RECORD COMPANY
Vice President • Director • Manager (international Marketing)
JOB OVERVIEW
This office coordinates and manages international marketing efforts for American signed artists. Yumi Kimura serves as the artist and product information liaison between Warner Brothers Nashville and the label's offices around the world. She assists each office in deciding which product is appropriate for release in their country, and helps maximize publicity and marketing efforts.
PREREQUISITES
To succeed, you should have computer and written communication skills, proficiency in a second and third language, and an understanding of foreign markets. A basic knowledge of the music industry is necessary.
A DAY IN THE LIFE
The first task of the day for Yumi Kimura is to check e-mail. While she may speak via telephone with individuals about specific projects and needs, the Internet is the most efficient method of communicating information, charts, and marketing plans to people in different time zones. Throughout the week, Kimura attends staff meetings where she gains information about the label artists to pass on to the international markets, and meets with individual artists and their managers to form a game plan for international marketing and sales.
CAREER TIPS
“Want it bad. You have to have organizational and communication skills—that is very important—but actually getting in, I think the person who wants it the most, gets it.”
You need to have at least a second language, and a third or fourth language is even better. Courses in international business are particularly helpful.
POINTERS FOR THE JOB SEARCH
Find a college with a music business department and a good internship placement program. Study the business side of music and enter a label through the internship program.
YUMI KIMURA, INTERNATIONAL MARKETING MANAGER, WARNER/REPRISE NASHVILLE
As a teenager in Japan, Yumi Kimura fell in love with American music. She knew at an early age that she wanted a career in the music business, and wanted to be closer to its origin than her native country would allow. She learned English as a foreign exchange student, spending four summers in Texas, and following graduation from high school in Tokyo, moved to California to continue English classes. After researching schools that offered degrees in music business, she was accepted into Middle Tennessee State University's program.
Kimura served two internships during her final year at MTSU. The first was at a record company in Japan, where she learned the workings of the foreign market. The second, at Warner Brothers Records in Nashville, became a permanent position upon graduation. While multiple language skills are not a requirement, fluency in several languages was instrumental in Kimura's rise to international marketing manager.
THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT THIS JOB:
“If I work on a project very hard and believe in it, but it doesn't work in the marketplace, sales wise, it's very, very frustrating. [In other businesses] if you work hard and do your best, you get good results. It doesn't work that way in the music industry.”
THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS JOB:
“I love the people. I love the variety of job tasks I have. I get to travel and go to foreign cities. I get to work with people of all different cultures.”
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