C H A N N E L 4/ Music Scheduling.
Four underground tube change-overs, one London rush hour of grand proportions and a Redbull breakfast later, I was greeted back again into the latter of energetic celebrity interrogators.
On reflection of my surroundings, I began to understand just how interlinked each department was. From the online micro-blogging speculations of songstress J'LO to understanding airplay platforms and their personalities: Is she an RnB diva for 'KISS.fm' or a famously curved figure which moulds into 'HeatWorld's' next punchy gossip column. Each creative was thoroughly involved in several different initiatives and collaborations with different teams across the sector. This was a big stepping stone in my understanding of the marketing mixes of the business and the way in which they all come together to create a standardisation of service.
Today was the day I worked with 'Paul Mack', the music station commissioner, Paul's role provides administrative support for his scheduling team, acting as a liaison between departments ensuring that everything runs smoothly and efficiently. Paul was also the dominant mouth within these weekly meetings, more critical than Simon Cowell when it came to viewing new musical talent and generally not just the voice behind the final decision but also witty banter.
Commissioning and scheduling decide which videos the music stations are going to broadcast. It is centred around a team of schedulers, each addressing a specific area of programming for the internal departments such as Kiss, Magic, Kerrang etc. They acquire all of their content as they do not have in-house production facilities. The majority of the outputs derive from the independent program - 'FastTracks', exerting never-before-seen music videos. I was granted the overwhelming prospect to attend the meeting that day, acting as the eyes and ears for 4Music, this was a big opportunity to show a level of eagerness for a career pathway I was developing a taste for, as the old adage goes: You only get one chance to make a first impression.
On the agenda, the day involved sitting back and basically viewing copious amounts of music videos, some of which were amateur whilst others had more high profile positioning. Below I've noted some of my own accepted and rejected favourites for 4Music...
My sultry, personal favourite - 'Russ Chimes - Turn Me On' ♥ No ordinary music video montage, it's also a bit of a mess. In a good way.
The meeting was paused due to sore sets of ribs from the eruption of laughter of this dreadlock charm, tickled by the enigma of these ingenious lyrics! The verse 'Do a Sh*t' is very much awkward, funky and just plain weird. ✕
There was something fittingly tasteful behind this infectious alternative track, grabbing my attention with its air-tight composition the group were very much left-wing towards my opinion.
And of course you are never far from the catchy crescendo of a 'Pitbull' video. Featuring lots of androgynous glamour and a complete overloaded of luxury brand endorsements.
By the end of the viewings the team had humorously gone off topic and once the pitching meeting was finalised, I proactively made sure I had a clear understanding on how to implement a proposal report, a response which outlined the most desired music videos your channel wished to sanction. Before I could contribute to this, my choices had to be approved by the correct level of authority (Lets not get too ambitious, I had only worked there two days!)Embarking on my lunch break with my office space colleagues, gave me some downtime to catch up on their career implications and educational backgrounds.
The leisure time also gave them a chance to learn more about the placement from my perspective which probably added value to their role too. They asked me why I picked London, although it was difficult to answer at the time, I realise now that it was all about gaining life experience as much as work experience, London was a city I knew nothing about, so it really was going to be an adventure for me, thus I have discovered it's a really great place, with really great people. Lunch also gave them time to judge my mighty northern ways, besides the several efforts made to imitate my accent, there was also an exchange of disgusted looks as I added crisps to my sandwich filling - What a misconception!
The leisure time also gave them a chance to learn more about the placement from my perspective which probably added value to their role too. They asked me why I picked London, although it was difficult to answer at the time, I realise now that it was all about gaining life experience as much as work experience, London was a city I knew nothing about, so it really was going to be an adventure for me, thus I have discovered it's a really great place, with really great people. Lunch also gave them time to judge my mighty northern ways, besides the several efforts made to imitate my accent, there was also an exchange of disgusted looks as I added crisps to my sandwich filling - What a misconception!
Upon returning I spent the rest of the day with the scheduling team, getting to grips with compiling the timeline for music videos broadcasted on 4Music for that current day. Ideas about juxtaposing and binary opposition were running rapidly through my mind, but the process was in fact much more straight forward. I had certainly gained a greater understanding of scheduling and the commissioning process and the possible opportunities which included: attending meetings either internally or externally with independent production companies, attending viewings and even attending an edit.
No comments:
Post a Comment