Today’s profile is a guest post from Alexa Brooks, a Bay-area blogger with a serious passion for music and the music biz. Her subject, Andrew Prince, is a music industry executive who didn’t wait until he had his undergrad degree to test drive his dreams. It resulted in ruling out one aspect of the business and setting him on the course he continues to pursue today. Read Alexa’s article for more…

I recently spoke with Andrew Prince who is a VP of Operation at the Venue Coalition, a company made up of 50 small and mid-market arenas in the United States and Canada. Venue Coalition provides its participating members with booking information and research that helps them identify booking opportunities. Prince was recently named by Billboard as one of the Top 30 Music executives under 30 years old. An honor that Andrew jokes that he “Had no idea he was even in the running for.” His company has had some staggering success in 2010; he has booked 100 shows, sold 400,000 tickets, and had $25 million in revenue.

Andrew has always been into music. In college at UCSC he ran a record label from a room in his house. His label became more of a hobby and less of what he wanted to do every day. “I couldn’t imagine starring at computer screens all day,” he describes. He enrolled in the program called University Of Dreams, which guarantees if the applicant is accepted into the program, he or she will be placed in an internship of their choice. Prince started working for the executive director of the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, CA. He was able to shadow the executive director and see all aspects of running a venue, from booking the band to catering backstage.

After Shoreline, Prince really wanted to learn about booking at music venues so he convinced Bill Graham Presents in San Francisco to let him volunteer in the booking department and also in the sponsorship department. From there he headed back home to LA where he picked up a job “to pay the bills” and took music business classes at the UCLA extension. A family friend sent his resume to music promoter Jeff Apregan. Prince hounded Apregan to give him a chance to speak, sometimes calling his office every day. Finally, Apregan agreed to speak with Prince and 3 weeks later, he was working as a promoter on the Neil Diamond tour. Prince describes Apregan as a mentor.

Prince says he can’t pick a favorite venue but loves to see the Dave Matthews Band play the Gorge in George, Washington. He recalls booking Kenny Chesney, Miranda Lambert, and Zac Brown Band in Bloomington, IL at US Cellular Coliseum which was the smallest show on their major tour at 8,000 seat venue. It took quite a bit of convincing on Prince’s part to Chesney’s management but they ended up performing. Prince said the town was buzzing with excitement about the show. Literally everyone in the hotel he was staying in was going to the show. The most random show he ever attended was at the Roxy in Hollywood where the kitchen appliance band Hurra Torpedo performed.

Prince has some great advice for those looking to work in the concert industry: “Learn how to market yourself and write a great resume with no typos. You can never know too many people. Always write a handwritten thank you note after job interviews. Always remember to follow up with the people you meet.” He also recalls a great piece of advice from his manager at the Shoreline: “Get to know everyone, but always find out who is a talker and become close with them. They will be more willing to give you great advice.”

For more information about Andrew’s company, please visit the Apregan Group.

Thank you to Alexa for providing us with that glimpse into one aspect of the music business. To read more of Alexa’s writing on music and the music biz, visit her blog, The Concert Experience.

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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.

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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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Though it is not the music journalism powerhouse it was when Lester Bangs’ writing was often more entertaining than the music he reviewed and a teenage Cameron Crowe was covering bands on tour (as chronicled in his movie, Almost Famous), this elder statesmen pop periodical still covers mainstream music like no other and a positive write up in its pages is enough to make the industry take notice. So if you are headed toward a career in the music,  you might want to start reading it now.

Know anyone who could use an entertainment industry insider? Encourage them to sign up on the YII home page to receive our Mogul Mindset eBlasts today!