54 min
Episode 18: Blaine Barcus - Bring Professionalism To Whatever You Do YOU CAN Make a Living In The Music Industry Podcast
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- Music Interviews
This week I'm talking with my friend Blaine Barcus who is VP of A&R at Provident Label Group where he works with artists Zach Williams, Third Day, Matthew West and more. We discuss some of the best ways to get your foot in the door to work for a record label, management company or publisher through road managing, merchandise managing and internships. Also, the importance of having a professional attitude with everything you do.
Show notes:
Sponsors: Edenbrooke Productions - We offer consulting services and are offering listeners a 1-hour introductory special. To request more info on consulting services, email Marty at contact@johnmartinkeith.com.
Talking Points:
*I’m the Vice President of A&R for Provident Label Group.
*A&R stands for “Artist and Repertoire” which is basically artists and songs.
*I equate the roll as kind of an account executive.
2 parts to my job: 1) I manage artists signed to our label and it’s my job to be the main creative person that interacts with the artists on behalf of all their content especially on the audio side. It’s my job to the help develop the artist if they are a new artist, find people to co write with them, figure out their sound if they don’t quite know yet. Basically helping them find songs and producers for their projects. It’s a part business, part creative. 2) I’m also a talent scout, going out to shows, listening to demos, looking for artists to potentially sign to our label.
*I played drums growing up.
*I went to college and majored in communications.
*I worked in marketing and sales after college.
*My younger brother was at Belmont in Nashville so I followed him to town. He ended up going on tour with big artists and it was through my brother’s network of friends and associates that I was able to plug in.
*My first job in the music business was tour manager for a new band in Atlanta called Third Day. Since I had strong business skills from college, their manager hired me.
*After about 6 months I transitioned inside their management company and became their day to day manager at Creative Trust which is where I started working with Steven Curtis Chapman overseeing some of his live events along with several other artists.
*I did that for about 3 years, then went back on the road and drummed and road managed Mark Shultz for about a year.
*Then I got hired at Word Records to do A&R where I worked for 3 years then I transitioned here to Provident for the past 15 years.
*If you want to get into road managing, some skills required to be a good road manager are: You have to have organizational skills and juggle a lot of balls at one time. As a road manager you interact with almost every facet of the music industry i.e. artists, concert promoters, booking agents, artist managers, record labels, publicists, transportation companies, production companies (audio, lighting, sound engineers, crew).
*You can start by road managing an indie artist.
*A great way is to start out as a merchandise manager on a tour because management is always looking people that can go out an be responsible and organized to sell and manage merch on the road.
*If it’s a signed artist, I would go to the manager and let them know who you are and what your skill level is and what you’ve done. A lot of times it doesn’t take a lot of past experience to do that job but you have to prove that you have good people skills and that you’re organized and that you’re good with money.
*Good people skills because you’re going to interact with the artist, road manager and local sales people at each venue, and the audience.
*A merch manager is representing the artist at the table so if you’re not a pleasant person or you have bad people skills, that’s a reflection of the artist and they’re not going to keep you around very long. You’re a sales person for the artist.
*If you can be really good at that, usually other people on the road are going to notice your skills and your abilities and
This week I'm talking with my friend Blaine Barcus who is VP of A&R at Provident Label Group where he works with artists Zach Williams, Third Day, Matthew West and more. We discuss some of the best ways to get your foot in the door to work for a record label, management company or publisher through road managing, merchandise managing and internships. Also, the importance of having a professional attitude with everything you do.
Show notes:
Sponsors: Edenbrooke Productions - We offer consulting services and are offering listeners a 1-hour introductory special. To request more info on consulting services, email Marty at contact@johnmartinkeith.com.
Talking Points:
*I’m the Vice President of A&R for Provident Label Group.
*A&R stands for “Artist and Repertoire” which is basically artists and songs.
*I equate the roll as kind of an account executive.
2 parts to my job: 1) I manage artists signed to our label and it’s my job to be the main creative person that interacts with the artists on behalf of all their content especially on the audio side. It’s my job to the help develop the artist if they are a new artist, find people to co write with them, figure out their sound if they don’t quite know yet. Basically helping them find songs and producers for their projects. It’s a part business, part creative. 2) I’m also a talent scout, going out to shows, listening to demos, looking for artists to potentially sign to our label.
*I played drums growing up.
*I went to college and majored in communications.
*I worked in marketing and sales after college.
*My younger brother was at Belmont in Nashville so I followed him to town. He ended up going on tour with big artists and it was through my brother’s network of friends and associates that I was able to plug in.
*My first job in the music business was tour manager for a new band in Atlanta called Third Day. Since I had strong business skills from college, their manager hired me.
*After about 6 months I transitioned inside their management company and became their day to day manager at Creative Trust which is where I started working with Steven Curtis Chapman overseeing some of his live events along with several other artists.
*I did that for about 3 years, then went back on the road and drummed and road managed Mark Shultz for about a year.
*Then I got hired at Word Records to do A&R where I worked for 3 years then I transitioned here to Provident for the past 15 years.
*If you want to get into road managing, some skills required to be a good road manager are: You have to have organizational skills and juggle a lot of balls at one time. As a road manager you interact with almost every facet of the music industry i.e. artists, concert promoters, booking agents, artist managers, record labels, publicists, transportation companies, production companies (audio, lighting, sound engineers, crew).
*You can start by road managing an indie artist.
*A great way is to start out as a merchandise manager on a tour because management is always looking people that can go out an be responsible and organized to sell and manage merch on the road.
*If it’s a signed artist, I would go to the manager and let them know who you are and what your skill level is and what you’ve done. A lot of times it doesn’t take a lot of past experience to do that job but you have to prove that you have good people skills and that you’re organized and that you’re good with money.
*Good people skills because you’re going to interact with the artist, road manager and local sales people at each venue, and the audience.
*A merch manager is representing the artist at the table so if you’re not a pleasant person or you have bad people skills, that’s a reflection of the artist and they’re not going to keep you around very long. You’re a sales person for the artist.
*If you can be really good at that, usually other people on the road are going to notice your skills and your abilities and
54 min