What does an A&R guy do?

  • Thread starter Thread starter chessrock
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C

chessrock

Banned
Sorry for such a dumbass question.

What the heck does the A&R person do?

What is their job description, and how much do they differ?

What does A&R stand for?

Thanks!
 
Artist & Repertoire....

They're generally responsible for finding bands of potential interest to labels....
 
Are they freelance, do they work for a dedicated A&R Agency/entity, or do they work directly for the label?

My guess is some combination of all three. Am I right?

Thanks for the info, BB.
 
There may be exceptions, but any I know of are label empoyees.

The attrition rate is extremely high in that line of work..............they reckon you can get away with a bad signing once, but do it a second time and not only are you looking for a new job, but also a new career, as once word spreads (as it does), you are not going to be considered a good judge of potential money earning signings.

:cool:
 
I always thought I would be good at that job but now days I am sure I wouldn't.
 
There are other reasons why this is a high turnover position.

First, they need someone who is in touch with what teenagers and twenty-somethings will buy. If you are not in that age group yourself the executives will not believe that you can be that in touch.

Second, one of your main tasks is to convince these cynical anti-establishment young musicians that these record company executives, despite all reports to the contrary, are not minions of satan out to buttrape them. For that purpose someone who is young and hip and a musician like them is needed.
 
so do these guys go to small concerts looking for talent??

or do they hold competitions??

or do you have to find them??

anyone here been one? or is one?

y
 
You pretty much have to go to them.......just like everyone else in the music business. I'm afraid the days of "discovering" virgin talent is long gone.


bd
 
They're the ones that listen to ya' demo as well when u send it off, aren't they?
 
Most likely.....then again, it's usually one of those...... you gotta know somebody who's brother is next door neighbors with the dude's mother-in-law kind of thing.
Then you gotta be a boy band, or some stupid shit like that.


bd
 
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