Today’s profile subject, music manager Jennifer Yeko, started out doing music management as a side project while making a living in a very unique way. The creativity she demonstrated during that period, before she was able to call herself a full-time music manager, as well as the foresight she had to focus on licensing music to television shows and films before others were doing it, are two indicators that she is well-suited for this entrepreneurial pursuit. Details of her career journey and the day-to-day of her music managment career can be found below…

Current position:  President, True Talent Management, a management company representing artists and bands, songwriters, composers, and producers.

College & degree:  I have a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut.

Internship:  I didn’t have any internships.

First job in the entertainment industry: I started out living in Connecticut and commuting into Manhattan. I was a Conference Coordinator at Variety Magazine. We lined up all the speakers for trade shows, including Showbiz Expo.

Career Path:  After Variety, while I was an executive assistant at an ad agency which designed corporate websites, I had a conversation with a friend of mine where I told her I wanted to get more into entertainment. She said if I wanted to be in entertainment, I had to live in Los Angeles. I found out later that she really only meant it as an off-hand remark, not as a directive, but by that time I’d already moved across the country.

When I arrived in LA, I decided I really wanted to be in film or in online content. My ideal job would’ve been to design websites for studio films. But the first job I was offered through one of the recruiters was working as an assistant in Sales & Marketing at EMI Records. I had no interest in the music business, but the recruiter convinced me to take it.

From there, I went to a promotional marketing company, Simon Marketing, which connected brands and entertainment companies. The internet boom was starting up again around this time, so I worked for an internet/entertainment website next, Checkout.com. It was a high-profile site and people had high hopes for it, but they didn’t pan out. But it was a good experience while it lasted.

So how did this lead to music management? At this point, since the supposedly secure corporate jobs I’d had in Los Angeles had ended in either mergers with big layoffs (myself included) or some other financial meltdown, I decided that I should start my own company. (If my work life is going to be this unstable, why don’t I just work for myself?)

During the final stretch at Checkout.com, I noticed my friends there were all starting to manage actors and bands. I thought, if they can do it, why can’t I? So I started True Talent Management and I learned the ropes from them. The first artist I repped came through Checkout and the relationship kind of organically happened. We were at one of his gigs and he was telling me he was having problems getting paid by the venue. He said if he had a manager, he wouldn’t have to deal with it. So… I became his manager.

In the beginning, I was managing artists and had also started a speed dating company. I’d spend 9:00 – 6:00 doing music and run speed dating events at night. I’d recruit people, run the events, do the matches… It definitely enabled me to pay my bills while I was developing my management career.

Was there a moment when you felt confident for the first time that music management was going to be a good livelihood? No, not one moment, but a culmination. I was showcasing bands and a music attorney remarked at one event that he was impressed I was getting these major label reps to show up. So it was probably getting in with the record labels and also being able to license songs for film and TV.

The majority of my business now is licensing songs for film and television. That’s where I’ve really made a name for myself. It’s become very popular in the last few years to do song placement, but I’ve been doing it for ten years so I was ahead of the curve. I also do some radio promotion and some music press and I started an independent record label and publishing company, but it’s very small so far.

Big break: Getting that first entertainment gig at Variety in New York. I must’ve gone to 30 to 50 recruiters to get my first entertainment job. Once you’ve worked in the entertainment industry in one job, it’s like you’re “in the club.” Getting someone to give you that break really does make a difference.

Eureka moment (when you realized you did or did not want to do something or that you should do something differently, etc.):  When I realized I could manage artists and bands that I loved and make a career from it!

Best career advice you’ve ever gotten: Always be thinking about how you can help OTHER people.

Describe a typical work day in your current position: What I love about my job is that there is no typical work day….some days I’m on the phone all day, other days I’m driving around to meetings or meeting with artists in the office or out at shows, etc.

Worst job (or day) in entertainment industry: Getting fired. No one wants to be fired by a client. Managing is hard. It’s not if you’ll get fired, it’s when you’ll get fired. And it’s never fun.

Best job (or day) in entertainment industry: Getting songs on “Sex and the City” and “The Hills” and other huge TV shows.

Best thing about your current job: No day is the same.  I get to work with amazing artists and songwriters/producers that I LOVE!

Worst thing about your current job:  Having to constantly bring in new business, new clients, paying the bills.

Brush with greatness (can be a celebrity encounter or just being exposed to someone being brilliant at what they do): Finding a songwriter that works harder than I do. I work really hard so if I find any artist that is working harder than me, it’s a good day. It’s like getting a winning lottery ticket.

Secret of your success/your advice to the newbie: Have a positive attitude, no matter what. Work so hard it could kill you. (I don’t mean that literally, of course, but that’s the idea.)

Next move: To sign and manage a band that becomes a household name, that everyone hears about and likes.

You can find out more about Jennifer Yeko at www.truetalentmgmt.com.

Know anyone who could use an entertainment industry insider? If so, please encourage them to subscribe to YourIndustryInsider.com and sign up to receive YII’s Mogul Mindset eBlasts today! Also, please visit Your Industry Insider Store to check out recommended books and DVDs. Content will be added regularly as suggestions come in from industry insiders!

(Note: This post first appeared on www.moveyouforward.com in March.)

I’m all in favor of people taking responsibility for things that happen in their life, but two recent discussions I had, one with a stranger and one with a friend, reminded me that sometimes it’s good to recognize when it’s not your fault.

The first conversation was during a job interview I was conducting. The candidate was in her late-20s and was interviewing to make a move from supporting three executives elsewhere to supporting the head of a film company. She was well-dressed, seemed sharp and somewhat confident, but in the background there was also something tentative about her.

To get an idea of the narrative of a person’s career, I always start my interviews (after a little introductory chit-chat) at their educational background and move forward to the present. This candidate had gone to a good school and had worked for the manager of a very, very successful rock band. (Think U2. The next band you think of after that is the band she worked for.)

I was impressed and it sounded like a good job to boot. ”Yeah, I had five good years,” she said with a smile. It was a joke made because after that, she’d had a series of career setbacks due to budget cuts and company closures. It was clear to me that she had been on a path to being an executive in music before the economic downturn steered her off path and left her feeling she was simply meant to be an administrative support person rather than targeting that “dream job.”

Nothing against administrative support people in entertainment- a great one is worth their weight in gold. And had this candidate been right for the job, I would’ve snapped her up. But long story short, I told her she wasn’t right for the job she was meeting me for and that she needed to get back on her path and find a job in the music business that would position her for the junior executive position that she needed in order to make the leap off the assistant desk.

The other conversation was with an actress friend who was taking an acting workshop and had an encounter with a sleazy old guy who claimed to be a producer but had neither credits nor internet search results to back up that claim.

Somehow, though, he had weaseled his way into being a recurrent guest at this workshop with the casting director’s blessing. The actress had one conversation with the sleaze, casually (!) referred to her husband and caused him to back off in a flash, no doubt looking for some other innocent young lovely to prey on.

The actress wanted to know what it was about her that drew this type of guy to her. “Are you kidding?” I said. “This town is full of them. If you are an actress, there is no way to avoid running into them. The trick is to get them to go away as quickly as possible.”

Both of these women were relieved by what I had to say. “It’s not YOU, it’s the economy,” I told the job candidate. “It’s not you, it’s the industry,” I told the actress.

And I am happy to report that after returning to her path, the job candidate quickly landed the perfect job in the music industry. And the actress, her mind free of self-blaming garbage, is confidently going about the business of being an actress, knowing that, while sleazy men will no doubt cross her path, she can make them go away in short order.

Know anyone who could use an entertainment industry insider? If so, please encourage them to subscribe to YourIndustryInsider.com and sign up to receive YII’s Mogul Mindset eBlasts today! Also, please visit Your Industry Insider Store to check out recommended books and DVDs. Content will be added regularly as suggestions come in from industry insiders!

It’s a tough time for the music business. Sales are down, largely a result of digital music sharing, the devaluation of music in its digital form, and the return to “singles” as the dominant format (as opposed to albums). But a few artists manage to thrive even in this challenging climate, including Cordozar Calvin Broadus and Robert James Richie.

Yes, the artists who renamed themselves Snoop Dogg and Kid Rock respectively have managed to stay in the public eye an impressive number of years. Some might attribute it to their larger-than-life personalities or their catchy music, but as far as what we can take away from their paths and apply to our own entertainment careers, it breaks down this way:

1. COLLABORATE

“I already have my audience,” Snoop Dogg has been known to say when approaching a fellow musician to work together on a project. “I want your audience.” Snoop Dogg’s long line of collaborators include Pharrell, R Kelly, Willie Nelson, Mariah Carey, 50 Cent, Angie Stone, Outkast, John Legend, and The Pussycat Dolls. He also made a guest appearance on Kid Rock’s album, “Cocky.”

Kid Rock also has a long history of working with other artists, whether on his own records, their recordings, or recordings to benefit charities he supports. His most famous mainstream duet was with Sheryl Crowe, “Picture,” and it put him on the country charts for the first time. His other musical collaborators include Eminem, R Kelly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Kenny Wayne Sheppard, and Keith Urban (with Sheryl Crowe on “Lean On Me” for the Hope For Haiti Now fundraising efforts).

For your entertainment career, collaboration is not so much building up your audience (unless you are a performing artist or other public figure), but building up your network of contacts and people who know how skilled and hard-working you are. Try connecting with someone in a different circle to propose a project together. You might be surprised at the opportunities that can come from it.

2. DIVERSIFY

In addition to being a recording artist, Snoop Dogg acts in movies and appears on TV (including in his own reality TV program), and produces records, videos, and (dare I say it?) porn (not that we’re advocating producing porn, people). He has a clothing line, and is currently the Creative Chairman of EMI’s newly-reintroduced Priority Records (which means he’ll be helping with product creation and branding for the label which has an extensive catalogue of early west coast gangsta rap).

As I write this, Kid Rock is aboard a ship full of fans traveling from Florida to the Cayman Islands. He has lined up other musical acts to perform and participate in other activities during his “Chillin’ the Most” cruise experience. (Bingo with Uncle Kracker, anyone?) (Seriously. Bingo. Brilliant.) Kid Rock also does film and TV appearances, and has his own clothing line (“Made in Detroit”) and beer label (Bad Ass beer).

What is your version of the “Chillin’ the Most” cruise? Maybe you are an aspiring talent manager, but you could also produce a short film or web series to widen your focus and expand your skill set.  Or hell, put together an entertainment cruise. How hard could it be?

3. GIVE BACK

Both Kid Rock and Snoop Dogg maintain strong ties to the communities where they were raised and have given back generously. Kid Rock participates in golf tournaments and other fundraisers to benefit local Detroit-area causes and funds a music scholarship at Wayne State University. Snoop started has own Snoop Youth Football League in the Long Beach area where he grew up and there are now chapters in many economically-challenged areas of Los Angeles. He also sponsors and participates in fundraising events for other charities around Southern California.

That’s right. These guys have prioritized building up their own communities in ways that are relevant and personal to them. Who helped you? You don’t have to be a millionaire before you start paying it forward.

If you really want to go for the gold star for “what we can learn” from these guys, why don’t you find someone outside your circle and put together an entertainment project not related to what you already do in order to benefit your community? All THREE lessons applied at once.

Snoop Dogg photo by punk17er. Kid Rock photo by Hartford Family.

I want you to hear the songs I represent during your favorite movies and TV shows, such during a key moment between Bella and Edward or right after McDreamy loses a patient. In a world of increasing digital sharing, decreasing music sales, and a flood of new music constantly entering the market, my job is pivotal in making my company profitable, and maximizing interest in the music it produces.

I am the Vice President, Film & Television Licensing for a record company.

Photos by JannieT and [nati].