Music - all the best jobs

Turn it up! Find all the different types of jobs and careers in the music industry with our A-Z guide. A glossary of music business roles for the UK.

Artist and repertoire (A&R) person: An A&R person works for a record company, scouting for new talent and is someone with a real ear for spotting the next big thing.

Agent: An agent’s job is to find the coolest venues and book their clients into gigs and promotional events – a great job for organised types who love live events.

Distributor: A distributor’s job is to stay on top of the latest trends and be the first to supply new music to retailers.

Sound engineer: A sound engineer plays a vital role in the success of live gigs, concerts and festivals as well as in the recording studio by mixing to perfection.

Manager: This job involves advising and mentoring artists, negotiating the best deals, keeping an eye on bands or artists’ business affairs and dealing with music-related legal issues.

Plugger: A plugger’s job is to get maximum exposure/airplay for their client’s album or track on the radio and in the media generally. Great communication skills, excellent powers of persuasion and a talent for networking with all the right people in the music biz are essential!

Press officer/PR (public relations) person: This job involves promoting artists and their music via the media, i.e. television, radio, newspapers, magazines and social media. It also involves managing all the good (and bad!) publicity generated by celebs.

Publisher: A publisher owns the copyright to an artist’s music and has the right to sell and distribute it, as well as having the legal power to protect it from pirates.

Songwriter: Shockingly, many artists don’t write their own score or lyrics! Recording companies employ songwriters to compose songs for them. Time to start rifling through that box of poems hidden beneath your bed, knock them into shape and be responsible for the next No.1 hit!

Tour manager: A tour manager is someone who plans tours, books gigs, tour buses, flights, venues and hotels, as well as looking after the act’s every need and keeping them fed and watered while they’re on the road.

Video director: A video director takes complete artistic control of how an artist’s music is represented in promotional videos and on film.