Last time I sat down to write a blog, Milwaukee was in a solid patch of negative degree weather and I had seen nothing but snow for months. Now as I write this, the sun is shining outside of my window and my phone is telling me it’s a lovely 72 degrees out.

So, it’s been awhile.

I have talked with some of you on the twitter, but I can only get out so much of my life in 140 characters. Let’s update you, shall we?

-I was hired on to work with Red Bull as the Student Brand Manager. Not specifically music marketing, but I need to stretch my wiiings!

-I am continuing to work with Red Bull Records doing promotions, among other things. Sad to see my English counterpart, Beth, leave the company, but a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do!

-A friend and I booked a fantastic band called twenty one pilots for our university’s spring concert. Do y’know them?

- Did merch for Five Knives for a few stops on that same twenty one pilots tour. Got great experience and befriended some amazing people.

- I’m doing some freelance A&R now because why the heck not. Know of any great unsigned gems in your area? Let me know! I’d love to hear them.

-Helped book the world’s largest music festival, Summerfest, at my internship. Any of you girls going to be there?

-That same internship has me working on a boutique music conference happening in Milwaukee this upcoming fall. Keep your eyes out for the Yellow Phone Music Conference!

-Still trying to figure out my summer.What amazing things are you ladies up to?

Here’s the deal: in the next few weeks, I’ll expand on these stories. I have learned so much about the music industry as a whole as well as myself. I had some great people giving me advice along the way I want to share with you.

Now that I’ve updated you, I want to know what you’ve been up to! Tweet me or drop me an email and give me some stories I can share with everyone else! We’re all journeying together, and I want to learn from you!

Two important life events have occurred with me in the past 24 hours:

• I saw Justin Timberlake play for the first time ever, in a teeny teeny tiny post-Brits show.
• I handed in my leaving notice at Red Bull Records

The first, while I’d like to say it’s my fantastic music industry connections that got me the hottest ticket in town, was actually down to my mother and her way of apologising for scooching across the Channel to France without me for a week. How she does these things I will never know, but I’m so glad she did – I can say without hesitation that JT put on the best show I’ve ever seen. Like, I’m talking Justin-Bieber-was-stood-behind-me-and-I-didn’t-notice-because-HOLY-SHITBALLS-CRY-ME-A-RIVER kind of good.

If you’d told me a few months ago that I’d be leaving Red Bull Records by choice rather than being forcibly uprooted and turfed out, I’d have probably told you to lay off the caffeine. And yet today it happened. The more time I spent working in labels, working on massive marketing campaigns and pushing songs on to the radio and going to award shows and getting a really shiny silver disc, the more I realised it wasn’t for me.

What drove me to want to work in music has always been live music and touring, and I always wanted to tour. Every day I sat at my desk I felt that slipping away from me. The people at Red Bull were amazing; friendly and hospitable and hilarious. The bands, too, were absolutely amazing and I will truly miss them. But still I long to be out on the road, or at the very least somewhere working on tours. So that’s what I’m doing. In the not-too-distant future, I’m going to be going to work for Tour Support. I’m sickeningly excited to be advancing tours and upkeeping a fleet of vans and generally a whole bunch of things that a normal person wouldn’t find exciting. I guess I’ll keep you updated on how that goes.

Of course, you’ll probably still hear a lot about RBR – if not from me then from one of my IATTG partners in crime Christina. But now maybe you’ll get to hear about another part of the industry, too. Have you ever taken a big leap in changing jobs? I want to hear about it! Tweet us at @IATTG all about it. And while you’re at it, buy tickets to see Justin Timberlake.

 

As I’m sure we all know by now, I spent a fantastic summer in Los Angeles interning with Red Bull Records.

I wasn’t able to blog about my experiences as much as I would have liked to since I was SO busy! However, I’m slowly getting around to going back and highlighting some of the crazy experiences I had.

One of my favorites was working with one of our newer bands out of England, Heaven’s Basement.

While the band was in L.A. recording, they had other obligations like interviews, photo shoots and video shoots. This one particular memory is about their video shoot for “Nothing Left to Lose.”

Picture this: end of July heat, a desert in the middle of nowhere and a bunch of British guys sitting in a trailer learning about R.Kelly’s “Trapped in the Closet.”  That was the scene I walked in on as my car full of interns drove up to the video’s post-apocalyptic set in Lancaster, CA.

Not only was I in awe of the fact the band had never seen one of R.Kelly’s greatest artistic ventures (we’ve ALL seen it, even if you don’t want to admit to it), but this was my first time ever being on a video shoot. I couldn’t wait to explore. For everyone else, it was work. For us interns, it was a glimpse into what would hopefully be our futures.

That day was hot, windy and, by most means, absolutely hell-ish. Despite that, it was one of the best days I had all summer. I was able to get a behind-the-scenes look at what all goes into a video shoot and how difficult it actually is. Not only that, but I was able to bond with the other interns, a few other RBR employees, the band and all of the amazing crew members. Not to mention I got to watch the band perform over and over and over again. Tough life.

One of the best feelings is watching something you were a part of come to life. That’s why I was so excited to see the video and, just recently, the behind-the-scenes video, finally released.

Take a look under the cut to see both the “Nothing Left to Lose” video and behind-the-scenes video as well as some pictures I took!

Have questions about my experiences on set or just want to talk? Feel free to drop me a line at christina@ialwaystellthegirls.com. I’d love to hear from you!

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Music is my job. I am a label representative. I am a promoter. I am a talent buyer. But most importantly, I am a music lover.

I often run into bands I enjoy and will gladly listen to on a day-to-day basis. Occasionally, I do I find a band that surpasses that to become so much more.

To become a favorite band.

That happened to me a little bit over a year ago when a few friends showed me the Columbus, Ohio duo twenty | one | pilots.

I very rarely have a favorite band. When prompted, I’ll often answer with one of the bands I work with since they are so close to my heart. It takes something special to break me of that.

Something special is exactly what twenty | one | pilots is. The first time I listened to them, I can’t say I understood it. I’m not sure understanding was the point. But whatever it was, I was inspired.

Listen after listen, this band grew on me. I felt invested in their art. I wanted everyone and anyone to experience it.

So, here’s your chance.

The band released their major label debut entitled “Vessel” today. Listen to the full album stream. If you like what you hear, buy the album. Support true art. Who knows, they could end up becoming your favorite band too.

 

 

 

*Originally posted on my personal blog.

Tell me 2012 wasn’t one of the craziest years so far?!

New friends, new experiences and SO much new music.

This year, I worked in Chicago for Twin Atlantic, the Dial Up Tour, Riot Fest, AWOLNATION and more. I moved to LA to intern with Red Bull Records. I moved back to Milwaukee to work for the Yellow Phone Music Conference and Summerfest. I did merch for the first time and fell in love. I booked my first show on my own (which hasn’t been announced yet, shhhh!) I volunteered my little heart out and met so many new people.

I can honestly say 2012 was one of the biggest years I’ve had in my journey through the music industry. It has taught me to keep going, be persistent and never give up. I realize that sounds cliche, but there are so many things I experienced this year that I wouldn’t have if I did not keep pushing along to reach my goals.

I sincerely hope you all had and AMAZING year and have an even better 2013. I’ve loved working with all of the other IATTG girls. We’re all on this journey just like you are, and I can’t wait for all of us to show the music industry what girls are made of in the years to come.

Have a safe New Year and we’ll talk to you on the flip side!

With another year under our belt, I just wanted to send out a huge Thank You to everyone who has supported this site during ’10,’11,’12 and hopefully ’13. Its been a crazy ride and wouldn’t be possible with out the readers and the amazing hard working interns.

We launched a beautiful new site. Helped ladies get jobs. Donated hundreds of bras to a wonderful Breast Cancer Awareness charity and survived the end of the world. Over all it was a great year!

Not to mention I finally got to meet some my lovely ladies! Shelby was doing her thing and kicking ass selling merch on tour. Steph was able to meet in New York for a fun quick little show. And Beth flew all the way from the UK to Baltimore for a weekend of serious dedication and love of her favorite band. Luckily enough I squeezed my way in there so I can say hello. Im still waiting for a time where I can meet Christina and Jess but I know we will soon enough! All of these ladies are beautiful and I wouldn’t be able to do it without them. So thank you!!

Best of wishes to everyone in 2013! Keep the emails coming and feel free to tell us your success stories of 2012!

xoxo, Jessie

It’s that time of year again! Deck the halls, string up the lights and put the mince pies in the oven – it’s officially time for the barrage of ‘album of the year’ lists! 2012 has been great for new music, and I can assure you that whittling down the best-of to just five records was no easy task.

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We finally have a bra count from the All Time Low tour and donations made by those loyal fans. Even though we started a few weeks into their tour, the fans still managed to go over and beyond our expectations! Took us a while but we went through all of them and got a final count of… 563!

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Lets be honest… everyone loves an awesome contest. Not only will you help out Keep A Breast but you could win some pretty rad stuff for yourself. Take a second to learn how to throw your own fundraiser and be entered to win $5,000 to Guitar Center! Read more »

Alright. Let’s recap.

A few months ago I left a job at Artist Arena – I say left, my contract came to an end and there wasn’t an open position for me to fill there. I was hugely sad to leave and still miss the great friends I made there. Currently I’m working at Red Bull Records (a label first brought to my attention by my fellow IATTG intern and RBR rep Christina) in a marketing role. I’m here for another five months before I find out whether I’ll be staying on or once more living the life of the eternal intern. We shall see.

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