I am very excited to chat with you guys today. and, just as a means of getting started, I’ll give you a, a, a super quick background, on, on me. I am, I, I’m based in New York. I am a real career A&R person, so I will speak to you guys today about a and r from a number of different perspectives, which I’ve actually  worked in and lived, you know, personally. So, I have, I have done a and r, the bulk of my career at Sony, working between Epic and Columbia Records in New York.
I kind of got my, my start as a real a and r person there. from there, I moved into a and r on the publishing side where I was at Warner in New York. For a few years, I’ve worked in Independence. on the publishing side, I’ve worked as a consultant on the public, on the A&R side. and, I am currently, I, I guess my background, in terms of artists I’ve worked with, I’ve worked with artists who write and, you know, record their own music with themselves, write their own songs with bands, solo artists, anyone from working with, very early on in my career, an artist named Sean Mullins and John Mayer, and a band called Train Band called Five for Fighting.
I have also worked, as a, on the publishing side with songwriters who write for other, for and with other artists. worked with a really wonderful, New York at the time based pop writer, Claude Kelly, who wrote hit songs for Miley Cyrus and for Jesse J and Olly Murs, and, Kelly Clarkson and number of, dozens of other big pop artists.
so I’ve got A&R experience on the, you know, sort of writing and publishing and collaborating side as well. So, currently I Â am doing, a and r run a and r for an independent label, an a label services company called 30 Tigers. I am still based in New York. I’ve always been based in New York. but my, my company is based in Nashville, and we are part of a big distribution company called The Orchard.
And I’m gonna talk a little bit about all of that later today. but I am, you know, sort of head of a and r. It’s a very small company. We do, we do things a little bit differently on the label indie label services side. and I, I will adjust that in a little bit. But, anyway, so  I, I will,  I guess I’ll just get started. I’m gonna share, a screen with you guys, now, and kind of just give you a little bit of a rundown of a and r on, on all sides of, you know, kind of the current music industry.
And obviously, the current music industry is in quite a different state, given where we are in terms of the world and the pandemic. So, you know, I’m gonna try to address a little bit of all of that actually, as we get started. So, so bear with me. I’m going to share a screen with you. Let’s  see.  And let’s see what you guys can see. Okay, here we go.
 What is A R?  So, I know that you guys, everyone’s coming from different vantage points, different levels of experience. and so I’m gonna try to just, address all ends of this as best as possible. The traditional definition of A&R is artists and repertoire. So in the most holistic sense, that means an a and r person’s role is to work with the artists and to, help them with their repertoire, their, their body of work, their catalogue of songs, whatever that looks like.
If, if it’s a band, it may look very different than an artist who records cover, you know, other people’s  lead days of a and r, which I’m gonna talk about, shortly, you know, looks a little different than what today’s,  what today’s a and r.
the, the traditional definition is still artists and repertoire. Â I, I sometimes call it analytics and research. I’ve heard it referred to as algorithms and research. and we’re gonna talk about that too, based on how the timing of the industry has, has changed, how things have evolved. but let’s, let’s start at the beginning, and I will work my way through all of it. what does a traditional a and r person do? Â In general, Â the role of an A&R person is very, very broad.
Everything from discovering the talent, be it the artist at a label, with a writer, at a publishing company, or a band in either case, Â to being able to close the deal. and, and on the business side, being an a and r person who can close a deal, it’s a very, very important, part of the process. It’s, it, it’s very, it’s generally very competitive. when you’re signing, you know, an artist that’s, that’s sort of active or, you know, kind of hot in the marketplace for whatever reason, being able to bring that deal to your company, is a really big part of the, the job you do as an a and r person.
So it’s, it’s less the creative, although there’s always a creative element to everything you do in business, in music. But, but that’s a, that’s a very important part of the process and, and not one that we’re gonna talk about today as much. But, but, but just giving you the really kind of global, overall perspective of an a and r persona. I really want you guys to understand, you know, kind of how broad the job can be.
assuming you have been successful as an a and r person, and you have closed a deal, your job then really becomes, with working with that artist to determine the repertoire, what that repertoire is.  Anything from the songs they’ve written that you work with them to determine how they best fit on an albhow does that album  sort of, you know, know, show their narrative and, and reveal who they are at, at every stage of their career.
and if they, if they’ve written all the songs and they’ve come to you with a finished record, that’s kind of, that’s one element, and that probably makes an a r person’s job a little bit easier. but in today’s world, it’s a little bit more, collaborative generally. And, and I’m gonna dig deep into all of this, but just to give you kind of my first overview of how I think a and r is presented. You know, when you work with an artist who needs some help on the e either finishing the songs, writing the songs, recording the songs, your job as an a and r person is to, come in with that artist at any particular vantage point that they are, wherever they are at, and help them, Â you know, get that record ready for market.
So it might be helping them find some additional songs to round out the album. Maybe they have a really cool idea for a cover, that they wanna do, or, or maybe they want an idea for a cover. maybe they don’t really have the songs quite right, so they need some collaborators to help them in any creative way possible, whether it’s with arrangements, whether it’s with songwriting, you know, or, or whether it’s just kind of helping them figure out what their style is.
in some cases, there are, there’s a need for musicians, you know, if an artist comes in with a fully realized artistic vision, but no band or no, no, no producer, no idea how they’re gonna record this music, no idea how to work in a recording studio.
The job of an A&R person can get pretty broad, in that regard. anything from, you know, finding and hiring musicians to, generally finding a producer, that’s a pretty common, that’s a pretty common  point of entry with an a and r person and an artist, to booking a recording studio, finding an engineer, which might come with the producer or might not, you know, and, and figuring out the entire holistic, creative process. So, so, so that’s,  that’s really, you know, on a, on a creative level as an a and r person, wherever your vantage point is.
And I’m gonna dig into a little bit of how it works more specifically in the kind of different companies, that exist today. but to really help curate and choose the best repertoire for the artist to accomplish the artist’s goals of making an outstanding record. so, you know, having, having an established and broad reaching network as an a and r person to serve the artist’s creative needs in any manner po in any manner they need.
and also in any manner that your job requires based on where you work. I’m gonna talk a little more about that too, so that, so that the artist can make an album. And here’s where it’s really, really important. as an A&R person, Â you wanna make an album that is artistically satisfactory, you know, to the artist that really helps, as I said, you know, express their narrative in a way that’s meaningful and important.
but you work for a company, so your job as an and r person is also to deliver a record that’s commercially satisfactory to wherever you’re working. So, as you guys can probably imagine, there’s sometimes disconnect in that. And, and so, finding a way to make sure that you serve the artist’s needs creatively, finding a way to make sure that the artist feels heard, and, and, and, you know, Â is, is really part of a team that’s working for them.
