The AvA Connection

The Weekly Buzz:

• Spotify posts biggest ever quarterly profit in Q1

  • Their subscriber base grew 14% YoY to 239M in Q1.

  • Total revenue in Q1 was $3.95B, with a $182M profit.

  • Last summer marked the first price increase in Spotify’s 15-year history, with another increase on the horizon.

  • CEO Daniel Ek cashed out $118.8M in company shares yesterday, bringing the total to $340M of Spotify stock that Ek has cashed out since last summer.

  • Spotify cut 17% of its workforce in December.

• Netflix will stop sharing subscriber numbers and key metrics next year, and Wall Street is anxious.

  • One metric we do know: their password sharing crackdown drove 9.33M new paid subscribers in Q1, raising their total to 269.6M.

• Latin Music revenue hit an all-time high in the US

  • It exceeded the $1B mark for a 2nd year in a row, jumping from $1.1B in ‘22 to $1.4B in ‘23, a 16% YoY increase.

  • It’s share of the overall music market grew to 7.9%.

     

• Travis Scott must face a civil jury trial in Astroworld lawsuit. Read more

The Call Log: Mike Rodriguez, Head of Campus & Early Career Recruiting at CAA

AvA: How can potential employees stick out in their application process? 

Rodriguez: It’s important to have a strong, one-page resume that's a clear roadmap of your experience. It's important for me to say this as well because I feel like it still happens often enough: your resume needs to be proofread. Oftentimes, we see grammatical errors, typos, and inconsistent formatting, and all of that can be construed as not paying attention to detail, which can negatively impact a candidate. Your resume really is your brand. 

What I also see often is that candidates will have experience that they don't think is relevant, so they don't include it on their resume. I've worked with students who had a part-time job at McDonald's or at Starbucks, but they don't feel like it's entertainment-focused. At the end of the day, customer service is still key to the entertainment industry. 

AvA: How should candidates prepare for an interview?

Rodriguez: 

1) Do your research. If you’re interviewing for a desk, ask the recruiter who you are meeting with and find out if there’s been recent articles in the trades,  wins, or activity related to the  space in which they work. Being knowledgeable about the work that they do is going to be key.

2) Review the job description. What is the hiring manager actually looking for? What are the top priorities for this job, and what are the specific skill sets that are needed? Having that information is going to be important because, as a candidate, you can then reflect on your past experiences and think about how they are transferable. How are you creating stories and tying them together so that you can weave those examples into your answers when you're in the interview? 

3) If you don't ask any questions or  don't have thoughtful questions, those are massively missed opportunities. It's not often you'll get the chance to be one-on-one with an executive in the industry, so maximize that moment and demonstrate your curiosity.

AvA: What skills or areas of focus do you see becoming more important in the future?

Rodriguez: It's going to be really important for candidates to be highly entrepreneurial and adaptable. There has been so much change that we've experienced as a society and an industry within the last five years, and with that change comes new opportunities. I think it's critical for candidates today to recognize that their dream job might not yet exist, and they might be the ones who are creating it.

AvA: What are some ways candidates can learn about the Entertainment industry and different opportunities?

Rodriguez: Establishing and continuing to build a really strong network because those are individuals that you can learn from. For example, let's say you're interested in Motion Pictures. Go out and volunteer for film festivals. You're going to meet people, build a network, and create genuine friends and connections.

It's so critical that when you're building your network, you're building it not just vertically, but laterally as well. The individuals who are also trying to break in and access the industry are the ones that are going to grow up with you in the business.  

If you attend university, look up alumni on LinkedIn who are currently at some of the companies that you want to work for. Those individuals are going to be very likely to take a phone call, even if it's for 10 minutes, with a current student. You'd be surprised at  how often somebody will say yes to you. Then, once you’ve had the call, track your conversations in Excel or in a notebook. Reflect on what you learned and think about what new questions you have so that when you have a conversation with another executive or another agent, it can continue to be more refined.

AvA: How is CAA tackling diversity and inclusion in our industry? 

Rodriguez: 

More than a decade ago, CAA began actively recruiting at top-tier colleges and universities, including HBCU’s, colleges with high Latino populations, and women’s colleges, with a focus on providing access to opportunity and, ensuring diversity of thought and perspective across our business. These efforts have resulted in a significant change in the pipeline of young staff hired by CAA, as well as those whose internships translate into jobs across the industry.

We have several initiatives, but one that I want to highlight is CAA Explore. It is a two day conference designed for university sophomores who attend a HBCU, Hispanic Serving Institution or Tribal College.. We fly them out to Los Angeles for two days, and the conference focuses on professional development, building a network, and getting an orientation to CAA and where we sit within the industry. We're connecting with these students early on in their academic careers and giving them the tools and resources that they need to be successful in navigating the internship application process. 

AvA: What is one piece of advice for someone just starting out in their career? 

Rodriguez: Think about your specific journey because it's important to recognize that no two people have the exact same path. It's up to you to define what your milestones are and what success looks like for you. Recognize that success isn't just one thing you experience at one time; there are steps that you're taking that are all successful steps along your journey. So, be really clear and honest with yourself in the next six months, next year, or next three years. What does success look like for you? Have those goalposts, but also appreciate and recognize that those goalposts can move, and that’s okay because it’s part of the journey and you're still the one in control. 

The Job Board

💼 = Job | 🎒 = Internship

💼 Assistant - Ray Hughes Management - LA - Apply Here

💼 Executive Assistant to Artist - Our Bad Habit - LA - Apply Here

💼 Artist Relations & Operations Coordinator - Emo NIte - LA - Apply Here

💼 Research Intern: Superfans - Chorus - LA - Apply Here

💼 Account Specialist, Creative Services - Flighthouse - LA - Apply Here

💼 Digital Project Manager - Concord - LA - Apply Here

💼 Creative Coordinator - One Riot Music - Nashville - Apply Here

💼 Partnership Manager - Musixmatch - Remote - Apply Here

💼 Coordinator, A&R Admin - Universal Music Group - LA - Apply Here

💼 Digital Marketing Consultant - +1 Records - Remote - Apply Here

💼 Digital Ads & Influencer Planning - Universal Music Group - LA - Apply Here

💼 Digital Reporter - iHeartMedia - LA - Apply Here

💼 Associate, Corporate Dev & Strategy - Universal Music Group - LA - Apply Here

💼 Assistant/Coordinator to Head of Marketing - Warner Music Group - NYC - Apply Here

💼 Publicity Assistant - Warner Music Group - NYC - Apply Here

🎒 Box Office Intern - Another Planet Entertainment - Berkeley, CA - Apply Here

🎒 Artist Management Intern - Forward Artist Management - LA (remote) - Apply Here

🎒 Marketing and A&R Intern - Colossal - NYC - Apply Here

🎒 Summer 2024 Emerging Talent Program - 300 Entertainment (WMG) - NYC - Apply Here

🎒 Music Publishing Intern - Create Music Group - LA - Apply Here

🎒 Legal Internships - NBCUniversal - NYC - Apply Here

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