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Life's A Pitch: What Do A&R Guys Look For?

© Janie Ross Coulter

Here are some verbatim quotes (from a meeting I attended at SESAC) by a couple of high-powered A&R reps employed by Arista and Virgin regarding their preferences when dealing with song pitches.

Arista: "I do feel, personally, generally speaking, that talent does rise to the top. I think that the top-drawer groups and songs are recognized. I feel that if something is truly special, it will be recognized. Yesterday someone called me about a songwriter who is very young, in her late teens, but this songwriter already has a new single with a project on Polygram and another record with someone else. So I said, 'Can I meet that songwriter', because I felt that this is someone who is quite possibly going places. In addition to talent, what I'm trying to say is, I think it's important for artists and songwriters to build their stories. That songwriter built her story by landing one or two things. You can do it by getting a newspaper article or getting a song on radio. Being the old-timer that I am, I remember Suzanne Vega, a beautiful, talented songwriter -- everybody liked her -- but it took a New York Times piece touting her -- then she was getting calls the next day. It's about building your story, not just going to a record company. The more surrounding elements you have that are not reliant on the record company, the better, whether it's hooking up with a manager or, every time you play at the Bitter End, it's overflowing and sold out...It's building a story that makes me want to pay attention."

Virgin: "I really like it when people are very proactive. I know people who have gone out on United States tours without being signed. Or gone out and released their own record, found themselves distribution. I know bands who haven't been on major labels who've gone out to L.A. and come back with $20,000 in their pockets...Go out there and be resourceful, be creative. Stand out in front of your local newspaper with your car door open, blaring your music. It's the same as, what do record labels do in order to get you to buy their music? They get people to stand out in front of a building with big signs. They put posters all over the city. Do that on your level. Make stickers. Whatever you need to do to get people into it."

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