Who is your A & R man?0

In the past few years, the music industry has been turned on its head. Technology has allowed us, the aspiring independent musician, to build home studios and produce recordings without the outside need of a big time studio.

But what have these changes wrought? What are artists, both signed through the traditional channels, and those working in the new independent streams missing? To answer this we need a brief recap on how the music industry worked.

Ye Olde Days

Back in the days before the singer/songwriter, the industry was very much split between artists and composers. Composers would create music, and then the artist would add their talent and record the songs ready for distribution. There had to be aq conduit between the two, and this is where the A & R (Artist and Repertoire) man came in. The A & R man, employed by the record company, was would match the songs from the songwriters, to the best artist to record the track.

As the lines between singer and songwriter started to blur, the A & R reps job changed. No longer were they just matching talent, but they developed the role into one of nurturing. They would find talent, and mold it, make it the best it could be before present material to the record companies.

The Decline of the A & R Role

By the mid 80′s, the role of the A & R rep started to become nothing more than finding talent that sounds like other popular talent, thanks to the corporatisation of the music industry. But without a few notable exceptions that nurtured talent and stood by them, we wouldn’t have had acts like Nirvana, Guns n Roses, Bruce Springsteen, Kiss, Bob Dylan and more. It was their A & R reps that keep supporting them when the record labels did not initially.

So Who Is Nurturing You?

In the world of the independent, online savvy musician, who offers the support, advice and guidance to an artists that was once provided by the A & R rep? Who lets a musician know when their work is really at the level to be successful?

Feedback is one of the key requirements to become better at any subject or art. Practice makes perfect, sure, but criticism can be helpful I opening one’s eyes to other details, other possibilities. So who can do this for you as an independent artist? Why not your target audience?

Use Your Audience to Tailor to Your Audience

The internet is fast. Extremely fast. Think about how fast memes spread, how fast videos can go viral. The same goes for feedback. Feedback can be almost instantaneous. I recently was working on a new track, and posted the song as a work in progress on Soundcloud. I then shared it on my Facebook Page, my personal Facebook profile, and over at the Propellerheads forum.

Almost instantly, I got some great feedback such as:

I made a few tweaks to the song and the mix based off the feedback, and ended up much happier with the final result. I had been focusing on so many different areas of the song, that I needed the outside perspective to find the things I just couldn’t see for looking. It’s the sort of advice that would have been dished out by an A & R rep when the song was to be handed in.

It’s A Different World Now

Musicians need to embrace this new immediacy with fans. There are already well established artists doing it, keeping their fans in the loop. Linkin Park, Trent Reznor, Devin Townsend – these artists keep their fans involved in numerous ways, from sneak peaks, studio footage, offering stems for remixing, and by requesting feedback. For independent artists, keeping your fans involved, feeling like they are part of a movement behind you is extremely important. And keeping them involved will give you the outside perspective you need to become a better musician.

The old A & R is dead. Long live the net aware A & R. You need them more than you think.