Artists and Repertoire in the Music Industry - Essay Example

?Running head: ARTISTS AND REPERTOIRE (A+R) IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY Artists and Repertoire (A+R) in the Music Industry Insert Insert Insert Instructor’s Name 17 May 2011 Artists and Repertoire (A+R) in the Music Industry A record label is a company that mainly produces and markets music for the artist signed with their label. The labels can be smaller or big, but currently, there are four major labels in the world: Universal, EMI, Sony/BMG, and Warner Music Group. Underneath each of these parent companies are many labels that are distributed by these companies’ proprietary distribution arms with all the majors competing for the greatest market share (Howard. 2006). The A&R is the department of a record label that undertakes talent scouting and manages the artistic development of recording artists. In essence, it acts as the link between the artists and the record label. Therefore, the A&R department plays a major role in discovering new recording artists and recruiting them to the company, through understanding of the current market preferences and tastes, and selecting the artists who will be commercially successful. For A+R staff to carryout the task of recruiting commercially viable new artists, they should first understand the specific ways in which musical production is shaped by a particular genre of cultures and the broader historical and social context within which the production takes place (Negus, 1999, P.13). Generally, in the music industry, the A&R staffs are seen as mediators or intermediaries. According to Negus, Music industry personnel act as mediators, continually connecting artists and audiences; the music business staff works as intermediaries, not only during the most obvious marketing and during promotion activities, but also when introducing the idea of an imagined audience into the writing, producing and recording of songs in the studio, stressing that they are engaged in presentation and representation providing symbolic goods and services (Negus, 1999, P.18). More so, apart from singing bands to record labels, the A&R staff is mostly obsessed with music and is in touch with particular music scenes, is very influential, and is widely viewed as important ingredient to a successful record label (Carter, Clegg, Kornberger, & Schweitzer, 2011, P.389). The A&R staffs are the key for the established corporate label in creating music scenes (informal assemblages) which become imbedded in the music industry mostly for promotional purposes (Bennett & Peterson, 2004, P.4). The roles of A&R staff vary depending on the designation, ranging from artist manager, music lawyer, music accountant, booking agent, music merchandiser, promoter, venue booker; and other titles depending on the label. Mostly, the A&R staffs are recruited based on their skills rather than on formal qualifications, with experience and backgrounds such as artist management, production, and DJing being an added advantage (Hannan, 2003, P.158). Another major duty of A&R staff is to help the artist locate the suitable producer, prepare recording schedule in the recording studio and offer advice to the artist on the best ways to improve the quality of their recording. They are therefore involved in helping an artist choose the best songs to record, and are very vital in finding songs and songwriters. Additionally, most of A&R staffs are expected to be talented in arts and music in order to accomplish varied roles involved in this field. For example, take the famous artist, composer, producer, and music reviewer, Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno, who began exploiting his career early in life through composing music, performance reviews, reviews of published music, and was an advocate of the avant-garde music (Adorno, Leppert, & Gillespie, 2002, P.14). Lastly, the A&R will involve liaising with other department such marketing in assisting the artist to market the released record. To sum the work of A&R staff the appreciation of the artist’s work must be spread from the record company to radio programmer, and finally and most important to the ‘folks out there’ the consumers (Denisoff, 1975, P.44). This essay will discuss the life and the impact of Gerald ‘Jerry’ Wexler as an A&R person in the music industry. Jerry Wexler Background Gerald ‘Jerry’ Wexler was born on January 10, 1917 in the Bronx, New York City, to a Jewish family and he grew up during the Depression in the upper Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights (Kahn, 2007). He completed his high school education from George Washington High School in Washington Heights at age 15, dropped out after two semesters at City College of New York and later in 1935, he enrolled at Kansas State University and dropped out several times (Telegraph, 2008). His early youth was marked by truancy and poolrooms but in mid 1930s. He became interested in the new music called Jazz, becoming part of a loosely knit group of record collectors and streetwise intellectuals and praising trumpeter Henry ‘Red’ Allen and quoting Spinoza, with many members of this group later becoming players in the music industry. These included John Hammond and George Avakian at Columbia Records, Milt Gabler and Bob Thiele at Decca, Alfred Lion and Frank Wolff at Blue Note, and Wexler's future partners at Atlantic, Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun (Kahn, A., 2007). With the Second World War beginning he joined the army in 1941; from the army he become more disciplined and after discharge he went back to Kansas where he completed his studies graduating with a degree in Journalism and then found a job as a cub reporter at Billboard magazine (Halberstadt, 2000). This provided Jerry with opportunity to develop his talent and eventually to be recognized. Career After finding a job with the Billboard and relocating with his wife to New York. In 1949, while writing for Billboard, he introduced the term ‘Rhythm and Blues’ as a replacement for the term ‘Race Music’ in referring to black music in the charts. Through his work at Billboard, Wexler met Ahmet Ertegun, who requested him join Atlantic as a producer. In 1953, Wexler was made a Vice President of Atlantic, and in the deal, he was allowed to buy 13% of the company for $2063.25 (Edwards, & Callahan, 2000). There immediately followed classic recordings with Ray Charles, the Drifters and Ruth Brown; with the these success together with Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun they transformed Atlantic Records into a major force in the music industry and in 1967 he was named Record Executive of the year for turning Aretha Franklin’s career around (Halberstadt, 2000). Through the success witnessed in 1950s, “in the '60s as the age of R&B gave way to the rock and soul era, Wexler and Ertegun steered Atlantic into a lead position among labels, releasing music by Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin, Cream and Led Zeppelin, Solomon Burke and Wilson Pickett, Duane Allman, and Willie Nelson; in the late 1970s, Wexler departed Atlantic and went freelance, producing soundtracks for films by Louis Malle and Richard Pryor, and recording albums with Bob Dylan, Dire Straits, and Etta James and others (Kahn, 2007). After decades long career in the music industry, Wexler retired in the 1990s continuing to live a calm life of retirement until August 15, 2008 when he died at his home in Sarasota, Florida due congestive heart failure (Weber, 2008). Wexler role in the area of talent discovery, assessment, development, and the basis of his success First, as a producer he developed a very creative style to enable the process of recording to improve the skills and the reach of the performer. In this role, he would suggest tunes for the singer, plan arrangements, and supervise the whole process to enhance what the artist could do. The aim was touch the artist’s talent, bring out inner possibilities, rather than imposing pre-set ideas or merely reproducing what the singer was already doing; all this was done to produce music of highest possible quality (Billig, 2001, P .72). Through this style, Wexler was able to blend the components of African American past with the artist’s contribution bring a rhythm that kept the music moving. Secondly, He played the role of turning artist careers around especially those who had been in the industry without much success. This was evident in many artists he worked with especially Aretha Franklin’s career who was very talented but her career did not hit until she worked under Jerry. Aretha was signed earlier by Columbia Records but did not do well under their label; six years later, Aretha recording for Atlantic under Jerry, her career took off ; Jerry selected and arranged the tunes, hired musicians, and produced all of Aretha’s singles; these enabled Aretha to nine straight Top Ten hits in one and half years (Stud well, & Lonergan, 1999). Additionally, he was all rounder in the running of Atlantic Records especially when his partner Ahmet, showed predilection for the more bohemian aspects of making records, Wexler took the daily operations of the company; he hired musicians, produced sessions, promoted records with distributors and disc jockeys, balanced the books and occasionary even composed ad hoc songs (Halberstadt, 2000). Lastly, he was a very talented scout who discovered some of the legendry artist and brought them to the stardom. These artists included Solomon Burke, musicians from Muscle Shoals and many others. How Wexler reconciled the desire to discover great music with the commercial constraints of working within a music “industry” In his desire to promote the new music, which was not receiving sufficient airplays, Wexler pleaded, cajoled, bullied and even paid to get airplay for the latest Atlantic singles (Kahn, 2007). Additionally, he increased the Atlantic fortune by entering into innovative contracts with songwriters, producers, labels, and studios; he was very progressive in hassling distributors for payment, battling other labels for market share, at times getting what was needed by sheer force of personality (Kahn, 2007). Lastly, he was very instrumental launching subsidiary labels under the Atlantic umbrella (Rolling Stone Records, Led Zeppelin's Swan Song and Capricorn Records, home to the Allman Brothers, were three hugely profitable imprints made possible by his innovation) and bring of legendry artists such as Dusty Springfield to record with the Atlantic records (Kahn, 2007). Reference list Adorno, T.W., Leppert, R., & Gillespie, S.H., 2002. Essays on music: Theodor W. Adorno; selected, with introduction, commentary, and notes by Richard Leppert; new translations by Susan H. Gillespie. CA: University of California Press. Bennett, A., & Peterson, R.A., 2004. Music scenes: local, translocal and virtual. NY: Vanderbilt University Press. Billig, M., 2001. Rock 'n' roll Jews. NY. Syracuse University Press. Carter, C., Clegg, S., Kornberger, M., and Schweitzer, J., 2011. Strategy: Theory and Practice. London: SAGE Publications Ltd. Denisoff, R.S., 1975. Solid gold: the popular record industry. NY: Transaction Publishers. Edwards, D., & Callahan, M., 2000. The Atlantic Records Story. (Online). Available from: http://www.bsnpubs.com/atlantic/atlanticstory.html (Accessed May 16, 2011). Halberstadt, A., 2000. Jerry Wexler: The great Atlantic Records producer gave us rhythm and blues -- as well as just about every R&B legend -- and retooled the very foundations of music producing. (Online). Available from: http://www.salon.com/people/bc/2000/09/05/wexler (Accessed May 16, 2011) Hannan, M., 2003. Australian Guide to Careers in Music. Sydney: UNSW Press. Howard, G., 2006. What Is a Record Label? (Online) Available from: http://www.artistshousemusic.org/articles/what+is+a+record+label (Accessed May 16, 2011). Kahn, A., 2007. Jerry Wexler: The Man Who Invented Rhythm & Blues. (Online). Available from: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/jerry-wexler-the-man-who-invented-rhythm-blues-20080815 (Accessed May 16, 2011). Negus, K., 1999. Music Genres and Corporate Cultures. London: Routledge. Stud well, W.E., & Lonergan, D.F., 1999. The classic rock and roll reader: rock music from its beginnings to the mid-1970s. London: Routledge. Telegraph, 2008. Jerry Wexler: Record producer with a gift for spotting raw talent whose artists included Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles. (Online). Available from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/2566281/Jerry-Wexler.html (Accessed May 16, 2011). Weber, B., 2008. Jerry Wexler, record producer, dies. (Online). Available from: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/16/world/americas/16iht-16obit.15349789.html?pagewanted=1 (Accessed May 16, 2011). Read More