Need Advice: Anyone in the music/entertainment biz??

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and if so, how'd you get your foot in the door? I live in the biggest city in the world-NY, have very little connections and just no luck whatsoever...I want to make a career move into music-entertainment but no one will give me the chance :scream:

Any advice on what to do and how to get started?? :crazy:



This sucks-
 
reply

Hi!

It depends upon what you're looking for. Nashville, Austin are good starters for music itself...............lot of places to play..............

carol
wizard2c
:|
 
HelloAngel said:
What do you want to do in the entertainment business? PR work? Journalism? Management? What?

PR, or a function within a record label... Do you have connections? :wink:
 
Somewhat, yes.

Basically, it comes down to a couple things. It's Who You Know, Your Work Experience and Your Moxie.

I would recommend checking the job postings at www.mtvncareers.com which hires for MTV, MTV2 and Comedy Central. You can also look around as there are several job posting boards for the entertainment music/biz. Quite often, getting involved with the online portion of a magazine is a way to build up your portfolio. Rolling Stone and SPIN both have online magazines you could work your way up in.

Also, you could go out for an internship. Many record labels, especially indie ones, do post jobs on the boards I've talked about. You could check out http://www.entertainmentcareers.net/ or even www.viacom.com/jobs_main.tin.

On a personal level, depending what you want to do, be prepared to be pushed to your absolute limit. You have to be ballsy, aggressive and able to think on your feet. You have to be a good schmoozer. You have to be willing to compromise yourself sometimes. If you deal directly with an artist/musician, be prepared to have your emotions stepped on. Be prepared to make a good night's sleep optional.

If all of this sounds good to you - go for it!
 
I am not sure what your level of experience in PR is, but it might help getting a job somewhere (an agency, a corporation) to show that you have PR experience.

Entertainment PR can be difficult to get into, but if you can show that you have experience doing PR, record labels, artists, etc. will look more favorably on you.
 
HelloAngel said:
Somewhat, yes.

Basically, it comes down to a couple things. It's Who You Know, Your Work Experience and Your Moxie.

I would recommend checking the job postings at www.mtvncareers.com which hires for MTV, MTV2 and Comedy Central. You can also look around as there are several job posting boards for the entertainment music/biz. Quite often, getting involved with the online portion of a magazine is a way to build up your portfolio. Rolling Stone and SPIN both have online magazines you could work your way up in.

Also, you could go out for an internship. Many record labels, especially indie ones, do post jobs on the boards I've talked about. You could check out http://www.entertainmentcareers.net/ or even www.viacom.com/jobs_main.tin.

On a personal level, depending what you want to do, be prepared to be pushed to your absolute limit. You have to be ballsy, aggressive and able to think on your feet. You have to be a good schmoozer. You have to be willing to compromise yourself sometimes. If you deal directly with an artist/musician, be prepared to have your emotions stepped on. Be prepared to make a good night's sleep optional.

If all of this sounds good to you - go for it!


I've checked out all those sites, thanks! I am ballsy and aggressive! What connections do you have as I know you will be moving to the area shortly :D
The problem is all my work experience is in sales in the real estate industry-
 
I'm not at liberty to share my connections, but I can certainly talk with you in NYC when I get there. :)
 
If you want to do PR another good resource to check into, especially for internships, are management companies (both personal and business). I had interned with one in LA many moons ago as I was not 100% sure which direction I wanted to go in the industry and it was a great place to learn that part of it. My job was to call radio stations, especially college ones who reported their charts, to convince them to play our clients who were either baby bands or still trying to get signed. It was the perfect place to really see how the PR machine works.

Another source to check for internships, which is really how you get your toe, not your foot in the door but you gotta start somewhere, is Radio and Records http://www.radioandrecords.com/ , CMJ http://www.cmj.com/ ; Billboard http://www.billboard.com/bb/index.jsp and if anything these are also great resources to see what type of PR is being done and how its being done. The best thing for you to do is read everything and anything you can and then come up with your own ideas on how you would do it different. Attend any sort of music conferences you can find like SXSW, CMJ has a really great conference there in NY. These are perfect places to network. Always remember when networking with these people is to be very respectful but forceful and be well informed (do your homework). Don't come off as being a fan, etc. (I've seen this a million times does not work). Anyone can pretty much BS their way into something but then you need to be able to back it up with your brilliance. Its a tough ass business and if you do it right you will be successful but do it wrong and it will chew you up and spit you out so fast...its brutal.

Here's another good resource site Artist Pro http://www.artistpro.com/ . I've used their Artist Resource Books for years. It has all the listings of majors, minors, and indie labels, management, magazines, etc. Also pick up the Daily Variety and Hollywood Reporter and look in their employment sections.
 
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HelloAngel said:
I'm not at liberty to share my connections, but I can certainly talk with you in NYC when I get there. :)


:hug:


I do look forward to meeting you around show time!
 
I do PR and have worked in the music industry off and on for six years. Everything that was previously posted above is great advice.

Internships are a fantastic way of getting your foot in the door and meeting people. Once you are in the industry, the most important thing to do is NETWORK NETWORK NETWORK. The music industry is fluid--people come and go, moving in and out of different companies, often starting their own. The more people that know *you* not how many you know, the more chances you will have of working in different facets of the business.

Good luck my friend!
Also check out Showbiz Jobs it's a great resource.
 
Thank you guys soooo much for the tips. I've been pondering returning to school to finish my degree and switch over to communications. Unfortunately, that's the only way to gain internship experience.
 
reply

Hi!

You may want to check for conferences, seminars, i.e.....South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Festival which is this week in Austin......it's where music, film people get together to make connections, listen to conferences with industry people.....this year in fact they have 1350 total acts with 294 international bands slated to play, 1 even coming from Iran.

Also I would check with the major record labels themselves to see if they have intern type positions......Nashville is a good place to start and it's not all just country music but all types.

Hope the info helps.

carol
wizard2c
:|
 
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