Wilful Publicity

Brief Description:

National music PR: Iron Maiden, Meghan Trainor, Corinne Bailey Rae, Conor Maynard, Steven Tyler, Alice In Chains, Don Broco, Rixton, City And Colour + more

Address: 39a Orford Road Walthamstow, London E17 9NL

Country: United Kingdom

About Company


Wilful Publicity was established in 2013 as a major new force in music and entertainment publicity. The company prides itself on working with artists that they feel passionate about, whether they are global superstars on major labels or brand new artists just finding their feet in the independent world. Working with an array of big names and emerging talent, Wilful Publicity represents a diverse roster of artists across all musical genres.

Wilful Publicity’s founder, William Luff, has more than 20 years experience in the music industry having worked at independent record labels during the 1990s including Mute Records and Roadrunner Records, before becoming a music journalist and launching the national music magazine Rock Sound in 1999, of which he was Editor.

In 2002 William returned to PR and joined EMI Records’ publicity team. His eleven-year career at EMI saw him become Head of Press for EMI Records in 2006, Director of Press for Parlophone Records in 2008 and ultimately Publicity Director for the combined EMI Artist Publicity department in 2010, representing artists across the Parlophone, Virgin, EMI Catalogue and Label Services Divisions.

While at EMI he delivered highly-regarded and award-winning PR campaigns for artists as diverse as Iron Maiden, Sir Tom Jones, Kate Bush, Sigur Rós, Corinne Bailey Rae, Faith Evans, Smashing Pumpkins, Lady Antebellum, Hercules & Love Affair, Roisín Murphy, Conor Maynard, 30 Seconds To Mars, Motörhead, Jane’s Addiction, the B-52s, Alice In Chains and many more.

In 2013 William left EMI to launch Wilful Publicity. The company now works with all the major record companies and has achieved many notable PR successes including launching both Meghan Trainor, the American singer whose track ‘All About That Bass’ became the global super-hit of 2014 with a number 1 UK album following in early 2015, and the British pop band Rixton whose debut single ‘Me & My Broken Heart’ went straight to No.1 on the UK singles chart.

They have also masterminded the PR campaigns for the 40th Anniversary celebrations for legendary punk icons The Stranglers and the critically-acclaimed return of US band Counting Crows in 2014, and for classic rock band Thunder whose first album in over six years became a Top 10 smash in the UK in February 2015. Further global success has come with Iron Maiden’s album ‘The Book Of Souls’ becoming their biggest seller in almost a decade and entering the UK charts at Number 1 in September 2015, a feat it repeated in 40 other territories.

In 2016 Wilful Publicity have overseen the PR campaign for Corinne Bailey Rae’s massively acclaimed return with her first album in six years, ‘The Heart Speaks In Whispers’, along with further album chart successes such as The Temperance Movement and Wolfmother and the launch of Aerosmith legend Steven Tyler’s debut solo album. They have also delivered hugely successful PR campaigns for a wealth of new artists and taken on the PR for two major new UK festivals - Stone Free at The O2 in London headlined by Alice Cooper and Rick Wakeman, and Down To The Woods in the north-east of England, featuring Primal Scream, Chase & Status and Catfish & The Bottlemen.

Joining William at Wilful Publicity are David Sullivan, Anthony Giannaccini and Chris Dean who have worked at a number of music PR companies including Partisan PR, The Noise Cartel, Division PR and Duff Press.

In addition to print and online publicity, the company also offers strategic consultancy across various areas of the music industry, and can provide bespoke artist campaigns bringing in specialist radio, TV and marketing professionals where required.