RECORD COMPANY
Chief Executive Officer • President/general Manager
JOB OVERVIEW
These executives chart the direction of the company and oversee daily operations. As president of a new independent label, Monty Hitchcock is hands-on with everything from answering the telephone to signing new artists. “My main responsibility is to make sure that marketing plans, budgets, and relationships with the artists are developed, and that budgets and plans are adhered to.”
PREREQUISITES
To succeed, you need a solid understanding of the music business and substantial knowledge in the areas of distribution and marketing, creativity, problem solving, multi-task abilities, self-motivation, management qualities, communications skills, and strategic planning.
A DAY IN THE LIFE
No day is like any other in the life of Monty Hitchcock, but some of his daily tasks include responding to e-mail and faxes, and returning phone calls to artists, managers, attorneys, and other executives. He has regular meetings with his marketing, promotions and sales staff, artists who are signed to the label and their managers, and others who might be pitching new artists or presenting a marketing opportunity. He may review a contract, approve artwork, listen to newly recorded music or songs being pitched to an artist, negotiate a television special, or help unload a shipment of CDs that has just arrived.
CAREER TIPS
Be true to your word and do every thing you say you will do. It is a very “who you know” industry. If you are not true to your word, everyone in the industry will soon know it, and they won't want to work with you.
POINTERS FOR THE JOB SEARCH
Whether you want to be in management or someday run a record label, work in every facet of the business and gain an understanding of what an agent does, how publishing and performing rights fit into the picture, what marketing, promotion, and salespeople do, and so forth. Gain a concept of what role each person plays.
MONTY HITCHCOCK, PRESIDENT, EMINENT RECORDS
“I played drums from the time I was 13,” says Monty Hitchcock of his musical beginnings. He grew up in Carthage, Tennessee, and knew he wanted a career in music from the first time he was paid for playing. “I knew I would never get into any other business.” After attending college to appease his parents, he went right back out on the road. One night in 1983, during an extended gig in Las Vegas, he was in a lounge watching the drummer of a small jazz combo, when it occurred to him that he would never play as well as this musician, who had been performing in this dive for eight years.
Returning to Nashville, he found work in video production and by 1986, Hitchcock was on the road almost continuously as a production/lighting technician, juggling the touring schedules of Roseanne Cash, Sweethearts of the Rodeo, the O'Kanes, and Vince Gill. While touring with Emmylou Harris at about the same time, he continually looked for ways to increase production values, cut costs, and make traveling easier. His suggestions led to a job as Harris' road manager in 1991, and later to the formation of Monty Hitchcock Management to guide the careers of Harris, Jon Randall, Sweethearts of the Rodeo, and others.
THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT THIS JOB:
“The downside is that you can't give everybody what they want. It's hard to make an artist understand that there is a whole lot more to the business than just making great records. You've got to have a team, a manager, an agent and a desire to go out there and work.”
THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS JOB:
“I hear a tremendous amount of great music. That's what got me in the business, period; the fact that I loved to listen to music.”
After several years of being pressed to start an independent record label, by the late 1990s Hitchcock felt the time was right. He divested himself of his management responsibilities and opened Eminent Records in 1998. The label's first release was Emmylou Harris' Spyboy, a live concert recording. Struggling to carve out a solid niche for the label, Hitchcock left Eminent in 2000. Returning to artist management, he opened M. Hitchcock Management and reunited with Sony/Epic recording artist Jon Randall. www.mhmgmt.com
Additional topics
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Job Descriptions and Careers, Career and Job Opportunities, Career Search, and Career Choices and ProfilesCareers in the Music BusinessRECORD COMPANY - Executive Office (major Or Large Label): Chief Operating Officer • President, President/general Manager • Vice President/general Manager