I’m really excited to bring you this new series, And Now You Know, in which top industry professionals will give us the EXCLUSIVE skinny on how things work in the gospel music biz.  I’m gonna try to cover all facets of the industry, starting with one of my personal favorites– A&R– which will be covered in multiple parts by industry favorite Monica Coates.  Be sure to POST COMMENTS and lemme know what you think!

Monica Coates is a veteran of the Gospel music industry with experience in artist management, publicity, radio promotions and A&R.  Over the course of a diverse career, she has worked at the top Gospel labels (EMI Gospel, Verity) and with a variety of artists, including Fred Hammond, Donnie McClurkin, Hezekiah Walker and Joann Rosario. Her first book, The Beginner’s Guide To The Gospel Music Industry, will be published in the Spring. 

Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you PART ONE of the Gospel A&R Series, entitled “What Is A&R?”…

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PART ONE: WHAT IS A&R?

For the past 16 years it has been my pleasure to serve as a member of the Gospel music industry.  During that time, one of the most fulfilling aspects of my work has been the opportunity to meet aspiring artists and aspiring music industry people and answer their questions.  In fact, that experience led me to write The Beginner’s Guide To The Gospel Music Industry: A Handbook For Aspiring Artists And Industry Executives.  In the spirit of that book and as a service to all you GospelPundit bloggers, I wanted to answer one of the most common questions:  What is A&R?

Historically the term “A&R” stood for “Artists and Repertoire”.  An A&R representative typically scouted and discovered new talent and was also responsible for discovering and developing appropriate material for that talent to record and perform.  Over the years, as record companies have shouldered less of the burden for the development of artists, the function of the A&R Department has morphed a bit toward “Artist Relations”. 

Nevertheless, of all of the departments within a record company, the A&R representatives work the most closely with artists, songwriters and producers.  They are the staff members responsible for facilitating the creative vision for a project, overseeing the budgets for those projects and keeping them on schedule.

For those of you who think you might like to be involved with the industry side of Gospel music, or are simply curious about what goes on behind-the-scenes, here are some important skills that a good A&R person needs: 

* A true ear for Gospel music

* Strong relationships with people throughout the Creative Community (esp. artists, songwriters, producers and their respective support teams—managers, engineers, publishers, etc.)

* A thorough understanding of the production process for CDs and DVD projects

* Knowledge of the legal aspects of production

* The ability to create and maintain a budget

* Strong management skills

Sadly, true A&R is a dying artform in Gospel music.  More about that next time…

Copyright © 2009 Monica A. Coates.

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Soooo???  Cool, right?  Make sure you keep comin’ back to see the follow-up parts to her awesome series.  And check her out at http://www.myspace.com/monicacoates!