AuthorEmerald King At what age did you notice your interest in drumming; and what made you continue to pursue the title?
"At the age of 2. And I had a feeling that drumming was my calling! How did you get started and who introduced you? "My cousin would play drums at church and I used to watch him, so then I got started." So with drumming what kind of services do you offer? "The services I offer are; if you need a drummer for events, bands, and artists. If you need music, then I am hired to professionally play music for whomever hires me. I teach lessons, and sometimes get hired to teach drum master classes. I record for records and albums; tour and participate in studio sessions." For most of your clients what do they typically look for, as in, what service is more common? "Just learning their music!" What do you like about the business? "I like the fact that I am my own boss." What are some challenges that may have been presented to you? "Challenges is competition, staying relevent, and coming up with ways to evolve and stay in the music game." So you went to Rio to teach lessons, could you tell me about the experience? "The experience was great! Amazing musicians, amazing people who were hungry to learn more about drums! So many people came out! Over 200 people came out to hear me play drums!" Do you ever get nervous on stage? "Never get nervous!" What age group is mostly represented? " It just depends on musical skill level. It doesn't really have an age. But I'd say on average, 25 is usually when an elite musician starts his mainstreem career. Playing for the Beyonces' and Justin Biebers' of the Industy, but it can happen at an earlier age as well." What are your goals for next year? "My goal next year is to do a drum master class tour in multiple cities in Brazil." And do you have any advice to give to people who may get into the music business? " And my advice to anyone who wants to become a professional musician, is have tough skin. It is a very harsh environment and you must wear tough skin in order to survive and succeed. But it's possible."
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AuthorHannah File Can you tell me about your position in radio and what you do?
Lead for b105.7 deal with on air/online content for the radio station. Monitors feedback on people enjoying the music or not. Also deals with marketing and promoting for the radio station at concert around Indy. What is the skill set for this job? Knowledge of today’s hits but also for past hits. Must be able to talk on the spot and also be comfortable with talking on air. Have a sense of budgeting while also knowledge of advertising and marketing. Must be able to build relationships with businesses and artist. How did you get started? Freshmen year applied for a part time promotion job at Emmis communications and slowly climbed throughout the years. You work for b105.7, tell me a little more about what services they offer? On air advertising, online advertising, allow new and old artist to stay in the loop of todays and past music. Helps with creating concerts at local venues as last year they brought Rick Springfield to fishers for a concert. What are you clients typically looking for? Looking for events that we can come to and help advertise their business while also playing music and having a radio show at the store. Also artist while being interviewed on air are looking to promote their new music or tour to the public. You’ve been in this business for a few years, what do you like best about it? I like the fact that I get to promote the station while at concerts and getting to meet new and upcoming artist. Also the atmosphere that Emmis has is very fast and exciting. What has been the biggest challenge? With radio listeners slowly being taken by streaming services like Spotify and Pandora its hard at times with coming up with new ideas to get listeners to follow the station. What’s the biggest change they’ve seen in the business in the last 5 years? We have changed a lot of our faculty and have moved to hiring more young individuals and letting go older staff members so we can bring in new and relevant ideas. What opportunities do they see in Indiana? The biggest opportunity he sees in Indiana is that country music is becoming bigger and bigger every year in Indianapolis. The amount of country shows that are coming to klipsch is insane. Any advice for someone considering going into the music and entertainment business? If I had a recommendation for students looking to go into the music business in Indiana it would be for sure to go into something country related. Any thing else they’d like to add? The radio business is a tough field but it is absolutely worth it in the end. AuthorKim Weber AuthorKyle Parker I was blessed beyond words to have the opprotunity to sit down and talk shop with with a radio board op for Indiana Public Radio, none other than Tony Sandleben. Tony has been operating the board for a little bit longer than a year now, he has racked up a very good amount of knowledge on the radio industry. Here are the highlights of my conversation with Tony.
As stated earlier, Tony is a board op for Indiana Public Radio (IPR). He got his start while doing his studies at Ball State. The services he offers include but are not limited to: Switching between programming, doing station identification check ins, fielding questions from callers and recording station promotions. Some of the skills he said they need to be a board op for IPR is you have to have a calm voice. You also have to have a wide range of knowledge for many software that is used in the industry. His clients are usually looking for news and information, so he provides them with the different news programs that give them the news they want. He also says that another big thing is the classical music. Many of his listeners enjoy the classics, so the station offers programs that provides that kind of music. When asked about his thoughts about changes in the music industry. He said that it hasn't really been about the music recently. It has been more based off of who can make the biggest headline outside of the studio. With all of the superstars doing crazy things now, we don't really appreciate their music any more than we do their antics. When asked about the biggest challenge he faces he said it was providing programming that everyone enjoyed. He said as a station that is rare when stacked up against other stations in the viewing area, it is important to give everyone what they want so they can reach the most amount of viewers. When asked what he likes about the industry, he said that the music industry is such a unique thing because of how influencial music is. He says that music can be the most important thing in someones life, influencing them to do so many things, so being a medium for people to enjoy some of their favorite things, thats what he loves most about this job. Tony says that his future plans don't involve the music industry, but he will use the skills he has aquired through this job. When asked about Indiana's potential he said that the potential is huge! With Indiana becoming a bigger part of things nationally, he says why can't we become a bigger part of the music industry, we are creating places that are inviting to business owners, so anything is possible. But he warns that we have to retain the talent that Indiana produces. With a lot of the talent going to Nashville, so to make it big, Indiana needs to keep that talent here. When asked about advise, he said that you have to be willing to go above and beyone what they expect of you. If you show everyone that you you are willing to work hard for it, you will be rewarded for it later. AuthorLogan Stowers
AuthorLucas Coleman What is/was your occupation?
“I’m a dance educator” How did you get started with that? “I started taking dance as a child at the age of 3. My mother got me involved because of how active I was as a child. Honestly, my grandmother told my mom to put me in classes. “ What services do you offer? “My dance studio offers educational and performance experience. For 15 years students from HSE and Fishers high school have benefitted from GSTC training. We also have voice and piano lessons but that is not our number one focus. Our major demographic is a dance lover as we have over 100 students enrolled and 50 competitive dancers. We teach anything from hip hop and tumbling to Jazz and ballet.” What are all of the students usually looking for when it comes to picking a studio? “The students are usually looking for convince and a family friendly environment. Also, usually they do not know what they are looking for so they hear of us through their friends and peers at school.” What skills are required to do your job? “You must have a good personality to be a dance teacher and a very creative mind. A dancer mind and someone who can break down music and really visualize what goes on within the song to make the song beautiful on stage.” What do you like about the dance industry and your personal dance studio? “I like having the opportunity to be able to give the children a dance education and broaden their horizon. I love brining in popular guest teachers from places like dancing with the stars to expose them to different styles of dancing from all over the nation and even the world. Dance saves lives.” What do you find most challenging with this industry? “Making choices on my professional instinct and trying not to let my personal opinions get in the way of some decisions individuals make.” What is the biggest change you’ve seen in this business in the last 5 years? “I think children are advancing quicker at younger ages with the amount of time they are spending at the studio and the amount of money parents are willing to spend on their child is going up. Parents love to see their children succeed and happy.” What are your plans for next year? “We are going to start incorporating new dance curriculums that all dance teachers can follow so all students are on the same page.” What opportunities do you see in Indiana? “There is a lot of community involvement in the state of Indiana including the Fishers festival parade or as big as the 500 festival parade. Everyone in Indiana is very hard working which makes the dancers from the state easier to train.“ Any advice for people wanting to go into the music and entertainment business/dance career? “Everyone has equal opportunity so go for it. Never quit and keep going if you really think you can reach your end goal. The pyramid just keeps getting smaller the older you get and the harder you work, so just keep working and growing no matter what. Don’t give up.” Dave Fields, Brand Manager/Mornings 99.5 WKDQ Townsquare Media of Evansville/Owensboro, Inc.7/28/2017 AuthorMisty Eastep 1. How did you get started working in the music/radio industry? I started with a college internship with a group of radio stations in Rochester, NY.
2. What skills are required to work on the radio as a dj and morning show host? You need to be able to tell a story in a clear and concise way. You need to be able to make the listener feel like you have a one on one connection with them. Also, you can’t be afraid to try something new and make a fool of yourself. 3. What are the biggest changes that you have seen throughout your career? If you have worked on the radio in other states, is it different than working on the radio in Indiana? If so, how? The biggest change is how technology has changed the industry for both good and bad. The good is that with computers and ipads, we can broadcast live from anywhere there is an internet connection. Live remotes are much easier to do and sound much better. The over the air quality is amazing. The bad is that computers allow voice tracking. This is one DJ the ability to broadcast their show anywhere. You lose some of the local element of radio when you have some one that lives in another state that voice track a show. I have worked in 7 other states besides Indiana and in my opinion radio is the same. You are still trying to be live and local. It is just a matter of knowing the area that you are broadcasting in. From Montana, to Florida, to New York to Indiana, you are still trying to do the same thing, connect with the local audience. 4. What do you like the most about your career? No two days are the same. When I come into the studio, even with the show planned out you never know what will happen. A guest may say something and take the show in a whole new direction. 5. What do you find most challenging about your career? Finding quality dedicated people to work with. With voice-tracking, there is no over-night training ground for DJs to develop their skills. Plus DJs now have to do so much more than just on-air work…blogs, videos, etc…A lot of new people have the illusion that you do your show and go home. It is not like that anymore. 6. What do you find most rewarding about your career? The ability to impact people’s lives. Whether it is making sure they laugh on the way to work to getting that Cancer patient’s dream to come true and meet their favorite artist. There are so man moments that can change people’s mood, day, even life. The fact that I can have a small part in making someone feel better is amazing. 7. What advice would you give to anyone that is interested in starting a career in the music/radio industry? Never say no. If you are interning or at your 1st job and the PD asks you to do something like work the weekend, emcee and event, run the board….do it! Pay your dues and make yourself invaluable to the team. As a PD myself, knowing I can count on someone is a huge plus! AuthorNick Carmola What is your current occupation?
I am a full time student, working on becoming immersed into the entertainment/music world. Specially, I would like to be in the Hip Hop industry. I do all the planning for my fraternity whenever we have an event that needs some sort of music entertainment. My position is the music event coordinator. I book performers/DJs to come host a party or philanthropy event at our house. How did you get started? Did this start in college? Hip-Hop has been a part of my life forever. I was really into starting free style rap battles in high school. These were very informal but I was relied on to organize them so it could be free flowing and fun. When I got to college and joined a fraternity I started doing it again. I eventually helped an older student in the frat plan music for events. When he graduated I started doing it on my own. Ok, you’re hosting an event…What kinds of clients are you looking for? I would want to interview them first and get to know what type of people I am working with. If it’s a philanthropy event then we are really looking for a DJ that can have clean/radio edited music. Those type events require music that puts people in a good mood. For our other events we would plan case by base. There could be different themes so I would question them about their styles if they have multiple facets to their performance. If we are booking a performer we usually go with someone from our school or maybe an alumni. We have many liability issues so that is always the best way to book a performer. What is the skill set that you need to have for this position? You need to have lots of energy. For me, it’s a never ending job. I constantly get emails, texts and calls updating me on the bits and pieces of hosting an event. That being said, you need to be well organized and know how to sort your priorities. Sometimes, sending an extra email or text, asking for an update can really help move the process forward. You also need patience when dealing with all sorts of people. What do you like about this position? I love being in charge of how an event sounds. My job is to make sure that people enjoy their time and appreciate the music they are hearing. It all becomes worth it when you see people in the moment having a good time. What is the most challenging part of being the event music coordinator? You never know when something will come up. People get sick, DJs cancel on you, equipment goes missing, stuff gets unplugged. When you’re doing this kind of work, you never know what you’re going to get on a day to day basis. It’s really challenging not to panic if something goes wrong. Sometimes you want to get mad but you remember that things happen sometimes. What’s the biggest challenge you've had in the past 3 years? I actually had a DJ not show up to a huge event. He planned to bring all the equipment and everything. Luckily, my fraternity brothers stepped up and were able to put on a flowing music show by opening a bunch of Youtube pages on a lot of tabs. What are your plans after you graduate next year? I would like to spend time with some of the performers I got to know at school. They are doing a lot of studio work on campus and I would like to help promote and manage events for them. I recently got a new camera and have gotten involved with producing music videos. I will stay in this area for about 2 years and after that I will look to branch out and take my talents somewhere else. What opportunities do you see in Indiana? Indiana has great colleges. Purdue, Indiana, Indiana State, Butler, Ball State, Notre Dame and many others provide all sorts of opportunity. Campus life crazy! I see college campus’ as a huge opportunity for exposure. Any advice for people thinking about getting into this kind of work? Be ready to work with all different kinds of people. Some will be great to work with, others not so much. You need a positive attitude and the ability to put others before yourself. Anything else you would like to add? Follow my friend Aaron on instagram! @Doubleamuzic He does great work! AuthorNicole LaFave What is your occupation?
My occupation is singer and manager for my band, Straight to the Guillotine. I also book events for the band and perform other managerial tasks. How did you get started with your band, Straight to the Guillotine? Originally, it was just me wanting to do music. I had a friend who had a friend who wanted to start a band. It was a pre-started band as far as music goes, but I came along an was able to write some things. I feel that I was able to push the band a lot throughout the process. What services do you offer? We get asked to do charity events and a few local touring events. For the local touring events, it is mostly with smaller bands. We have done events for animal shelters, a Sandy Hook event, Toys for Tots, and other charity events. What are your fans and clients typically expecting of you? Our clients who ask us to attend events expect that we are energized, practiced and well-versed in our craft because people want to have a show. For fans, it is roughly the same thing. They hear what we put online and to a degree, expect that. We try to keep it original every time because my personality is a little off towards the death metal genre. So they expect a level of entertainment, because my personal style is to be weird and quirky with a lot of dark music lovers and head bangers. What skills are required to be a singer and band manager? To do my job, the vocal portion itself takes a lot of training before hand because it uses a lot of falsetto. That’s not exactly something you learn classically. Beyond that, it is a lot of practice and a lot of PR work. Again, there is a lot of booking and talking to whoever I can to get us into shows. There are lot of one-on-one conversations through social media that take place to help spread around our band as much as possible. What do you like about the business? I like how fast-paced it is now. We don’t get to play as much as we’d like to anymore, but through social media, it’s still been just as steady with new fans. Especially in areas that we’ve never been -- we are popular overseas, especially in Singapore. I enjoy being able to do what I want to in my band, and I enjoy putting myself out there. I am glad that I’ve been able to be received well throughout most of my endeavors with that. What do you find most challenging with your music business? The booking portion is mostly the most challenging. For the most part, our band is all fully employed somewhere else, so it’s hard to work with those schedules. Also, locally, the music scene has been on a decline for a while, so it has been hard to get people to come out for our shows without a lot of extra effort. Making posters and social media posts has been time-consuming, and it’s hard to get people with busy lives to continuously come to our shows. What’s the biggest change you’ve seen in the music business in the last 5 years? There has been a shift from how our product gets out there. Before, we mostly did shows, whereas now, most of the promotion is done through social media. I know a lot of bands who do most of their work in the studio instead of in shows to put their music out there. It makes people less willing to go to shows because everything is availability digitally. Then, why would they want to go see us? It’s something that has been a struggle for a while. What are your plans with the band for the next year? We are hoping to release the album, finally. Everything is being mixed and mastered, and hopefully we can work out a tour after it is released in order to promote it. We want to get it out to the people, both in the digital and physical format. What opportunities do you see in Indiana specifically? Growth, mostly. Like I said, there has been a decline for people who want to attend music events locally. I want to try to revitalize it to what it was years ago. Fort Wayne, where we are located, definitely needs revitalizing. Eventually we can branch out to other areas of Indiana too. Do you have any advice to people considering going into the music and entertainment business? Be willing to work. It is not an overnight thing, and if it is, it’s not usually going to be long lasting. You see all the stars that pop up huge after their first hit, and two years later, no one knows who they are. It’s all about working hard, being happy, and spreading your work to as many people as you can. Any other advice, or anything else you’d like to add? Keep making music! It doesn’t matter who likes it or not. It doesn’t matter if you’re doing it for fun or for money. Just keep music alive. AuthorRachel French What is their occupation?
-Full time student at Ivy Tech and a violinist in a country band mainly on the weekends. How did they get started? -My mother played the violin and I played it all through school and continued after I graduated. What services do they offer? -We typically do shows on the weekend wherever we can get a spot. What are your clients looking for? -Our clients are looking for upbeat music and to have good music to dance to. What do you like about the business? -Hmm... Well what I like quite a bit is that, at least in Indiana, the music scene is a relatively close knit group who are all for each other. I've sat in with bands, and members from those bands have set in with my bands, and networking is great in that there isn't this idea of cutthroat competition. We all want to see each other do well, and we all want to help each other out. What do you find most challenging? -The pay is not enough to be a full time musician so thats a downside but it's mostly about providing that upbeat atmosphere. What is the biggest change you've seen in the business in the past 5 years? -The desire for certain music changes over time and it's interesting to see the music needs of different people as time goes on. What are your plans next year? -I will still be in school and still finding venues to perform in. Basically I plan on doing what I am doing right now. What opportunities do you see in Indiana? -In Indiana, although there is a chance to "make it", going in with that mindset can be a problem. If you go in with the mindset that you will get to play the music that you love in a lot of really cool venues, there are a ton of opportunities. There are so many startup labels and studios, venues and bars are popping up all the time, and if you really love playing and put in the time, you will get to spend a lot do time playing music for a lot of people who appreciate you. Do you have any advice to people considering going into this business? -Be realistic with your expectations, but you have to have fun doing what you're doing. If you're in it for money or anything such as that, people will see through the BS, and you just aren't going to be fully in it yourself. |