What is your job and who do you work for?
I work as the Assistant Editor (and advertising manager) for NZ Musician Magazine – which is a free bi-monthly publication about Kiwi musicians and the music industry.
What does a normal work day entail for you?
I don’t know if I’ve actually figured out what a normal work day is yet – no two days are the same.
It depends which part of the publication cycle we’re in.
-I research NZ artists
-liaise with publicists and record labels
-listen to a lot of music and
-figure out what and who we are going to cover in each issue.
I also liaise with all our advertisers and research what new musical equipment is coming into NZ that we should review.
Then I organise all our writers to cover different stories, set up interviews (usually I do a few myself, which is my favourite part of the job) & work out page plans. Once the stories are done I sub-edit all of them, write up my own stories, source photos, and liaise with our designer and editor to put the magazine together.
How did you get into the music industry – any specific training?
At the time I didn’t really know this was what I was going to end up doing (it's a broad field with many different occupations) so it wasn’t specific training, but studying both music and media at university has certainly helped - and probably helped to get me the job in the first place.
Having a love of music and the industry is probably one of the biggest pre-requisites!
What’s the best thing about your job?
Getting to meet lots of fantastic musicians and hear about how they make their music, getting to hear a lot of excellent music, and working with lots of people who are really passionate about music.
What’s the most challenging thing about your job?
Balancing lots of different tasks and trying to manage a lot of different people. Because NZM is a free magazine that is purely funded by advertising it’s also a challenge just to make sure it survives – money is always very tight!
Do you have any advice for people who want to get into your field of work?
I guess if you want to get into music journalism, the best things you can do are to practice your writing skills, listen to music, go to gigs, and volunteer your services to as many publications as possible. There are plenty of publications in NZ who are keen to nuture young writers (ourselves included) and though you might not get paid at first, you will help establish a reputation for yourself which can lead to paid work.
Check out NZ Musician Magazine website!
