There are a few scenarios to think about when considering which songs to put on a release. If you are lucky, you will have more songs to consider than you need. Example; 20 songs for a 13-song release, 15 songs for a 9 to 11 song release and so on and so forth.

If you’ve made it to a third or fourth release, Congratulations! That is successful. First and Second releases are different than the next ones. On these, the most important thing is to pick the RIGHT songs. Getting further along in your career, you can start to think about having a personality within each album. Let’s chat about what strategies are involved with the number of tracks on your first release.

With this one, some of your possible motivations may be making a splash to gain attention from the press. Perhaps you just want to have some content available to people so that they know you’re up to something (also convenient to sell at shows [and for that matter, give them away like business cards]). Maybe gaining exposure within the music industry to add others to your team is your drive. Whatever it may be, you absolutely have to pick the right songs, and put them in the right order!

With three songs, go ahead and make them all aggressive, all slow, or mix it up. When you get into the four-song release; this is when you should consider having a diverse repertoire. Group your songs into three categories, 1, 2 and 3. Call the (1) “soft” (2) “medium” and (3) “hard.” That is the first filter. I mentioned it in the last post, but look at the Meese Ep, released by Atlantic Records. There is a demo listed, but the three tracks after that represent the order of the Ep sans track four (but the song missing on myspace is a 2). I would consider this Ep 3, 2, 3, 2. Let me say this though, don’t be afraid of tossing five or six quality tracks on your first release.

After that first filter of song personality, consider the lyrics. Pick songs that are strong in this category. Diversity is also an important aspect for this filter. Two songs about a girl and two neutral is great. Four, about a girl is great. But when it gets to 5 or 6 songs, diversify.

When you have the songs picked out go into pre-production. At this point you can and it off to the Jacquire King’s or the stinson’s to produce it into a hit!

First Release a Full Length? Well, let’s talk about that next week!

Any choice of Song order on a release stand out to you? Let me know what your thoughts are in the Comments section. Thanks for stopping by.

At the foundation, your basic job as an a&r guy is to find something cool and tell as many of the right people about it as possible. So, now you have a band to represent and you need a release.

There are a couple of different choices that can be made in this arena. Do you record a single and push it to radio? Record an Ep (extended play) and sell it at shows, meanwhile mailing it to CD Baby to get into iTunes for digital distribution? Or maybe even record a full length and take a shot at big time physical distribution…All of these choices are both good and bad. You’re job is to find the right one. (Oh yeah, and then there’s the record deal…that’s being a manager performing a&r duties—very common).

In my opinion, at the very least, you might as well record the Ep . Then you have numerous options with a moderate risk. One advantage for the Ep over the full length is having a digestible amount of content for the new listener. Think about a buffet line at a Chinese Restaurant. You see a new dish that looks pretty good; you grab a humble amount in case you don’t like the flavor. It is the same way with music. A new listener is much more likely to spend $3 to $5 on an Ep that they may or may not like than $10 or $12 on a full length. In addition, three to five songs will create a loyalty that will leave the fan wanting more. Remember, you are introducing yourself to new people, potential fans.

But, which songs do you pick for the release? And the lead single!? Stay tuned for next week’s edition of a&r Notes. Can’t wait to see you next Thursday!

There are two Ep’s that come to my mind as having a direct influence on my loyalty to purchase the follow-up full length. 1.) Mute Math, Reset EP and 2.) Meese, The Start of It Ep.

Are their any Ep’s off the top of your head that you remember making an impact on your buying of music?

I would like to point out that an a&r guy doesn’t always sit around on the couch in his office looking for brand new music to sign to a deal. In fact, I would even say that the majority of his time, is spent working with the artists that are already on his roster. Even deeper, the label guys whose only responsibility is a&r, is a very small community. Think about the fact that there are only four majors now. Often times the same a&r guy will perform his duties for several imprints under the same music company. Think about Geffen/A&M/Interscope. It’s all about branding. A hip/hop act won’t be branded as well on Interscope (traditionally rock & roll) as it would be on Geffen. Take Avery Lipman for example, he signed rock act Godsmack to Universal Republic and hip-hop artist Chamillionaire to Universal Motown.

Back to label guys doing only a&r though…that only works for the companies that can afford to have a guy or more, just doing that. Indie labels that are only working with 3 or 5 artists are rarely looking for new acts to sign, and when they do, it is a collective and calculated effort to get the band on board. Case in point. I know of a band that got an indie deal a certain amount of time back, they are now enjoying a nice buzz in L.A. Another band got a major deal. Both of the records had about the same recording schedule, but the one signed to the major hasn’t even gotten their record released yet!

So I’ll say it again. a&r is just an extension of what you are already doing—deciding why you like a certain project and figuring out what you might like to do differently in order to make it better.

Who have you discovered lately?

What in the World is a&r anyway? The two letters stand for “Artists and Repertoire.” What does that mean? The label representative searches out artists that he believes possess talent and have a potential to be successful under the guidance of a label. When the artist is then signed to a contract, the repertoire duties are satisfied by pairing with the artist a team of individuals who can help craft all of the ingredients it takes to make a hit act. Those team members may include songwriters, producers, a creative recording space, song order for the album, a radio single, a video (with director and concept), and more. The a&r guy oversees the creative process of a band or artists career.

Here is how Joel Mark (Creed, Sigur Ros) from MCA in Los Angeles describes it.

[An a&r guy] “Helps the band make their records. And they understand the music better than anyone else, hopefully they come from a musical background. Sometimes they’re just very intuitive people, but I prefer it if they are musicians themselves. An A&R should be able to explain to a band what their strong points are, and what they are lacking. Then either direct them to people who can help them with their weaknesses, or offer advice on how to overcome them.”

Are there any bands that you are curious about who their a&r guy is?

The first tangible lesson that I learned about a&r was that a fantastic live show doesn’t necessarily translate into a hit act. You’ve got to remember that it is the hit song that drives the sale of a recording, otherwise known as good content selling records.

But these days, it isn’t all about the sale of a recording. Arguably starting with the Grateful Dead, the live show became the income stream of a band or artist making their living. (It was a pretty fantastic deal for Celine Dion to sign on in Las Vegas to perform live and slow down on her recorded music, am I right?). And now Radiohead giving “In Rainbows” away for free and thus manufacturing an army of people who know the record coming out to the live show.

But back to the hit song. If you find a collection of them, great! You might as well have just found a Nashville songwriter, which is a good thing. But the special thing to find is a hit act, the band/artist who writes hit songs and performs them in an unforgettable manner, both recorded and live. Then and there is when you move. Within the relationship, everything has to be a win-win situation. The band/artist make winning music and you as the a&r guy have to mesh with the work ethic that fosters their hits—meanwhile delivering the ingredients translating into more fans jumping on board everyday. Sounds a lot like management, right? Welcome to the new a&r.

Three hit acts from the top of my head are Mute Math, Switchfoot and Edison Glass. Who do you know of that makes hit songs and backs them up by being a hit act?

Hello. Welcome to a&r Notes.com. It is all of my pleasure to be here with you. I do indeed hope that the conversations we will have can add to a quality of life for each who is involved. I believe in working together, not keeping your knowledge and ideas secret in order to keep the next guy out. I’ve been that next guy kept out; and I have come to find that it is certainly an advantage to work together, it’s always been that way, and it will continue to be that way.  So let’s kick it.

What are some of the things you want to learn about a&r?