EVERY YEAR, a tremendous flood of new album releases makes it hard to appreciate those behind them. Hence, Artist and Repertoire (A&R) may be an unfamiliar term, as they work behind the scenes to help artists deliver quality music to their listeners. The Yonsei Annals reached out to Joseph Cho, who was previously an A&R for HYBE and is currently an A&R at EKKO Music Rights, to learn about his experience working inside Korea’s music industry, which has steadily been drawing worldwide attention.

   Annals: What is an A&R, and its place in the music industry?

   Cho: It is easier to think of an A&R as the project manager within the music industry. A&Rs have an extensive list of responsibilities, from discovering new producers and composers to overseeing the overall digital music and physical album production. When inquired, A&Rs manage the process of pitching songs that would fit the lead concept of various albums for each agency or artist and complete an exhaustive list of tasks until the album’s release. We would discuss the overall album concept, how many songs would go into it, and in some cases, artists would have their own unique storyline, which we also have to consider. Once all of this is set, we try to find reference songs that would help publishers get a sense of the type of music genre we aim to produce. Along with the reference song, a description of what is expected of the song is sent to publishers who would later send us demos, which are rough recordings of a song. After selecting which demos and topliners—the melody for an instrumental track—sound best, the vocals are then recorded by artists. After the vocals get recorded, we send the songs to an outsourcing company that specializes in mixing[1] and mastering[2], which are some of the last stages we go through before releasing the completed album. As a result, our main goal is to provide a more diverse and colorful spectrum of music to the fans and the public alike.

   Annals: What is an A&R’s key role when making an album? How are you involved in the album-making process?

   Cho: I think the key role of an A&R is to supplement creative ideas into the technical realm of music production by integrating people with various skill sets. A&Rs are involved in the production in various ways, such as compiling songs, recruiting new composers, and holding a song camp[3]. We look through many song credits, and if we like a particular trait that a producer has, we reach out to them, usually through their email or website. We constantly search for new talents and surf through producers’ music to find songs that best fit the concept of an album we have in mind.

   Annals: How did you get started in the music industry?

   Cho: Both of my parents majored in classical music, so I naturally became interested in the music business growing up. I also grew up surrounded by friends who created various music productions, dreaming of becoming artists themselves. I decided to major in music business at New York University (NYU), and this decision served as a turning point for me. Rather than just listening to the music that others have produced, I wanted to delve deeper into the music industry.

   While majoring in music business, I learned that there is a wide variety of people involved in making music, which is how I found the role of an A&R. One of our first-year music business major courses was Entrepreneurship in the Music Industry. In the class, we were taught how the music industry operates, and a big portion of the course was dedicated to learning about the work that A&Rs are responsible for. Many specialized courses helped and informed students of specific jobs, such as concert management or music publishing in the music industry. During our second year, we were given the freedom to choose and focus more on learning about jobs that we took more interest in, and by delving deeper into the industry, I concluded that I wanted to become an A&R.

   Annals: Can you tell us more about your professional journey in becoming an A&R?

   Cho: I focused on getting real, on-hand experiences in the music industry. First, I interned at a small hip-hop label in Korea called MKIT RAIN. I reached out to the label’s CEO at the time and told him that I wanted to work there as an intern. Because it was not a big company, I fortunately got an internship there without much difficulty. While I was working for them, the artists that were under the label were participating in the rap competition program, Show Me the Money 777. The artists from the label ended up taking first and second place on the show, so it was great to be a part of the whole experience.

   Through my internship at MKIT RAIN, I was able to manage artists within the label and be involved in external communication with the broadcast program. I met many people during my time there, and I still try to keep in touch with them. Since the music industry is relatively small, keeping good relationships with colleagues is very helpful. It really helps your work since you can receive words of advice and learn task-performing abilities gave me insight into what is required to do in music. They helped me solidify what I wanted to pursue after graduating from college and what I wanted to do for a living.

   One of the ways I benefited from keeping such close ties was by working as an international label management intern at The Orchard, a sub-label for Sony Music stationed in the United States that specializes in music distribution. While working at MKIT RAIN, we jointly worked with The Orchard as it distributed a lot of songs in Korea. When I told them I was studying at NYU, they offered me an internship there. There are great opportunities that arise from places you never expected, so it is important to seize those opportunities as they will open new doors. Proactively searching for those opportunities helped me get work experience in the music industry. As for the work I did in The Orchard, we distributed a lot of songs that came in through Sony, and during my time of internship, we worked with a lot of great artists such as Jorja Smith and BTS.

   Annals: What are some pros and cons of being an A&R?

   Cho: The role of an A&R slightly differs in each agency and entertainment, but the biggest pro is that you can truly meet a broad range of talented people, not just locally but also globally. Collaborating with such amazing talents and creating albums for a bigger audience brings a great sense of pride looking back at the albums or projects we have contributed to. I think there are not many jobs where you can freely expand your creativeness, and there are people that I would not have met if it were not for music. Our pure passion for music allows us to connect more easily and pay respect to each other in a way that cannot be put into words.

   On the other hand, I think you bear a heavy burden as an A&R because you have to satisfy everyone involved in the production, which is not always easy. When a lot of people come together with different ideas, miscommunications are bound to happen—it is A&R’s job to resolve miscommunications and cohesively coordinate divergent ideas together. A&Rs are the middleman as we have to communicate with many departments and clients, including producers and artists. When internal problems arise, A&Rs would be the ones to make sure everyone’s voice is being heard and that communication between departments goes smoothly. Since there is a set timeline for an album release, it is tough to move the scheduled date because everyone is working towards it, so through trial and error, we try our best to prepare for such incidents.

   Such miscommunication can easily occur when we work with overseas producers or songwriters. Sometimes it is hard to get in touch with the other person, so we would have to resort to various ways of trying to contact them, whether it be through Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook. Consequently, there are a lot of unexpected incidents that could happen, like a music file with no backups becoming corrupted. Another example would be when a label does not inform a producer about using his back vocals for a track but gets released. In such cases, there is really nothing much that can be done as the song is already released, so trying to negotiate between two parties can be frustrating at times. Accordingly, it is important to identify and prepare for unexpected problems, ranging from minor conflicts to major incidents during the album production process.

   Annals: Can you tell the readers more about your experience working at EKKO Music Rights?

   Cho: My time in EKKO Music Rights has been involved in the earlier stages of production, working closely with various world-renowned producers and songwriters. We have established our values toward creating high-quality musical content for the K-Pop industry and are vigorously participating from the initial stages of production up to the album’s release, all the while keeping collaborations with various labels and entertainments. We also strive to expand our musical spectrums beyond K-Pop, venturing into original soundtracks (OST), game background music (BGM), commercial music, and more. There is still a lot that I lack experience in and there is much to learn, so by continuing to work with a strong mindset, I hope to accumulate more experience and knowledge in the current industry.

   Annals: What are some qualifications required to work as an A&R, and to what extent should your major be related to music or music production to land a job as an A&R?

   Cho: Now that the music industry is ever so global and active, the ability to speak English or a second foreign language is always a plus. Also, since countless production steps are taken before an album is complete, the ability to quickly adjust and work on multiple projects at once is needed. Thus, to work as a multiplayer, it would be essential to have good communication skills.

As for the second part of your question, your major is not a deciding factor when evaluating whether you are eligible to work as an A&R. While it is helpful for your major to be related to music or music production, I do not think it is essential. Many people within the music industry have degrees completely unrelated to music, such as finance, which is quite odd as their work is entirely different. For example, when I used to work at Sony Music, my supervisor had working experience at a big finance company, but she decided to move into the music industry because she could not let go of her passion for music.

   Annals: Do you have any advice to give to students who want to pursue a career as an A&R?

   Cho: An A&R’s role and tasks are not easy. While the music industry may seem glamorous, there is a lot of unseen hard work that goes into the result. Your job. expectations will not meet reality, so I encourage those who want to become an A&R to get as much industry experience before fully committing. Despite the challenges you may face, the satisfaction when an album or project is finished and released brings an unparalleled sense of pride. Since the albums you have worked on can easily be found on the internet, you can always look back on your growth in the most visible and tangible form and reminisce about the hard work you put into them. I think A&R is a really attractive job for people with similar dreams of building a team and creating a single result of high quality.

[1] Mixing: The process after recording where all the individual tracks within a song are made to blend together

[2] Mastering: The last step in which final touches are made to the song such as adjusting its loudness

[3] Song camp: A gathering of producers and composers where a collaborative songwriting process takes place