A&R

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In the music industry, Artists and Repertoire (A&R) is the division of a record label company that is responsible for scouting and artist development. It is the link between the recording artist/act and the record label, generally to help with the artistic and commercial development of the label's artists. An A&R person is often required to handle contractual negotiations, find songwriters and record producers for the act, and schedule recording sessions. In the UK, before the rise of the Record Producer, the A&R Manager would oversee recording sessions and assume responsibility for making creative decisions relating to the recording.

Part of their duties includes keeping contact with their counterparts in music publishing companies to get new songs and material from established songwriters. Contrary to common belief, it is not one of the A&R department's main jobs to sort through the plethora of demo tapes sent by hopeful musicians to the label. A&R departments at major labels in the USA typically only accept solicited demos, or ones from business contacts with which they are familiar. However, major labels outside the USA and many independent labels still accept unsolicited demos.

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[edit] Examples of notable A&R people


Some A&R people have changed the face of modern music. John H. Hammond, for example, had a long and rich career discovering some of the biggest names in music. Artists he discovered, signed and even occasionally produced included Billie Holiday, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin and many others. Other A&R people with similar track records include Clive Davis, Lenny Waronker and Fabrizio Giannini. Still more, such as John Cale, are musicians and recording artists in their own right.

In recent years, the two most famous A&R people are Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell. Known mostly for their work as judges on American Idol, the duo are also very successful executives who have worked with a wide variety of talent.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Watrous, Peter (January 17 1919). Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame Inducts Its 6th Crop of Legends. New York Times. Retrieved on 2006-11-08.

[edit] In popular culture

  • "Into the Great Wide Open" by Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne includes the lyric "Their A&R man said 'I don't hear a single'".
  • Before the release of their album Infinity On High, the band Fall Out Boy told sources a potential title for one of the tracks on the album would be "You Can't Spell Star Without A&R". The track title didn't make it; instead the track was titled "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race," which is the album's lead single.
  • FEAR vocalist Lee Ving told A&R people to "go die" in the 1980 movie The Decline of Western Civilization, directed by Penelope Spheeris.
  • DL Incognito's song "ANR" uses A&R in reference to the Warner Brothers label.
  • In the song "No Gimmicks" by Soul Position, Blueprint says "No A&R gettin' more shine than I am."
  • Wu-Tang Clan "Protect Ya Neck" GZA: "First of all, who's your A&R? A mountain climber who plays an electric guitar? But he don't know the meaning of dope, when he's looking for a suit and tie rap that's cleaner than a bar of soap."
  • On his track "Corruption Dub", Sydney MC The Tongue raps "Who you gonna trust when your units start to shift/How you gonna think straight when you spark the spliff/Knowin' every A&R wants some arse to kiss".
  • On Crooked I's song "Rap 101", he ends the heated track by saying, "To all you A&R's out there, if it don't sound like this, it don't sound like sh**!"
  • The Vandals released a song titled "Behind the Music" which included the lyric, "And the guy in A&R's got the CD in his car and he thinks that tracks four and six are contenders."

[edit] External links

pl:A&R es:A&R nl:A&R ja:A&R sv:A&R zh:A&R

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