What is an A&R, and how do you become one?
A&R is just one of the baffling litany of jargon that can intimidate newbies in the unwieldy music industry.
It’s a bamboozling world for any entry-level intern first navigating any part of the music world. What’s a backline? The difference between a mix and a master? Did you get the ISRC code? And you’ve managed to wrap your head around exactly the publisher’s role, right?
They don’t make it easy. As with much of the creative sector, the music industry unfortunately operates in a fairly aloof and ambiguous manner, offering little clear pathways and bogged down in the scourge of class barriers and precarious, ‘voluntary’ roles that open the floodgates to those moneyed enough not to worry about the rent for a month or two.
It can feel bleak, the wider arts in general an impossibly opaque realm for the working-class kid, but the music sector has befallen particular social-economic barriers, blighted by insecure work and the ever-dwindling loss of independent venues and studios. For the struggling artist and the budding professional, music has simultaneously never been so exciting while also so stricken with uncertainty.
As ever, we out Far Out try our damndest to tear asunder the class barriers in whatever way we can, and perhaps an explanation to the music biz parlance can go one small way in dispelling the sector’s unhelpful hurdles to those not ‘in the know’.
So, what is A&R, and how can I get there?
Typically, every record label will have some form of Artists and Repertoire division. Responsible for going on the hunt for new talent, an A&R person may attend local shows, keep abreast of new releases, and listen to submitted demos to spot an act that they feel will be a good fit for the label. If taken on, it’s then the A&R’s job to liaise between label and artist, develop the relationship, form a key role in the creative process, and ensure all marketing for the signee goes as planned.
There’s no concrete job description. Depending on the artist and the ethos of the label, an A&R may spend a considerable time in the studio managing sessions and corresponding with producers, engineers etc for a new EP or debut album, or time could be largely eaten up in the promo world, arranging press access and championing the talent the loudest in the busy attention economy. Naturally, such duties also depend on having convinced the artist you’re the person for the job, flexing a little sales gab to close the deal and instilling trust you’ll look out for them.
To embark on the A&R road, you need to learn the industry. As frustrating as it is considering the difficulty to gain experience, organisations like Youth Music offer plenty of resources to at least familiarise yourself with the basics, in particular how different sectors and roles interact, as the A&R often acts as a mediator between different chunks of the industry.
A capable knowledge of music production is a must, learning the recording process and technical aspects, but otherwise, a solid grasp of admin will help, and an ear to the ground for music’s trends are likely skills you already possess if you’ve gotten this far in the article. As hard as it is, the A&R world is still a vital function of the music industry, and the music climate will be better for your being in it over some privileged offspring of the rich, so best of luck!
