GETTING IN THE DOOR

See Chapter 2 for general suggestions on getting a job in the music industry.

All four majors have decent recruitment sections on their company website and it is recommended that you check these regularly.

Sony BMG: www.sonybmgmusic.co.uk/texts/jobs

Features tips on what they’re looking for, how to get work experience, plus a list of current vacancies.

Universal: www.umicareers.com

Attractive website with current vacancies and details of the four year-long work placement programmes on offer. CVs need to be with the company by April, and placements start every June/July.

Warners: www.warnermusiccareers.com

Info about their three nine-month Graduate Training programmes, which can result in a real job. Also info on work experience placements.

EMI: www.emimusic.co.uk

Features a ‘Search & Apply’ facility for jobseekers, plus details of their paid, full-time undergraduate placements, and work experience.

So you’ve got that all-important interview, or work-experience placement. Now ask yourself the following:

• What do you know about this company’s artist roster?
• Which are their older, established artists – and what brand new acts do they have?
• Do they have any albums in the Top 40 at the moment?

Case study 1: Elena Bello, Warner Music UK

‘I had always wanted to work in the music industry. As far as training goes, I had done various courses to do with sound engineering and the music business in general, as well as a computer course. To get my first job I pestered every record label in the Yellow Pages with letters until one of them called me for an interview (I started at the bottom of the scale, as a receptionist). I wanted the job so desperately that I was determined to persuade them to employ me. I think I got it because they liked my determination.

‘For my second job as a department co-ordinator I did a lot of research on the internet and tried to be aware of what the company was like before the interview. They also subjected us to a lot of tests (American style) that give a perfect profile of your personality and skills. By the I got offered the job they probably knew more about me than my parents! I got the job because I got on very well with the director who interviewed me and felt at ease throughout the interview: I liked his philosophy regarding the division and expressed my genuine interest and appreciation for what he had created. I also had a pretty good track record that showed how hard-working I am and flexible towards what gets thrown at me rather than strictly sticking to my ‘role’. It just so happened that the people he had in his team were rather similar to me, so I must have met the criteria he was looking for.

‘I am still working in the same division (Warner Strategic Marketing) now, and I am now a marketing manager. I have gone through all the various stages to get to my current position. You certainly get a good background this way.

‘I think it is getting harder and harder to get into the music business, but if this is your goal you will find a way. I think you need to be a pretty strong character if you wish to succeed. You also need to be professional, accurate, respectful (without letting people walk all over you), hard-working, enthusiastic and willing to learn, thrive under pressure, and be quite creative and flexible.

‘I would definitely recommend working in a record company: I have had a great time and have met some amazing people, as well as fulfilling my all time dream.’

Case study 2: James Smith, Gut Records

‘I did a degree in sociology, which was interesting for about a year, but I’ve always been into music and thought “What could be better than talking about music all day?”. A & R jobs are very rarely advertised – they really come through word of mouth. I heard about my job through someone at Gut Records who I met randomly at a gig in Manchester, kept in contact and the rest is history. I showed a good working knowledge of music, as well as of up-and–coming bands. I had a driving license and knew my way around London so that also helped application, because half of the job involved running/driving duties. My average week involves at least two meetings a day sandwiched in between running duties. I also spend one day a week travelling around the country looking for acts.

‘Aspiring A & R scouts should be prepared to work for free, and not get much thanks for it. Get in at labels that you admire and know something about. Go to gigs, find out about unsigned bands, tell A & R people what you think’s hot and what’s not, and eventually someone may take notice of what you are saying.’

MANUFACTURERS

A less glitzy but crucial part of the record-making process nonetheless, manufacturers turn master tapes and artwork (i.e. ‘parts’) into finished products, i.e. CDs, DVDs, vinyl records or simply demo cassettes. The major record labels tend to have their own manufacturing plants at their beck and call, but all other labels turn to independent manufacturers.

The job can be hectic, as the manufacturer must get the CDs pressed and the accompanying packaging printed and assembled in time for the product to reach the distributor (see below) at least ten days before the release date. Release dates are set in stone by the time the ‘parts’ reach the manufacturer – which can be tricky if the record company production staff have couriered them over days later than agreed (this happens all the time!).

The production department of a record company will liaise closely with the manufacturing plant over the logistics of a chosen CD sleeve design, packaging and release dates. If a product manager at a record company the new Busted album should have, say, a shiny mirrored sleeve with a hologram on the disc and a free poster inside, it’s up to the manufacturer to tell them how much more it will cost them to do that than stick to standard packaging, and how much longer it might take to create in the factory.

DISTRIBUTORS

Great places to get a summer job or fill-in job while you hone your CV.

When the finished CDs have been manufactured, they are delivered (or, in the industry lingo, ‘shipped’, regardless of the actual mode of transport) to the distributor who then sends the required number of copies on to the shops or wholesalers who’ve ordered them.

Distribution companies can be enormous operations comprising a giant warehouse plus back offices, and are often owned or part-owned by the major record companies. TEN and THE are two massive ones, based in Aylesbury and Newcastle-under–Lyme respectively. There are, however, dozens and dozens of independent distributors who deal with large numbers of small record labels at a time: Pinnacle and Vital are both indie label faves. But not just anyone can get their records distributed by an independent distributor: indie labels have to convince the distributor that their product is saleable and hope they will be given a distribution deal (incidentally, seeking out distribution deals in different countries is the most major and exhausting part of the small label boss’s job and is what many people go to Midem for). The then takes a percentage of every unit sold to a shop.

Did you know also that some major record companies will cunningly take certain releases to an indie distributor so that they can feature on the indie chart and be viewed more kindly by die-hard indie fans who might otherwise sneer at their horrible ‘corporate-ness’?

The distributor’s job actually starts well before the CDs are delivered to them from the manufacturer. Sales reps and telesales people within the distributor ‘sell in’ new releases to retailers months in advance, and are in close daily contact with the record company in-house marketing department (see also Sales above). In the front line between the record company and the retailer, the distributor’s influence and importance is immense to the record company.

After a release has been in the shops for several months, the distributor will usually receive some ‘returns’ from retailers, i.e. copies of albums they’ve been unable to sell and no longer want. Returns are the bane of a distributor’s (and record company’s) life as they signify that a release hasn’t been the sales success that was anticipated (see also Chapter 1). For a note on online distribution see page 21.