Working at Interscope Records- A Complete Guide

This article is all about working at Interscope records. A clear and complete guide will be available here.

An American record label founded in the year 1990, Interscope Records is owned by its parent company. Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field were the pioneers of this label now owned by Universal Music Group. It is a simple record label, so what is it that makes it different from others. The inventiveness and sovereignty that the producers and artists are bestowed with distinguishes this label and gives it a strategic edge. Some of the most celebrated artists in the music industry have expressed their gratitude to Interscope for its worldwide reach.

The litany of renowned artists comprises Lady Gaga, Eminem, Selena Gomez, Billie Eilish, Maroon 5, and others. This article has brought all that you yearn to read and accumulate your insight about Interscope records. If you are an artist willing to join them, then this article is definitely for you. From its history to how you can join them, we have researched a lot and finally brought this super informational article for you. We value your time, and therefore, we have tried to condense everything but still covered almost all minute pointers. Are you ready? Then put your guitar down, sit comfortably and enjoy knowing more about the label.

The Changemakers

Back in 1989, the work to build Interscope Records was commenced by Ted Field, who had his own film company named Interscope Communications. It was the same time when Iovine was seeking to fund his new label. John McClain, hired for smoothly operating Interscope Records, acquainted Ted with Iovine. An array of negotiation meetings took place before Interscope Records came to be a joint venture.

The company corrected the traditionally followed practices. It placed the people related to music in top positions, unlike the old way of appointing lawyers and promotional people to offices of high authority. In 1991, the first released song, “Rico Suave,” under this label, made its way to Billboard Hot 100 charts. The company had its very first breakthrough back in 1992 with ‘The Chronic.’ From then, its expedition to attain popularity began.

Introduction to the Parent Company

So, we enlightened you in the first paragraph that Interscope Records is owned by Universal Music Group, a private music entertainment company. This company was set up some 86 years ago. Now, we speculate that you don’t know much about the parent company. Hence, we decided to let you read about them.

1. Universal Music Group (UMG)can be called a music corporation at a global level
2. Its corporate offices are headquartered in called the Netherlands while the operational headquarters are in California
3. Considered to be one of the top three biggest labels in the world
4. It is majorly in the acquisition of French media conglomerate, Vivendi
5. Tencent, one of the most famous Chinese companies, owns a 20percent stake in the company
6. Is listed among the top 50 most innovative companies in the world
7. Some 380+ platforms across the whole world have signed agreements with them

The Company Culture at Work

Interscope is furnished with a tremendous robust and hastily changing environment. The company gives prominence to accomplishing an artist’s personal goals in tandem with attaining the organizational objectives. The employees and people working here believe it to be a perfect place for committed minds whose ideation can rule the hearts. The company expects its employees to be innovative, good communicators, and achieve targets.

Working with Interscope Label

Signing a Deal with Interscope

We consider that you are blown away by the music produced under this label, and you have been lured into working with them. We believe that you are talented and have good taste in music. However, the truth is quite bitter. If you wish to work with this label, just the musicality and music knowledge won’t fetch you the deal. For you to sign a deal with Interscope, it is a mandate that you must be having a crazy fan following to support your songs. This is quite the same with all the best music labels across the world.

To crack this deal, you need to buckle up and push yourselves towards creating songs that people love. It is the only way by which you can organically grow your audience. You have to image yourself as a product and sell yourself to people. Just like personal branding takes place, you have to emerge with jaw-dropping statistics of your fan base. We recommend you hone your musicality, develop a taste and muster a quantitative fan base, and gain popularity for a new artist. That can assure you success in signing a deal with Interscope Records.

Steps to Signing a Deal with Interscope

We value your emotions, and we have considered your interest in proving your musicality and then joining Interscope Records to give your career a super-hit start. With this in mind, we have written below the detailed steps that must be followed to increase your chances of working with Interscope. So, with full enthusiasm, let us read aloud all the steps.

1. Hoping that you have a good sense of music and are trained properly. If it is so, then start recording high-quality songs in the studio. Don’t depend on just one but go for as many beautiful renditions and versions you can create.
   
   
2. The next step is where you require your social media marketing coupled with networking skills. Now, after you have completed recording, start promoting your songs on all social media platforms. Upload the same on streaming sites like Spotify, SoundCloud, and so forth which are popular and emerging platforms.
   
   
3. Start your personal branding by asking your networks to share the same with their friends and family members. The likes and comments will help boost your profile. You can use metrics to track your social media accounts and your engagement with your network.
   
   
4. You can also approach people and start showcasing your talent on other platforms like stage shows, parties, orchestras to create an indelible impression among your audience.
   
   
5. Your next step can be approaching the talent scouts in the field of music. This may help you get promotions and work.
   
   
6. Build more follower networks and grow your profile. Ask for suggestions for your songs. If something is bothering your clientele then sort it out. Value your audience and continue providing fresh songs.
   
   
7. After all the above steps are done, try approaching the Interscope Records’ A&R team. Ask them to take a look at your works.
   
   
8. You can persist in keeping the ball rolling until you get the ball in your court. In case you get a red flag, keep repeating all the steps to ensure a bigger family

Reaching Out to Interscope Records

Hmm…so we heard that you are afraid and perplexed at the same time to approach the label. You don’t know how to go about the same, and it is troubling you. Worry not! There are official platforms where you can approach them. So, these are the platforms where you can connect and contact them:

• You can visit the official website of Interscope Records and reach out to them
• Follow Interscope Records on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. It may happen that you can get links or some openings for new artists and can apply or showcase your talent
• You can also reach out to Interscope’s talent sourcing manager on LinkedIn or Twitter. For this, you’ll have to research a bit and find out who’s the current talent sourcing manager. Then you may go about connecting and approaching him/her

Time and now, Interscope provides information and publishes about the new job openings. So keep yourself updated and follow them to know about the latest openings.

Common Interview Questions at Interscope

Depending on the different positions that you apply for, your process for hiring will be based. Along with other educational and prior work experiences, an interview can be scheduled for you. The range of questions may be as follows:

1. What steps do you propose we take so that the less popular artists get a good sales figure?
2. What can you tell us about our subsidiaries?
3. Who do you think are our biggest competitors? How shall we compete against them?
4. What re the qualities for which you think we can hire you at Interscope Records?
5. As per your vision, tell us what is our purpose as a label in the music industry?
6. Give us three rationales behind your interest in working at the Interscope Records label. OR, there are other successful labels so what interests you to be here?
7. How will you justify your educational background towards working in the music industry?
8. Interscope offers a competing and dynamic environment. In light of this statement, are you ready to compromise with your sleep, holidays, or festivals?
9. Tell us what are the major drawbacks of a record label and how shall they resolve them?
10. Working at Interscope, you may receive an immense number of emails. So how fast can you revert the professional mails?

You can prepare yourself for the questions along the same lines. You can go for the most common interview questions like “Tell us about yourself,”; “What problems did you face in your previous job and how you tackled them”; “which platform do you usually prefer to listen to music,” and others.

The Ending Words

We hope that this article has enriched your knowledge base regarding Interscope Records. We believe we have successfully created a high-resolution and clearer picture of the label on your heart and mind. We have toiled harder and covered all possible pointers an artist or an employee must know while applying. We are standing by your side and continue to do so at all times. I hope you enjoyed reading. Keep growing!