Working with Artists to help make MUSIC & ART a sustainable career
When it comes to music industry careers, the most common image that springs to mind is that of the singer, the rapper, or the musicians. They tend to get all the glitz and the glam because the spotlight is on them and their performances. However, there are so many different people who work tirelessly to ensure that artists can achieve the success that they deserve. Even though artists are becoming increasingly do-it-yourself these days, the value of the following professionals is nothing to scoff at.
These people have the responsibility of overseeing the production of an album. In a way, they aren’t too different from film directors. Producers get to spend a lot of time with not only record labels, but also a huge variety of different musicians. They typically refine the sounds of their artists into something that has improved odds of doing well with audiences. Their familiarity with digital audio workstations, music theory, and what it takes to achieve a great sound is a boon for artists. A knowledge of sound engineering and mixing is increasingly considered to be highly important for producers in today’s music industry landscape.
The importance of good public relations cannot be understated if a musician wants to achieve anything resembling mainstream success. PR specialists help make sure that people become aware of an artist’s existence by appropriately positioning and branding their artists. Not only are they supposed to help artists get noticed, it’s also their job to make sure that they have a stellar reputation.
PR specialists can do their job through a variety of different means; this could look like manging the artist’s social media accounts, reaching out to people who manage Spotify playlists to get the artist featured on them, and notifying the music media about an artist’s plans.
It’s the job of a music publisher to manage the availability of an artist’s music. It’s also the music publisher’s responsibility to make sure that artists get the royalties that they deserve. As a result, music publishers get paid a portion of what the artist earns with their music. As far as music industry careers go, publishers are more focused on the business.
Music publishers also come to arrangements with various songwriters and then share the music that the songwriters write with musicians or with anyone else who may need music, such as for film scores or advertisements.
Artist and repertoire co-ordinators are the folks who seek out musicians to sign onto record deals. They are constantly on the lookout for fresh new talent to nurture through record label support.
People in this line of work keep their fingers on the pulse of music trends to guide the hunt for new artists as well as inform artists on what sort of musical sound they should pursue to achieve mainstream success. Which songs become singles is ultimately the decision of artist and repertoire co-ordinators.
By no means a small part of the success of live performances, these often-overlooked heroes work long hours to make sure that shows run smoothly and turn into audio-visual spectacles.
An artist’s road crew is typically made up of a large number of people carrying out different roles, some of which include instrument techs, live sound engineers, pyrotechnicians, and more.
In fact, we’ve gone through the effort of dedicating an entire article to road crews and the things that people should know about them. You can read it here.
Which of these music industry careers seem appealing to you? Are there any jobs not on this list that you would like to see mentioned in a discussion like this? Be sure to comment about it below!
Dmitry Demidov took the photograph that is featured at the top of this article. See more of his work here.
