Get in there at the get-go and sell yourself as a writer/producer, because earning your income on the old model, which was points [percentages] of record sales is not a good way to go, due to the drastically reduced sales these days. Even having 100 percent of nothing is still nothing! [laughs]
In my day, you started off as a tea boy or a runner, and there was a clear path to becoming an engineer/producer, which was good because you wouldn’t want to go into an apprenticeship and wonder if you’d ever get to the endpoint or not, through no fault of your own.
But now there is no clear path, because studios stopped having house engineers years ago. So where do you go from being an assistant? It’s hard unless you latch onto somebody who happens to like you and is working a lot and takes you under his wing.
Just as there are many more genres of music today than there were years ago, there are many more ways of forging a career making records; certainly the path I took doesn’t exist anymore.
Somehow, though, water finds its way and things have a way of working out if you’re really determined.
Another thing I should add is that you should only get into this business because it’s something you love doing, not for the money. I heard a story recently about a new American shoe company: after you work for them for a few months, they offer you a thousand dollars to leave.
It’s a really good idea, because if people take the offer, they know right away that they’ve got an employee who didn’t care about the job.
It’s hard to imagine studio owners paying anyone a thousand dollars for doing nothing, though.
That’s true—the poor old studio owners are dropping like flies. Mind you, some studios deserved to close down because they’d charge you for breathing. [laughs] It’s really only those that own their own properties that have any chance of staying in business these days.
But in the recording industry, like in all industries, change happens, and you have to adapt, and those who adapt better are the ones who survive.
There’s a lesson in that for all of us.
(Click here for part 1 of this interview.)
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