What jobs are there at a label?

A whole team stands behind every release. These are the most important roles:

• A&R (artists and repertoire): finds new artists, brings them to the label and guides their music, meaning songs, producers and features.
• Product manager: the project lead for an artist. Plans the release, coordinates all departments and keeps an eye on schedule and budget.
• Marketing: comes up with campaigns, ads, activations and social media.
• Promotion: makes sure radio, TV and press play the song and write about it.
• Streaming: pitches songs to Spotify, Apple Music and others for playlists.
• Sync: places songs in films, series and ads.
• Business affairs: negotiates the contracts.
• Royalties: works out who gets how much money.

The classic way in is an internship. Many people at labels started exactly like that.

All figures are rough guidelines for beginners and focus on Germany. They are no substitute for legal or tax advice.