EDM World Magazine♫♥

Emily Tan, owner, and founder of EMILY TAN Media Relations sat down with us to discuss her PR agency and what it’s been like for her to reach the 30-year milestone in the business. Click here to find out why she is a true queenpin leader in the electronic dance music industry.

She celebrating her anniversary with a new website here which highlights just how much of a legacy she’s built for herself.

Congratulations on reaching the 30-year milestone of your PR agency, EMILY TAN Media Relations! How are you commemorating this month?

Thank you! I hadn’t even noticed ’til you mentioned it [laughs]. Actually, it’s pretty incredible to think back over 30 years to all the memories. It’s like a movie is rapidly unspooling in my mind’s eye just thinking of all the people, places, smells, sounds, so many experiences!

What is the biggest battle you’ve ever won?

The one within.

The world has flipped upside-down since Covid-19 descended upon humanity. What’s the biggest change you’ve had to make, professionally, from the pre-coronavirus world to today’s reality?

Obviously, everyone’s had their lives turned completely upside-down, but specifically in our industry, those in live-touring are suffering a lot. Who knows when mass gatherings will resume again and what that will look like?

I’m very fortunate that I have other revenue-streams beyond ‘just’ those related to live performance, and in fact, I’m busier than ever. Just in a different way. Everything and everyone’s gone online and digital. It’s an acceleration of trends that were already happening in dance music and in the global club community, as a whole.

A lot of things we took for granted in pre-virus days seem especially poignant to us, now, in the EDM/nightlife community. What are some cherished memories that stand-out to you from your personal recollection?

Oh, girlfriend, too many. I’ve had a lot of quiet time for reflection during nearly four months of quarantine in NYC to just stand still and think without rushing-off to the next place. I really, really miss hugging, laughing with and being around everyone in this industry, so many friends and colleagues. Even random strangers in the EDM community; I miss that flesh-and-blood community that you just cannot replicate over Zoom or live streams.

Drive-in raves are at least trying to satisfy that basic human need for socializing, but it’s not the same as being shoulder-to-shoulder on a sweaty dancefloor, everyone completely lost in the music. It almost makes me want to cry, thinking of all the magical “moments” we’ve shared on a pitch-dark dancefloor in some packed nightclub somewhere in Europe, high not from drugs or alcohol but feeling euphoric from the music, bonded with the DJ casting his/her powerful spell.

My face sore from smiling and firmly planted into my husband’s chest, his sweat-soaked T-shirt pressed against my face, not caring that our international flight departs in several hours because, in this moment, the world outside this nightclub doesn’t exist.

Do you think the job of a press manager is still relevant in the post-coronavirus era? Why/why not? How are you pivoting into the new reality?

Of course it’s relevant! A press manager or publicist is merely your point-of-communication to your target audience by way of the media. Even with social media, where artists can speak directly to their fans, there are teams of “social media managers” involved, so more often than not, it’s not even solely the artist “speaking” via their social media channels. There are teams behind each big, successful artist.

I’ve already been pivoting with each passing day over three decades. It’s like surfing monster waves; I’ve had to pivot in realtime in order to keep moving forward. This new reality isn’t all that new to me in terms of daily work. It’s just a refinement of the rapid evolution that’s always been happening, always morphing into the next new shape.

What do you most cherish….today?

My sanity! My health, happy marriage, and family. Nature. The earth.

What do you consider to be your greatest strength?

Resilience!

As you look towards the future, what are you feeling in your heart to be the greatest truth?

That there’s only the illusion of many. In truth, there is only one. Everything and everyone is connected. Spacetime is relative to the observer. Humanity is ascending. We’re waking up.

Check out more about EMILY TAN Media Relations on her new website here.

What exciting changes do you think are coming to the PR world? Swipe up to comment below and let me know!