebastian Król, co-founder of Backseat music agency and Funklub platform gave to the nominees an overview featuring fields of media, insights of a campaign and tips on how to get in touch with Music PR agencies.
Sebastian Król is 32 years old and lives in Hamburg. After graduating from the university of Lüneburg with a Bachelor of Arts degree, Król started working at the music agency popup-records. Six years later, in 2017, he founded the label and PR agency Backseat – together with his friend and partner Arne Thamer. Early 2021, he started Fanklub, a new platform for bands and fans which will launch in summer. Sebastian is also a musician himself, releasing music under the alias Karwendel, poetic indie folk in German language.
Backseat is a Hamburg-based music agency founded in 2017 by Sebastian Król and Arne Thamer. We develop individual PR campaigns for releases in the fields of indie, folk, pop and rock. We cover all media fields (radio / print / online / TV) in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Currently we support the following bands: Ane Brun, Sticky Fingers, AVEC, Kristofer Åström, The Fratellis, Tiger Lou, John Paul White, Meadows, Hudson Taylor, Lauren Ruth Ward and many more.
In addition to PR activities, Backseat is also active as a label itself. Together with Soulfood & Believe Digital as distribution partner we can distribute our releases worldwide. ROBA Musikverlag supports us in publishing. So far the following bands have released their music on Backseat: Carnival Youth, BRTHR, The Bland, DI-RECT, Jonas Alaska, Of The Valley, Albert Luxus, Jo Goes Hunting, Penny Police, Phototaxis, I’m Not a Blonde, Native, Brett Newski, Echo Me, Grapell, Martin Baltser, Cub & Wolf, Big Fox, Native, SPARKLING, The Cool Quest & The Bad Tones.
Backseat is in charge of the music booking for the NORDEN Festival in Schleswig and the PR for the Rock For People Festival in the Czech Republic. Since 2020 Backseat cooperates with the Czech export office SoundCzech to connect the German and Czech music industry.
In 2021, Sebastian Król and Arne Thamer founded the Fanklub Music FKM GmbH, a new platform for bands and fans: fanklub.com
Fanklub is the new platform for bands and fans!
As a band, you can create your own Fanklub page in no time, free of charge and with no programming skills – as website and app. All basic information such as live dates and videos can be found by everyone free of charge. Fans can access exclusive content such as live streams, news, and raffles by joining your Fanklub, which starts at €1.99 per month. As an all-in-one solution, Fanklub combines the functions of a classic band website with the features of crowdfunding models. With Fanklub you will have a perfect fanbase management tool and will be able to generate a solid monthly income. Because 90% of the fan contributions are passed on to the band.
