For this first week, I spent understanding the skills what I would need to use and then to be employed in the music industry sector. One of the first things which we did was to look at things such as having an online presence as this can be a very sharp handy tool when used effectively but could also could be a massive hold back as well. We did a simple test which is to look ourselves up online and see what it comes up with.
I was pleased with the results in which came up with the search for my self as it brought up very little information.
Week 2
For this week I looked more in-depth in the skills which I may possess and which skills which I will need to improve at so that to improve my chances in getting a job within the sector of work. I started to fill in the document to see the areas in which I could improve:
The first main areas which I could improve on would be the rate in which I work and work better in a group situation. I plan to look back at the skills audit on weekly/bi-Weekly process to self-addressed any personal achievements in areas of improvement.
I also looked into the benefits of starting a Professional mailing list as, to where I can put a list of existing and future contacts. I have started this by filling it.
Week 3
This week I tried to focus more on what I wanted to take this blog doing and discuss the current ideas my plans are to develop my skills the events management areas this is something which I have been really interested in and have not got any background experience within. By doing this project I feel like it will increase my organisation skills, especially when it comes to deadlines, which I highlighted as a point for improvement in my skills audit.
Week 4
This week I looked more into future job roles in which I might wanna consider the music industry, this will come in handy when it comes to writing my 4-year plan in which I will develop, to help me get a clear understanding where i want to see my self in a few years. Some of the job roles which i had looked up was, audio engineer salary which came in around 25,000 Pounds a year as the average for the market.
Pay scale , P.S. (2019) Average Audio Engineer Salary in United Kingdom. [Online] Available from: https://www.payscale.com/research/UK/Job=Audio_Engineer/Salary [accessed 13 December 2019].
Week 5
For this week I was looking into the laws which we have to take into consideration in the industry. For this, I looked at things such as prs ppl and the laws surrounding around copyright. I then went on to write a legalities statement which I would use as a document in employment and freelance/contract work. I also add some existing knowledge around the laws, of entertainment and what to do when applying for temporary event notices.
Week 6
This week I went on a lecture trip to super audio mastering in Chagford this was a very good experience in which I had met industry professionals their this gave me an insight into what it is like to work at a mastering studio.
Some of the things which I learnt whilst visiting was that;
- Having a studio facility like that is rare for the south-west of England
- There is not the income in the industry like there use to be for mastering
This can be because there is most openly available software to do the mastering process, leading to a decline in the use of mastering houses.
After doing the trip it gave me a lot to think about the role in which the mastering engineer plays in today industry. An how that might need to evolve in the future. I feel like the way in which it is going is that in mainstream mass-produced music the role in will stay on a similar level. But when moving to lower levels in the sector I feel like the role of the mix and the mastering engineer could be formed into one. This would cause some implications but I personally feel like it could head in the future.
Week 7
This week I looked at marketing more and things as to what I need to consider on a personal level. I feel like branding will be a big part of marketing. The following reasons can be because,
- Branding can become very important and rememberable to the service/ product given
- It is important to Make sure that the brand is advertised in the right place
Places can be such as social media, (facebook, twitter) websites and streaming platforms.
Different types of marketing will come in handy depending on the different things which I would be doing.
For example-
- A producer of music will find the use of Facebook go as a platform for the branding of there self but will use of streaming platforms such as YouTube etc to broadcast their music and promote it through Facebook
- If it were for an event production company the type of marketing would be more predominant would be Facebook, and social networks, this is because they would be trying to advertise their events more than promoting work of music.
Week 8
This week I looked at the job role of an artist manager. Bellow, I listed in a small diagram some of the jobs which an artist manager may have to take on. By learning all the different tasks which an artist manager takes on it has shown me that it can be a very stressful job.
I then looked at my skills audit and look at the skills which I would have to improve to become an artist manager. The main ones where.
- My organisation skills
- Networking skills
- Time management
- Reliability
- Working deadlines / Under pressure
- Prioritising tasks
- Maintaining objective and dealing with problems
- Phone communication
Week 9
This week i looked more into the types of contracts in which you would find working in the industry along with other elements i ofund this a very good insght into how employment dose work in the inustry.
This week i also started to do some more industry based work this consisting of going in to help with the construction of a new community studio for this was helping building the sound proofing for the room which therefore expanded my knolage on acoustics and setting up recording environments.
Week 10
This week I carried on doing my more industry based work which I had started in the previous week. I started by continuing as what i had done the previous week where by helping with the sound proofing but then went on to putting elements of hardware and analogue equipment into racks. This was something which I have never done before, so at first gave me loads of new factors to think about on the topic. I feel like by carrying out this activity i now have gained a better understanding on how things such as the wiring behind the board works along with the use of the patch bay.
Final blog post
Through the process of learning over the last few weeks I would evaluate it as a whole very successful. But at the same time there is still loads of room for improvement but I have successfully identified these areas, by completing things such as the skills audit and swot analysis. I have then came up with some methods on how to tackle them. But i feel like i could have done this more effectively. Other things which i could have possibly done better is to track my progress more so that I can adjust the progress what im making better. I could have spent more time looking into industry roles and the other opportunities which are out their so i could factor in any more opportunities in the shorter to the longer term to sucre more successful work diverse career. The opportunities which in reflection i would like to open up to myself more would be composition based. This being that i want to improve the very little knowledge and experience of what I have got in this part of the industry. I was quite happy with the research in which I did into the making of my professional legalities document. I had included a lot of my existing knowledge of certain parts of law regarding parts of the industry which I would like to explore at a later date whilst also finding out new stuff as well. I would’ve liked to have personally done more research into future recruitment into the industry and then go forth with this knowledge. Looking at things such as the musicians union or the bectu union. I could also set up a linkedin profile in the duration of the project as well to help start building contacts through their, I also feel that my contacts document i could have filled up more and added more contacts into it which I might think will come in handy. But have got a full understanding on how these steps can help me and therefore can start implementing them in the future. I can also add more short term plans to my 4 year development plan as i think these will all add up as small differences at which point will probably for fill my idea that small things earlier on in my development will help me achieve my 4 year goal quicker. Overall i would say that the industry based work in which i have just started is going to help expand my knowledge vastly and therefore improve my chances of employability. It has enabled me to start developing skills which I highlighted in my skills audit and develop new ones which I did not expect to.
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