5 important Rules of A&R

INTRODUCTION

The music industry is a tough place to be. There are many ups and downs, but as an A&R you need to understand all of these rules to keep your artists happy and to make sure that they stay on track.

Honesty

Honesty is the foundation of any good working relationship, and it’s a rule that applies both to you and your artists. You should be honest about your own work and goals for the project, as well as about your strengths and limitations. If you’re not sure about something, say so—and don’t be afraid to ask questions! Honesty also means being able to express opinions honestly (and diplomatically). As an A&R person, it’s your job to help guide artists on their path toward success; if they trust you enough to tell them what they need to hear instead of what they want to hear, then they’ll be better prepared when success finally comes knocking at their door.

Be yourself

If you want to be successful in the A&R business, it is important that you be yourself. You should never try to be someone that you are not. This can lead to many problems later on in your career, as well as making it harder for people in the industry to trust you.

Be patient

This is the most important rule of all. A&R people are busy, and they don’t always have time to get back to you right away. This is especially true if you’re sending in demos or following up on an email if you aren’t a big name with a huge career history and lots of hits under your belt, it’ll take some time for anyone to take notice of what you’re doing. Keep going! Don’t let yourself get discouraged when your emails go unanswered or no one at the label calls back as soon as they said they would (this happens sometimes). No matter what happens, keep believing in yourself and working hard until someone agrees that there’s something worth pursuing here—and even then, be patient for them to figure out how exactly they want to do it before getting overly excited about things moving too fast. If everything goes well, patience will pay off big time down the road; if something doesn’t work out right away like we’d hoped but there’s still interest from another label or manager (or whatever), don’t give up hope either: just keep pushing forward until everyone finds their place in this crazy business called music!

In short: don’t rush anything unless there’s some sort of deadline looming overhead—and even then I wouldn’t recommend panicking too much just yet because deadlines are often flexible enough that we can meet them later than originally planned while still making sure everything gets done correctly first rather than rushing through anything hastily so nobody misses out on sleep

Don’t be so quick to give up on or release your artists or music.

• Don’t be so quick to give up on or release your artists or music.
• You can’t win every battle, so you need to know when to leave well enough alone and move on.
• You want to make sure that the artist you’re working with is ready for the spotlight and that their music is good enough for it.
• If your brand does not fit an artist’s sound, don’t even try to push them into a direction that doesn’t best suit them—or release them from their contract altogether!

Respect others and be nice.

You should be respectful of others. It’s just a way of being nice. You don’t have to be a pushover or anything, but you can still be nice even if you disagree with someone or something they’re saying.

It doesn’t matter what religion you are, or if you have one at all you should never bully anyone for their beliefs. There’s no excuse for that kind of behavior, and nobody will respect you if you do it. Don’t make fun of people either; it’s not funny and only makes things worse for everyone involved (including yourself).

Make sure to keep your personal biases out of the workplace; don’t let them affect how much effort you put into your job or how much criticism is given during meetings/critiques with other A&R staff members or artists themselves when they’re working on new material together online as well as professionally in person every day long term projects require long-term planning, not just short term goals like trying hard enough but winning awards–which are meaningless unless there’s integrity behind them too–and having good relationships built over time where trust builds up between people who know each other well enough not just strangers passing through life together briefly without knowing each other very well at all

If you need help, ask for it.

If you need help, ask for it.

Don’t be afraid to ask for advice or a second opinion. The more people who are involved in the creative process, the better the result is likely to be, and the more fun everyone will have in the process. If you don’t know what something means and it’s not clear from your collaborator’s explanation, ask questions until you understand fully. Don’t assume that because someone agrees with an idea it must be good—ask them if they like it too!

Conclusion

So, in closing, I hope you’ve learned a few things about the ins and outs of A&R. As a reminder, my advice would be to keep these rules in mind whenever you’re making decisions about what music gets signed or produced. And remember that even though I’ve given them numbers here, they aren’t meant to be strictly followed – rather than having rigid guidelines for how an A&R should behave, our goal is to help guide your decision-making process so that it becomes more natural and instinctive over time!