Al Schlesinger's Experience with A&R's

As a master’s student, I have a foggy direction of where I’m headed in my career. I never came from a musical family, I’m the only one who has an understanding of the music business, and roles within the music industry are not always clearly defined. I found myself searching for answers that the Internet could not begin to supply with just a simple search of terms. I knew I had to go to the professionals for some guidance. When I heard the great Al Schlesinger was arriving on campus to meet with students, I knew that speaking with him would be a great start.

Some background on Schlesinger: He is a music attorney with an emphasis on intellectual property. He served as Chairman and President for the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for two terms. He has also taught music business courses at UCLA and Full Sail University. The accomplishment that I formulated most of my questions around was his experience working as an artist manager and dealing with A&R representatives while managing the group Bread.

Schlesinger revealed that he was practicing law in the 1960’s; he had David Gates (lead singer of Bread) as a client. In 1968, Gates told Schlesinger he wanted to bring some friends over and perform for Schlesinger. After performing, the group wanted Schlesinger as their manager. Schlesinger wasn’t sure if he wanted to accept the offer, but after seeking advice from another attorney, took on the band.

A&R representatives are the people in a label that you have to sell your group’s sound to; in the 1960’s and 1970’s, which was by cassette tape. Schlesinger met with Elektra Records where both he and Bread were impressed with the company, the artwork, and the caring nature the label conveyed. Schlesinger took a three to four demo to Elektra’s headquarters in New York and presented it to their A&R who loved Bread’s sound.

Schlesinger has seen A&R do a complete 360 since the ‘60’s. “A&R started 30-35 years ago,” Schlesinger said. “In the ‘60’s it was about cassette’s, in the ‘70’s disco came along and changed everything. There were no record sales, so A&R’s were getting fired. It became about the live show. A&R’s had to travel to concerts to see if the live show was marketable. They would bring the public relations representative, the marketing representative…it became a company decision. It took six months to a year to sign an act.”

It seems as if the signing process was simpler 30 years ago; acts could be picked up off of a few songs. Now, it’s about the complete package and the value the artist(s) would bring to the company in terms of dollar signs. A&R’s have to be confident in their decisions because the burden of who to sign is no longer as simple as the talent’s sound. Interviewing Schlesinger helped me to see how far the industry has come since the days of Bread, and how A&R’s developed.

When you’re young, you feel invincible. The world has endless opportunities, and you want to try them all. I know that’s how I felt in undergrad. I broke out of my once shy and reserved shell and became a “jack of all trades.” I learned the in’s and out’s of broadcasting, journalism, and public relations. I learned how to manage others in order to pull off a successful live concert. I learned what stress was and maxed it out. I also learned what I was most passionate about; working with artists.

Taking four years of undergrad taught me many things that helped build my resume. In hindsight, it was a fun ride, but redefining goals and narrowing them to what I really want is more important than trying everything. You have to figure out what you want most, such as, in your career. I had no idea until last month. I knew my interests and skills, but I didn’t know where they fit in the music industry. I tried graphics; eh, that was okay, I am proficient at Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. I tried AVID video editing; yeah I can handle that, but it’s boring. I tried writing straight news stories; great articles, but I felt like nobody read them. Live concerts were the only time I was truly excited about working.

So I knew how to narrow my passion based off of feelings, but how else could I figure out what I wanted post graduation? Where did I see myself in five years? What did I want from my career and what path should I take? Mindtools says that setting goals improves short-term motivation (2011). You need motivation in order to achieve your goals that you set in place.

Step 1 of mindtools says that you should set lifetime goals (2011). Basically, this covers all aspects of your life, things that you want to achieve before you die. This is like a brainstormed bucket list that gives you the big picture, spanning many years. A tip mindtools provides is setting a personal mission statement to focus goals (2011). Pick goals that you know you’ll achieve; distinguish what you really want from what you’d like to do. Ask yourself, am I going to make time to pursue this or not? Get serious with yourself. You don’t want an overwhelming list, because you’ll never look at it again if you do.

Step 2 talks about setting smaller goals. Mindtools suggests creating several plans that help you to reach your lifetime goals starting with a five-year plan, then a one-year, six-month, one-month, and lastly a daily goal sheet (2011). Everything should go back toward something you have set forth for yourself in your list of lifetime goals. After you have all of your goals broken down further, don’t forget to review them. Hang them up somewhere you’ll see them. Write them down in places that you’ll know you’ll look at them. If you’re trying to lose weight, hang a goal on the fridge to remind yourself to back off the ice cream. For the long term plans, review them once a month and alter as necessary.

If your goals seem too vague, write them using the SMART method: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time (mindtools, 2011). I want to lose five pounds in four weeks. (Your monthly goal) How will you get there? I will run 20 minutes on the treadmill and eat healthier foods and portions everyday.

Other tips that mindtools provide are make your goals positive, use the SMART method, prioritize from most important to least important, write them down where you’ll see them, stay small because large goals are overwhelming, set action goals you can perform, and make sure you are capable of achieving them (2011).

When the time comes that you’ve achieved your goal, celebrate. Don’t go all wild a crazy, because then you’re more likely to lose all of the progress you’ve made. Instead, give yourself an enjoyable reward that is you way of patting yourself on the back, such as going out with friends to that new movie you wanted to see. But before you move on to the next goal, evaluate the one recently completed.  What went right? What went wrong? Did you achieve the goal in the time period expected? What was successful? What was unsuccessful? What could you have done better? Is this a goal that needs to be maintained (like dieting), how can you maintain it? Looking back at the path taken can help you strengthen future goals.

When I went through my undergrad, I had a vague vision of what I wanted. I was all over the place, skipping from one thing to the next. If I had taken time to focus on what I really wanted to achieve, I would have specialized my talents in one area rather than having a mash-up of skills. It was definitely a learning experience that I don’t regret, but now that I’m older and wiser, I understand how important it is to understand yourself and your goals.

Mindtools. 2011. Personal goal setting. Retrieved from http://www.mindtools.com/page6.html