Dream Job

Ideally, my dream job would consist of a combination of dream jobs. I want to be involved in the music industry in three ways: as a recording artist, a songwriter and an A&R guy at a record label. The great thing about the music industry is that if one of these things works for me, then the chances of attaining another one of my goals improve. The bad part of the music industry is that few people buys cds anymore. Though it is looking a bit grim for the future, there is still money to be made. The best way to get "in" is to get signed as a recording artist, which I've discovered is really fucking hard (can I swear on here?). Though one's career as a recording artist may not last long, that brief period when executives are actually paying attention is the time to network and build relationships. In my case, either to come work at the label as an A&R guy or work as a songwriter.

There are many people who had a brief career as a recording artist, but are very successful songwriters. People like Butch Walker (pictured above) - who has written and produced for Pink, Weezer, Katy Perry, and countless others - and Linda Perry, who has an equally impressive resume, both started out in bands that fizzled out (Marvelous 3 and 4 Non Blondes, respectively).

In addition to professional songwriting, many people that were in bands decide to call it quits and use their experiences to help nurture new bands at record labels. These people are called Artist and Repertoire, A&R for short. They work with bands in the studio, help promote, them, set them up on tours and just do everything they can to "break" them.

The best example of someone who has managed to pull of all three of these careers in one time is none other than William "Smokey" Robinson (pictured above) who served as an executive/A&R, a songwriter and a successful recording artist at the same time for Motown Records. Smokey broke the mold and was phenomenal at all his professions at - in my opinion, the greatest label of all time - Motown. Here is one of Smokey's finest pop masterpieces that he wrote for The Temptations. "My Girl."

Granted, nobody can do it like Smokey did, but I would like to at least have a fractino of the impact that he had on the music world. Honestly, I would be ecstatic about attaining any of the three positions I have mentioned, they all are my "dream jobs."

I almost forgot, working for a magazine would be cool too.

Also, I want to have a hot wife to come home to after a hard day's work at my dream job.

Ok, I'm done.