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PREREQUISITES
To succeed, you must have people skills and a
thirst for knowledge. You need to
combine creativity with an understanding of new
technology, the Internet, and
marketing.
A DAY IN THE LIFE
On one particular day, Hackney arrived early to
begin work on three different
marketing plans--one for Busta Rhymes, one for
Phish, and another for Ween--
deciding whether to have a music download or a
contest promotion. She attended a
brainstorming meeting with other marketing
executives to solidify plans for a big
Busta Rhymes Internet event, then had a meeting
outside the office with an Internet
company about a Phish cybercast promotion. In
the afternoon, she took conference
calls regarding new technology, interviewed
candidates for an opening in her depart-
ment, met with the A&R staff about music
for the web site, and dealt with a problem
with the company that hosts the web site. That
evening, she attended a Tracy
Chapman concert and met with her afterward to
talk about her upcoming AOL chat.
POINTERS FOR THE JOB SEARCH
"Get to know what the music business is all
about--that is fundamental. Ask
people at all different levels what they do and
how they do it. Read about the music
business. Do your homework on the Internet,
whether it's looking at various music-
based sites or reading
Wired or Silicon Valley or Interactive Age, any
of those jour-
nals. Read up on what's going on
technology-wise in the music business. Anyone who
comes in with a strong knowledge of the music
business--how it's traditionally
run--and is on top of technology and how it can
change the way the business runs,
has a pretty powerful information base to walk
into any job interview with. You have
to pay your dues, though. Most people start as
interns."
"There are a lot of people in the music
business prepared to do whatever
they need to do to get in. Whenever I interview
somebody, I like to see
that kind of passion. You don't have to have
gone to business school.
What a lot of people like to see is that you
love the music business and
everything about it. That will take you
far."
"There are new outlets, new .com sites, popping
up every day. You really
have to, not only keep on top of those, but
know how to use those tools to
create a new and different marketing plan for
artists."
CAREER
TIPS
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