Getting That First Job

May 1, 2015

In the third edition of the book How to Get a Job in the Music Industry (Berklee Press 2015), authors Keith Hatschek with Breanne Beseda walk readers through a methodical approach to finding a way into the music industry. They provide tools for assessing where you will best fit, what skills you will need, and the practical steps that can lead to a sustainable career. What follows is an edited excerpt from chapter two entitled: “Today’s Job Market: The Big Picture.” *

Job Supply and Demand

Like all industries, the music industry adheres to the law of job supply and demand. When it comes to jobs and opportunities, the supply of industry jobs falls well below the demand of those wishing to enter the industry. This gap makes every job precious—even those internships that don’t pay one cent. It also means that in order to better your chances for success, you have to take advantage of every ethical opportunity to improve your skills and status in the industry.

One music industry manager reports that she receives an average of four to five unsolicited résumés a week. Some of those job seekers follow up with phone calls and express their willingness to work for free as an intern or assistant. This is a time-honored tradition in the music and entertainment field, a form of paying one’s dues to build knowledge and gain connections to working professionals that can help advance a fledgling career.

The first reality you’ll discover about entry-level positions in the industry is that with many people willing to work for no pay, it makes it harder to get paid. The second reality is that when it comes to succeeding as a performing and recording artist, what now constitutes “success” is vastly different from what it was 15 years ago. Today, fewer artists reach the threshold of platinum sales, and album sales have declined more than 50 percent since the advent of file sharing. New, artist-centric labels are challenging the monopoly held by the major labels for nearly 100 years. Artists and savvy music managers are no longer looking to major labels or large management firms to shape their careers. They realize that maintaining control and ownership of their careers and music can allow for a very profitable, yet smaller-scale, business model. It’s just these types of artists and managers that are seeking the next generation of do-it-yourself-capable team members.

Back in the day, artists needed to sell 250,000 to 400,000 copies of their album to pay off the investment a label made in getting that album out to the public. While superstars such as Beyoncé, Radiohead, Taylor Swift, or Enrique Iglesias may still sell hundreds of thousands of albums, today’s industry is realigning to a much more modest model of what success means. Younger artists, schooled in the realities of earlier contracts that made profitability a long shot, are not rushing to sign record deals and the album is no longer seen as the be-all, end-all of the artist’s career. From the perspective of a job seeker, this new music industry offers a nearly limitless range of possibilities, especially for those that are prepared to develop and demonstrate their flexibility, ingenuity, and creativity.

Those desiring a career in the industry should not only look at careers as recording artists or record producers, but also at the cornucopia of other jobs in the music business. Don’t lock yourself into one career trajectory too early in the game. The same skills and passion you’ve developed for your music can be a tremendous asset in the business side of the industry.

Skills not Jobs

One of the only constants in the current music industry is that the rate of change is likely to keep up for the foreseeable future. To succeed in such a rapidly evolving environment, one must look at the types of skills that are valued in what is largely transforming itself into a stream of the information economy alongside video gaming, film and TV, and so on. Job-hunting is still a part of your activities, but before you start researching openings, it’s essential to understand that today’s music industry employers are seeking candidates with a range of skills that allow their employees to continually adapt to the changing industry. In 2013, we surveyed music industry employers and asked them what skills, knowledge, and attributes were most critical when they were evaluating potential new hires for their companies. We’ve broken the highest ranking results from that survey down into four broad areas that will capture the capabilities that enable you to be well prepared for a long and successful music industry career.

1. Communication, Interpersonal, and Problem-Solving Skills

  • Professional written, oral, and presentation skills (networking skills)
  • Persuasion or sales skills
  • Problem-solving and conflict-resolution skills
  • Listening, following instructions, and effectively collaborating

2. Computer and Media Skills

  • Basic Web creation and editing skills
  • Proficiency with Microsoft Office suite software
  • Basic media (audio and video) capture, editing, and distribution for YouTube, SoundCloud, ReverbNation, etc.
  • Content creation and manipulation (Adobe Creative suite or comparable programs)

3. Professionalism and Integrity

  • Respect for self, coworkers, firm, customers, and the marketplace
  • Self-awareness and sense of purpose in professional endeavors
  • Ability to manage self-image (personal branding) and make decisions based on personal integrity and core values
  • Critical thinking and follow-through

4. Industry-Related Knowledge and Practice

  • Structure of music industry and the varied relationships within it
  • Social media theory and practice
  • Entrepreneurial theory and practice
  • Business marketing

Notice that there is no mention of specific skills relating to a particular job. These four broad areas help form the basis of what makes up the underpinnings for your industry-specific career path. The first two areas, communication and computer skills, will generally evolve over time throughout your career. The third area, professionalism and integrity, is one that is largely learned by observing those around us. Lessons learned throughout our lives help to inform what our code of professional conduct will be. This requires being thoughtful and reflective not only regarding your own actions but also the consequences of those actions over time as your career unfolds. There are many creative and passionate individuals in the music industry seeking like-minded professionals with a sense of purpose and values. By identifying and adhering to your own sense of what’s right, you will go a long way toward joining the ranks of trusted and steadily employed music industry pros.

Team Players Needed

Talent, perseverance, and people skills are required for making it in the business. A colleague who worked as a technical manager at George Lucas’s renowned Skywalker Sound once said, “Fifty-one percent of my job is getting along with my coworkers, and 49 percent of my job is knowing how to keep all of our technology running.” Her statement may be one of the most important pieces of information music industry career seekers must understand.

Climbing to the Top

Perseverance is obviously a big asset. Depending on the opportunity, there may be somewhere between 25 to 2,500 people knocking on the door for a single industry job opening. You’ve got to be willing to persevere or you’ll run out of gas in your quest. Look at your career as if it were a long-distance event such as a 26-mile marathon or a 10K open-water swimming contest. Succeeding at such competitions requires training, mental toughness, and understanding the critical factors for any given event. The same applies to your pursuit of a music industry career. Imagine your career as you hope it will unfold, but be realistic about the time, training, skills, experiences, and connections you will need to gain in order to be successful over the long haul.

Just about everybody starts out at the bottom in this business, even today’s top dogs. Books penned by record label executives, such as Follow the Music by Jac Holzman, the founder of Elektra Records, or Ian Copeland’s entertaining bio, Wild Thing, are recommended reading. Knowing that just about every top executive started out as a mail clerk, gofer, or assistant will help you strengthen your resolve to climb the mountain ahead of you.

The benefit of starting out at the bottom of the company’s organizational chart is that you meet a lot of people on the way up, see how a company works, and learn about every function in an organization. It’s helpful to note which parts work efficiently as well as which parts do not—and, more importantly, why.

Competition is central to many roles and functions in the industry. There’s always new blood coming in—new bands, new songwriters, new musicians, new app developers, and new artist and repertoire staffers. It’s the nature of the game. For many jobs in the music industry, it’s helpful to have a competitive nature.

Radio, television, and websites all rely on a formal rating system. That’s the way much of the entertainment industry works. The statement that recording artists are “only as good as the sales of their last record” is true in an economic sense. Competition is always going to be there, so you have to have the drive and an intense desire to be successful to stick with your dream and push yourself to make it a reality.

Create a Career Portfolio

Set up a digital portfolio that you will maintain as your music industry career develops. You may choose to store it on your computer desktop, a flash drive, or use one of the online cloud-based services. Organize your music industry career portfolio in sections, as noted below. It’s also useful to have access to a future calendar, either online, as an app such as Outlook or iCal, or the old standard, an annual planner notebook available at any office supply store. Use the calendar to mark important events, deadlines, and tasks for which you have set a target completion date.

Career Portfolio Folders:

  • Jobs. Compile job descriptions, open job listings, references to specific positions, or internship opportunities. Download a PDF of any interesting job descriptions you see to build a library for study and reference. You can also save screen grabs or scans. Set up a subfolder titled Job Applications to keep track of every position for which you apply.
  • Target companies. Whenever you hear or read about a new company that interests you, start a document in this folder to compile information. Include the company’s name, key products or services, spokesperson, and URL in it. Fill in more information as you discover it.
  • Industry articles. Whenever you come across an article that interests you, especially those that identify specific companies, save it as a document, HTML file, or PDF, and add it to your portfolio.
  • Correspondence. Keep electronic “soft” copies of letters to and from the various people and companies you will encounter in your career development.
  • Events. Record information on industry conferences, conventions, charity events, or any other type of function that may provide you with the chance to meet and learn from others.
  • Reference. Include notes, handouts, and other classroom/ conference handouts or lecture materials that relate to your industry career journey.
  • Résumé. The evolution of your résumé and your skills at résumé development go in this folder.
  • Journal. You are embarking on a process of career development that includes a component of self-discovery and personal evaluation. Start a journal where you can record notes to yourself, wish lists, and reflections on key events such as interviews and notes on what you learned about yourself as you identify and develop mentoring opportunities, go through interviews, and the like. As you add to the journal, you’ll be able to see how your knowledge and self-awareness are growing. This will help you achieve a more nuanced perspective of yourself and your motivations, as well as your strengths and weaknesses. You will use this knowledge to help build the most comprehensive career plan possible, customized to suit your needs and goals.

As you journey down your own unique career path, add additional folders to your career portfolio as you need them. Perhaps you’ll start a section to record details of the job and informational interviews you’ve had and what you learned from them. If you have a smartphone or tablet, use it to jot down notes or details of a conversation, a reference book, or a company’s contact information.

The importance of your career portfolio will become clear as the variety and amount of information that you uncover widens. Don’t be concerned at first if you have only a few items in each section. As you expand your network, and become a detective in your areas of interest, you will develop a rich and bountiful set of resources that will be instrumental in helping you find and land your new position.

Keeping your career portfolio up to date gives you instant access to the information you develop. Decide where your career portfolio will be stored: on your computer, a removable USB drive, or in a cloud storage app. Back it up often to a second source.

Using Your Career Portfolio

Your career portfolio will be a visible investment of your time and brainpower to get your journey started properly. The whole music and entertainment business is interconnected, and it’s important to remember where to find things and where to look for people. Your portfolio should have sections on careers that interest you today, clippings on companies that are expanding, notes from meetings, articles on new technology, or online interviews with people in the businesses you admire. If you are interested in a career in digital music distribution, start a list of the music technological companies found in the San Francisco area. Dreaming of a career in the recording field? Build a list of the studios in your region, as well as facilities in New York, Los Angeles, and Nashville. Go through their websites, save URLs for key information pages that tell you what kind of work they do, and add those to your portfolio in the proper folder.

A career portfolio becomes a reference work to help you determine which career paths interest you and are likely to be the best fit. Over time, it will become a valued resource—a shortcut to get you closer from where you are today to where you want to be tomorrow.

Another very important step for your career is to visualize yourself in your target career. For instance, if your career goal is to become an artist manager, you have to start seeing yourself as an artist manager in training and chart your course to becoming a better artist manager. Similarly, if you aspire to develop the next killer music app, you have to follow the same process and visualize and say out loud that you are an app developer. Committing to that career path and stating your intention is a critical step in moving your intended career forward.

Once you see yourself developing along this new career track, it doesn’t matter if you’re going to work by day as a paralegal, a waitress, a grocery clerk, or a data-entry “droid.” In your heart, you know that you are working on developing your career and that you’re an artist manager or app developer in training.

Making Connections

The music industry is forever evolving, and is currently morphing via the Internet. The means that artists use to connect with fans, promote themselves, to sell CDs or downloads, and appear live has been irrevocably changed by the explosion of the information revolution. To keep up with the changes, you’ve got to commit yourself to continuous learning. No matter whether you fit among the fresh faces, the career changers, or the golden-years group, there’s a tremendous amount of useful information available online if you know where to find it. No matter what age group you’re in, many of the skills and talents necessary for a successful industry career are the same.

It is vitally important that you become well read on the industry and to talk to people working in it. If you find ways to meet people doing what you want to do and ask them intelligent questions, you will most likely discover a path into the business. These things are the surest way to become aware of the changing trends that affect the industry.

As an example, in the Northern California region, there’s a songwriting organization—West Coast Songwriters, with 1,200 active members—that holds between 15 and 20 events each month. It hosts an outstanding annual fall symposium. If you live in the region and want to make it as a songwriter, you should attend the symposium. You should be networking with other songwriters and talking to the publishers who attend the symposium. That’s your Super Bowl—you have to be there.

For aspiring record producers, there’s the Audio Engineering Society (AES) convention in the fall, and the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) conventions in winter and summer. There are producers’ forums that are open to the public (for a small admission fee) cohosted by the Recording Academy, where you can listen to some of the most successful producers in the business. Top producers talk for two hours about what they do, how they got their breaks, and what they recommend for up-and-coming producers. How can you miss that if you want to be the next Bruno Mars, Max Martin, Kanye West, or Tony Brown? Always look for such opportunities to learn and network.

If you can’t get to an event, find out whether it was broadcast or archived on the internet. This information is out there. The people who have presented and appeared at the event are usually happy to talk to you in the right setting and share the information, ideas, and experience that they have. You’ve got to always be looking for opportunities to soak up more information. Fill your career portfolio with links to interviews, articles, your own notes, and information on careers and companies that pique your interest and spark your imagination. As your career portfolio grows, so will your ability to speak knowledgably about the areas of the industry that most interest you.

Obviously, you’ve got to work at your craft too. You’ve got to keep engineering or writing songs or booking bands, using social media to promote your favorite undiscovered local act—whatever vocation it is that you aspire to. But focus part of your energy on getting near people that are doing what you want to do at the highest level possible. That’s the fastest way to learn about the dos and don’ts and the ins and outs of our business. There is no substitute for exposure to working professionals.


* Reprinted with permission of the authors and Berklee Press.

This article appeared in our alumni magazine, Berklee Today Summer 2015. Learn more about Berklee Today.
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