RECORD DISTRIBUTION GROUPS AND RETAIL
Retail: Retailer • On-line Retailer • On-line Store Vice President • Manager Of Music
JOB DESCRIPTION
Retailers direct and manage sales efforts of music product to the public. At Best Buy, Ted Singer develops the strategies for on-line music sales. He coordinates between Internet technology resources and publishing, merchandise planning, and finances to maximize on-line sales efforts.
SPECIAL SKILLS
To succeed, you must have the ability to work in a chaotic atmosphere. You should be self-motivated with plenty of people skills and creativity. You should be able to strategize ways to use new technology to increase sales efforts.
A DAY IN THE LIFE
About half of Ted Singer's time is devoted to discussions with lawyers who are negotiating, drafting, or reviewing contracts. He gathers information for the web site and decides how it will be presented. Throughout the day he handles phone calls and attends meetings internally and with potential business partners.
LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT THIS JOB:
“Sometimes the politics drive me crazy, but I love the business. I think that occasionally even the things I love drive me crazy.”
THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS JOB:
“My favorite part of the job is free records. I've been very fortunate to work in the record business and be able to raise a family and live relatively comfortably. I don't think that many people get the opportunity to work in a business that they love and make enough money to support their family comfortably.”
POINTERS FOR THE JOB SEARCH
Be open to opportunities where you can gain experience, such as small record stores or on-line retailers. “Don't pick your job based on a genre of music, but pick it based on the opportunity to learn about music. I've worked in country and folk radio, did a reggae and an African radio show, worked in urban and rock record stores and at Tower Records, and I just never made the distinction about music.”
TED SINGER, SENIOR MANAGER, DIGITAL MEDIA SERVICE, BEST BUY
As a teenager growing up outside Philadelphia, the only thing that truly engaged Ted Singer's attention was the music he heard on the radio. Once out of high school, he drifted around the country for several years before settling into a job stocking record bins at a Warner Elektra Atlantic (WEA) warehouse. He immediately fell in love with the record business, memorizing the liner notes of every album and pouring his salary into a spectacular record collection. “You were allowed to buy ten records every two weeks for $1.82.” After a skid of records was dropped on his foot, he left warehouse work and enrolled at a Philadelphia radio school in 1976, working nights answering the telephone for a deejay he had listened to as a kid.
Following a miserable year of spinning disks at a country radio station in Hobbs, New Mexico, Singer moved to Phoenix, Arizona. He found a job on public radio doing a weekend folk music show, and worked at a downtown record store during the week. Several years later, he and two partners opened Charts Records, and added two more locations over the next six years. When the stores were sold in 1985, he went to work for the buyer, and moved to Rhode Island to manage the Midland Records chain.
Six months into his new position, a Minnesota entrepreneur offered Singer a job opening in an innovative video and music chain called Tidal Wave. He began with only a borrowed desk, a set of blueprints, and a list of telephone numbers, and within eight and a half years, he had opened 14 stores. Thoroughly burnt out by this time, he quit and took six months off to plan his next career move.
Singer put together a self-marketing campaign whose quirky sense of humor appealed to the management at Best Buy. Always able to operate well in chaos, he took over the special projects that no one else wanted or understood. In 1997, he was drafted to expand the company's web site into an on-line music store, which continues to evolve as one of the industry's most innovative operations. “We created a download storefront on the Web,” said Singer, “utilizing a platform that makes it easy for consumers to access their favorite music digitally.” Singer was rewarded for his success with a promotion to senior manager of Digital Media Service. www.bestbuy.com
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Additional topics
- RECORD DISTRIBUTION GROUPS AND RETAIL - Distribution: Senior Vice President • Vice President (sales)
Job Descriptions and Careers, Career and Job Opportunities, Career Search, and Career Choices and ProfilesCareers in the Music BusinessRECORD DISTRIBUTION GROUPS AND RETAIL - Distribution: Senior Vice President • Vice President (sales), Retail: Retailer • On-line Retailer • On-line Store Vice President • Manager Of Music