Music As a Career
(c/o lovemusic.co.nz)
July 2007

A Brief  Overview
An  army of people work on an album.
Making music is both a creative and a collaborative process.   In this section, we look behind the scenes at the kinds of  specialist skills and practical experience needed to do some of the  many varied jobs that help musicians and artists attain their vision  and get it out to the world.

After reading below and deciding what inspires you, you can check out the  attached links and go for it!

* Music  and Audio Institute of New Zealand – Audio Engineering, Management and Contemporary Music courses
* SAE  Institute – Audio Engineering courses
* University  of Canterbury – Music and Entertainment / Copyright Law degrees
* CPIT – Business degrees
* NZ Music Managers Forum – A great starting place for up and  coming managers
* New Zealand Scholarships – Application for Music scholarships
* Creative New Zealand – Various funding for the creative industry, including music
* Smokefree Rockquest – Yearly music competition for school aged bands to  enter
* Play It Strange – Host of the Secondary Schools Song Writing  contest
* NZ on Air – new recording artists grants

Which part  of the Music Industry is for You?
There are two sides to the industry:   the creative side and the business side.   If you enjoy things like writing, performing and recording  music and you would like to be involved in some stage of the  creative process of recording music or making music videos then you  fall into the creative side. 

If you think you would enjoy working in retail, band management, tour booking, tour promotion, touring crew, venues, publishing or at a  record label dealing with music as a product, then the business side  is for you. Further, some of these jobs are easier to access at entry level, but can be used as a stepping stone to other jobs within the industry.

The Creative Side
Common jobs in the creative sector are:   songwriter, performing artist, recording artist, (musicians),  audio engineer, mastering engineer, producer and video producer.   A musician’s role is obvious but you may not have heard of  the rest.  These other  jobs potentially allow you to be as creative as the musician.

(a) Record Engineering
The engineer records the musician’s performances using microphones and  recording equipment.  This  is a job for creative people who love working and experimenting with  recording technology to help shape an artist’s sound. 

The Music and Audio Institute of New Zealand, SAE Institute and LUMA all offer a variety of certificates, diplomas and  degrees in audio engineering (The ((Chart)) Directory has a full list of music schools).  These  institutions are a great way for anyone to learn the art of  engineering music to help them migrate into the music industry.

Previous  qualifications, such as School Certificate and NCEA, are needed for  entrance into most of the linked courses. MAINZ and SAE have no  strict requirements but Universities through New Zealand follow this  convention described here.

(b) Producing
A producer creates and moulds the sound of an artist’s entire album during the entire recording process in the studio.   A producer is given creative right over the sound of the  album.  This is a job for  creative people who can interpret the music and then produce ideas  on how to improve and help shape an artist’s recorded music. 

The Music and Audio Institute of New Zealand offers a strong focus on producing in their Diploma  in Audio Engineering.  Of course producing can come naturally by being accustomed to a library  of music styles or from the experience of working alongside  producers as an audio engineer.

(c) Music Video Directing
A music video director is similar to a producer but they put a visual narrative to the music.  This  is a job for creative people who have a passion to express music  visually through video. 

The CPIT Broadcasting School offer diplomas and degrees in film making which would help shape your visual career in the music industry.

The Business Side
Common jobs in the business sector are: retail, artist management, booking tour promotion, PR and Record Company A & R, promotion, marketing and distribution.

(a) Retail
The retail sector covers all means and methods of selling music, both physical and digital.  Working  in a physical format record store is a great way to learn about the  music business.  Its also  the easiest way to get a foot in the door of the music industry.   All it requires is a love for music.

Regularly visit record stores’ websites and Newspaper Situations Vacant columns to check for available job opportunities: Sounds, JB Hifi, The CD & DVD Store, Real Groovy, Galaxy, Radar, Spin, Static, etc

(b) Artist  Management
Artist management entails dealing with musicians, booking agents, promoters, concert venues, record companies, music publishers, sponsors and the media – basically everybody else in the industry.   You are in some cases an invisible member of the band and are  in charge of continuing and elevating the success of the band/s you  manage.

Experience in artist management can perhaps best be gained by starting off managing a band of friends and developing from there.   Marketing, business and management studies can give you a  good grounding in general management but there is no real  prerequisite other than motivation and commitment.

For a very detailed summary including audio and video of what being artist manager is like click here. The NZ Music Managers Forum is another great place that you can use  to talk to other managers and learn the trade.

(c) Touring Crew
Putting on a live show or tour requires the input of many behind the scenes people – more often than not, there’s more people “backstage” than on it.  The roles  include Tour Manager, merchandise, door person (ticket sellers),  security, lighting operator, stage Tech (sometimes general,  sometimes particular instrument specialists), rigger and driver. 

Be aware – most of the backstage jobs involve being first up and last  to bed each day! 

Michael Coppel  – Concert Promoter
Frontier Touring  – Concert Promoter 
ChCh Promoters
Ticketek  – Booking Agent 
Ticketmaster  – Booking Agent 
NZ Music Managers Forum – A great starting place for up and coming managers

(d) Public Relations / Media
PR (Public Relations) is a job for an individual who loves to present music and musicians to all types of media. PR involves controlling the media coverage of an artist and  promoting and selling the artist, their music and their touring.

The main two skills a PR representative needs are outstanding communication and written language. For a very detailed summary including audio and video of what being a PR  / Promotion rep is like click here.

(e) Publishing
Music  publishers acquire the copyrights for songs and promote them for financial gain through licensing the rights to record companies, advertising agencies, film and TV producers and others. They often act as copyright administrators and implement  systems to oversee tracking, licensing and payment collection  efficiently. A good  publisher is experienced in all areas of the music business and has  a good understanding of industry players and dynamics, an ear for a tune and a knowledge of copyright laws. 

APRA | AMCOS
Mushroom  Music NZ Limited
Native Tongue Music Publishing
Level Two Music Placement

(f) Record  Companies
Lastly,  there’s the record companies – the labels that find the artists  and music, pay to record the music and then have responsibility of distributing, promoting and marketing the music.

Majors - SonyBMG, Universal, Warners, EMI
Independents  - ChCh Labels, Independent Music NZ
NZ Music Commission

A&R
A&R stands for "Artist & Repertoire". The title harks back  to the days when a record label's A&R person would find an  Artist, sign them to the label and "develop" them by  selecting the songs they would record and matching them with the  right producer, engineer, studio etc. These  days most artists write their own songs and there's a tendency to  sign artists that are already at a level where they have a  following. A&R reps now mostly concentrate on signing artists and recording with them. 

Promotion  & Publicity
The  publicity department arranges for feature stories, interviews, or album reviews in newspapers, magazines and websites as well as pushing for broadcast opportunities including coverage on radio  stations and television. 

Marketing
The marketing department creates, develops and implements the overall marketing plan for each of the record label's releases. They also coordinate the promotion, publicity and sales campaigns. 

Distribution
Record labels sell records into physical stores and to on line retailers. major labels handle their own distribution. Indie labels either distribute through major labels or through specialist distributors.

A large directory of NZ record labels, publishing companies and recording studios can be found on the RIANZ website.