The Miss E Of Worlds Most Hated (E's for Eerie, not Elated)

Okay, okay. I know I've been AWOL. I've been sooooooo busy lately. I'm sorry. :(

So, I got a message from a young lady named Olivia on myspace with some questions about work and school but myspace won't let me message her back since she's not on my friends list. So, I'm writing this, hoping she'll see it and hoping that it'll help out some of you guys as well.

Her first question was "did you have any experience in the music industry before you went to college?" The answer is yes, but not in the field I wanted to go into. I was a DJ and then the Music/Broadcast director of my high school radio station and the Promotions Director of my friend's record label. This gave me some basic experience dealing with bands and other professionals in the industry but the flat reality of the situation was that I was the Promotions Director because I babysat for the head of our local rock radio station and never reached out to any other radio stations besides that one. My "job", such as it was, was mostly putting together press kits and putting up flyers for shows. My high school radio station had a broadcast area of about 3 feet and my show was listened to solely by my friends, if they could pick it up. As Music/Broadcast director, I was mostly sending press kits to record labels to get free CDs and cataloging what CDs we had. Because it was a high school club, we were more focused on meetings and fund raisers and not really imitating what a commercial radio station does. So I had a little experience but nothing that accurately reflected what real life at either a record label or radio station is like.

But that is the point of college. You don't have to have any experience in the field you've chosen before entering. It sure helps, I won't lie, but if you go to a good school and work hard then they should teach you all you need to know. The key is going to a good school - make sure you find the best program you can possibly attend. Try looking up the school you want to go to on MySpace and messaging kids who are juniors and seniors there. (Or close to completion if it isn't a 4 year school.) Ask them how they found the school. Did they learn a lot? Do they feel prepared for work in this field after graduation? Who are good professors? The worst that can happen is they don't help you out but hopefully someone will be nice and give you helpful feedback.

I do strongly encourage people to do whatever they can, as early as they can. Just street teaming for a label or helping local bands in your area haul amps and hawk tshirts really does translate in the long run. I really, really encourage you all to get involved in your local music scene - no matter how much it sucks. Getting to see what bands starting out go through, what goes on behind the scenes at a venue, etc can help give you some basic knowledge of what you're getting into. Plus, you never know if that crappy band playing your backyard will end up super successful by the time you graduate college.

Olivia also asked me about Tour Managing and if you want to TM, you pretty much HAVE to get involved with your local music scene now. Almost everyone I've talked to in the touring world started out selling tshirts for their sister's boyfriends cousin's friend's terrible band and moved on from there. Olivia is 18, which is pretty young. But then again, Jack Marin TMed for Panic!At the Disco at 17 because he was their friend and they trusted him. So, its possible. Its still a long shot, I'll tell you honestly, that you'll be TMing a band that big but its certainly possible to work for a smaller band you a friends with. The real restriction on age is your maturity and capability. If you can batten down the hatches and work without starting drama or crumbling under pressure then you should be fine. People may mistrust you and doubt your abilities but you just have to work that much harder. People will doubt you because you're a girl or because you're this race or that height or whatever. People will always find reasons to doubt you and try to detract from your talent. Don't listen to them. Just work to the best of your abilities and let what you can do speak for itself. Some people will come around. Some won't. Don't worry about them. Worry about doing your job.

However, Olivia, like some of you, lives on "a rock in the middle of the ocean with no source of music but the internet." If this is true and there reeeeeeeally isn't a local music scene or one close enough that you can get to it, just wait it out. You don't have to do anything before college. It really helps but, like I said above, if you're planning on going to school, they should train you in everything you need to know. When you go away to school, try to get involved in the scene then. But your best bet for securing a job and some connections that can help you is interning. Intern, intern, intern, intern. And don't just take whatever your school throws at you. If your school doesn't have connections to the studios/labels/etc that you want to work for, try sending a letter to these places yourself. Again, the worst they can say is no.

And the last question she asked was how to convince her father to let her pursue this career, which he thinks is nothing but drugs and groupies. Please! That is so 1980s! The best thing you all can do to convince your parents of anything is be mature. Get good grades in school, don't get into trouble, don't scream at them when you disagree... treat your parents like adults and maybe they'll start treating you like one. Once they see you are an educated, mature, responsible person than maybe they'll give a little.

Also, do your homework - not just in school. Get to know the industry you're going into as much as you can now. Read Everything You Need To Know About The Music Business by Donald S Passman. I recommend this every time because its the best book, written in simple language, about the industry there is. From there, go to your local bookstore and pick up other books about the field that interests you. Subscribe to Billboards email list. (A magazine subscription is $300 but the email will give you some daily topics that are happening in the industry.) Don't just read AP. If you're interested in studio engineering, pick up Mix magazine too. If you want to TM, Live Sound. Go to your local Barnes N Nobles (or whatever) and look through the music section for the industry-targeted magazines. After all this, you may find out you hate the industry and don't want to do it after all.

Then, armed with your new knowledge, ask your parents for a serious conversation. Explain to them what you've learned and why you want to work in the industry. Tell them how the industry works, from labels to publishing to recording to touring to radio, etc. Let them see how serious and studious you are about this business. And explain to them that if this industry was just drugs and whores, we wouldn't be able to hold down a multibillion dollar machine that employs hundreds of thousands of people and is the driving force for culture. As much as this is the "entertainment industry", there is nothing entertaining about putting millions of dollars into a project that may or may not succeed based on the whim of a fickle public. Jim Morrision may have been able to drink and do drugs until he was, literally, blue in the face but I'm sure his management and label owners had a liiiiiiiiiiittle more on their plates than cocaine. (This isn't to say the music industry is clean and sober - far from it. But your local high school probably has the same amount of drug use or higher than the industry. And if you leave musicians out of this equation, we probably only have grade school level drug use. However, you probably don't need to mention to your parents that Miss E said drugs are rampant in schools today. They'll just yank you out of school all together.)

At the end of the day, your parents have to trust and respect you. But you have to earn this. Like I said above, you gotta prove to them you're not just their baby who needs  them to change their diapers. You have to prove you're grown up, you're smart, you're motivated, and you know what the hell you're talking about. This *should* work on 90% of parents.

So, Olivia, I really hope you read this and it answers your questions and concerns. Remember, there are people that quit their graphic design job and got into the music industry at 35 with NO experience or connections or anything who just up and went to school, got and internship, and pushed on. (Jonathon Rinella) There are people who never went to school, who just started working with their band at 16 in their parents basement and eventually became a multi-grammy winning mixer. (Ben Grosse and Jay Baumgardner.) There are people who started out as mail room workers at a big record label and are now the president. (Points to whomever knows who this is.) People come from all walks of life. Its all luck, timing, talent. Luck and timing will get you a gig. Talent will let you keep it.

Best of luck to you all.

- Miss E