A&R interview

Jeff Fenster A&R Jive Records

My name is Jeff Fenster, I am senior VP of a&r at Jive Records. I have been in the music business for 25 years. In various capacities both as a music lawyer and for the last 16 years as an a&r person. A&R is a term the derived from the 50s early sixties and means artist and repertoire and it came about because the people that were the talent scouts at that time were not just signing artists but were also finding them songs. The concept of artists writing their own material is a new thing. The a&r were like scouts for a baseball team, through out all genres especially in the pop genres. The a&r were also responsible for finding songs in all genres there are artists that don’t write their own material, they either don’t write or contribute a little bit. Very often producers will help artists with songs.

Hip hop and rock artists usually write their own music. The concept of artists writing their own material is a new thing. The a&r people were responsible for finding songs for artists that don’t write their own material. Take the American idol winners for example they don’t write their own material. In the pop arena you have a lot of artists that don’t write. A lot of the time producers are involved in writing some pop hits. People now think that you have to write your own songs to be a real artist. The a&r at times finds the write producer for a certain project. Multiple producers are very common in all music genres. People are looking for hits and the more successful producers you work with the better chance you have to get a hit. It’s possible that you’re a&r will leave you at some time in your career. Some a&r reps are signing artists that are not in their range but think they can bring something to the table. We have a&r meetings where today could be in a hip hop meeting and next week can be in a pop a&r meeting. Most A&R people will be at both meetings. Some a&r reps may stick to a certain genre and you as an a&r may become type cast because of the music that you work with.

What does it take to get signed

When I get demos through the mail they may catch my attention, a lot of the time I track down music artists. Some companies have specific a&r departments that’s job is to check MySpace or you tube. I’m getting sent links all the time now from people on MySpace music. Most of the time with bands its better to be on an independent label before they are signed by a major at the appropriate time. Record companies that I worked for even Jive before it was a major label the plan is to start a campaign, but if that is not the artists plan they may not need a major record label. You may have a better idea of how to market your own music and become executives for example Jay Z runs Def Jam. A lot of artists are entrepreneurial and understand the business. For artists to invest in their music have to ask themselves what people are going to be listening to music on. More and more people are listening to music on their phones computers and iPods. People are getting less interested in albums and buying singles not albums.

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