When YII met DJ Erin (Jacobson), we were impressed not only be her passion for music, but how she’d found ways to incorporate that passion into her daily life in college and then into her post-collegiate plans. She was very clear about what she wanted and we think other readers could learn a lot from her focus and commitment to turning music into a long and satisfying career for herself.

Current Situation:  Waiting for Bar results.

College:  USC- Major in Psychology, minor in Music Industry

Internships:  During college, I interned at Capitol Records in catalogue publicity, and with Rick Dees doing the Weekly Top 40. I also DJ’d at USC’s radio station, KSCR. During law school, I interned for a music publishing company and a couple music law firms.

Early Love Of Music:  I was the kid in the 3rd grade that was Elvis Presley’s biggest fan. I got into all different kinds of music because I loved exploring the influences of the artists I already liked. Until I was in college, I didn’t know about the different areas of the music industry and ways to be involved professionally.

Awakening:  USC’s Intro to Music Industry class opened my eyes to the roles of agents and managers, lawyers, all the people who make the careers happen for the people onstage. I loved the contracts and copyrights, the legal side of it, and I started DJing, too. I felt I’d found my niche.

Making it into a career:  I took all the entertainment law and music law classes in college, eventually with an eye toward going to law school. I took a year off and developed my podcast, Electric Effect, which focuses on unsigned and independent artists, mainly in LA. I love finding and then promoting new artists. (A few new, great, and local bands are Kiss the Girl, Run Through the Desert, featuring an artist named Yogi, and The Reigning Monarchs, Greg Behrendt’s band.) I went to law school at Southwestern Law School in downtown LA and really dove into entertainment law. I took as many entertainment electives as I could, was president of my school’s Entertainment and Sports Law Society and was the student liaison to the American Bar Association’s Forum on Entertainment and Sports Law. I also recently took the Bar exam and am awaiting the results.

Dream job:  As long as my career has to do with music, I’m happy. My dream job would probably be at a law firm repping and working with artists, negotiating their deals and counseling them on their careers. I also really like and understand music publishing.

Now: I’m doing consulting for bands, writing reviews and working on my next podcast for Electric Effect. By the way, I’m always looking for new bands to play and good new interns to help me.

Erin can be reached through her website and her podcast can be found through her website or at iTunes.

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