 |  |  | | | A&R stands for Artists & Repertoire. Is normal lingo that means the people who sign up the next big thing. Sound like the job for you? Then let our 'how to' guide help you find your chosen way... |
| | | |  |  |  | | Senior A&R manager, Parlophone on the role of the job: "As an industry we need to constantly find new artists and it's the A&R's job to make sure we're on top of that and finding new and exciting acts to sign. And once they are signed help find exciting ways to develop the sound." |
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| |  | |  | | Head of A&R at BMG on what makes a good A&R: "The last two people I hired bombarded me constantly with great demos. Telling me about bands they'd seen, blagging their way into venues saying they worked for BMG, using their savvy and imagination." |
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| |  | |  |  | | Joint Managing Director of Polydor on passion: "I decided that this was what I wanted to do as a career and set about making record companies take notice of me. I was just one of those trainspotter kids that loved buying vinyl, loved finding out about independent labels and was really nosey and wanted to know what was going on." |
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What qualifications do I need? |  |
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How much can I earn? |  |
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What key skills do I need? |  |
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What can I do to get started? |  |
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Any useful magazines or resources? |  |
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Courses aren't necessarily going to get you in. You've got to be prepared to do something outside of A&R to get you some background. However, it's fair comment that enthusiasm will only get you so far. Skills and knowledge are what will keep you there.
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Don't expect to get lots of money straight away. An average scout after a year or two can get approx £22k a year, but that can go up. After four to five years you can be on anything up to £500,000.
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Perseverance, passion and trust. Know a hit and be able to recognise a diamond in the rough. You've got to have an understanding of music and have vision and imagination. And steer a fine line between arrogance and humility. You don't want to annoy people or squash their confidence.
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You've got to be prepared to do something else to get you some background, like working in a studio or working in the post room of a label - it's working near the industry. Try and work as closely to music and as closely to artists as you can. Also, start dialogue. Nothing wrong with doing as much research as you can about record companies and finding out the contact details of the most relevant person to speak to.
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Music Week and the yearly Music Week Directory will help. There's also 'The Guerilla Guide To The Music Business', a good source of reference for starters in the biz.
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| | | |  |  | | Colin Barlow: "A lot of people look at the record industry as a closed shop that's very hard to get in. You've got to be able to think, 'How am I going to be able to get someone's attention?'. And, as someone who hires people, I am looking for people with enthusiasm and a desire and love for music. I don't care who they know. It's more what they know. Everyone has a got a chance of working in the music industry." |
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