Scouting Workshop

How bands get signed by record labels workshop

• Bands that are the finished product are very rarely scouted as well as bands of the same ability and talent may not be both scouted its about having something different about you and something that stands out, you don’t have to be a ‘perfect’ band to be scouted.

• A&R artists and repertoire executive is someone who will go out the clubs and bars and live events to find the next best thing.

• Michael Largo worked as an executive A&R in the 80sHe worked with bands like the Misfits, Cindy Lauper plus he signed on the biggest and best rock bands Metallica

• For example, he was in New York when he heard loud noise coming from one of the bars and was instantly intrigued, when he went in, he was very quickly drawn in by the lead singer this band may not have been creating the best sound but the defiantly knew hoe to bring in and make the audience enjoy them self and this was enough for Michael to sign them not for the sound necessarily but for their style and look. This band was White Zombie

• Not only did Michael sign bands and artists he also helped them to realise what they need to work on and to Gide them in the right direction into success

• With recent technology and with big music streaming sites like Spotify, apple music and iTunes, they are able to collect data a see what genres and what types of bands are doing well.

• All this data allows A&R executives to study trends

• One way they can use this data is to look at bands and artists that are still small but are rapidly growing this data can give you an idea of how they will grow and how well their music will do. This gives them a huge advantage to signing that they wouldn’t have had in the 80s.

• Due to the pandemic in some ways has made an A&R executives job ten times harder as there aren't able to go and see bands face to face and catch a vibe, Michael said it's all “2 dimensional” this means that YouTube and Social media it the only way to connect to bands and it might not be enough.

• Nower days scooting may be based on bands that have already been successful in whatever way they may have to out themselves out more than they used to .