Jennifer King - UMG - Week 12

This week was a bit more eventful than I had anticipated - All-American Rejects were coming into Best Buy on Monday and I had completely forgot because I thought it was the following Monday. It was a nice surprise to be doing PIM entries for a couple of hours then being informed we were going to BB! I was really impressed with AAR - you could tell they have worked really hard to get to this point in their music careers. I really enjoy listening to each artist/group's story of how they started off, got their big break, and how much they've accomplished. They were so grateful for everything thing... even something as small as a cookie! I was not familiar with their music before, so I was a bit thrown how drastically different each member of the band was in how they dressed, spoke, the style of music they enjoyed - but its what makes them unique; they do not fit into one specific genre of music, and their fans are all drastically different themselves. I thought that was interesting how they managed to stay together for 10 years being so unalike - but sometimes that is the only reason they were still together; they are honest about who they are as individuals and never change who they are for the sake of the band's image... and it works! At the end of the day you realize talking to these artists that they are everyday people who are doing what they love - and my internship is an opportunity for me to do what i love. Thinking back on this past semester I realized that these meet n greets at corporations such as Best Buy and Target are such more important than just getting your picture taken with someone famous and keeping a good business relationship to distribute their music - for me, its a reminder of why we are all in the music industry; without the artist we wouldnt have a job, and without us they wouldnt be able to share their music with their fans to the same extent. The artists are always so grateful and thankful to the corporations for being supportive of their music, and in return we are reminded that every little bit of work adds up to the overall picture of the artist's music and success (even PIM entries!!). We both need eachother to survive and despite the massive changes and strain the digital downloading has impacted the industry - people are still buying albums. Sometimes the music is just too good not to buy the album. I am really thankful that this internship has allowed me to dip my toes into the music business industry and I can't wait to graduate in 2 weeks and jump all the way in!
Let the countdown begin!!