RECORD COMPANY
Senior Vice President • Marketing Director (strategic Marketing) • Vice President (special Markets)
JOB DESCRIPTION
These marketers exploit catalog master recordings and handle Internet marketing. At BMG Latin, Guillermo Page coordinates efforts between BMG and the record clubs, such as BMG Direct and Columbia House, and oversees the exploitation of the company's catalog master recordings and all Internet related activities.
CAREER TIPS
“You really have to be bilingual and bicultural. In the United States, we work four or five different markets and they are very fragmented. We have a Mexican culture on the West Coast, a tropical culture in New York [Colombians, Dominicans, and Puerto Ricans], Colombians and Cubans in Miami, and in Chicago a mixture of all those cultures. Each market behaves differently and you need to understand those differences.”
PREREQUISITES
To succeed, you should be proficient in Spanish and English, and have an understanding of Latin markets, both outside and within the United States. You need to be creative and have strategic planning and computer skills, coupled with an understanding of Internet sales and marketing.
A DAY IN THE LIFE
Page begins his day reading and responding to his 30 to 40 e-mails from the European, Latin American, and United States offices, and various accounts. He works with the Internet staff to ensure they have the artist information they need, or specifics about a promotion or tour. He attends meetings with different departments to plan and implement marketing campaigns.
POINTERS FOR THE JOB SEARCH
Learn a second language and study the international charts so you become familiar with artists and companies. Read all you can about foreign music markets so that when you apply for an internship or entry-level position, you have some basic knowledge, and a language skill, to offer an employer. “Every BMG company has an international exploitation manager who handles our repertoire for every country that has a BMG presence.”
GUILLERMO PAGE, VICE PRESIDENT OF COMMERCIAL DIVISION, SONY BMG LATIN
Guillermo Page began his career in the music business at age 16 at Velvet, the independent record company his father owned in Venezuela. He began as an assistant in the recording studio division and rose to general manager of the label. In 1989, at age 22, he moved to the United States and entered the University of Miami, where he eventually earned a bachelor's degree in international finance, marketing, business management and organization, and an MBA in international business and marketing. Between studies, he handled sales and production coordination at Rodven, an independent Latin label. He moved to Vedisco Records in 1993 to become general manager, and in 1999, left to join BMG U.S. Latin as strategic marketing director.
In early 2005, Guillermo became vice president of Sony BMG Latin's commercial division. Among his duties are designing and implementing direct response campaigns and exploiting the Latin catalogs of Sony and BMG.
THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS JOB:
“There is not a single moment that I feel bored on the job; it is always changing. We are working with different artists every day, so it's not like selling a standard product. The way you market each artist is different.”
Additional topics
- RECORD COMPANY - Vice President • Director • Manager (international Marketing)
- RECORD COMPANY - Marketing And Artist Development: Senior Vice President Marketing
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