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check in on a project, or pitching one of our
producers to a label to work with a par-
ticular artist. My day starts about
9
a.m. and ends around 9 p.m. every
night."
POINTERS FOR THE JOB SEARCH
A position, or internship, in A&R or
A&R administration is a great way to gain
the skills necessary to manage producers and
handle production coordination.
GINNY JOHNSON, GENERAL MANAGER, HAMSTEIN
PRODUCTIONS
"I knew I wanted to be in the music business
from a young age," says Ginny
Johnson. "I had friends that were in the
business; some were artists and some were
family members of artists." Johnson moved to
Nashville from High Point, North
Carolina when she was 19, entered the music
business program at Belmont College,
and landed an A&R department internship at
Capitol Records. The internship, with
label executive vice president Jerry
Crutchfield, lasted 18 months and ended when he
hired her as his personal assistant. Johnson's
duties included managing the A&R
department, coordinating the label's videos,
and acting as production assistant to her
boss. "Jerry was producing eight or nine acts a
year. It was a busy time and a great
learning process because I was involved in so
many different areas."
Johnson continued her duties through the
transition of Capitol Records into
Liberty Records and the installation of a new
label head. Several years later, when
Crutchfield was hired as president of MCA Music
Publishing, he took her along as his
assistant. Along with coordinating album
projects, she was introduced to the many
facets of the publishing world. After three
years on the job, she decided to go out on
her own as an independent production
assistant.
CASE STUDY:
THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT THIS
JOB:
"The accounting and paperwork. When we
coordinate albums, we have to
track budgets, and even though it's as
important as the music, it's not the
most fun part."
THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS JOB:
"What I love most is working with all the
people that are involved in this
business; they're very interesting,
intelligent, artistic, and gifted people. It's
fun to be in the studio when their music is
going down. It's fun to have the
writers come in and play you great songs. Those
are fun experiences that
you get every day in this
business."
VOICES
OF
EXPERIENCE
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