Starting a Career Week 1

      This summer I will be interning three days a week with Planetary Group.  Planetary is an artist development firm that strives to promote its’ clients to different media outlets.

       One of the first things I found out about this internship was that I do not have to go into work until 11 a.m.. Which if you know me well I’m not exactly a “morning person” so this sounded like a great start to me! I buzzed in my first day not really knowing what to expect…. Mainly I was just hoping it would go well. I opened the door and entered an office with exposed brick walls and posters hanging all around. Five friendly faces then greeted me and I was told I could listen to whatever music I wanted. I soon realized how much I was going to enjoy this relaxed environment.

       On Mondays and Wednesdays I help out in the Press department. So far most of my time has been spent doing research. Basically, I research a town where the artist is going on tour and find all the local newspapers, magazines, or music blogs. This way we can send them a press kit so that they can publish about the upcoming show and promote it to the public. I have also researched particular albums to see which media outlets have been reviewing it. This way we can see how much press the client is receiving. Every morning when I come in the first thing I do is highlights. This is where I look up what has been said in the media about our clients during a particular date range. For example, if a blog posted a music video of a client we would make note of that. Every Friday we send out highlights to the artists so that they can see where they have appeared in the media in the last week. This is actually quite tedious because there are criteria to what we can use.  For instance, it cannot be a website like Ticketfly or Bandsintown and it has to be from somewhere in the U.S. Planetary has a diverse set of clients, which I think is pretty cool. Some of Planetary ‘s current clients include: The Maytags, Van Damsel, and TK The Architect. They all have a very different sound and you should totally go check them out!!

      On Fridays I help out the Radio department. This Friday was spent labeling and packaging up hundreds of CDs to send out to college radio stations across the U.S.  It was definitely not the most fun thing but it was nice to not be on a computer all day. We also have premium stations that we send more CDs to. These stations are selected by the employees and based on the music they play and if we think a band will do well in the area.  I thought this was awesome because UGA’s station, WUOG, is one of them! – get ready for some new tunes Athens - Also, I learned that the CDs we send out are not necessarily new. Sometimes they could be albums that came out a year ago but still need promotional help. I thought this was interesting because I always figured they only sent out new music.

       I find it amusing to learn how to do band research,  how the press kits are made, and how to get the promotions out.  However, I am not certain if I want to be a music publicist because I would really like to work more on the live side of the business. So far a couple of things I have learned are that networking is key in the entertainment industry and to not be afraid to ask questions. My favorite question has been to ask people in the office how they got there. I find this to be interesting because I have also learned that everyone has their own timeline and there are many routes to go about getting somewhere in the entertainment industry. I think this summer will be a great start at moving in the right direction on my career path and I am excited to see where I end up.