Berklee Blogs

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Tag: Artist management (Page 1 of 4)

Artist management

Pursuing a Passion in Music: Jerilyn Sawyer

By Shantell Ogden B.M. ’05

Jerilyn Sawyer

Jerilyn Sawyer

For Jerilyn Sawyer, the path to a job in the music industry working first for CTK Management, and now her own management company, Sawyer & Garner, has been paved with passion for music and excellence. She started singing at age 7, and after many years of performing, writing, and recording songs, she believed the next natural step would be attending Berklee.

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Music Business Seminar – Why do Music Stores Have Mirrors? (And Other Musings of Music and the Market)

Students Megan Himel and Louis Pratt from the global entertainment and music business master’s program reflect upon the eleventh of the Music Business Seminars, where they had the chance to listen to George Howard talk about his experience in the music industry.

George Howard1

During the week of February 6th, 2015, the students at Berklee Valencia were honored to host George Howard, a seasoned music industry veteran, as a guest lecturer. George found remarkable success over the years, running record labels (Rykodisc, Essex River Work and Slow River Records) as well as co-­‐founding TuneCore and other respected names in the music industry. With his latest venture, George Howard Advising, George hopes to draw on his years of experience in the industry (and running previous advisement firms) in order to help artists and brands fulfill their potential to work smarter, not harder.

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Music Business Seminar – How to manage, develop and prolong an artist’s career

Students Janay James and Alejandro Morales from the global entertainment and music business master’s program reflect upon the tenth of the Music Business Seminars, where they were able to listen to Rosa Lagarrigue talk to them about managing artist’s careers.

Rosa Lagarrigue, the head of the largest artist management company in Spain, RLM, came to share what it takes to manage, develop, and prolong an artist’s career with the Global Entertainment and Music Business students here at Berklee Valencia. As our multi-lingual speaker explained, the key to being a successful artist manager is that one must be “able to successfully help develop the artist’s career both short term and long term. You have to see the bigger picture not just here and now.” Rosa’s resume of artists and the longevity of their careers proves that she has been persistent in making artists work for the long term while building global strategies around their stardom.

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Music Business Seminar – A&R Month with Pete Dyson

Our students Clais Lemmens, Kelley Lubitz and Elliot MacKenzie from the global entertainment and music business master’s program reflect upon the second of the Music Business Seminars, where they had the opportunity to meet Pete Dyson and Rob Dickins and work on their A&R skills.

In the context of the global entertainment and music business program at Berklee’s Valencia campus, we had the chance to welcome Pete Dyson, senior lecturer at London Metropolitan University, and co-founder of the Smoky Carrot Records. Specializing in entertainment law and Artist & Repertoire, Pete was a perfect fit to host a weekly seminar during the month of October to educate students about the role of A&R’s in today’s music industry.

One of the most interesting points Pete made during his residency at Berklee’s Valencia campus is how much the traditional role of A&R’s has changed over the years. While they used to view the industry from the perspective of music and talent, by matching great performers with quality songs, A&R leaders now focus on the marketability of the artist. With music itself being very subjective, it is important to know how today’s industry finds talent, assesses it, and develops it.Pete Dyson at Berklee's Valencia campus

Aside from the marketability aspect, the most effective A&R work involves critical analysis of overall artistic talent: song, stagecraft, aesthetics, and artistic identity. Dyson mentions the importance of artist recognition. Voices can express and emote in ways that are soulful, sneering, pleading, androgynous, effortless, authentic, etc. However, this is only one piece of the puzzle. An artist’s stagecraft is also a key component to the artist’s identity. A great artist must showcase their talent in a visible way and draw the audience’s attention to the stage. After analyzing these elements, A&R executives can better determine the potential success of an artist. And Pete gave the students great tools to categorize and evaluate these fundamental skills and assets. Interestingly, he also stated that it is better to assess talent by asking “Which artists will not work” rather than “Which artist will work”.Rob Dickins at Berklee's Valencia campus

For the final week of this A&R month, students had the honor of getting further A&R insight with the presence of British talent-finder extraordinaire Rob Dickins (CBE), ex-Managing Director of Warner Bros Music Publishing. Rob is credited for scouting incredibly successful talents such as R.E.M., Tracy Chapman or Alanis Morissette as well as playing an important role in the careers of Madonna, Neil Young and Prince amongst countless other music legends.

The way both Rob and Pete interacted with the class was challenging while remaining aware of the cultural differences between the students. As soon as the first seminar was over, we were encouraged to showcase our diversity by showcasing artists we liked. Our assignment to find and present an unsigned artist took us on a journey through a wide range of genres around the world. Rob’s rule of being uninterested in signing anyone above the age of 22 was particularly controversial amongst students but also served as an industry reality check. Most importantly, the GEMB students were excited to be talking about actual music again. In the five weeks before – weeks of RIVE models, balance sheets and contract deals – we seemed to have forgotten about our collective passion: the love of music! And although some of our naive visions of the industry were crushed, this was perfectly timed to remind us of what we all love, while being highly informative about the capital role that A&R holds in the music industry.

A&R series at Berklee's Valencia campus

Camilo Puche: Ending Strong

Berklee Blogs checks in with Camilo Puche, a Music Business major and fall intern, finishing up his internship with Conductor’s Cooperative Management, a management company providing worldwide representation and management for classical music conductors. In his final blog, Camilo tells us how interns can create a good impression by ending their internships properly…

As the internship experience comes to an end, it is a very good idea to leave things in the best terms possible with your supervisors and coworkers. Regardless of being offered a job or not, having had problems with coworkers or not, or any other good or bad experiences you may have had in the workspace, you should always try to leave behind the best impression of yourself.

It is important that you try to finish your assignments or projects before the internship is over, however, if for some reason beyond your control you are not able to finish them, you should inform our supervisors so that the job gets done.

This may require a great deal of effort and self-effacement on your part, but it is important that as you begin your career one builds a reputation of being responsible and hard working up until the last day you are on the job.

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