Roles In The Industry

There are 4 main areas in the music industry, these are: live performance, record companies, music publishing companies, and artist management. I shall go into detail.

Live performance:

Live performance is a very important aspect to the music industry. Live performance is the act of performing music live with many people working within backline technical management, and live sound engineering to do the job. There are also booking agents, artists, venue operators and bookers, etc. All of these people work together to complete the event, advertise and promote the event, sell tickets, set-up, and ensure the event goes well. Live sound is the bringing together of many jobs to achieve the result of artists performing their music live to an audience.

To comment critically, live performance is very important to the music industry because recently, it is becoming the sales for musicians. Ever since the digital era, music sales have gone down drastically due to accessibility and ability to illegally download music, as well as music becoming cheaper. The downfalls within vinyl and CD has meant that artists earn a lot less from music sales alone then they would have done before digital advance. This downfall in money means that artists have to go about other ways to earn income, this is usually though merchandise and live performance through ticket prices and merchandise on the day. However, this also means that artists have to tour more often which can be an unpleasant experience for artists fatiguing them and taking time away from their personal live. Although, sticking to live performance, this has been a good thing more the music industry in the way that artists are able to be more interactive with their fans, and it makes revenue that music sales do not.

Record Companies:

Record companies are companies that support artists by giving them the opportunity and facilities to record their music. Record companies make deals with artists they see a profit in, this deal usually ensures that the record company take a large portion of the artist’s earnings. Record companies also ensure that the artist has promotion, how much promotion depends on how much money the record company wants to spend on the artist. To form a record company, there is a chief executive officer (CEO) who is in charge of the entire company’s business. Underneath the CEO there are presidents for each affiliated label, under that label are individual record labels.

To comment critically, record companies are very important to the music industry as they offer many artists the opportunity and equipment to become popular and earn more revenue than they would have self-employed. This is down to the amount of promotion the record company gives artists. When you look at music, often people are drawn to or get recommended music that are recording by big record companies, this is again because of the promotion, popularity, and consistency of the record label. However, one could argue that record labels are selfish, as they look for artists which would make them the most money, and they take a large portion of the artists income and have been known to put artists in debt. My belief is that you have to be smart with record companies, read contracts carefully and never agree to terms you do not understand or agree with. If you negotiate with a label, you have the ability to get the promotion, at a fair price.

Music Publishing Companies:

Music publishing companies own and administer copyrights. They also safeguard music publishers that are signed to them as well as promoting. They also hold the value of music and importance of copyright very close. They aim to make sure the public understand copyright and provide information. Examples of music publishing companies are PRS, MCPS, etc.

To comment critically: music publishing companies are extremely important as they allow artists to copyright their music and feel safe knowing that if anybody is to use their music they will be paid for the use. These companies ensure that the artists get their rightful money for the use of their material. If this did not exist, people would be able to stream, use, and listen to an artist’s music wherever they would like, without the artist being paid. This make the artists hard work useless, as they would not be getting fairly paid. The music would basically be corrupt without these companies.

Artist management:

An artist’s manager has a lot of roles within an artist’s career. They have to have extensive knowledge about the industry and perhaps business, after all, the music industry is a business. As the artist’s manager, they have to make sure jobs for the artist run smoothly, such as interviews, gigs, appearances. They are also responsible for the artist career being successful.

To comment critically: an artist’s manager is very important to a popular artist, as the artist themselves won’t be able to deal with all of their career without help. This is an important aspect for the music industry as it allows opportunities for the artists and shares the responsibility of the artist’s career. However, in previous times managers would take 50% of the artists earning, which was ridiculous and almost made them not worth it. However, today that figure has shrunken quite a bit. One could argue that managers are personal choice, you don’t really need them, you could do it yourself. This is true; however, a manager may know a lot more about the music industry and business than the artist and will have many connections to different opportunities the artist can take up, perhaps increasing the success of the artist’s career.

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Within a studio you mostly find an audio engineer, and audio technician. After the studio you might need a mixer and a masterer.

To explain these jobs; audio engineer takes charge when it comes to using the mixing desk to record the band, trying the capture their best performance, giving pointers and advice to the band, and setting up the studio to favour their recordings in the best way they can.

An audio technician will deal with any immediate technical issues whilst recording and also help setting up and packing down a studio.

A producer is usually your communication between you and the band about what they want to record, how they want it recorded and if they have any preferences. Producers do a lot more for the band than they do in a studio.

Once you have recorded a song, it'll go off to a mixer who will mix the song according to their taste by altering the faders, treating the tracks, adding plugins, automating, etc.

After the track has been mixed the masterer will then use mastering methods mentioned in another blog to finalise the song and make sure every song on the album sound as if they belong together in terms of amplitude.

To further go into detail, I would like to find out more about the job of a audio engineer, a specific job I found:

Job description: “Do you live and breathe audio processing? We’re looking for a DSP Audio Engineer to help perfect audio processors with the aim of helping customers around the world define their own unique sonic signature. The DSP Audio Engineer will need a passion for audio and a keen eye for taking the lead in ideas and concepts and become an in-house expert.” CV library

For this job, you would be recording artists, working with mixing desks and music software, as well as setting up studios. You need an in-depth knowledge of audio engineering

Salary range: £40,000 - £50,000 per annum

Other roles you would be working with: you would be working with producers to capture a personal sound within the music, mixing and mastering engineers to perfect the music after recording, as well as receiving ideas from, and audio technicians who will fix your equipment and tend to equipment within the studio.

Working hours: Flexible, it will depend on the job, long work days, average working day being 10 hours.

Possible routes into that job: when entering an audio engineering job, you need to have a lot of experience within the field of technology and music. You usually need a degree within a related area, as well as having previous experience. Many audio engineers start off as audio technicians helping in the studio, gain knowledge and skill, then become an assistant audio engineer, then progressing onto an audio engineer.

Progression routes from that job: This job is very specific and most people who work within this job love their job. However, to progress further, you could become a producer, as you will have an in-depth knowledge of the studio and know how to convey what the artist wants exactly for their music. You also might be interested in working for a record label to increase your salary, and you could eventually work your way up further within a record label, perhaps managing.

Location of work: Purley Way, Greater London.

Comment critically: an audio engineer has an extremely vital part to play within the music industry. They have a working knowledge of mixing desks and music technology. Artists come to audio engineers to record their music so they can distribute it to the public. Many artists do not have the skill of knowledge to capture audio the way an audio engineer can, which makes them very vital to the music industry. However, with equipment becoming much cheaper in recent years, many artists take it upon themselves to record their own music, thus, making audio engineers less of a demand. However, I think than an audio engineer’s knowledge is completely necessary to achieve a great sounding album/track.