Blog 6: CEO for a Day

‘stache media is a very well established and well-regarded company who run a very smooth operation. Most of the promotion campaigns we worked on were done online utilizing social media outlets to advertise each artist. I enjoyed these campaigns as it gave each intern freedom to develop there own branding and develop cool content we believed would be successful. The other advertisement campaigns we worked on were physical marketing distribution using different promotion tools to pass out on campus. If I was the CEO for a Day, and had the opportunity to change one specific thing, it would be to allow the interns to create and help contribute to the physical marketing tools. As an intern, when working on hand-to-hand distribution, we are given exact tools to circulate around campus. As CEO, I would want the interns to actually help develop the supplies as the interns are the students who are passing out the materials and they understand what creates excitement and what does not. As the main customers, they know what is most appealing.

I really enjoyed my internship at ‘stache and I truly learned a lot. Each week was really cool for me because we basically had to create marketing campaign for each artist we were assigned. It was really exciting to actually learn what it takes to market an artist, and I enjoyed having freedom to get creative.

Blog 5: Looking Back/Overall Insight

To be honest, most of my education at school hasn’t played much of a role, but my time and experiences at U of M have helped me prepare for my internship this semester. I have not applied specific classroom knowledge to tasks I need to accomplish during my internship, although U of M did force me to change my habits to work harder and finish assignments quicker along with becoming better at time management. Minoring in business at Ross, on the other hand, has allowed me to understand financials and the economics of a business more, which has been helpful throughout my internship as it has given me more of an overall understanding of a running a business and the numbers behind sales.

Interning at ‘stache media, I constantly have to market and promote the artists signed to RED Distribution under Sony Music Entertainment. My three and a half years at U of M have helped increase my knowledge of social media sites and other outlets to advertise musicians – directly correlating to my internship position. Also, by talking with friends about music, and joining clubs around campus, I learned a lot more about the music industry than I did before. My role as Talent Buyer for Big Ticket Productions (a student run organization that puts on concerts for students at U of M) has been very informative.

I personally have not been surprised by any of the events or situations I encountered. At the beginning of the internship, we were given an overall internship guideline packet and had an orientation phone call. During this call, we thoroughly went over everything listed in the packet allowing each intern to fully understand their responsibilities and assignments. Before I started working on anything I understood what I would be doing and therefore never dealt with anything surprising.

Blog 4: Changing Perspectives

With a remote internship, it is difficult to get a detailed first hand understanding of a company’s culture/environment. Therefore, my encounters with ‘stache media’s culture has not changed since my first blog post. Some new observations I have made are realizing how hard my supervisor works and how big of a workload she has. I do not know the exact number of interns, but I know it is somewhere between fifty to 100 people. Her job is not only to keep us informed, and run the weekly phone call, but she also has to answer all of our questions and provide us with a clear weekly assignment sheet.

My preconceived notions have slightly changed. I now have a greater appreciation for my supervisor as I have a stronger understanding of what she has to do on a week-to-week basis. There is a lot of volume she has to handle, from talking to numerous labels, managers, and artists to summarizing what they need to us. The Google doc we all share is a great platform to assign tasks and having us submit through box is a great system to see our assignments.

I think the culture at ‘stache media is great and it seems like an enjoyable environment to work. I am excited to hopefully meet with my supervisor and other employees when I visit the office in New York City over winter break.

Blog 3: Overcoming Obstacles

So far most of my tasks have been online marketing and promotion, using social media platforms to gain mass exposure. Each week we are assigned new artists to advertise, or another cycle for a previous artist. I’ve gotten good feedback from my employer, and other music fans who commented and/or liked my posts as well as messaged me privately. I try to post on different platforms and use as many outlets as possible to get the best results.

Recently, we were given a new task and I was slightly concerned as it was something I had never seen before, an assignment I had no previous experience with. Rather than promote online, we were assigned to market via hand-to-hand. Hand-to-hand distribution entails passing out marketing tools to students on campus, and visit popular local stores and shops and ask to hang physical materials. For this task, we were sent door hangers featuring an artist’s new single. To accomplish this task, I went to specific libraries and classrooms as I figured that’s where the most student traffic would be.

I personally did not love this specific task but that is because of timing. Rather than post online, which is very convenient and less time consuming, I had to go around campus and pass out materials, which took a lot of time away from my studying. For this assignment, the timing was unfortunate because I had an exam and paper due; therefore, spending a considerable amount of time on this task made the task unenjoyable.

Knowing what I know now, I definitely would have handled this task differently. The main thing I would do differently would be to plan earlier. I would have printed out a campus map, including all the buildings and stores, and strategize where to go based on my classes and where I would be on campus. This was I can maximize my time and be as efficient as possible.

Blog 2: Getting To Know Your Colleagues

Doing a remote internship, my opportunities are limited, and my role is not as clearly defined as it is with an in-house position. Therefore, it is very difficult to find a mentor within the company that I can learn from. I have not been able to meet anyone personally as all communication is via email or through a weekly phone call. Although I have not met her yet, my supervisor does have admiring qualities. She is always on time to our phone calls, is extremely responsive, and answers all my questions in a clear and concise manner.

Since I do not know anyone personally, or even have met anyone in person at ‘stache media, it is difficult to find a role model, or someone whose career path interests me. Although that is the case, I have reached out to my supervisor about getting in touch with the employees who work with Spotify and Apple Music (as well as overall music streaming) within the company. I plan on doing a phone call with at least one, hopefully two, employees whose roles excite me. Also, at the end of my internship, over winter break, I will go to their office in New York City and meet with my supervisor as well as the people I hopefully speak on the phone with.

Blog 1: Initial Impressions

This semester I am doing a remote internship with ‘stache media, a division of Sony Music Entertainment and RED Distribution. My exact position is a ‘stache lifestyle representative for the University of Michigan. Since my internship is remote, it is difficult to truly get a strong understanding of office politics but I think I have been able to get a strong understanding. I have no idea what the hierarchy of the company is as I only interact with my supervisor, but communication is very transparent. We have an internship call every week and every Friday we get an email reminding us of our current projects and what we need to accomplish for the upcoming week. Also, if I have any questions, I can email my supervisor and I will hear back within 24 hours.

With a remote internship, I do not have an exact answer on what the dress code is for my company. If I had to guess, the environment is very laid back and most employees wear a casual attire, as that is what most music companies follow. I also cannot touch on the diversity of the company as I have never been to the office and only communicate with my supervisor; however, there is a Facebook group for all the interns and it is a very diverse mix of students.

Blog 6 – CEO for a Day

Josh Toll

Blog 6

Atlantic Records is a very well established and well-regarded record label and they run a very smooth operation. If I would change one specific thing it would be to allow other departments to pitch artists to A&R. I personally believe everyone within the label is a passionate music fan, always discovering new artists. People from different teams discuss new emerging acts, but if I were CEO, I would allow different departments, other than A&R, the opportunity to discuss the potential signing of a new artist. Overall though, if I was the CEO for a day there wouldn’t really be that much I would change. I think each department really knows what they need to accomplish, and do to the atmosphere of the company, everyone works well together.

I really enjoyed my summer internship at Atlantic Records and I truly learned a lot. This last week was really cool for me because we had to present a marketing campaign to the head of the company. I was assigned to a group, with several other interns, were we worked together to create a new marketing campaign for a specific Atlantic artist. It was really cool to actually learn what it takes to market an artist, and I enjoyed working with other interns. I don’t believe many internships have exciting and fun team building projects at the end of the summer, and therefore, if I was the CEO, I would not change how the internship program was ran as I learned so much.

Blog 5 – Looking Back

Josh Toll

Blog 5

To be honest, a majority of my education at school hasn’t played much of a role, although my overall experience at U of M has helped me prepare for my summer internship. I can’t say that I have really applied any classroom knowledge to tasks I need to accomplish during my internship, but U of M did force me to change my habits to work harder and finish assignments quicker along with becoming better at time management. Also, minoring in business at Ross has allowed me to understand financials and the economics of a business more, which has been helpful throughout my internship.

Interning within A&R at Atlantic Records, I constantly have to find new popular talent that is creating a buzz. My experience at U of M has helped increase my knowledge of social media sites and other outlets to discover up-incoming musicians – directly correlating to my internship. By talking with friends and joining clubs around campus I learned a lot more about the music industry than I did before.

I was surprised how important live performance is this summer. I was under the impression that labels cared more about overall sound and style, as well as marketable, but in reality, they care just as much about how good an artist sounds on stage. My role as Talent Buyer for Big Ticket Productions (a student run organization that puts on concerts for students at U of M) has been very informative. I have understood the industry more and realized the importance of a good live performance, rather than just listening to an artist on Spotify or Apple Music. My work within Big Ticket helped me scout strong artists, as I know what to look for at a live event.

Blog 4 – Changing Perspectives

Josh Toll

Blog #4

Originally when I applied for a summer position at a record label and eventually when I started my internship at such a well-regarded company, I wasn’t 100% sure what to expect. Initially, I thought the company would have a ton of glamour and grandiose where all the employees wore fancy clothing and there were gold platted records everywhere. However, none of this seemed to be the case. The physical layout was very open and there was cool artwork and posters all over the office. The culture is very laid-back with a casual dress code. Also, most of the interns are seated near each other allowing us to collaborate and feed off each other. I definitely did not think this was going to be the case and assumed I would have very specific assignments that only related to me. I was relived to learn otherwise. I have become close with other interns and the culture has created for a great summer experience.

My office is not the headquarters and therefore is a lot less crowded and stressful. I enjoy the open environment and appreciate the more space I have. It allows me more freedom to develop relationships with people and see how the employees work together.

Blog 3 – Overcoming Obstacles

Josh Toll

Blog #3

This summer I have been focusing on A&R and discovering unsigned artists for my company to possibly work with and sign. I have been mainly looking at pop, alternative, and electronic-pop music. When I find an artist that I think has potential, I prepare an A&R report that I send to my supervisor. I really enjoy the task of searching for new less-known musicians. It allows me to explore new sounds and styles and it has really allowed me to find a new appreciation for other genres of music.

I was also given the task of creating a show calendar every week. For this project I have to compile a list of shows for the upcoming week in the local LA area. It was a bit challenging at first because I am not from Los Angeles, and I initially disliked the assignment because I felt I could have used that time to search for more music. Over time, however, I was able to understand the local music scene and was presented with some tools to help find all the shows in LA.

Overall, I have been enjoying both tasks and have been given good feedback. Some employees told me they like the music I have been submitting which has given me confidence as I am starting to trust my ear better.