ARTISTS AND REPERTOIRE
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Artists and Repertoire Process
Behind every successful artist, there is a group of individuals that work day and night to ensure that the artistic career keeps getting better. The record label and the management all work together to ensure that each party is benefiting. The Artists and Repertoire play the role of ensuring that all the parties involved in ensuring the prosperity of the artist remain happy .A&R is a division of a music publishing company, and it plays the role of scouting for talent and ensuring that there is an artistic development of the recording artist. Due to changes in the have taken place in the music industry, A& R has changed how it traditionally functioned. The paper will critically analyze the A&R process and the impact of the changes in the Music industry on A&R.
A&R is a record label division that plays the role of scouting various talent in the music industry, including singers, bands, instrumentalists, and songwriters. Traditionally A&Rs worked with publishing companies and record labels, and their role was to search for new talents that they believed had the potential of becoming the next big star (Berk, J.2017.99). They would plug into various channels or even go to the clubs and concerts to search for an individual or a band with the potential to be a star. They were regarded as the middlemen between the artist and various labels since they signed an artistic to a publishing company and gave an assurance to the company that the selected artist was the correct person to stake on.
Different individuals in A& R play various roles to ensure that the chosen artistic has what it takes to be the next star. At the first level is the A&R scout, who plays the role of finding and signing new artists and oversees all the activities of recording the artists’artists’ works (Laube, J.,2017). They have to keep and follow new trends so as to ensure the artist they select becomes relevant in the music industry Berk. They keep themselves informed by listening to trending music and watching videos of trending performance. The second level is the A& R manager, who plays the role of selecting acts that they feel will be successful, and they make them work with successful producers. The manager uses the track record as the basis for selecting the people the artist should work with. The managers ensure that the selected artist grows by nurturing them and keeps them prepared. In A7 R, individuals at various levels ensure that the selected artists have the potential to be successful, and they are receiving the best for them to raise and become the nest star.
At the third level is the A& R director, who plays the role of overseeing all the activities of going on in this department. As the Scout seeks for talent, the director has the power of signing in the new music talent (Ward, B. 2018). At the highest level is the Music director, who is also the head of the company. The MD has the final word on all the decisions that the individual at various levels undertake. Nothing significant can take place in the organization without his or her approval. The Success of the label depends highly on the kind of artist they manage to find (Berk, J.2017.99). The scouts, after finding an artist that they feel has the potential to grow they report to the director. The director has the power to reject or to sign the selected artist depending on their talent. The managers play the role of ensuring that they pair the selected artist with the right producers. The director monitors all the activities that go on and keep control of the label budget.
Responsibilities of A&R
A&R has three major responsibility in ensuring the selected artist grow to be the next star. First is the responsibility to discover new talents that have the potential to raise. An A&R has the role of taking the interest of an artist that is poised to deliver (Tonkovic, A.2019). They ensure that the artist, whether a rapper delivers content that will be embraced in the music industries. The second role is to oversee the recording process. After an artist has been selected, the A&R has the role of ensuring that the recording process is Success. They even provide songwriters and producers to ensure that the recording yields the expected results. An A&R that represents a label has the role of selecting a song that he feels will be a hit song and he also handles the booking of studio sessions and all the payments
The other responsibility is to aid in the marketing and promotion of the artist. It is not enough that the selected artists have the best songwriters and producers. They have to be exposed to the public, and this is done through marketing and promotion (Laube, J.2017). The A&R, after ensuring that the recording is a success, they help the artist in coming up with effective branding and promotion strategies that attract the targeted audience. They ensure the artist receives a voice training, and decide on the marketing material that will suit the targeted demographic.
Changes in the music industry
Due to digitalization in the last couple of decades, a lot of changes have been experienced in the music industry. Changes have been caused by digital metamorphosis, which entails the central communication technology all over the world (Storstadmo, S.2017). In the music industry, the music that took place entailed going from physical to digital production and distribution of media content. The rise in the development of communication technology, such as the use of the internet and the use of mobile phones, changed how the media content was distributed . Despite the changes that have taken place in the music industry, the A& R is still relevant.
The digital era has led to a change in how the music industry operates, and this has affected the role of A&R. Through the use of the internet, an artist is able to reach the target audience. They have platforms to post their music, such as music blogs, streaming online platforms, and digital distribution services (Ward, B. 2018). Unlike in the past, where an artist relied on a label to grow, today, An artist can reach the required audience through the use of an online platform. Instead of the A& R going to concerts and clubs to find an artist with the potential to grow, they use an online platform to weigh their potential.
The other change is how the A&R scout for promising new artists. In the past, the A&R would listen to the artist song as the basis of weighing their potential (Mulligan, M.2015). Today data metrics and analysis are also used as the basis for measuring the artist’s performance. An artist that is selected has to have a large following of people and streaming numbers. An artist that has a large following is given priority because in the music industry today, everything has been digitalized. An artist has to have a large following for then to be nurtured to become the next star. The other change is in how the content is distributed. Before the digital paradigm shift, music was distributed in the form of CD, which has become irrelevant today. Digitalization has, however, led to the use of social media as the major platform for selling music content.
The other change is the business model that was used by A&R to increases artist popularity. In the analog era, the A&R ensured that the artist held a concert as a means of selling their products to the audience (Giordani, P.2018). The funding for distribution was also done through the selling of the music content in the form of a CD. In the digital era, the A&R ensures that the selected artist has a bigger following than when they choose him. The business model has changed to make sure that the artist has a bigger following on social media as a marketing strategy (Berk, J.2017.99). The other change is that outside people have an influence on the growth of an artist. Unlike in the past, where the labels and publishers controlled the production and marketing of music, social media has given the outside people the power to control all this factor. The A&R have, therefore changed their strategies to ensure that the selected artist has a large influence on social media.
One of the positive impacts on the A&R role is that it has increased its popularity. Artists today post their work on social media, and therefore since this is a platform that anyone can post anything, the label is unable to select the best artist (Giordani, P.2018). The A&R expertise is therefore required in this area since an artist may have a good number of followers but does not have the potential of growing. Labels are, therefore, embracing the work done by A&R more to help them save time and resources by helping them select an artist that fits the needed criteria. The other positive impact is that the work done by A&R of scouting new artists has been made easy (Berk, J.2017.99). Before digitalization, the A&R had to go to concerts, gigs, and clubs in search of the best artist. Today the A&R uses the internet to look for an artist with the potential of growing. The other benefit is that it has become easier for the A&R to select an artist that has to potential to grow. Through the use of social media, one can easily tell how the audience is going to receive a piece of artist music. The A&R use the number of followers to determine the kind of influence an artist has, and this has led to most of the artist selected today succeeding.
The negative impact of the changes is that it has led to most of A&R losing their jobs. In the past, the A&R scout was large in number because they went to different places to source for the best artist (Nordgård, D.2018). Today digitalization has made their work simpler, and one only requires watching the content posted by an artist to determine their potential. Despite their role becoming significant, the number of A&R staff has continued to decreases. The other negative impact is that today anyone can grow without relying so much on being signed by labels. Social media has provided a platform where anyone can get a large following and earn through this without the aid of A&R. The artist can now promote themselves and launch their content through the use of social media without relying on A&R. Despite the negative impact, the A&R role in the music industry is still very relevant.
In conclusion, A&R plays an important role in the music industry of scouting for an artist with the potential of becoming the next star. They have, however, been affected by the changes that have occurred in the music industry due to digitalization (Berk, J.2017.99). They played three major roles, which entailed scouting for the artist that meets the needed criteria, overseeing the recording process and marketing, and promoting the selected artist. They played a significant role as the liaison between the artist and the label. However, their role in the music industry has been greatly impacted due to changes in the last two decades. Due to digitalization, the artist has gotten a platform to promote their content and launch their work. It has therefore led to the scouting process to be done on the online platform, unlike in the analog era where the A&R scouts would go to concerts and clubs to source and sign the best artist. Despite the changes, the important role played by A&R has not being affected. They have become more relevant in the music industry since the label depends on them to select artists from social media who meet the required criteria. Therefore A&R role has been positively impacted by the changes that have taken place in the music industry since they have become more relevant.
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References
Berk, J., 2017. Talent Representation and Promotion in Today’sToday’s Music Industry. Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications, 8(1), pp.96-104.
Giordani, P., and Strologo, F.R.D., 2018. The shift of Value in the Music Industry: Analysis of the Effects of Digitalization of Music and Streaming Services.
Laube, J.M., 2017. Understanding artist development: How do producers support the development of artists through the production process? (Doctoral dissertation, Queensland University of Technology).
Mulligan, M., 2015. Awakening: The music industry in the digital age. Midian Research.
Storstadmo, S.D., 2017. In which ways has the digitalization changed the A&R profession: A&R in today’s digital industry: A valuable resource (Master’sMaster’s thesis, Universiteit i adder; University of Ander).
Tonkovic, A., 2019. Music Industry’sIndustry’s digitalization: how to assure artists’artists’ Intellectual Property Rights efficient and sustainable protection?.
Nordgård, D., 2018. The music business and digital impacts: Innovations and disruptions in the music industries. Springer.
Ward, B., and Huber, P., 2018. A&R Pioneers: Architects of American Roots Music on Record. Vanderbilt University Press.