Staff Interviews
One of the best things about a course like this one is that you get to meet lots of interesting people. Many of the students, and all of the staff, have worked in some capacity in the industry.
We've been looking at the example of running a label. It would be excellent to flesh this out with some 'real-world' examples of the kinds of people you could work with.
You'll need to target people, check to see when they can make themselves available, and then pick their brains with some probing questions.
OK, so who? I've picked on three people AS EXAMPLES, to give you an idea as to what you could ask them.
Baz
Session musician; get a feel for the job, the pros and cons, pressures, money, transport, late nights, how to spot a blagger…
Robin
Pro musician; how do Robin's experiences of putting records out compare with the self-run model we've been looking at? What different labels/distributors has he worked with and how did they compare? What about PRS/MCPS etc?
Neil
Engineer/Producer; how did he get started? What stylistic areas does he work in and why? Pros and cons of running his own business? Again, check with Neil about his experiences with different labels, distributors, A&R etc.
This will have to be done in bits and pieces through the week. Interview who you can, when you can. It will be best done as a group. Take notes, and as a group produce some brief, typed, bullet-points as a result of each interview. We can use these in the session next week.
© Matt Bellingham 2003 – 2006
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