Success in the Music Industry free essay sample

Modern music Is people who cant think signing artists who cant write songs to make records for people who cant hear. Frank Kappa Starting a career in the music industry is a difficult task. There are many Important steps that you need to take along the way, and the path Is often long and confusing. The people that you meet along the way will gulled you along this path, and hopefully help you become a music industry success story. The goal is to not let your message get Jumbled and distorted beyond your control and lead you to assister.The number one person in your path to success is yourself. You need to start the work required to become successful on your own. The first step for yourself is to decide that this is what you want to have as a career. There are many bumps and stumbling points along the way, and you have to be willing to take them in stride. Once you decide that this is indeed the path that you want to follow, you have to decide what success means to you. Are you happy playing In local venues to crowds of dozens of people, or do you want to play to arenas of thousands of people? You also have to be disciplined.You are responsible for knowing your instrument. Whether you are a vocalist or a guitarist, you have to know what you are doing. You should take music lessons, and If you already know your Instrument, you need to practice, practice, practice! Often people become advanced and forget to review the basics and start to slack on structure and form. It is also important to do your research and learn from other artists. What did they do to become successful? You dont want to make the same missteps that artists have made before you. (Rudeness, 2004) You need to do research and learn about the business aspect of the industry.You want to know the fundamentals of contracting for gigs, negotiating record deals, etc. You dont need to know everything, but you should know enough to spot potential problems and save yourself. You also need to start doing some of your own promotional work and creating your Image. Online networking Is one of the most important aspects of todays recording artists careers. Keep track of the activity on your Websites. Other things you want to keep track of are how many recordings you sell, you want to get your fans in on it and help you create a street team, sell your t-shirts. You also want to look the part of what you are trying to communicate. Do you wear jeans and a T-shirt? How do you wear your hair? You need to develop a look or else you will melt into a nothingness band and disappear, you wont be memorable. The more you do for yourself, and the more success you generate by yourself, the easier the future steps will be. It is impossible to have a successful career as and artist In the music Industry without assistance. This business Is complicate, and it is difficult for an artist to focus on his creative development and 1 OFF to want to involve in your career is a manager.In a nutshell, managers are in charge of running the business side of an artist or bands career, so that the band is free to focus on creating the music. You may start out with a friend or a family member as your manager. Since your friend wont have all of the knowledge youll need, you will eventually want to hire a professional. Record labels expect a professional presentation, and that is something that your manager will be responsible for. Manager for an unsigned band, or a band signed to a small label, may wear many different hats: promoter, agent, accountant, and any role that needs filling for the band.A manager for an artist signed to a larger label may act more as a supervisor of the other people working for the band. They will make sure the label is on their toes, that advertising and promotion is in place, that tours are being booked, and that the band is being paid. Your manager also helps you develop who you are as an artist; your personal image is being developed here. Do you begin to appear in public with other artists of the same level of success? Do you volunteer time and services for charitable purposes and do you begin to identify those charities whose interests you feel you can adv ance by your involvement?Total,2006) This image will develop and change overtime due to the music industry environment and the people you become associated with along the way. You manager will also help you create your promotional package. This package with be distributed to many people in the music industry, including people in AR. The AR department of a record label is often regarded as the gatekeepers of the record company. AR is the department of a record company that finds and or develops bands, songwriters, or musicians. More often than not AR reps help out with a bands artistic and commercial marketability.Think of the AR Department as the middleman between the band and record label. AR Department Responsibilities may include some or all of the following: locating bands, songwriters, and musicians for their record label, negotiating contracts for a band or artist, finding producers for recording the band, locating recording engineers, scheduling time to record the band, scouting songs for a band from music publishers with whom they have relationships, and listening to demos from bands. AR Reps from major or larger record companies usually only listen to solicited demo submissions from musicians.A solicited submission is one that a music company only accepts from known or reputable contacts with whom theyve networked in the past. Smaller record labels may accept both solicited and unsolicited (anyone can send demo) demo submissions. AR representatives are credited with having Good Ears, and finding hit artists. Whatever good ears are, they are a product of listening to lots of popular music, not only what is being recorded now, but to what is not being recorded yet. Ear training for AR people is going to clubs, and listening to demos from bands, personal managers, and publishing companies.It is recognizing social trends. (Hull 2004) It is also important to remember that when AR executives discover and promote a particular artist, they are putting their own name on the line. If the artist fails, an AR executives Job may be at stake. Once you meet with AR your path may follow a path similar to the one I describe below. Before artists can be signed, they have to be discovered. Imagine, for this example, that Band X is discovered after an AR representative from Big Record Label goes to see Band X at a source, most likely a manager, and did his research on the band.At the club, he likes hat he sees and now must convince the entire AR staff to sign the band. That is the hard part. He has to convince his boss and co-workers that your music is worth risking their time and money on. A label will usually be able to spend only a limited amount of money recording and promoting their artists. When they are in agreement, the band is signed and the wheels go into motion. Band X must now plan its album. The AR director and producer decide on the concept of the album and select the songs that will be on the album.Big Record Label gives Band Xa budget, which is used for studio musicians, studio engineers and studio time. The AR executive then coordinates a time for the band to begin recording the album. As this is going on, the other departments of the record company are in full swing. A budget is fixed for advertising, art, publicity and promotion. As graphic artists, designers and copy;rites begin their work, the AR department, as well as publicity, marketing and sales, decide on a release date for the album. The artist development department plans the live performances, promotional tour and radio and TV appearances.The record company must make sure that there is promotion for Band X on the national, congenial and local level. Near the time that the album will be released, the labels departments are working hard to secure press coverage and exposure for the band. All the machines parts are working together to make sure that Band Axs album will sell many copies, ensuring the success of everyone involved, from the artist to the radio stations to the CD stores. Once the artist has made a recording it is on to marketing and distribution. A marketing strategy will be developed for the record.Tasks within this plan should include: planning in which markets and in which cities r regions the recording will first hit the air; planning an extensive promotional campaign which could involve participation by the artist and as much coverage as possible by news media; designing promotional materials and advertisements, and planning how. When and where they are to be used; designing merchandising aids, such as point of purchase displays or give away items, and planning for their most effective use; and coordinating with the artists personal manager concerning engagements or a tour timed with the records release.As a marketing strategy is carried out, the success of the campaign is watched closely. The success of a marketing strategy is measured by signs such as radio NAS national TV exposure, international demand, and performance opportunities for the artist. The immediate targets of record promotion are radio broadcasters and broadcast programming services. Record companies consider radio airplay to be the most direct way of exposing a record to the buying public. Most promo records are mailed to stations together with suggestions for which songs to play.Promoting new or rising artists is a fiercely competitive business, since many stations broadcast, in rotation, very few current releases. Follow up phone calls to radio stations are standard procedure to get reactions to the record and to see how the record is performing in certain cities. The main function of publicity is to bring an artist and their newest release to the attention of the press and other media so that the public may be informed. There are three phases too publicity campaign, planning, execution, and follow up.In the planning phase all the tactics off campaign are worked out and all mage is beginning to be developed, and press releases are developed. Successful execution of the plan often depends on precise timing. The media are given press kits containing photographs, a biography, press releases and other important information. Often artists perform several engagements or an entire tour to publicize a new record. Performances are scheduled for radio, TV and possibly local stores. This is all done to make sure that the media has been saturated with publicity materials.Distribution also has to kick in. The typical flow of a distribution strategy goes something like this: salesperson visit each dealer account to show new catalogs, convey relevant information on current releases, and offer purchasing incentives; dealer orders are taken for merchandise and processed through the branch office; the pressing plant or warehouse facility ships the merchandise to the dealers; the dealer accounts are billed, displays and point of purchase tools are laid out; inventory specialists visit dealers to determine how well the products are selling . Ink, 1996) As you can tell, the music business is not Just parties and hanging out Ninth rock stars. A record label must do a great deal of work to discover, sign, produce, promote, distribute and sell an album.