Slow Week, Fast Learning - #8

October 18, 2021

Because of the PSAT last Wednesday, last week in ISM was a bit of a slow break week. I completed my second interview assessment over my professional interview with Laura and had the opportunity to reflect on some of the main points of the interview during the process. I did my own research on the different sectors of Music Business and realized that I should narrow down my focus to a specific area such as A&R or artist management as Laura suggested in order to gain a deeper understanding of the specific type of career path I might want to go into. I want to make sure which exact sector I am most interested in before officially diving into my original work this week so that I can complete more extensive research on certain detailed topics I will be needing throughout this quarter. As of now, I am leaning a bit towards A&R and marketing. Since I will be making a detailed business plan of a record label for my original work, it would make sense for me to center my attention around business and marketing in the music industry rather than the artistic or the production aspect. I feel like the interview with Laura cleared up a lot of questions I had in my mind about which direction I should be leading my original work on. I was not sure what topics I should be focusing on, or whether I should be looking at Music Business from a general, broad point of view, or focus on the specific aspect of it such as management or publications. Now I have a faint guideline on how I should start my research for my original work, and it makes me feel more relieved at the fact that I am not completely clueless. This week, my goal is to research about the different types of start up businesses and amateur music labels. I want to figure out how to create a backbone of the company with the initial brainstorming process, and how I should incorporate the musical and the artistic factor into the business world. I am excited to get to finally work on my original work as well as how my ideas will transform into reality to match my hopes and dreams.