11 years ago was my first day of my internship in A&R at Warner Music Group, here are 5 things I learned during college internships in the Music Industry.
(And yes, I picked up the kind of drugs that you have to show your ID to the pharmacist for at CVS. A band was in a recording session and the lead singer was sick and needed the good stuff.)
1) Listen to every conversation you can. If you're allowed, sit in on meetings (quietly) and listen in on phone calls. Take notes and, after, find a time with your supervisor to ask questions about it.
2) Read every email, contract, etc. that comes across your desk. I primarily did this when I worked at WME | William Morris Endeavor, but this is what helped me get comfortable understanding key terms of contracts and how they're negotiated.
3) If you don't have an assigned project, look out for opportunities to add value (and, in most cases you're supporting an assistant or coordinator, so ask them!) As an intern, some projects that I came up with along with the assistants I supported included: organizing cabinets of CDs (guess that wasn't helpful long term...but I got to take home whatever I wanted!), started an industry newsletter for the office (Noah Simon suggested this to me), and listened to demos and flagged the ones that were worth a closer listen and why.
4) Say yes! Even if something seems boring, like making copies for a meeting, it's important to immerse yourself in that office and get a better idea of what it might look like to be an entry-level employee there. Most major internship programs now will give you plenty of interesting projects, but any internship is what you make of it.
5) Talk to people outside of your immediate department. This is a great way to build relationships that might turn into future internships or jobs (your department won't always have an opening when you graduate!). Additionally, you can learn lots about other divisions and what they do and possibly find a dream role you never knew existed!
What did you learn as an intern?
#internship #intern #musicindustry #college
Fractional Product Manager, Data Analyst, & Marketing Strategist | Singer/Songwriter, Music Producer, Aspiring Composer | Founder | Tech & Education Enthusiast | Friend of the Guild | Metaverse Maven l DE&I Champion
2moI would have been interested if it was fully remote