Rethinking A&R; for the Digital Future

AUSTIN, Texas — The music industry equivalent of the gold prospector has long been the A&R; executive (it stands for artist and repertoire) who has sought out the next big thing in dingy clubs, backwater music halls and tall stacks of demo tapes. More than talent scouts, A&R; executives have also prided themselves on fighting for their young artists and fostering their careers.

But now, in an era when corporate conglomeration and the populist promise of the Internet are reshaping the music business, the A&R; community finds itself at a crossroads. Many among them have come here to the South by Southwest Music Conference not only to mine the huge showcase of unsigned acts but also to find some compass to guide them through an uncertain future.

“A&R; is a lost art with the major labels, the vision it requires no longer exists, and it now serves a corporate mission,” says Wayne Kramer, former guitarist for the ‘60s rock band MC5. Kramer now works with MusicBlitz.com, one of a legion of Internet ventures looking to usurp the business of discovering new acts.

Many say the music industry powers--now down to four major companies after several years of consolidation frenzy--have become so beholden to corporate quarterly profit reports and quick-hit songs that the A&R; role has been gutted.

At a conference panel devoted to A&R;, most of the time was taken by audience members criticizing the current climate. Managers and artists in the crowd voiced a frustration that was acknowledged by panel members such as Rob Seidenberg, A&R; vice president of Hollywood Records.

“[There’s] a pervasive attitude industry-wide that what’s important is home runs,” Seidenberg said. “I think there’s a real loss of middle-ground artist development and below: It’s damn near impossible to build a support system for acts that are on the road to development.”

There is, however, a new and different support system being built, one that is tapping a community that will do A&R; for free. The digital nature of recorded music has made it--or promises to make it--the first great entertainment commodity of the Internet, and among the online ventures looking to cash in is a group that promises new artists a chance to be heard and gives fans a role in their careers.

The sites include Garageband.com, which uses a blind taste test of sorts to poll online visitors about new music, and the well-known MP3.com, where fans’ votes have determined for Los Angeles punk band Face to Face which 12 of its new 16 songs should appear on its upcoming album and in what order. Another leading site, Riffage.com, has hosted battle-of-the-bands-style competitions and has seen one of its artists, Red Engine Nine, land a song on the hit TV series “Felicity.”

“The Internet really allows us for the first time, in an economically viable way, to start asking fans what they think of music,” says Tom Zito, a former rock journalist who now helms Garageband.com. “It’s not some record executive on the 43rd floor, not some rock critic or promoter, but the people.”

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Many of the online ventures hope to fight traditional industry practices by offering artists ownership of their music, short-term agreements and higher royalty rates. There is also a sense of giddy rebellion among the leaders of the new approach, many of them veteran music industry insiders or observers who have grown frustrated with the direction of major labels.

“This,” Zito says, “is revitalizing the gestalt of the music business.”

The major labels are not sitting back completely, though: Universal Music Group has entered the picture in a big way with the heavily financed site Jimmy and Doug’s Farmclub (a reference to Jimmy Iovine, co-chair of Universal’s Interscope labels group, and Doug Morris, chairman of Universal as a whole).

The project has a tie-in television show, “Farmclub.com” on the USA Network, and has given record contracts to four acts, including a band called Headboard that was featured on the first episode.

“What a record company is defined as, that’s morphing,” Iovine says. “We have a Web site that has a TV show. That’s a new way of doing things.”

What about concerns in the A&R; community, and in the industry in general, that these new models will adversely affect their traditional roles?

“We’re not talking about Christmas here,” Iovine says. “Certain traditions are great, but things change--these guys don’t understand. It’s like saying you don’t want to use telephones. It’s another tool.”

And a powerful tool at that. A&R; executives at the major labels say they scan many of these sites looking for acts to sign, and that the Web sites set up by many young acts are a quick way to learn about them. Mio Vukovic, A&R; vice president of Reprise Records, says the Internet and technology advances that have reduced the costs of recording music are creating access for acts everywhere.

“It will level the playing field a lot. It will make it just as easy to find a band that’s not in a major metropolitan area as one that is,” Vukovic says. “It gives us a greater terrain of information and maybe it will help us have a better batting average.”

While some believe the Internet will create an audience-driven marketplace of music careers, Vukovic says the staggering volume of music on the Internet will be daunting to many fans who are not willing to sift through it all to find the gems. The old art of A&R;, he says, may be needed more than ever.

“At the very end of the chain, there is always going to be the professional filter. At the beginning and middle of it there can be a variety of method,” Vukovic says. “But there’s always going to be that person at the end that has to translate what’s happening on the street--or the Internet--to the boardroom. I don’t think that’s going to change.”