Music Industry internship
The Music Industry has interested me for many years now, and having the opportunity to be immersed in it has been a wonderful experience. I have been interning at Surfdog Records Inc./Dave Kaplan Management in Encinitas, Ca. for the whole summer.
The specific tasks I decided to take on during most of my internship have been Graphic Design based (not at all what I expected). I decided to pursue graphic design for a number of reasons. One such reasons is the fact that Surfdog Records did not have an in-house graphic designer, so I was able to develop myself as a valuable asset to the company. Many of my duties include: creating original logos for bands and the label itself, rearranging artwork into banners, ad mats, menus, social media posts, and backdrops. Another reason for choosing Graphic design within the industry is because quality artwork/advertising can be highly expensive for up-and-coming bands, and I will no longer have to worry about that when I look to book/manage artists in the near future. Furthermore, having Graphic Design skills will set me apart from other competitors while applying for jobs.
Although Graphic Design has been a big portion of my duties, it has definitely not been my only duty. Some of my other duties include: creating spreadsheets for incoming royalty payments, finding potential venues for artists to play at, finding booking agents for our new artists to play in front of, established artists for our new artists to open for, creating videos for various events and social media posts, and general organization of our storage units.
I have learned a lot at both my internship, and at home. I constantly learn about the ins-and-outs of the industry through books, shows, lectures online, and the most helpful: reaching out to professionals that have experience in the industry. These people have led me to books to read, places to search, and ideas to exploit. All of these insights come together beautifully to create a self-made curriculum that I can further explore outside of my internship, and then apply to my internship.
I will go into further detail in my next few blog posts regarding my duties at the label and what I learned outside the label.
Cheers…