Franz Hilberath On Building Artist Brands Across Platforms
Franz Hilberath is the founder of MP3 LABS, a communications and growth agency working across publicity, marketing, creator campaigns, platform consulting, and commercial partnerships. The company launched in January 2026 after expanding from MP3 PR, the independent publicity practice Hilberath founded following earlier roles in journalism and agency communications.
MP3 LABS works with artists, festivals, labels, promoters, and creative companies.
Its current roster includes established touring acts and emerging artists, with campaigns designed around long-term brand development rather than isolated announcements.
Ahead of WMC 2027, we spoke with Hilberath about the role of publicity today, managing artist expectations, measuring campaign performance, and building an audience across editorial media and social platforms.
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Interview With Franz Hilberath
From how you have seen the industry change since you started, what does effective music PR accomplish today beyond securing coverage around a release announcement?
The industry has changed dramatically, and it has been fascinating to watch it evolve alongside technology and social platforms. When I started around ten years ago, traditional PR across newspapers, television, and radio was still vital to music discovery, while social advertising was primarily used to market events.
Today, those channels are secondary to influencer marketing, creator partnerships, and social seeding campaigns that generate cultural activity.
As fans migrate to new platforms and consume music, news, and entertainment differently, the industry has to develop alongside them.
MP3 differs from traditional PR agencies because we operate as a brand management agency rather than solely as a publicity firm. We work alongside artists and their teams to develop an authentic story before applying it to any platform. Once that foundation is established, we activate it across PR, social marketing, influencer campaigns, paid media, and partnerships. Each discipline serves the same story.
If you are pursuing traditional PR alone, you are missing much of today’s conversation. A campaign focused exclusively on social channels may also leave gaps in the wider brand ecosystem that helps fans understand the artist, develop loyalty, and become long-term supporters and advocates.
What responsibility do publicists have when an artist’s expectations are disconnected from their current audience or career position?
Our responsibility is to continually assess the artist’s creative direction and how the market is receiving it.
We meet directly with artists at intervals ranging from annually to monthly, often much more frequently, to understand where they are creatively and confirm that every public-facing communication reflects that direction. During recurring calls with management, we discuss milestones, audience feedback, and industry observations so the wider team remains coordinated.
Our job extends beyond pitching stories. We help confirm that the brand presented publicly reflects where the artist is today and where they are trying to go.
Which campaign results matter most when editorial coverage no longer provides a complete measure of public attention as it may have five or ten years ago?
Our campaign reports cover far more than editorial placements. We track press coverage and social coverage alongside playlist activity and audience growth, then consolidate the findings into one report that reflects reach and impact across each platform.
Editorial coverage still has an important role because it provides third-party validation and quotations that can support biographies, one-sheets, and later marketing material. The broader assessment now includes streaming growth, social engagement, community development, and the artist’s wider brand activity.
Client feedback remains our primary measure. We want clients to feel confident about how their story is being told, which opportunities they are receiving, and how audiences are responding. We work as an extension of the artist’s team, so clients assess us according to our overall contribution rather than one campaign metric.
MP3 LABS combines PR with marketing and partnerships. How does that model change the way your team plans an artist’s long-term development?
It allows us to create additional opportunities.
We help define the artist’s story and secure media coverage that supports long-term brand awareness. We also support social growth and cultural awareness, while partnerships can return revenue to the client’s business.
This broader model exists because artists now need an integrated team that understands how each part of the business affects the others. Combining these disciplines allows us to coordinate campaigns around the artist’s long-term direction.
How can independent artists evaluate PR results without reducing a campaign to article counts or social metrics?
Artists should evaluate how audiences understand their story instead of looking solely at how many articles were published.
Effective PR helps artists understand and communicate their identity while adding another informed team member who is invested in their immediate goals and longer-term career. Media placements remain part of the evaluation, while the wider aim is to build a defined brand that audiences understand and continue supporting.
Looking ahead, which assumptions about artist publicity and audience development do you think the music business needs to reconsider?
One of the largest misconceptions is that PR has become antiquated.
When artists work with a modern communications agency such as MP3 LABS, they often find that storytelling remains essential, although the channels and methods have changed. Brand development and audience development are now inseparable.
Artists, releases, and tours face intense competition for attention. Understanding who you are, what you represent, and who you want to reach has therefore become essential. Effective publicity should support a sustainable career over the long term, with media coverage serving as one part of that work.
