Artist Development being a niche ? well hummhh Lemme think

iambase

iambase

@30thJune1986
Having seen in numerous thread people interested about it... But seems to me like it needs to be defined in a clear way.
To me, it is preparing an artist toward mass "deployment".

I am not sure to have a clear idea of it but I know that it was quite an expense for Major labels to the point where they abandoned that pan of their activities. Hence, I believe, producers became the true developers (see the example of Trey Songz and Troy Tailor, btw shoutout to Troy who used to post here).

But as far as I see it, for it not to be a sunk cost most of the times, you would need to charge the artist for its own development, which becomes consulting imo and not really development. Otherwise, I don't see how people are going to be more successful than the Major labels engine at the task.

And after all that, you still need to be a fully accomplished publisher/marketer/promoter or at least have enough contacts to get gigs for your artists, even better if you can have his music published etc etc. Without it, you can let your artist roam the realms of youtube but I think it's like putting a needle in a haysack.

So all in all, my question would be.. if you had an artist, how would you attempt at making him/her successful ?
 
Development is about so much more than youtube, etc.


Think of it as Artist education.


Artists need to understand how the music industry works. They need to understand how things work in the studio. They need to understand HOW to make records, what makes a record good and what makes a record great, how to record (as to not waste thousands of dollars), what's expected of them in the studio, etc.

They need to understand how to do shows, how to cultivate and grow their fan base. They need to know how to give interviews, how to dress etc.

And they need to understand WHAT their sound is. When you first start out as an artist, you emulate other artists until you find YOUR voice. Artist Development helps in ALL of that.


I remember an interview with Tribe Called Quest, and they said back in the 90's, when they first got signed, their A&R used to take them on field trips, like to the Art Museum and shit. That type of "education" by the A&R helped introduce Tribe to that CULTURE, that eventually became an integral part of their music. Q-Tip actually said, that that was a VERY important part of their development of their sound.


So that's what artist development is. And in 2012, it's a very hard sell, because artists think they know it all. They think they are READY RIGHT NOW, in much the same way as a good high school/college player thinks his game is ready for the NBA RIGHT NOW.



I tell my clients that when we're in the studio, I'm doing artist development. I'm imparting nuggets of wisdom in the clients, that they are going to carry with them thru the rest of their careers. I'm teaching them how to record, what elements go into making a song, why we do one thing and not another. It's truly a SCHOOL FOR ARTISTS when they record with me. Because we talk about EVERYTHING from the artist side, to the business side...EVERYTHING.



And that is a very valuable service. Because otherwise, you end up with an artist who makes dope music, but fcuks up in every other area, and thus becomes more of a liability....like Chief Keef.
 
Oh, many thanks for the answer. So you would identify it as being some kind of education service. Sounds right.
Then again, to keep with the analogy, you would need a career center... That's where all the difference is for the regular schooling system and what artist might be interested in, eventually.

That's where I find it difficult for most neophytes to really tap into the artist dev. territory. I see it as having major level (as a corporation) connection with other businesses and industry. Just wondering how can one develop that...
 
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