A&R VP for the Weeknd to Record Podcast with Students

The Manifesto and Nate Albert will visit Berklee on September 29 to record a live discussion with students Tickwanya Jones and William Kiendl as the final installment of the inaugural podcast series Between Us. The discussion will be hosted by Michelle Sullivan, cofounder and editor-in-chief of The Manifesto, an annual print book dedicated to the business of music.

Albert, senior vice president of A&R at Republic Records, has signed such artists as the Weeknd, Phantogram, and Anberlin; worked on releases for Florence and the Machine and the Lonely Island, among others; and oversaw the release of the Oscar-nominated soundtrack to Universal Pictures' Les Misérables. On the performance side of his career, Albert cofounded the Mighty Mighty Bosstones when he was 13, playing lead guitar for the band for more than a decade.

Founded in 2012, The Manifesto was conceived as a platform for intelligent and positive discourse around the music industry community. Between Us is a podcast series curated by The Manifesto, bringing together music industry practitioners, artists, thinkers, and creative individuals for a converation about ideas that are relevant to their pursuit. 

The event, which is open to Berklee students, faculty, and staff, is presented in association with Squarespace and WeTransfer, and in concert with Berklee's Music Business/Management Department. 

Albert and Sullivan share their thoughts about the upcoming event.

Nate Albert

What do you hope the Berklee students take from their conversation with you? What do you hope to come away with?

I would like students to come away with tools that they can use to make a difference in their careers and knowing they can control their own path. Ultimately, I would like them to come away feeling empowered. I hope to gain a better understanding of the concerns and needs of our future executives and artists.

What advice do you have for Berklee students as they prepare for careers in the music industry? What specifically about the industry today bears minding as they build their music education and professional resumes?

Be the flame, not the moth. Do great things and great people will come to you. The music business and performance is not only about craft or how good one is at their instrument. It is about how good one is at articulating a total creative or artistic vision. That includes performance, aesthetic, business approach, ethics, and cultural meaning. It's about having a point of view and seeing that point of view to completion. Today's industry rewards the DIY approach. And luckily, the ability to share your vision on a grand scale without having to go through gatekeepers is easier than ever.

Your own career trajectory has been quite entrepreneurial. How has your career as an artist informed your career as an A&R executive?

I try to be some version of the A&R people I had and the A&R person I wanted to exist when I was signed to a label. I know how hard being in a band can be and I try to bring that same focus and commitment to my work as an executive. Am I being the person that I needed when I was in a band? That is my compass. I know many of the needs of an artist because that was my job for most of my life, but not all of them. I keep trying to be better because I believe we owe that to the artists.

Michelle Sullivan

Can you talk about how this collaboration with Berklee aligns with The Manifesto’s mission?

Ultimately, we are serving as a platform for those in the business of music. We are seeking to understand who we are as a community and what we can be in the 21st century. Much of our editorial is guided by our belief in the importance of education, and so when we were looking to collaborate on this podcast, we immediately thought that those values aligned with Berklee.

What is the goal of the podcast series Between Us and how will this particular event fit into the scope of the series?

Between Us is our inaugural podcast series. When designing the conversations, we wanted to curate pairs who would have insightful conversation and provide a window into their viewpoint on these topics. A big part of the Berklee collaboration was to ensure that we included the voice of the students. They are our business of tomorrow. Beatrice Hurst [cofounder and creative director of The Manifesto] and I believe that it is important to support young voices. To give them a platform to learn, make mistakes, and be creative. It was imperative to us that this first series included that voice.

What do you hope will be generated from the conversation between Nate Albert and the Berklee students?

The joy of a live conversation, such as the one we will be conducting at Berklee, is that it can go absolutely anywhere on the day and still be fantastic. We invited Nate to come on this visit with us for two reasons: One, his experiences speak to both an artistic and a music business perspective. He has had such a unique opportunity to experience the industry from both viewpoints and we wanted to share that. Two, Nate is a friend and we have so much respect for him. We wanted our guest to be someone who our audience felt they could really connect with and learn from. Nate’s that guy. We are all really excited for this visit to Berklee.