Artists and repertoire

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"A&R" redirects here. For other uses, see A&R (disambiguation).

Artists and repertoire (or A&R for short) is the division of a

recording artists and songwriters.[1]
It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label or publishing company. Every activity involving artists to the point of album release is generally considered under the purview and responsibility of A&R.

Responsibilities

Finding talent

The A&R division of a record label is responsible for finding new

record producers.[2]

An A&R executive is authorized to offer a

manager and the record company.[3]

A&R executives rely mostly on the

demo tapes.[4] They also tend to favor the bands that play in the same city as the record label's offices.[4]

Overseeing the recording process

The A&R division of a record label oversees the music style and

music publishing companies
to get new songs and material from songwriters and producers.

As the record nears completion, the A&R department works closely with the artist to determine whether the record is acceptable to the record company. This process may include suggesting that new songs need to be written, that existing songs need a new arrangement, or that some album tracks need to be re-recorded. A key issue is whether the album has a single – a particular track which can be used to market the record.

Assisting with marketing and promotion

Once the record is completed, the A&R department consults with marketing, promotion, the artist and their management to choose one or more singles to help promote the record.

History and influence

The tastes of particular A&R executives have influenced the course of music history. A&R man

John Hammond discovered Billie Holiday, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin and Bruce Springsteen. Hammond's colleagues were initially skeptical of these artists because none of them appeared to be creating "commercial" music. Hammond's instincts proved to be correct, and these artists went on to sell hundreds of millions of records.[5] Gary Gersh signed the band Nirvana to David Geffen's DGC Records at a time when alternative rock music was not considered commercial.[6] Gersh was able to convince his co-workers to push the record in spite of their misgivings.[7]
In cases like these, A&R people have radically changed the direction of popular musical tastes and introduced large numbers of people to new sounds.

This kind of prescience is the exception rather than the rule. Historically, A&R executives have tended to sign new artists who fit into recent trends and who resemble acts that are currently successful. For example, Columbia Records' A&R man in the 1950s, Mitch Miller, favored traditional pop singers like Guy Mitchell and Patti Page, and rejected early rock-'n'-rollers Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly.

This "trend following" mindset has generated several waves of narrowly defined genres, leading to a perception of triteness, including

Thriller finally brought the public back into record stores in large numbers.[8]

The general move towards more conservative and business-minded signings from the 1980s onwards is seen to be symptomatic of an industry where the most powerful figures are no longer music fans or people with musical backgrounds, but are business executives, a group largely composed of individuals with uniform backgrounds. Traditionally A&R executives were composers, arrangers and producers – Atlantic Records's heads Jerry Wexler and Ahmet Ertegun were producers and composers respectively – but an A&R with musical ability and knowledge has become a rarity, with Ron Fair and Martin Kierszenbaum being notable recent exceptions.[9] The composer and arranger Richard Niles has said,

What you've got now is huge multinational companies where most of their A&R staff are businessmen. They're people who look at music from the standpoint of marketing, not from the standpoint of music and talent. They will say, "Go out and get me anything that's popular now."[9]

Hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan referenced this stereotype of the business-minded A&R executive in their single "Protect Ya Neck", metaphorically likening them to "mountain climbers".[10][11]

Regional variations

According to

Rhythm King Records and Lizard King Records founder Martin Heath, the A&R community in the UK is more integrated than it is in the US, being very London-centric and encompassing a relatively small number of people.[12] "If scouts are chasing a band, you'll see the same thirty people in one room. You get a herd mentality in the UK, but also some very diverse signings as well," he said in an interview with HitQuarters.[12] Heath believes that in the US it is more typical for A&R to wait until a band is established – having attracted other offers or achieved a level of sales – before taking action, a technique which often works out as being more expensive.[12]

2000s changes

See also: 2000s in the music industry

New forms of

declining record sales, many A&R staffers have been terminated.[14]

See also

Citations

  1. ISBN 0-141-00646-3
    .
  2. ^ a b Albini 1993.
  3. ISBN 0-8230-7729-2
  4. ^ a b Weissman 2003, p. 25.
  5. ^ Prial 2006.
  6. ^ Shoemer 1992.
  7. ^ Goldberg 2009, p. 179-180.
  8. ^ Disco boom: Knopper (2009, pp. 15–35). Teen pop boom: Knopper (2009). Knopper discusses the way the industry has overreacted to these waves throughout his book.
  9. ^ a b Bouwman, Kimbel (23 April 2007). "Interview with Richard Niles". HitQuarters. Archived from the original on 29 March 2012. Retrieved 17 November 2010.
  10. ^ Watson, Richard (26 November 2014). "Wu-Tang Clan: 10 of the best". The Guardian.
  11. ^ Weiss, Jeff (19 December 2007). "Wu-Tang Clan Still Sting". LA Weekly.
  12. ^ a b c Bouwman, Kimbel (12 December 2005). "Interview With Martin Heath". HitQuarters. Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
  13. ^ Kusek & Leonhard 2005.
  14. ^ Knopper 2009, pp. 220–221.

References

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