Sean McLennan

I would bet a lot of money that you don’t know the name of the publicist promoting your favorite band’s new album or upcoming tour. That’s probably because a music publicist; or someone working in music PR, works on behalf of an artist or band-behind the scenes-to create as many opportunities as possible to promote that artist’s work.  

Whether it be radio time, interviews with multiple media outlets, guest appearances on podcasts, promoting tours, or getting an upcoming release in review rotations, the publicist is the communicator at the helm of it all. 

Public Relations means exactly what it says: relationships with the public, and when it comes to the tasks at hand there’s no one who knows the work quite like Nikki Law. For the many who might not know, Law is a PR extraordinaire, one who’s managed many label operations beyond that title. 

With over a decade worth of experience in the music industry, Law has worked for some of the biggest labels in heavy metal, including both Century Media Records and Metal Blade Records. She’s headed campaigns and provided collective support for major metal artists such as Arch Enemy, At The Gates, Paradise Lost, Tribulation, Amon Amarth, Whitechapel, Cannibal Corpse, Cattle Decapitation, The Black Dahlia Murder, and many more. 

Now, Law is the owner and operator of her own public relations service, Breaking The Law PR. Her wealth of knowledge and understanding of label operations, specifically within the realm of publicity, have helped fuel her latest freelance endeavor. That of which allows her to expand and evolve beyond solely representing metal artists. 

Law credits her father as being the spark that ignited her love for heavy music. “I wouldn’t say he’s a metal head, but he does like some of the more classic metal stuff like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden-a lot of hair metal bands. So when we were growing up, he’d give me some of those kinds of albums, but he mainly gave them to my brother.” 

However, at one point, “I started taking them as well, and I started ripping music on to my computer. I just got more and more into extreme music, then I started buying the albums myself,” Law recalls.

By the time she was in her late teens, Nikki became active in the music scene helping interview bands for a local access TV show. “I went to shows and took amateur photos, not with a photo pass or anything, just from the crowd. I would go on MySpace and write blog reviews and at some point, I connected with the local station guy. He was interested in having me interview bands, in addition to what I was already doing with photos and reviews,” says Law. 

She continues, “We started out with Children Of Bodom, I believe, just because he saw what a huge fan I was. It kind of took off from there. I remember back then, I was just so nervous. It was really cool and I loved it. I knew I wanted to be in the industry and I always wanted to get into writing, but the face-to-face stuff was not for me, so my career went into more of a writing direction. Which I think was a good fit.” 

Law went on to college, earning her BA in Literary Journalism at UC Irvine in what she considered to be a very valuable experience. Around the time she graduated in 2010, it almost felt hopeless trying to obtain a career in the field of journalism. Not only was there a massive impact on jobs in general due to the recession at the time, but newspapers and magazines were continuing to crumble in response to the growing digitization of media. 

However, it was around this time she really started to build her foundation in the industry, landing an internship at Century Media. 

“George was the publicist for Century Media at the time and I met him through a mutual friend, and basically said, I want to intern for you. This is what I want to do,” to which he replied, “alright.” 

From that initial experience, Law recalls getting to do real work. “I worked on tour publicity for Century Media, most tours really, in a way I was sort of a publicity assistant. I was definitely doing more than I’ve seen other interns do and I learned a lot.” 

Once her internship at Century Media ended, Law went on to intern for Nuclear Blast Records, who shared a building with Century Media at the time. “They let me intern and I was essentially doing the same sort of stuff, tour press, trying to get coverage for local shows, and that was a great experience,” says Law. 

This was all while she was simultaneously working at Starbucks and as an administrative assistant. “Eventually I was hired by Century Media to do tour publicity, so it was like my internship directly played into what I was hired for.” From there, CM grew their PR team and Law was promoted to Product Manager/Publicist. 

Once Century Media (US) was acquired by Sony, the writing was on the wall, “I knew I needed to find something else, and a former colleague actually told Metal Blade Records about me, so they reached out and I got the job,” says Law.  

From 2015 until 2021, Law worked as Director of Publicity at Metal Blade, obtaining 20+ magazine covers, plus TV appearances and radio coverage for assigned artists, and worked with media to obtain “viral” content. Law spent countless hours around the clock to make sure campaigns ran smoothly, dedicating her time to both her artists and the label. As time passed, she followed her urge to branch off and launch the next phase of her career. Once again, another step forward in her career that can be traced back to her upbringing.  

“Growing up, my mom was self-employed and an independent contractor, that’s what I wanted to do. Because there’s just so much more flexibility, granted there are disadvantages too. But that’s something that has always been important to me: time, and flexibility with time. So the thought of owning my own business or being my own boss is definitely something I’ve wanted for a long time.” 

Although it seems backwards to go from major label to freelance, it’s just what Law needed. “I had been thinking about going freelance for a while. I want to grow and work with people that aren’t on one label. I want to work with things that are outside of metal. There are a number of successful freelancers out there that also work with labels…in addition to other acts. And I just thought that’s what I wanted to do,” Law explains. 

With a roster that includes Undeath, Arch Enemy, Herman Li (Dragonforce), Corpsegrinder, Midnight, Decibel Magazine, Haunt, Night Demon, and more, the diversity that Law was seeking is already shining through Breaking The Law PR. And this is only just the beginning. 

Law explains with excitement, “Everything I’m releasing, I personally believe in and I’m excited about and I want others to be excited about it. I can’t say I’ve ever been in that situation before.” 

She continues, “You know, just building anything up from the bottom level is scary. This is my own business and I take it really seriously. It’s my name on it, there’s no one else, just a one-woman company and I don’t want to let anybody down.” 

For more from Breaking The Law PR and Nikki Law, check out her official Instagram and Facebook.