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MARKETING & PROMOTION
Propelling Fatman Scoop into the UK charts and central to Eminem's breakthrough on this side
of the Atlantic, Sonya Skinner of Skinny can certainly claim to know how to maximise marketing
and promotion.
Marketing people have to be plugged into every element of an
artist's development, making sure their vision is correctly
represented through logos, sleeve design and videos. This means
you are in day-to-day contact with the whole team from legal
and sales to the artists, managements and agents. You must look
at the acts as brands, and make sure the press and promotion
people know where best to advertise each release and push for
media coverage.
You can't just pick up a book and learn how to market music. I knew that it was marketing that
most appealed to me right from my first venture into music, as a work placement role at Island
Records press office, while still studying. It was my first time in an office and I spent most
my time just learning the basics of how to use the equipment and how people communicated. Island
gave me a very valuable taste of how major labels ran.
My first job was as junior secretary (talk about starting at
the bottom!) for a Warner Music manager who was responsible
for Madonna, REM and Prince and at that time some of the biggest
acts on the planet. In this job dealing with label copy, sleeves
and print and design processes to internal communication, you
have to learn to pick up what you can as it is likely that you
will be working in a pressured environment. However you must
always ask questions if there is something you don't understand.
Moving eventually on to become a product manager at RCA for
Loud Records (Wu-Tang Clan, Mobb Deep, Funkmaster Flex) and
Parousia the Jungle label (DJ Hype & Tru Playerz), I worked
with very tight budgets as urban music at that time was still
viewed as a specialist area. When you have small budgets to
promote your releases you learn very quickly what is effective.
You have to hustle for the best rates for magazine advertising
space, push your sales team to get the best in-stores placements
and negotiating good deals with designers and promoters. If
you are pushing for deals make sure you know the boundaries
of what you are talking about.
I certainly cannot take the sole credit for breaking Eminem,
Dr Dre, Eve, Wu-Tang Clan or Busta Rhymes here in the UK but
I did make enormous efforts to make sure the whole team understood
where the artist was coming from, what possible barriers we
would come up against and what were realistic targets. Most
importantly I made them feel enthused about the product, giving
them a sense of ownership. Being a product manager you are the
person for making sure everything from marketing to manufacturing
run smoothly. It is a demanding role, which requires a great
deal of commitment, but believe me for any music lover it has
its perks!
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