Death of A&R's (D.O.A)

Written by Trauma

So an aspiring artist reached out to me and said they are putting together a demo for this A&R. I Immediately wanted to ask which A&R so I can roll my eyes and tell them without telling them “maaan he got no power over there, try another approach”. No disrespect to A&R’s because at the end of the day, I’m a credited A&R as well. But at the same time the A&R’s of today aren’t like the ones back in the days. I mean there are still maybe a handful left but not much.

You see, A&R’s had many duties including hitting the streets for that raw undiscovered talent, going through demo tapes looking for that diamond in the rough, having various meetings with managers and artist reps, signing artist to label, developing the artist, getting producers, helping get side artist and getting that studio time all together to create that sound/classic album that can compete in the marketplace for a successful project. A&R’s also were that person that fought for the artist at the label. When the label wants this, the A&R would be the guy in the middle to try and find that balance so it doesn’t jeopardize artist creativity. A&R’s took a lot of risks, scarey risks. If an album didn’t do well, the A&R can be blamed and if this happens too many times..guess what? He’s out of a job! What a position to be in huh? ..alot of pressure, but that was the job and A&R’s (like an old A&R friend would always say) had to put their balls on the line for a project (and you want to be an A&R?..cmon son ..you ain’t built for this..knock it off).

What I liked about the A&R’s back in the days were they were credited. They worked their way up to that position and their ears were pretty much golden, so you trusted what they said. If you were a wack artist, you didn’t stand a chance and your feelings would be hurt, because its considered an insult and a waste of time to have an A&R listen to some music that was straight up garbage. I’ve been in meetings where it started off as “This sh*t better be hot!” and A&R would jump on the phone and conduct other business while you sat there with your music playing, wondering if he hearing your music...lol. Basically it was a don’t play with this culture attitude. I’ve seen plenty of demos tossed in trash cans and out of car windows in my day simply because the first 12 seconds from pressing play was un moving. (Ok I’m guilty of that too and don’t give me that ..aww that’s someone hard work…f*k that!  It was really horrible and it deserved to be where I tossed it, somewhere on the side of the I678 Whitestone Bridge Exit, coming to me with that bullsh*t). You see back then A&R’s were real gate keepers for this hip hop culture, protectors! They had tough skin because of all the stories they would get from aspiring artist, (“I’m hot” “I’m the next thing” “I’m nicer then..****! trust me!”) which we’ve all heard before, not to mention chicks who thought they could f*k for a deal. So A&R’s were use to these kind of talks which were unmoving. They had to filter out what can get on and what couldn’t. Yeah a few wack artist and songs did make it through I wont front. A few trash albums did slip through the cracks, but hey not every machine is perfect, just ask Toyota with them recalls,..ok that’s a low blow, but you get my drift.

Now fast fwd to the present. As hip hop is now bigger business, internet gained popularity, the average joe or wack rapper can go around the A&R gatekeeper and put their music out there for the masses. Some artist actually caught on and have done well for themselves independently without the guidance of an A&R causing the A&R job to lose quite a few responsibilities. As more of these independent and self contained artist started popping up on the internet making some local buzz, getting radio spins, and promotion on their own, major record labels started to say hey..we don’t need the A&R point guy really anymore…we”ll sign the artist indie company directly and they can keep doing what there doing with there inhouse peoples. Basically you (the artist)do all the work and the label just sits and waits till they feel ok he’s not going to get any hotter, lets just put his album out next week and see what we can get (Yeah that fast  not literally but that’s how it seems). Eventually A&R positions started to lose their star power at the company and positions were slowly being terminated. The A&R’s left ,as well as new ones that popped out of know where with no strong backgrounds were forced to take on a new way of doing business or lose their job pretty much. (Have you noticed the record label layoffs that happen every Dec/Jan?) The new way of business for A&Rs now pretty much is…find talent that already has local success and present them and all proof of buzz to the VP or President of company. The days of an A&R signing that rapper off the block who can spit, or a demo tape you had a gutt feeling about are over. Record labels are no longer investing in developing an artist. They want results now! They want returns now! They want to see that you have already spent money and gained some sort of local success (indie billboard charting, bds, ads, videos, interviews,etc) before they even look at you, which is hard for the average kid who doesn't have any finances. And to make things even worst on the other end of the spectrum the majority of A&Rs in positions have friends trying to get on as well. They may have producer friends or artist directly signed to them with  some sort of kick back, cut of advance money or publishing income. (maaan what a hustle). I’ve even seen A&R’s get the hot producer who charges 25k and the A&R would approve 50k so they can pocket the remaining 25k! ..Oh you think this is a game huh? You think its all about good music?? No! Its about money!! You thought you got spins on radio cause the dj really liked your record huh? This is a business..a business that’s being abused and the culture is suffering. And while all of these politics is going on behind the scenes….here you come with your little demo saying “My demo is hot, I’m gonna get signed”, (let me pause right here so you can let it all sink it for a second. You may want to even go back a few lines and read it again) Now I'm not saying you wont get signed, but just look what your up against.
Producers?? U too, don’t just meet with A&R's or send your beats in and sit back waiting for that phone call.Try other methods, other people, other cities, promoting yourself almost like an artist because like I stated before a lot of these A&R’s have they own agenda, a financial agenda..hey it’s a hustle, they got bills to pay too.

In closing, the purpose of this article is not to discourage you artist and producers from chasing your dreams, but for you to actually find another way outside of just the tradional methods. Don’t be stuck in just using the tradional road, use other roads. Think about it, be realistic and look at what your up against. Realize there are millions of people doing the same thing your doing and a couple thousands that actually have the financial resources to get them in a better position to achieving their goals. Everybody wants to get on, everybody wants a moment in the spotlight no matter how humble a person is. Everyone wants to get credit, everyone wants to get recognized. It's up to you to figure out the best and most affective way to get there. It’s going to require sleepness nights, some blood sweat & tears and definetly some funds.
So with that artist getting their hopes up about just creating their demo for an A&R, feeling that’s all it takes….the rabbit hole is much deeper then that.

Good luck!
Mike”Trauma”D