Roles and Responsibilities

Tia Leoni Lewis
Nov 20, 2015
14 min read

Responsibilities and requirements

Producer

A music producer works closely with performers and artist whether solo or in a group/band. They record and mix their music and help lead to distribution of the music. They also work with studio assistants while recording to help get the job done well and faster, making sure it’s the best it can be. However a producer has many different roles. They may gather information and ideas for projects, they may select different songs for artists to play and also different types of artists or singer songwriters that they think are good enough. Or brilliant. They will also couch the artists and make them even better than they already are if need be. They also control the recording equipment like pro tools for example and mix and bounce down everything once they have finished recording for the session.

Studio engineer

A studio engineer will work with the technical side of things. Such as the sound and what it will sound like adding or taking away certain things or even positioning the mics indifferent places to create a unique different sound. They will also deal with sound while recording mixing and production. (Studio engineers are also known as music producer or audio engineers if you like). Audio engineers often assist recording producers and musicians to help give their work the sound that they are looking for and want to accomplish. They will also work with record producers and musicians to help make their work the best it can possibly beat the end of recording it.

However studio engineers will sometimes go off independently, on their own, and do their own thing and double as a producer. Meaning that they do the job of a producer and create their own work. (annonymus, n.d.)

Studio assistant

Studio assistants tend to be the ones that look after all of the equipment and the studio in general. They make sure that the bookings are up to date and keep on top of things. They will also take care of the phone calls coming in for maybe cancelations or appointment bookings for the studio, or , maybe someone has a great idea for work and they all join together to create such a brilliant project. They are also on standby for recording so that they can help out the producer and be there if needed at all. Studio assistants are also called a recording assistant because they are known to help with recording. (university, n.d.)They tend to just be on the side line for when and if they are needed. They may also set up tracks beforehand and bounce down files at the end making the job faster and smoother, and maybe easier for the producer. They also may clean up anything unneeded during the session to make things cleaner and tidy and less cluttered. Even on the desktop maybe. Over all a studio assistant will just be there when they need to “assist” to anything. Making sure everything is in order and keeping everything running smoothly. Another thing they may also do is document the equipment being used for security reasons making sure nothing is damaged when being used and that everything comes back nice and tidy no mess left behind. (annonomys, n.d.)

Performer

The role of a performer is to be the one to play the sound create new material or play creations of others and get it recorded. They may be singer a songwriter and singer and decide they want to create their own stuff which will make it all the more unique to the ear. They are however usually the ones being told what to do where to be at what time and making sure they are there with the right equipment if needed. Other times though they will just negotiate with the producer and start creating a magnificent project to then one day be distributed around for people to hear.

Lawyer

The role of a lawyer is to oversee contracts with the record companies such as people like music producers, studio engineers and everybody working in the music industry. Some individuals will specialise in certain areas on the music industry. To get the best lawyer for your needs you need to identify what legal help you need and find the right lawyer in that area of job. For example if you need help in publishing aspects or problems that you may have then you need to find a lawyer that is specialised in that aspect of study in their job. That way you know you are getting the right help. It’s better for you to get a lawyer in your needs than somebody else that you may think is not fit for what you need help for.

A&R Manager

An A&R Manager is somebody who is responsible for finding talent. They may search for people with really good voices or musical instrument skills. They will do this by making sure they have the potential for the job. (beattie) A&R also rely on and trust the word of the mouth of others. For example he might hear that someone is a really good performer, engages with the crowd and is just an overall good singer or guitarist or whatever they might have the skill of, then he will do some investigating maybe go to a gig ad see for himself or search on how to get hold of this person and bring them in to see if they are good for the position. They also oversee the recording process. This includes helping the artist to find the right producer, scheduling time in the recording studio, the recording studio also should have a history of high quality recording. They also assist with marketing and promotion aspects. This will include things like posters, website, flyers, radio advertising etc. They will also choose the end album and amount of songs, which songs etc. The organisation of the album and maybe help on what the album should look like, how it should be presented. They just overall help promote the record and be there if needed in any specific side of things as listed above. (user, n.d.)

Marketing Assistant

A marketing assistant works with the labels product managers. This role accompanies a high volume of administration associated with marketing projects. They will help to promote singles or market / promote the record being sold. Marketing is important because it promotes music and your songs. If the marketing is not to the standard, then not a lot of people will know the record and songs, or come to any upcoming gigs that the performer may have. Gig management is also very important to get people to hear your songs and what kind of style you are creating. If the promotion for gigs is done poorly then nobody or a very few people will show up to the performance. (I know this as a result last year in my event management work). Marketing assistant will also work with creating the designs for the album cover, or song cover or just art for your song or album on iTunes. Another thing they will also do is distribute and act as a manager for the performer/artist, so they can get out to many other labels and record new records.

Writer/composer (singer/songwriter)

A writer/ composer someone that writes, creates, composes a creative original and catchy piece of work to be recorded and edited. Maybe take out or add in some things to the piece or work. They may write songs for other artists like singers or may write a piece of music for somebody who plays an instrument. They will also try to create amazing entertainment media. It could be from writing lyrics to a piece of music, writing music to lyrics to a song to fit the mood of the music or even create a full composition for someone to perform or record. They will also compose in different style of genre for a wider variety of sound and things that they can create. They contain really good collaboration skills. This benefits them because they can work on a variety of different projects. They will also contain in playing one or more instruments. This will help in creating pieces of music. For example they may write a song for an artist to sing. This will include making the chords to a song if it was a guitar based song and then they pick a mood, put it in a major or minor key and then they will also come up with the lyrics and then get the artist to sing it and work together on it. Maybe play are found with it and change some things to fit the artist.

Arranger

An arranger has different job titles, such as a market adapter and transcriber. They can arrange elements of a song like the tempo, vocals, harmonics and many more. They will do this in a creative way to make it sound more interesting to the human ear and also sound original and different from other genres or style of song. They will also stay up to date with industry trends such as the music that is most popular at that specific time. This is because they can create something they know will be listened to and that everyone has more chance of liking, making the tracks/ songs more popular and bringing g in more audiences to their music. This will be good for the pay and also popularity in the music industry. Today artist like to compete with other artists and they like to make their music the most noticed. They will also compete in getting their songs up in the top 10 charts in the UK or international charts. This is also because the more people purchase the music the more money income they will receive. Arranger’s salary can be between £20,000 to £43,000. Overall their main job is to take an existing song and make it into a potential top selling song/hit in the charts. Making it more popular unique, and listened to.

Manager

The skills you will need to be a good manager or reliable manager is to be very well organised, determined (determination) and really good with people. People that may have different styles of music or different hopes on what kind of music they want to create record and earn money from. Many people in today’s day and age will like to have a joined the music industry , but to do this you need to know what you are good at, what you want to do, what instrument you want, what genre, all of the things that make up a good track etc. Being a manager will come across many different people. Some people you may not even get on well with, in which case would probably be better not to work with them. But it does also mean making sure you have the best talent that you can have. The job role of a manager is to bring artists, projects together that meets the overall goal of the artists and their record company. This could be making a top chart hit in the top 10 or could be getting a gig at a really really amazing venue. You will also be in control of EVERYTHING and all of the projects go smoothly and the deadlines get met. For example if the deadline of an album is not met then people will be expecting new content from you and won’t get it to the deadline that you have given out. Maybe some people will be disappointed and they may even get into someone else that meets the deadlines.

Publisher

A music publisher can be any company. A word about them is that they may have ownership of songs- the song writer is the owner of the song. But most do not look after the rights to their songs. They may just want the job and money, because they love it that much. This is why you should be careful when choosing your music company that wants to sign you. Do research on what publishing company is best for what you want to do. They issue licenses for the royalties, accounting etc. This is a lot of work. This kind of work is also called administration. “To sum up: getting a mechanical license gives you permission to reproduce (copy) the song. Of course, in using TuneCore, the song is being reproduced digitally, but it's the same principle: every time someone downloads the song, a copy is made. “There are many different licenses. Here are two of them: Compulsory Licenses and Synchronization Licenses. (Goes, n.d.)

Compulsory Licenses are mechanical license directly from the publisher or songwriter. “Using this method entails specific requirements for notifying the song owner and stringent requirements for accounting.” “And you will still pay the full statutory mechanical royalty rate. It is not recommended that you try this method. The best and easiest way to get a mechanical license is from the songwriter or the publisher directly.” (Goes, n.d.)

Synchronization Licenses “let's say you want to make a video of your recording of "Yesterday." You'll need another license.” This "sync license" gives you the right to synchronize the "composition" (song) with visual images. This licences lets you sync music to a series of images or a video that also may be made. Kind of like a music video in a way.

Music agent

An agent is most likely to be the person that organises a planner for example making sure everything is in order. They may book gigs for band or solo artists. (McDonald, n.d.)

“Agents approach promoters about shows, negotiate contracts for live performances and basically make sure the wheels of a concert tour, or even a single show, turn smoothly.” (McDonald, n.d.)

They will also make sure that all of the bands equipment will get to the venue of a band on time, making sure that everything happens smoothly and that everything happens when it is supposed to. They are almost like a helper with their job. They make sure that the performers of a band or just solo artists get to their gigs on time and makes sure their instrument are there. They will also schedule rehearsal space and just overall be in charge of nearly everything in a band or solo performer. You can also tell them to do something and they will. For example: “Want only red M&Ms backstage? Your agent is the one who will make sure the promoter knows” (McDonald, n.d.)

Publicist

“Music publicists require a significant amount of formal education. Learn about the degree programs, job duties and average salary to see if this is the right career for you.” (study.com, n.d.)

Music publicists use public relations skills and media knowledge to help a musical artist maintain his or her desired public image. They will market the artist's work, representing the artist through press releases and arrange for interviews with the media and writing speeches. They will make sure that their artist is being represented in the right way and that the press won’t release false information. They may also even act like a speaker of their clients. In addition to this they will also create press releases themselves and organize press conferences.

“They may also consider the importance and necessity of career opportunities for their clients, such as working with charities and non-profit organizations, going on tour, promotional appearances, or interviews. As one of the lead marketing professionals for an artist's projects, the music publicist often helps promote tours, albums, and campaigns for these opportunities to increase exposure and generate sales.” (study.com, n.d.)

How the Roles work together

Producer with an engineer

“A music producer works closely with performers and artist whether solo or in a group/band. They record and mix their music and help lead to distribution of the music.” - (producer paragraph above)

They will also work with almost every other job role in the music industry. They will work with them because they all ply an important role in creating music. For example, a music performer will be recorded compressed eq’d etc., by the music producer. If anything goes wrong the studio engineer will be there to help. And if the producer needs any help with anything the studio assistant will be on hand. They may also work with an arranger to help them with getting their songs up to the charts and bestselling.

Writer with performer

These two may come together to create songs. This will be so that they can add or take away things from a composition. They may also have a deadline to meet and working together may mean they will have more chance of meeting that deadline. They will help each other with writing lyrics to a song, and then also will be creating chords for lyrics if needed. Or maybe the writer will just make the who song and also work with the composer to create a song for the performer to sing/perform. The performer can also be a writer and singer and instrumentalist. This would be very helpful because they may not need a lot of help with creating compositions by a writer, because they will already have their own content to perform. Also they will work with the producer to be recorded for albums in the upcoming future.

Writer with composer

A writer and composer may work together on different sections of a track. For example a writer may work on the lyrical side of a song, while the composer works on the chords and harmonics and musical side of the song. They can help each other with what goes well and what goes wrong that they will have to fix. This might also be the case when you have a computer composer and a writer working together for example you might have people working together to create a techno piece of music and they may need help with writing lyrics for the timing of the composition. Or for example they may have timing issues with different aspects. Also the layout will have to be identified. For example [le they will have to make sure that they have an into, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, maybe a bridge in the song that sounds different to the rest of the song, and an outro. All of these things will bring the song together and they will help each other to create an amazing piece of entertainment media. This will also be helped by the producer after recording things in maybe and adding finishing touches to the whole composition.

Manager with promoter

A manager and promoter will work together on a number of things. These things could be marketing finished songs. One ig thing they will make sure that they are working together on is maybe the promotion of artists solo or in a group. They may do this by coming together to create a webpage, and coming together with an agent to arrange gigs around recording times for artists. This will massively benefit the artist because they are getting more publicity and more people will start to listen to their songs. This is very important in the music business. They may also create things like flyers to put around in pubs or on billboards around cities to get noticed and links to YouTube accounts or Facebook accounts and twitter promoting them all over the country. This may also help by getting a YouTube out there because YouTube is a viral thing. Pretty much everywhere in the world has YouTube access and this will be great because if their content is on there it is bo8und to get views by a lot of people, if their content it amazing.

Producer with a performer

A produce rand performer will work together in the studio. The producer might help the performer with mic positions (although this could also be done by the studio engineer) or anything else like that. They will be helping the timing of things, what time to do different sections of the songs. They may also have advice for the performer such as what to record first making things easier for the performer. This might be to do with recording instruments first then adding in the vocals after making sure that the vocals and backing instruments are in time. They will also tune the voice if needed, as some people now a days will be auto tuned. People might argue that this is lacking the music talent and not the original idea of music industry work. Others may argue and say that it is giving more people a chance. They also talk about creating music with just a computer itself and how this is ruining the definition of music. Maybe we won’t need instrument in the future. But that is another topic.]#

The producer will also eq and compress things after they have finished and they will work together to make sure what sounds well with other things and what maybe doesn’t work so well and either be replaced or just taken out. Producer may also help with the harmonies for the performer and give suggestions on what might make things better. Another person they may work with is a composer or a song writer. The producer however makes the final decision on what the song sounds like when finished. That way they can be sure on a hit.

Performer with manager

A performer and a manager work together because the manager is basically in charge of everything. This will include, tour dates, gigs, who they work with contracts and recording times. Costs of everything. Availability everything you could really think of in the music industry. The manager is the boss. The signer. They work together to make sure the songs are the best they can be and that they are available for certain events going on. They may even have just red carpet events. They may also be added in to a photo shoot for promotion in magazines or websites or even adverts on websites.