The AvA Connection

The Weekly Buzz:

TikTok’s parent company files for patent in U.S. for… a device that plays music.

HYBE has announced a voice cloning AI-powered pop group

Mark Zuckerbeg & his wife Priscilla Chan have invested $11M in kids audio platform Yoto

The Call Log: Zack Phillips, Manager at Range Media Partners

AvA: How did you get involved in the music industry?

Phillips: I’ve always been around music growing up. I played in bands, helped my friends out who played in bands, and did a lot of musical theater in high school and in college. When it came time for a “real job,” I just knew I wanted to stick around music. There was a short window where I was considering being an artist or performer, but then through the years I met a lot of much more talented songwriters, people whose work blew me away, and I was like “holy shit, I couldn't do that.” So I started gravitating towards wanting to help those people with their careers, and ended up getting my first “real” job in the mailroom at WME. I worked in the international touring department there for two and a half years before moving over into management at a company called Fullstop where I spent almost three years growing and learning there before joining Range Music in 2021 as a manager. 

AvA: You've been on both the agency and management side during your career. Can you talk about the differences in the way you approach each role?

Phillips: I was only an assistant at WME, which is a much different lifestyle and position being at a big company like that. Agents are focused on the cyclical booking of tours for artists season after season, keeping them relevant in touring markets around the world. It can be a hard job and requires a lot of time and attention to detail, but it's just very one-track: booking live shows. 

Managers on the other hand are responsible for the artist’s career as a whole. I spend a lot of time talking to the artists I work with for hours, scheming months and years in advance. Touring is just one piece of the puzzle. We also look after songwriting and sessions, A&R for singles and albums, music videos and marketing, crafting the press story and the artist’s public image as a whole - it requires a much more all-in commitment to the artist’s overall career.

AvA: What is the biggest challenge that Artists face today?  

Phillips: It might sound cliche, but TikTok has really taken over our industry, at least in the sense of it being the easiest and most effective way to market your music to a mass audience. It continues to produce hit records, and we see artists seemingly pulled out of the depths of being unknown to national relevance because of this one app. It’s a megaphone to the whole world that every artist has in their back pocket. 

The challenge though, is that our whole industry is becoming so data driven, that it often works against a lot of artists who don't have that inherent skill or ability to use TikTok to market their own music. It's really tough to authentically appeal to that audience, especially for artists who just want to focus on writing songs, playing live shows, and being creative.

AvA: Any upcoming projects you're excited about? 

Phillips: 

MAX just released his third album in February, and we're putting up the Deluxe record later this year. It’s a really big and exciting moment to wrap it all together. We're also in the midst of planning his next tour that is going to hit Europe, Asia and the US again. We’ve been working together for 6 years and it’s been such an incredible ride. 

INJI is putting out her second EP this Fall, and doing her first ever US and Europe/UK headline tour. She’s been selling out a lot of shows, we’ve upgraded a bunch of the rooms in Europe already. She has such an ncredible live fanbase that we’re continuing to grow and her new music is by far some of the best she’s ever written.

Skyler Stonestreet (songwriter for hits like Ariana Grande & Justin Bieber's "Stuck with U", Dua Lipa's "IDGAF", Tate McRae's "That Way", Dove Cameron’s “Boyfriend, and Chappell Roan’s “Naked In Manhattan”) is truly a female pop-music whisper. Artists love working with her and as soon as she gets in the room with them, they usually want her to do most, if not all, of their whole project. I’m so blessed to have her as a client and she has some really big releases coming up this year. 

Boy Blue, who was the executive producer on the last Emei EP, is my most recent signing and is absolutely crushing it. He has upcoming records with Suki Waterhouse, Cheat Codes, and Galantis. He’s on a roll right now and I’m so excited to see more of his wins come to life in the very near future.

AvA: One piece of advice for someone wanting to break into the music industry:

Phillips: Make a real effort to talk to people who work in industry every day, call them up on the phone, stay close with them even if you don’t need anything from them in the moment. Also be sure to research and understand all the different kinds of jobs you can have in the music industry. You could work at a DSP, an agency, a publisher, a label, you could be a lawyer, work at an event company, an app, or be the sync person for a film studio. There are so many ways to work in music. When I started, all I knew was manager and agent, both of which can be incredible jobs, but there are so many great jobs & career paths out there. 

Zack’s Podcast Recommendation:

Lex Fridman Podcast (listen here)

The Job Board

💼 = Job | 🎒 = Internship

🌴 Los Angeles

💼 Executive Assistant - ROSTR - Apply Here

💼 Account Executive, Partnership Activation - AEG - Apply Here

💼 Operations Admin - TH3RD BRAIN - Apply Here

💼 Sync Coordinator - Warner Music Group - Apply Here

💼 Streaming & Commerce Assistant - Warner Music Group - Apply Here

💼 Creative Marketing Assistant - Warner Music Group - Apply Here

💼 Entertainment Coordinator - NBCUniversal - Apply Here

💼 Digital Marketing Manager (Urban) - Universal Music Group - Apply Here

💼 Copyright Analyst - Universal Music Group - Apply Here

💼 Coordinator, A&R - Sony Music - Apply Here

💼 Clearance Coordinator - Warner Chappell Music - Apply Here

💼 Music Rights Specialist - NBCUniversal - Apply Here

💼 Stage Manager - AEG - Apply Here

💼 Booking Assistant - Icon Concerts - Apply Here

💼 Music Department Assistant - CAA - Apply Here

💼 Music Central Assistant - WME - Apply Here

💼 Digital Advertiser, Paid Social - Insomniac (Live Nation) - Apply Here

💼 Social Media Associate - EVEN - Apply Here (Remote)

🎒 Design Intern - Emo Nite - Apply Here

🎒 Marketing Intern - Emo Nite - Apply Here

🎒 Music Project Management Intern, M&A - Create Music Group - Apply Here

🎒 Fall Intern, Music Programming - SiriusXM - Apply Here

🎒 CRM Intern - Live Nation - Apply Here

🗽 NYC

💼 A&R Manager - Warner Music Group - Apply Here

💼 Business & Legal Affairs Assistant - Warner Music Group - Apply Here

💼 Brand Partnerships Assistant - IAG - Apply Here

💼 Global Biz Dev Coordinator - Sony Music Entertainment - Apply Here

💼 Jr. Creative Strategist - Roc Nation - Apply Here

💼 Production Coordinator - NBCU - Apply Here

💼 Business Affairs Manager (Theater focus) - Gersh - Apply Here

💼 Digital Writer & Content Creator - Hollywoodlife - Apply Here

💼 Jr. Publicist - NBCU - Apply Here

🎒 Music Library Fall Intern - SiriusXM - Apply Here

🎒 Music Programming Fall Intern - SiriusXM - Apply Here

🤠 Nashville

💼 Floating Assistant - The Neal Agency - Apply Here

💼 Country Music Touring Assistant - UTA - Apply Here

💼 Royalty Tracking Admin - Universal Music Group - Apply Here

💼 Radio & Streaming Coordinator - Warner Music Group - Apply Here

💼 National Promo & Content - Sony Music Entertainment - Apply Here

💼 Music Central Assistant - WME - Apply Here

🎒 Artist Management & Digital Internships - Neon Coast - Apply Here

🎒 Marketing & Sync Intern - INKWELL Entertainment - Apply Here

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