Stef Pascual is Digital Marketing Director for the UK and Europe at Concord Label Group. She works on frontline and catalogue campaigns across the Concord roster, that includes artists like Chelsea Wolfe, Killer Mike, NOISY, Pierce The Veil, Evanescence, Hermanos Gutierrez, HEALTH and many more. She’s also one half of the independent label Silent Cult, home to artists like Mimi Barks and Miss Vincent.
Stef started in the music industry as an intern at a record label in Barcelona, and when she moved to London she found in state51 the perfect company to develop her career and push for innovation, fairness and change in the industry. Afterwards, she headed the Digital department at Essential / Sony Red, working on marketing and strategy for labels like Cooking Vinyl, Full Time Hobby and FatCat, and campaigns for Skepta and Alter Bridge.
She became Head of Digital at Crown Talent / Talent Everywhere in 2017, working with clients like Becky Hill, Ella Henderson, Fusion Festival and 9 to 5 the Musical. In 2021 she joined the marketing agency Deviate Digital, and as their General Manager she led campaigns for PIAS, AWAL, Kilimanjaro and Various Artists Management to name a few.
How did you get your start in music?
I found out pretty early in life that sadly I don’t have any musical talent whatsoever, but music was my biggest passion, and I was adamant I was going to work in the industry somehow.
Back in my hometown, Zaragoza, I started a music fanzine with friends and helped book a couple of gigs, but it wasn’t until I was 18 and moved to Barcelona that I landed an internship in an independent record label, and did every job that they threw at me. Literally EVERY JOB: from preparing riders backstage to packing orders, from data entry to flyering at gigs and selling records at festivals.
Then I moved to London and after a year working at a Virgin Megastores shop (still a music job I guess!) I was hired as an intern at The state51 Conspiracy, which was a dream company to land on, as I learned a lot and ended up becoming their Head of Digital.
I owe a lot to these 2 internship opportunities at the beginning of my career.
What inspired you to pursue a career in digital marketing within the music industry?
Back in Barcelona in the early 2000s I was lucky enough to attend a conference where Scott Cohen spoke about digital distribution, and it blew my mind. It sounded fresh and new, with plenty of opportunities to innovate and be creative.
I think that because it was so new not many people cared about it, so there was space for the new generations to jump in.
My days were spent in IRC chats, Audiogalaxy and MySpace, and with my academic background being Marketing, PR and Advertising, I developed a skillset that seemed to fit right into the digital marketing world. I find it’s the perfect playground for you if you are a bit of a data nerd with a creative heart!
What key skills or qualities are essential for success in your sector?
I’d say that curiosity is definitely a key trait to work in Digital Marketing. Always being in learning mode will help you to stay up to date with the daily changes in the industry, but also to nurture your creativity with findings from different industries.
You also want to be a people person, and learn from different audiences, getting to know other types of people outside your music industry bubble. Most people are not thinking about music 24/7 (I know, shocking!) and we need to know how to reach them and get their attention.
Another skill that definitely comes in handy is data analysis. You’ll need to deal with data from socials, advertising and consumption daily, and if you are not keen on handling numbers and finding insights this job will definitely be a drag.
What aspect of your work brings you the most joy, and conversely, what aspect presents the greatest challenge for you?
Due to the nature of Digital Marketing, we can assess the results of our efforts almost immediately. I find it incredibly rewarding when an artist improves their KPIs on socials following my recommendations, or when a specific creative asset I requested performs much better than other ones provided, for example. Especially if my ideas sounded a bit risky or out-there at first, seeing positive results attributable to my input is the best form of validation.
I find one of the biggest challenges we face in Digital Marketing is to justify certain strategies. Some artists and management teams want to stick to the devil they know and spend on advertising for example, when they really should be focusing resources on content creation or audience growth. I approach my campaigns as a long-term effort when possible, and it is very rare that one specific advertising campaign or activation leads to success, but it’s something that is sometimes expected from us and can be very challenging.
What are your top 2 strategies when it comes to creating a successful campaign?
It is key to have as much visibility as possible of the full campaign and collaborate with all teams involved. There’s no point in doing a great digital activation if the artist can’t support on socials, or to define audiences for advertising based on consumption and engagement if the PR team is trying to reposition an artist and targeting new media outlets. Everything needs to work in sync for a successful campaign.
I also think that all innovation should be guided by data insights and the specific needs of each campaign. It also means we need to push ourselves further to be more creative when there are goals to meet and restrictions on what can be done, for example in terms of resources.
Tips for anyone who wants to get into your industry
Compared to other industries, I think that Digital Marketing has low barriers to entry as there is plenty of knowledge freely available online, and you don’t need much to get started.
I am very grateful for my formal qualifications, but in this world it is definitely more valuable to have up-to-date knowledge and experience.
Learn how to edit videos, use different social platforms to understand what works, open ad accounts to start testing small spends and connect with developing artists that would be keen on collaborating with you to get you started.
Once you think you are ready for an internship or an entry-level job, do your research about campaigns that caught your eye and find out who was behind them in order to approach them. Remember that networking should be about connection, not so much about hustling, so reach out to people that you’ve done your research on politely, and ask for a quick call or a piece of specific advice. Think about building up relationships and not just emailing your CV, as if there’s no vacancies available your email will end up straight in the bin.
Tips for staying grounded on a tough day
I learned the value of working on my wellbeing the hard way. It’s easy to get excited, put more hours in, say yes to everything and get lost in the madness.
My best piece of advice to stay grounded and avoid burning-out is to make sure you check in with yourself at least once per day - How are you feeling today? Is there anything that can wait for tomorrow? Have you planned something on your day that makes you feel good?
Also don’t underestimate the value of exercise, even light mobility workouts or stretching will do wonders for our mental health and anxiety.