Seven Music Related Jobs In UK Business

The music scene is alive and well – thriving even – in the UK. While there are thousands of artists dreaming of their big break, the music industry offers far more to the job hunter than the life of a performer. All those bands and singers and musicians need a support framework, after all. If you’re a music lover looking for music related jobs in UK companies, there’s no lack of positions open to you. Here are just ten music related jobs in UK production, broadcasting and media that are in demand.

Music Publicist

Someone has to get the word out about new music. A music publicist works with the media to be sure that artists are getting publicity to boost sales of their music and their value to a recording label.

Label Manager

A label manager works for a recording company and facilitates the releases of new music by artists recording for a particular label. In this music related job in UK recording, you’ll be working as a liaison between the various departments of the recording company to make sure that all the details are covered for a smooth release of CDs and digital singles.

Management Assistant

No matter what the industry, there’s always a need for management assistants to deal with daily administrative duties from filing invoices to setting up interviews and hotel rooms for touring artists to updating the company website. It may not sound like the most exciting music related job in UK industry, but it’s a great entry level job that will get your foot in the door. In many companies, management assistants easily move into other positions because of their experience in the music business.

Digital Research Analyst

Music companies have always employed market analysts to follow the latest trends in music and help position the company’s artists and assets to best ride the wave to success. The digital revolution rings in new changes nearly every day, and the market analyst position is giving way to a digital analyst who keeps a finger on the pulse of the market, analyzes new technology and emerging trends and forecasts the implications for the company’s products. The position requires experience and skill both in the music industry and in management.

Online Editorial Manager

In today’s digital age, an Internet presence is a total necessity for any music company. In addition to publicists, managers and PR people, there are music related jobs in UK media companies that focus on web production. From producing copy for artist profiles and stories to creating new media presentations for streaming and downloading, there are jobs for music professionals with web and digital experience.

Junior Events Producer

Live events are the heart of the music industry. From creating a schedule to ensuring that all the guests arrive on time to deciding on the invitation list so that all the right media are including, the events producer plays a key role. Junior events producers work under an events producer helping to manage aspects of the planning and execution of live events.

Intern

Internships at recording studios, radio stations and event venues are an excellent way to get to know the music industry and make valuable contacts. While the pay for an internship may be low, interns often have the chance to work on exciting projects as they learn. And in at least one recent survey, over 90% of companies who use interns say that they often hire on an intern full time when the internship period has ended.

There are many more music related jobs in UK companies, ranging from clerical work to throwing parties. If you’re looking for music related jobs in the UK, you’ll find many specialty web sites specifically for jobs in the entertainment and music business.

Behind all entertainment success is the word PUBLICITY!

Do you believe that it is the artist’s pure talent that makes them into international superstars? In fact, do you believe that artist’s need to have pure talent in order to have a successful career in the entertainment industry? As a newbie in the entertainment industry I learned that marketing, advertisement, promotion, and publicity are words that work together to create an action but are indeed distinguished. Publicity is a viral way to market to the public in a way that attempts to control the public’s perspective of a specific person, place, and or thing in order to gain the attention from the mass media. As a publicist their duty is to keep their client in the spotlight at all times whether their client is out shopping on the other side of the world, attending the annual Grammy award ceremony, or exploiting their client’s private life in order to cause a scandal that lands them on the cover of a popular publication such as People Magazine. It is the publicist duty to assure that their client receives positive press however; all press is considered good press in the world of publicity because the only bad press that exists is “No Press”. There have been many instances where artists have experienced their lives exploited to the world because of bad circumstances such as Britney Spears and Rhianna however; a great publicist can take negative press and receive positive feedback.

The daily duties of a Publicist

Besides all the glitz and glamour of the spot light an important factor to being a publicist is to keep a direct connection between the media and the client. As a publicist it is mandatory to be available at all times to attend to the media’s demands in regards to any unfortunate circumstance that may arise. The publicist goal is to keep their client involved in the media in order to help increase the status of their careers to celebrity A-list status for example Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. Part of the office duties of a publicist are to create and design press packages that entail press kits, press releases, and approving media footage before it is released to the public. Publicists spend a great part of their day scheduling the radio, television, and publication interviews, public appearance, signings, and sitcom appearances for their clients. It may seem like the publicist gets to enjoy all the benefits from their superstar roster however; as a publicist it is expected of them to work under restricted time constraints in order to be able to meet their deadlines. Their deadlines consist of public appearances, record releases, and movie premieres amongst many more events that might take place during the current year. A great publicist releases all press information in a suitable time frame, works well under pressure, provides extensive networks, and understands the importance to finding a positive in every negative circumstance in order to benefit their clientele’s reputation.

Award Winning Publicity firm

Over the past 25 years Garis PR has been the number one most popular publicity firm to win a plethora of media awards. With a superb reputation Garis PR is considered the best celebrity publicist, business PR, book publicist, product PR, sports publicist, fashion PR, event publicist, political PR, and entertainment PR. P.T. Barmum the legendary publicist and entrepreneur also considered the Shakespeare of advertising quoted, “Without publicity a terrible thing happens, nothing.” It is unusual for a person to become a superstar over night but in order for an ordinary person to go from being an average Joe to a superstar takes a lot of hard work, a dedicated team, and a great publicist. As USA Today stated, “Publicity is like politics and people are realizing that fame doesn’t happen accidentally.”

About Lourdes Beth Rodriguez, CEO of Lulubee Entertainment Inc

Lourdes Beth Rodriguez was born and raised in Williamsburg Brooklyn, New York. As a child she had a strong passion to perform and her mother enrolled her in several after school programs where she learned to dance, sing, model, and act. As she got older her family was aware of her passion and dreams but wanted Lourdes to continue her education before she followed her hearts desires. After graduating middle school Lourdes attended Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School of International Careers, where she was given the opportunity to choreograph her first onstage performance. As a teenager Lourdes faced several difficult circumstances that steered her away from her passion but as an adult she managed to find her way back on the path to reaching great success. Currently her mid-twenties, Lourdes managed to graduate from two different universities with an Associates Degree, Bachelors Degree, and is currently enrolled with Full Sail University where she is working on obtaining a Masters Degree in Entertainment Business. Later this year, Lourdes seeks to launch her first company Lulubee Entertainment Inc an event coordination, publicity, and promotion company located in Miami, Fl.

Feel free to follow Lourdes at:

http://lbrodriguez.blogspot.com/

http://www.facebook.com/lulubee

http://www.myspace.com/superstarlordez

lordlurod1@gmail.com

References

http://www.grammy.com/

http://www.people.com/people/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15609347/

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20257828,00.html

http://marriage.about.com/od/entertainmen1/p/willsmith.htm

http://www.nationalpublicist.com/

http://www.ptbarnum.org/humbugs.html

It’s a well known fact that 360 Deals are pretty much the norm these days for any artist wanting to align with a major label. Mainly out of curiosity I’ve always wanted to see how one broke down, because outside of ponying up for recording costs, what else can you say a major label does for an artist? They don’t develop them anymore; instead stepping in after the artist has some semblance of a following and selling them a dream. Industry jack of all trades, Wendy Day, feels the same way & penned an enlightening article on the subject. Using her contacts and knowledge from her time served, she compared a traditional deal vs. a 360 deal.

Back in the day, labels took roughly 87% of the pie while giving the artists 12% of the money AFTER the artist paid back everything spent on them from that 12% share. This means that if the artist sold $500,000 worth of CDs, and it cost $50,000 to market and promote that CD (a very low example), the artist share of $60,000 (12% of $500k) would be divided between paying the label back that $50,000 and a check for the remaining $10,000. The label would receive $490,000 for its investment and belief in that artist while the artist made $10,000. In exchange for giving up the lion’s share of the sales, the labels always told the artists that they’d make 100% of the touring. Any show money, was the artist’s to keep!
When the shit hit the fan financially for the labels, they decided to tap into the show money, and all other streams of income for the artists, as well. After all, if your profit margin is made smaller, you need to eat more of everyone’s income to keep the fat cats at the top, and the stock holders, happy. Most 360 Deals share in endorsement income (15% to 30% depending on the artist), performance income (10% to 30% depending on the artist), merchandising income (20% to 50%) and Film/TV money (15% to 40%).

While those percentages can go pretty high, they’re even more eye popping when she applied some numbers to them:

Example of a “360 Deal” Artist (this is not an actual artist example):

Male rapper based in Atlanta with a strong following. He has his own team of inexperienced friends and family around him and a very strong street following. The DJs, fans, other artists and industry are supporting him and propelling him forward. With no real single or CD in the marketplace, demand is high—he’s getting $30,000 a show and performing three or four times a week for the past few months. This will last about 6 months, approximately. He’s put out a series of mixed CDs, for free, over the past year. The label signed him to a 360 Deal a year ago but hadn’t begun to promote him yet because their roster was full. The artist got tired of waiting and began putting out a new mixed CD every month to build his buzz.

Advance: $75,000
Album budget once popularity increased: $350,000
Recoupable Marketing and Promotions: $750,000
Monthly show income: $420,000
Endorsement Deal: $50,000

Album comes out and sells a total of 350,000 copies (it was a very commercial album but the artist had been very street, almost gutter, up to the point of his album release so fans didn’t really embrace the album as expected).

Album income for label: $3.5 million
Artists’ share after recouping: negative balance of $405,000
$750,000 + $75,000 = $825,000
12% of $3.5 mill = $420,000
$825,000 – $420,000 = $405,000
Artist’s endorsement deal share: $37,500
75% of $50,000
Artists share of touring income: $1,764,000
70% of $420,000 x 6 months
Artists share of publishing income (50%): $100,000 (estimate of mechanicals and ASCAP/BMI royalties)

Income for Label: $4,773,500 gross income on an investment of $825,000
$3,500,000 sales
$405,000 recoupment
$12,500 endorsement income
$756,000 tour/show income
+ $100,000 publishing income
$4,773,500 gross income
Less Staff costs
Less Day to Day operating expenses
Less Taxes

Income for Artist: $1,122,375 income
$37,500 endorsement income
$1,764,000 tour income
+$100,000 publishing income
$1,901,500 sub total
-$405,000 recoupment
$1,496,500 gross income
Less 20% management fee
Less 5% Business Manager fee (Accountant)
Less Tour costs/legal costs/tour manager/DJ/Operating expenses/taxes

Let’s compare gross incomes…

Artist made 1.5 million while label made 4.7 million
Artist share: 24%
Label share: 76%

Let’s compare Net incomes before taxes…

Artist made approximately $1 million while the label made approximately $4.5 million
Artist share: 18%
Label share: 82%

This works great for the labels because they now get a piece of things that come directly from the artists’ music, especially in a time when music sales can yield negative returns. Taking a look at the figures that Beware provided, I’d be inclined to take my chances on the independent route if I were a rapper nowadays. Get my music out there and hit the road, build up my appearance fee. But after talking to a guy who chased a recording contract, he said he sign the traditional deal in a heartbeat. He’d take his chances with the major, just to not have to worry about paying all the day to day expenses and figuring out all the touring logistics.

Right or wrong doesn’t matter in this instance, because whatever carrot the labels dangle there will always be someone willing to bite.

[Via]

Posted in SMOKE BREAK, THE NEW MODEL — Tags: 360 Record Deals, Wendy Day