- Falouji, Rayan. “Words Into Action | Rayan Falouji |TEDxNYU.” TEDxNYU, TED, 3 Nov. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHFfFz6kT_U . Accessed 28 Mar. 2022.
Rayan Falouji is a manager of the artist redveil and a student at NYU. He delivered this TED Talk to share his experiences managing an artist during a pandemic, sharing his experiences and insight to those following a similar path to him. In this video, Rayan details the success he has had with redveil, landing him coverage in major blogs while having a string of successful releases. He explains how he got his start, going from sneaking into festivals to being able to have redveil perform at them. He displays the countless hours he’s put into supporting redveil and what that consists of. Both of them being at such a young age is an important note he touched on, quite literally having to learn as they go and picking up management tools along the way. This is a video I have watched in the past and Rayan is someone I look up to in terms of what I want to achieve. Being able to hear his story and see how far he’s come is something inspiring, while his advice is guiding.
2. Kim, Michelle. “Artistic Integrity, Creative Freedom, and the Rise of Dirty Hit.” Pigeons & Planes, Complex, 13 Dec. 2019. www.complex.com/pigeons-and-planes/2019/12/dirty-hit-the-1975-matty-healy-interview . Accessed 28 Mar. 2022.
Dirty Hit is an independent record label that has made a name for itself through their commitment to artistic integrity. Its founder, Jamie Oborne, delivered this interview with Pigeons & Planes, one of the premier music blogs. Oborne details his journey from managing The 1975 to creating Dirty Hit. What initially began as a creative venture for The 1975 quickly became a haven for some of the most creative artists of our time. Oborne explains the current state of the music industry, showing how Dirty Hit is such a unique venture that nobody is recreating, yet is a path that many aspire to follow. Through their label, artists get complete creative control over their work, with the label acting as a stepping stone for promotion and distribution, as opposed to a money grabbing machine like most major labels. While this is something that is well out of reach, Dirty Hit is one the labels you want to be if you are an artist. It gives me motivation to work hard so Illusion Hills can one day have tha opportunity to be signed by them, or another label. However, Dirty Hit is the place to be.
3. Avgerinos, Perry. “The Scope: How The FADER Remains an Elite Music Brand After Two Decades.” Sheesh Media, 29 July 2021, www.sheeshmedia.com/articles/how-the-fader-remains-an-elite-music-brand-after-two-decades . Accessed 28 Mar. 2022.
Perry Avgerinos, co-founder of Sheesh Media, interviewed Jon Cohen, the co-founder of one of the most prestigious and prominent music publications, The FADER. Jon spoke on his early start in the music industry as part of an advertising and marketing company. The further that this developed, he realized that there was a lot of potential to tap into and co-founded The FADER. Since, he has seen the music industry undergo many changes and revolutions, all the while having to keep The FADER as a notable name in the business. From today’s TikTok era to the blog era, music always adjusts to keep up with the times, and publications such as The FADER have to follow suit in order to stay on top of the popular artists. Jon Cohen is one of the most influential names in the music industry and The FADER has grown into a huge brand. He is someone that has accomplished a lot over the years, something I aspire to do.
Ware, Tajah. “The Reality of Your Music Industry Dream Job.” Pigeons & Planes, Complex, 5 May 2021, www.complex.com/pigeons-and-planes/music-industry-jobs-guide?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=papsocialtw . Accessed 29 Mar. 2022.
This is a series of interviews from every nook and cranny of the music industry. A&R, journalist, concert booking, video director, manager, publicist, and more. Jake Markow, Snot’s manager, detailed his life as a manager for a very prominent artist. He talks about how people think he is an industry ploy, when in reality he works very hard to promote Snot and it is literally an all day every day job. A publicist, Julie Rene Tran, also was interviewed, speaking on how publicity is all about the storytelling. She has the power to portray important messages about an artists, their journey, and their music, and is the gateway to more people hearing that. This is an article I read early into my ventures in the music industry and was the first thing that was a clear guiding light in what I wanted to do. Clear outlines, easy to understand, and all the positives and negatives of the jobs.
Exposito, Suzy. “Meet the band that defaced the Hollywood sign with a painting of a cow.” LA Times, 8 Apr. 2021, www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2021-04-08/la-et-ms-hollywood-sign-defaced-cow-painting-junior-varsity . Accessed 29 Mar. 2022.
Junior Varsity are an LA based duo known for throwing free concerts across the country with their friends. Ahead of their debut single, they defaced the Hollywood sign with a huge cow poster in a publicity stunt. Exposito interviewed the duo as they explained why and how they did what they did. It timed perfectly with the release of their first song, and clearly made for great publicity as news outlets in the area picked up who Junior Varsity were. The duo explained the whole process, from painting the cow in their backyard to detailing how they put it on the sign, saying it took just 8 minutes to get it done. This was the first taste I had of a publicity stunt for music that I liked. I remember hearing this happen and thought that it was genius. I am not saying I’m gonig to do anything like it, however, it is something that has sprouted various other safer ideas as to how to generate publicity out of something.