Backed by decades of devotion to both the creativity and business of music, lifelong musician & founder of award-winning PR company and platform Music With Depth, Stephen James Moore, kindly stopped by for a chat.
We talk everything from songwriting and creative identity, to the best tools for music promotion in 2026, maintaining integrity as an artist, SEO, marketing, finding meaning through art, and plenty more. Here’s the conversation in full.
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Hi Stephen – great to connect with you, and congrats for the growing success of Music With Depth. To introduce things – who or what first inspired you to get into music?
I’d have to give that credit to Kurt Cobain, who inspired me like many others to pick up my first guitar. Soon after I became good enough to create sounds that spoke to me, I started writing original material. Artists like Public Enemy were also very important as far as inspiring me to get involved with music. They showed me that there are no boundaries on what you can or cannot say.
When did you set up the PR company – and what inspired this name and conceptual angle?
I set up the company in 2011 under ‘Independent Music Promotions’, with the tagline ‘Music PR for Music With Depth’. ‘Music With Depth’ was a term I used to symbolize how seriously I take music and that I see it as an extension to communicate the full depth of the human spirit. It was just this year that I rebranded to Music With Depth PR and updated the logo to align with the grittiness of my own artistic approach.
Is your platform strictly for rock and metal or do you welcome all styles of creativity?
I work with every subgenre of music, from electronic and jazz music to blues, Americana, singer songwriter, hip hop, rap, trap, ambient, experimental, soul, pop, world music and every iteration in between.
You’ve been celebrated as one of the top PR agencies in Vancouver – how do you consistently set yourselves apart, and what are the main ways in which you help artists connect with new listeners?
We lead with art first and story first. We do not just follow trends and phone everything into the over-inflated hype surrounding AI. We are human-run and musician-run. We write our news releases the old fashioned way so we can tell the artist’s story with passion and connect with their audience. We are manual, practical and SEO friendly. We also guarantee high amounts of press coverage to all clients we take on.
You describe your services as practical and SEO focused – can you shine a little more light on the benefits of that?
I studied SEO for several years after the launch of the agency and the release of my book ‘Your Band Is A Virus’. I did many interviews in music publications as well as guest posts and news features. As a result, my website has ranked close to the top of Google for key terms such as ‘music promotion’ and ‘music marketing’ since 2011. To this day, most of my artist clients find me through an interview or feature that came out between 2011-2015. SEO authority is powerful, and I use the same tactics to promote my clients. All roads lead to home.
Given the current shape of the music industry and the rise of TikTok music, what are your top three tips for real bands and artists who want to build lasting careers in music?
Don’t fall into cynicism or become too used to complaining over the state of things. Just lead with art first. So, for social media, for example, you do not need to do TikTok dances or anything cheesy to get noticed. Share performances, footage of you mixing or behind-the-scenes footage, clips of you speaking on the meaning behind your lyrics or the over-arching themes behind your new album.
Be bold. Now is the time to be different and difficult, even.
“Don’t cut off your incredible, moody 3 minute song intro because some industry person says it will please the algorithm. You could find your audience with a 12 minute opus made of monolithic noise. Be who you are, especially if that is frightening or ugly.”
Have your hands in different pots at the same time so you don’t stare at one pot too long and it stops cooking under the weight of your gaze. Run advertising, PR, social media marketing, fan interaction, radio outreach, podcast pitching and more all simultaneously for added impact.
You’re also a successful indie musician in your own right, approaching things from the perspective of music first and understanding how that feels. What inspires the sound and songwriting of Post Death Soundtrack?
Post Death Soundtrack is my baby, the place where I can fully express my creative spirit with no censorship or consideration for outside forces. It is inspired by all the music, philosophy, art and film that I’ve ever been inspired by, both old and new, from Nirvana, The Beatles, Tool, Public Enemy, Skinny Puppy, PJ Harvey, Sepultura, Tom Waits and David Bowie to J Krishnamurti, Ram Dass, Alan Watts, Martin Scorcese, J.R. Tolkien, Noam Chomsky and many more.
Why this band name?
To me, it means being dead to the fake. Being in this world but not of it, unmoved. Not fooled or going with the tide. Seeing life as it is and not projecting false patterns onto it.
The sound is often intense and atmospheric, conceptually unique – how do you build these tracks, what’s your instrument of choice, and is this entirely a solo project?
My instrument of choice is guitar and vocals, and I’ve always been very drawn to intense, often dark music. I program and layer the drums, which are often inspired by industrial, darkwave and trap music. I use a lot of sound effects to create the sensation of a cityscape in chaos or a menacing forest, and I also use atmospheric nature sounds and synth samples to elevate the music. Post Death Soundtrack has been solo for the past 3 double albums.
On the flip side from the likes of ‘Queen Bee’ and ‘Eve of Disaster’ can you tell me about the idea and writing of the rather beautiful ‘Truth is in Demand’?
‘Truth is in Demand’ was actually recorded 12 years ago or so during sessions when I was planning an acoustic album. I was very hesitant to put it on an album because it is atypically peaceful and positive for my writing. This new album ‘Barren Mother of All’ is incredibly aggressive, so it does provide some contrast and I allowed it.
How do you decide which direction to take a new song in?
I just let myself get swept away and follow my nose. The last 5 songs on the album were written and recorded within 24 hours during a creative roll.
What is the Barren Mother Of All project about, and how did you build up such a passionate audience for the music – was this all online or a combination of live shows and other formats?
It was based on a quote from Indian guru Nisargadatta Maharaj, who once asked a member of his audience why they had an ego or attachment to the body, because they were born of the void and would return to it. Aka, they are born of a barren mother. This stuck with me for several years and I knew I’d have to use the concept.
Your Bandcamp profile reflects that this project is a ‘monolith of alarms where tongues were once silent’ – is there a story behind this? What caused the silent tongues, and what ignited the sudden passion to no longer be quiet?
“All over the world people are used to being silenced, both in their personal lives by family and others who seek to control in subtle and unsubtle ways, and under the brute force of government, whether democratic or dictatorship. It’s a good time to be brazen and lose the fear impulse.”
What’s your biggest ambition with your own music right now?
I want to connect with as many souls as possible and inspire new creative works. Each one teach one. Mainly, I want to continue creating strong work that keeps evolving.
What’s the main thing you want people to know about you as an artist, an industry pro, and the Music With Depth PR and Platform?
I follow my own lead, my own spirit, and don’t take outside advice unless it deeply resonates.
Is there anything else you’d like to say?
Thanks for having me!
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Find Music With Depth on Instagram & Facebook. Stream Post Death Soundtrack on Bandcamp or follow on Facebook & Instagram.
