Hi,

Lately I’ve been thinking about the idea of artist development and how so few in the music industry focus on it anymore. I’ve had multiple conversations with different people recently and we spoke not only about how artist development is missing, but what it actually means (because it feels like such a rarity these days).

I thought it’d be worth focusing this week’s newsletter on the idea.

This newsletter highlights:

• The lost art of artist development

• 10 music industry job roles

Let’s dive in ⬇️

The conversation around the lack of artist development isn’t new or unique to the folks I was speaking with. It’s been a hot topic over the last few years as virality and social media has catapulted artists and in some ways expedited what was once a long timeline to success.

Every single day artists with no experience (or even an assemblance of how the industry works) release music, catch viral moments, and find success building an audience without being fully prepared for it.

The speed at which visibility and exposure happens is faster than ever.

An artist who just started making music can release their first song ever, have it take off, and immediately be exposed to the pressures of being under the spotlight. With so many chasing fast success (streaming success, the viral moment, etc) there are less people than ever focused on true artist development because of how much effort and how long it truly takes.

Artist development is essentially developing skills, an understanding of the industry, and an artist’s career to give oneself the best shot at success.

For the sake of brevity (and being mindful of your time and attention), we can break today’s newsletter down into applying artist development in a few categories.

• A&R

• Branding + creative

• Digital Marketing

• Press

• Live performance

1) A&R:

A&R is the process of creating, refining, and developing an artist’s sound and style. It’s essentially the process of creating the music.

With how fast the internet moves nowadays, so many artists are trying to sound like what’s popular or replicate a trend that’s happening online as opposed to crafting their own sound.

Examples of artist development in A&R can be:

• Vocal coach - hiring a professional to help with breath control, tone, and more

• Collaboration / mentorship from other artists - seeking knowledge and game from other artists in a similiar genre

• Being intentional about working with specific producers to help craft an intentional sound

2) Branding & creative

If we’re being honest, most artists in today’s day & age don’t have a brand or established creative vision. They make music, release it, use digital marketing to try and promote it, and hope it takes off.

For those who are fortunate enough to find that success and have songs gain notoriety, most of those artists are defined by just that song - there’s no actual brand behind it which is why so many come and go these days.

So, what does artist development with branding & creative look like?

One tactical exercise is building a Style Guide or Brand Deck - a style guide is a document that helps communicate an artist’s visual identity. It’s essentially their brand bible and shows how they envision their visual brand.

Style guides can have the artist logo, preferred fonts that the artist would like to use any time there’s text in their branding (show flyers, music videos, etc), examples of photos they feel like represent their brand, words that define the brand, and more.

It’s essentially giving context to what the brand is about. Normally living as a PDF, it’s something the artists and their teams can reference themselves but also share externally with other creatives as they collaborate on projects.

How can you build a brand if you don’t even know what the foundation or pillars of that brand are?

Having a style guide or brand deck can help establish your brand make it feel cohesive.

3) Digital Marketing

With how fast the internet moves, it’s so easy to want to avoid the process of actually learning and understanding how platforms work and just rushing to try and post as much as possible.

Artist development in digital marketing can simply be taking a moment of pause and understanding how your brand will be communicated online.

What will your social media presence say about you and your brand?

Are you super forward facing? Mysterious? Do all of your photos and video have a similiar aesthetic? Developing your social media presence is more than just posting.

It’s taking a moment of pause to:

a) understand how the platforms work

b) define how you want to present yourself on those platforms

c) find where your fans live on those platforms

d) think about how to develop a strategy that works for you

e) research & learn what other artists are doing / finding success in that you may be able to replicate

4) Press

I almost never hear anyone talking about this idea anymore but media training is still a thing! Media training is literally a skill and an art.

The ability to communicate effectively to members of the press, online outlets, and those of influence who may potentially cover your music.

When looking at the idea of media training holistically, couldn’t almost every artist benefit from learning how to communicate in a way they feel comfortable with? Those are skills that will help them in every stage of their career.

With so much of an artist’s presence being online nowadays, even if they’re not doing formal interviews with traditional press outlets, media training can still be helpful…

• What topics to talk about and avoid.

• How to switch subjects on something you’re not comfortable talking about.

• Controlling your nerves (if you get nervous) and how to approach anxiety in interviews.

If you can’t afford professional media training, YouTube is always a solid resource to pick up some free game.

5) Performing

I recently spoke to a good friend of mine who shared how an artist he’s working with prepared for an upcoming show.

They rehearsed many times and over the course of those rehearsals, they noticed and implemented small 1% changes to the performance that eventually saw a night and day difference between when the artist started rehearsing and the show itself.

My friend realized afterward that those small improvements were artist development happening in real time.

He was watching the set improve each time - instead of just throwing the artist on stage and hoping it goes well, they were intentional and mechanical about improving the show.

Artists development in performing can look like:

• Rehearsing for a show

• Practicing breath control

• Paying attention to the synergy / dynamic between the artist and DJ

• Body movements on stage

• Controlling nerves

• Practicing eye contact with the crowd

All of these small things contribute to the overall process of developing an artist.

The K-pop genre is known for its intentional and in-depth artist development process. Artists sometimes go years before ever releasing a song because they spend so much time being developed - getting a sense of their vision and brand, practicing, crafting their sound, etc.

Not every artist needs to follow the depth of that model but artist development in whatever areas are applicable and make sense are important.

Phew. Okay, end of rant. Those are some examples of what artist development means to me - what does it mean to you?

How are you implementing it with the artists that you work with? I’d love for you to reply to this email and let me know.

Thanks for reading, until next time.

_{Music industry job opportunities}

1) Assistant to the Creative VP, Live Action Film - LAIKA Studios

Salary: Unlisted

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Apply HERE

2) Marketing Coordinator - Rostrum Records

Salary: Unlisted

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Apply HERE

3) Manager, Rock Marketing - BMG US

Salary: $70,000 - $78,000

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Apply HERE

4) Junior Manager, Viral Marketing - Warner Music Group

Salary: $68,600

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Apply HERE

5) Creative Music Strategy, Licensing & Standards Internship - Paramount

Salary - $20 Hourly

Location: New York, NY; Hollywood, CA; Los Angeles, CA

Apply HERE

6) Label Relations Manager, Country Music Genre, Music Industry - Amazon Music

Salary: Unlisted

Location: Nashville, TN

Apply HERE

7) Artist Management Intern - Fractal

Salary: College Credit

Location: Los Angeles, CA 

Apply HERE

8) Tour Marketing - High Road Touring

Salary: Unlisted

Location: Brooklyn, NY Sausalito, CA & Austin, TX

Apply HERE

9) Spring 2025 Emerging Talent Program (Central Functions) - Warner Music Group

Salary: $16.50 - $17.28 Hourly

Location: New York, NY; Nashville, TN; Los Angeles, CA

Apply HERE

10) Head of Artist Relations + Entertainment - Yondr

Salary: Unlisted

Location: Mar Vista, CA 

Apply HERE