A1 Professional identities within the music industry

 

Leon Place

When I first got into music, I was 14 years old, and it was at home when my dad was listening to pink Floyd and my chemical romance. I asked for a guitar for Christmas later that year. I got the guitar I asked for and then the first lockdown in 2020 started so I tried to teach myself to play guitar and it worked I started getting better by teaching myself how to play and research online about playing guitar. My influences for being a musician are Tony Iommi, Kurt Cobain and Steve Vai. I plan on becoming the guitarist in a band for a solo musician and producing music.

 

Professional identity

A professional identity is when a musician makes another identity and personality for on stage performances. A good example of this is Freddie Mercury, originally born as Forrokh Bulsara, he changed his name to Freddie Mercury during his career in the rock band Queen. To investigate this more I'm going to look at the following guitarists.

 

Tony Iommi

Job role:  

Tony Iommi is the guitarist of the heavy metal band black sabbath  

Tony Iommi began his music career in 1964 when he joined the blues/rock band the Rockin’ Chevorlets which lasted until 1964 Before joining more bands and eventually joining Black Sabbath.

Tony Iommi already had skills when playing guitar as he had already had lessons when he was younger, so he had experience in playing the instrument.  

When Tony Iommi joined his first band, he was only playing gigs at pubs, so he wasn’t a professional musician selling albums and touring.

 

Professional roles and responsibilities

The three main responsibilities of being a musician are training regularly to keep skills to a high standard and turn up to rehearsals on time. Another responsibility is looking after your instrument. This also includes vocals for singers. Being able to learn new songs quickly for upcoming gigs is also another responsibility.  

I am not a composer, but I do know the main responsibilities for any songwriters or composers. Keeping to a deadline is very important when being a songwriter or a composer because if you are writing music for a band, they will need a specific date for the music to be written before their next upcoming gig. A way to hand in the composition faster is working with the performer or band to make sure that it is at their level of performing. Keeping up to date with deadlines would also be important if you were writing music for TV shows or special events such as a coronation. These would need a very specific date to hand the music in on time with so keeping up with the deadline would be best.  

Being a musical director come with a lot of responsibilities as you are in control of the artists creativities, you also give them responsibilities. Communication is a huge responsibility in being a musical director, talk to the performers/band and give clear instructions so they know what they are doing. Giving ideas to the performers would also help as it gets the composed piece of music mastered faster. Another responsibility is scheduling rehearsals so the performer or band can practice.   

Sound engineers have a very important role in gigs, shows and movies. It is their job to maintain the equipment to keep them in top condition. They must use suitable microphones and equipment for the bands to make sure they have a great performance. They also must rig and de rig microphones, set up the equipment and soundcheck them to make sure the performers are happy. Throughout the whole show, sound engineers must operate the desk throughout the entirety of the show or gig to maintain the quality of the equipment for the performance.  

Roadies are one of the most important people for gig equipment. Roadies drive the equipment from A to B and then carry it into the venue or wherever the gig/concert is located. Then they must set up the equipment before the start of the show. Maintaining the equipment and stage lights is another task they must make sure they complete by the end of the show. At the end of the show, they have to pack away at the end then relocate everything back into the van.   

 

Key attributes for the jobs investigated this week:

Reliability

Experience  

Personality

Knowledge

 

The main points I have learned today are that the main responsibilities of being a musician are time management and getting to gigs and rehearsals on time, practicing daily or as often as you can.  

 

PR= Public Relations  

Promote the career and keep the artist profile high and front of mind  

Work with the artists label and the media to get the best press reviews, they may even sort out interviews  

Decided with the help of the artist and the artist management how they want to be perceived in the industry

 Booking agency   

They work with a band and some work with venues that they supply acts to. The venue will be booked by the booking agency and if you have a manger they will pay out of his fee. They take care of financial and logistic requirements such as a tour. They will contact promoters and venues to pitch the bands and agree on performance dates. The booking agency will arrange contracts to guarantee you will get paid. They will have arrangements to discuss how much you will get paid. Once you get half of your fee you pay it to the booking agency and then they will arrange for you to get the other half of your fee before you preform.

 

A&R (Artists and Repertoire)

 You have people who work independently in a record company. They will be looking for artists to help with their career and try and get them a label. Instead of working for one record company, they are interested in taking you on to a record company for a flat fee or for the percentage that the artist makes.

 

Skills analysis

A skills analysis gives you the chance to assess your current skillset and your evidence of that skill. It also helps you plan out what skills you need to develop and how to achieve it.

What is a swot report

SWOT report

Strengths- Learning chords

                    Working in a group

                    Quick at learning songs

Weaknesses- Keeping up with the rest of the band

Opportunities- Playing at gigs

Threats- Distractions from home

                 Being ill

                 Being idle