How to get into the music industry

Hi,

One of the questions that I receive the most is how people can get their foot in the door of the music industry. I get this question fairly often from those in college looking for internships, folks in different industries looking to make the jump into music, and various other situations.

It’s a great question - from the outside looking in, the music industry can be daunting, confusing, and even overwhelming at times.

So…how does one get started? Part of what makes it feel overwhelming is that there’s no clear, one path however that’s also part of the beauty - people can create and take many different paths to get their start.

I thought it’d be worthwhile to share a few tips and suggestions…

This newsletter highlights:

• How to get into the music industry today

Let’s dive in ⬇️

Before jumping into these recommendations and suggestions, I thought it’d be worth giving some context and sharing how I got into the industry myself.

I graduated college in 2012 and upon graduating, I was looking for the first job I could find.

Literally!

I had graduated at a time when the job market wasn’t as strong as it had been in previous years and it was suggested to myself and my peers to just join the workforce, take something to get some income, and be grateful for it.

Shortly upon graduating I landed in real estate - I was working as a marketing / administrative assistant to a realtor in the Northern, NJ area. While I didn’t necessarily love real estate or have a passion for it, I needed a job and that took precedence.

Over the two years that ensued, I learned a ton - I wasn’t aware of it at the time but I was actually learning skills that would help me in my career within the music industry and that are pretty much applicable to almost any role. For example:

• Networking / interfacing with people - real estate is in many respects a people business. As a realtor, you’re interfacing with clients, attorneys, contractors, those in construction, lenders, bankers, and more. I learned quickly the importance of building and maintaining relationships.

• Project management - I was helping to oversee the administrative and marketing responsibilities of properties from start to finish. I learned how to manage a project from beginning to end, implementing systems, attention to detail, & more.

While the above two things were certainly valuable, one of the biggest things I learned during those 2 years is what it takes to be a high performer.

The specific realtor I was working for happened to be one of the most successful in the entire state and his year over year growth was explosive - he doubled, then tripled, then quadrupled his growth in the first few years.

For lack of a better term, he literally grinded his face off lol. I witnessed a lot of 8am-1am work days, sacrifice, and outright hustle. I watched as he lapped his peers and started setting records.

Learning all of these things was great but I knew I wanted to work in music - the real estate gig was just to pay the bills. On the side, I was doing whatever I could to build relationships and try to crack open the door in music.

In the early days of working in real estate I worked 7 days a week - 4 days a week part time in real estate and 3 days interning for an independent record label in New York City.

On the side, I started writing for a now defunct hip-hop blog. I remember being enamored and blown away at the chance to actually speak to, interview, and work with artists as a result of the connections writing for that website gave me.

I built up some decent connections and one day in 2014, did cold outreach to the record label that would end up hiring me. This past summer, while reflecting on my 10 years in music, I found those early emails and saw I had followed up like crazy. In some cases I followed up 2-3 times until I got an answer. That helped progress the conversation and once I got in the door, have been fortunate to have a career in music 10 years later.

I share this story because it highlights what is so easy to lose track of while finding your footing - that the journey isn’t linear. There isn’t a singular entry point that everyone has to follow in order to get your foot in the door.

The above also isn’t meant to harp on my personal story (I literally hate talking about myself lol) but moreso meant to illustrate and show that opportunities can come from anywhere, you need to create them yourself, and persistence is key.

Okay so…now that that rant is out of the way, here are some tangible tips for getting your foot in the door today. Before I do though…