Something Bigger and Better

As the semester draws to a close, I can without a doubt say that I have learned more from this experience than I ever thought I would. Being a part of Drusky Entertainment has given me access to see how everything works both behind the scenes and up close and personal with the fans. This industry is something that I can see myself being a part of for years to come and having this internship has provided me with the chance to get a foot in the door that will hopefully lead to a career someday whether it be here, or on a larger scale somewhere else. Although my internship for school credit technically ends this week, Josh has asked that I stay on board with the company and continue to do that work that I have been. The promise of being put on payroll sometime in the near future is also a huge incentive for me to continue on the path that I’m currently on. Although there may not be a future for me with Drusky past the next few semesters, I am looking forward to seeing what I can be a part of helping them to accomplish and hopefully this proves to be a stepping stone to something bigger and better for me in the future. 

Scaling Things Up

To date, there has not been anything that has occurred over the course of my internship that encompasses everything that I have learned and puts it to use more so than the undertaking that we are currently working on. We have recently announced a huge music festival which will be taking place in the strip district. This festival will involve over 70 bands and will be played at venues all throughout the area. Marketing and promoting for this event presents a new set of challenges simply because of its size. Creating promotional tools for each of these bands to use is something that I have been assigned to completing. This involves creating individualized show posters for each of the bands to use, as well as corresponding with them and their reps to ensure that they are working to promote the festival in their local areas and hometowns. This assignment has also forced me to teach myself how to use Photoshop, which is something that I have always wanted to learn but never had a real applicable use for until now. I’m sure moving forward having this skill will make me more useful in promotion and I’m looking forward to being able to put it to use. 

Spreading The Word

Social media plays a huge role in modern marketing, especially in our industry. Being able to promote across multiple platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram extend the reach of your business and helps to draw in new customers who may see it through one of their friends who is also using that particular platform of social media. Recently, I was told that I would start playing a much more integral role in what the company does from this perspective. I was given admin access to our Facebook page and was told that I would start posting events for all the different shows that come across our lineup. Creating these events and getting the word out across Facebook is an important aspect of helping shows to sell. I know that I, personally, have heard about numerous shows through Facebook before I started working in the business so I realize how effective this can be to drawing attention to an event. Creating these events is not necessarily difficult, but it is time consuming by nature because of the process and because of the sheer number of shows that we promote. In a week, there may be upwards of ten new shows that are announced and so keeping up with them can be quite a task. 

Work Has its Perks

Over the month of November I was eager to become more involved with working shows and seeing more of the action up-close and personal. When one of my favorite rappers, G-Eazy, came across the lineup, I was excited to be a part of the show and wanted to get involved in any way that I could. Josh offered to let me sell tickets to the show hand to hand to help get the word out around campus. As the show approached I was also asked to work in ticketing and box office for the event itself. Although working box office was something that I was somewhat familiar with, I had never done a show of this scale and it was definitely more hectic than I was used to. The process at the door took a considerable amount of time compared to other events that I had worked in the past, but by the time the headliner was ready to perform, we had most if not all customers at the door taken care of. A bonus of working for the promoter, I was able to watch the main set from the side of the stage and capture some pretty cool pictures for our social media sites. Definitely a show I will remember for a long time. 

According To Plan

Getting to work at shows is a really cool part about my internship that I really enjoy. Although most shows go according to plan without too many issues, I found myself in the midst of working a show this week where things changed very quickly much to the dismay of a few customers. A stand-up comedy show that was originally scheduled to run twice in one night did not sell enough tickets to fill two shows. Because of this, we were forced to combine the early show into the later one and relocate people who had purchased tickets to the early show. Because this change was made on such short notice (the day before the show), some patrons were understandably dissatisfied when they showed up several hours early to the show. Although most people took the issue with seat relocation in stride, some were very upset that they had been moved and requested that they either be given their original seats, or have their money refunded. In one particular case, we dealt with a party who had a man with them who was handicapped and in a wheelchair. Because of this, we had to make sure that his ticket was exchanged for one where seating would be accessible to him. 

Being a Part of Things

Although much of the work that I do for my internship is done wherever me and my computer happen to be day to day, going to shows is a big part of working in the live entertainment business. Being in and around the atmosphere of live music is something that I have the opportunity to do very often as a part of my internship. Through my shadow with Drusky last semester, I was able to attend several shows and get a feel for what goes on in the hands on aspect of the business. Getting the opportunity to work with the venue staff, security, production managers, and box office managers was a really interesting experience and has made me feel much more comfortable attending shows as more than a fan now. When going to shows, sometimes I am asked to lend a hand to whoever needs an extra person around the venue. On the other hand, sometimes shows are pretty well taken care of in advance of the doors opening. In the case of the latter, I am able to get some face time with the other Drusky employees and even complete some of my work while at the show. Even if I don’t have a specific task assigned to me, I still enjoy going just to be a part of the atmosphere. 

Filling the Gaps

Filling the Gaps

Over the last week, much of my time has been spent off of my feet trying to recover from being sick. However, there were a few new projects that I worked on throughout the week that served as really good learning experiences moving forward. Firstly, we noticed an obvious lack of show listings on one of the major radio outlets that is supposed to advertise our upcoming events. In order to remedy this, I compiled a report listing all shows that fell under the genre of the station and submitted it to my superiors so that the radio station could be made aware of the lack of promotion that we were receiving. I was able to give my input as both an employee of Drusky, and as a listener to say what shows that I would expect to see promoted on the station and on their website. Also, I worked through TicketFly this week to set up information under the show listings on their website. The shows at Altar Bar were lacking in information as to VIP packages, so we developed some of these packages, and included information as to whom customers could contact in order to purchase these special tickets.

Getting the Word Out

Getting the Word Out

In addition to working on press releases to announce the new shows every week, sometimes we need to give shows a boost to help them sell better. The way we do this is through individual press releases. I have been put in charge of completing these. Normally there are 2 to 3 of these that need done every week, and they will highlight a certain show that has just been announced, or that goes on sale soon. Much like the larger scale press releases, they go out to over 100 recipients from the Pittsburgh media. These releases tend to focus more on the artists themselves and provide information and links to the artist’s site. Because these are done separately, it also helps to make sure that these shows receive coverage on the media outlets’ sites, whereas they may be overlooked if they are thrown in with bigger names on the larger release. This week has been particularly difficult for me personally, as I have managed to contract the flu. Luckily, the majority of my internship work is completed from my computer, so I have still managed to stay on top of things for the most part despite being bedridden for the last several days. 

Observe and Report

Observe and Report

As I have settled into my duties with Drusky over the last few weeks, I have become more and more familiar with the different types of shows that we promote, and what goes into each of them from a marketing standpoint. One project that I spent a considerable amount of time on this past week was looking into promotions on sites for local radio stations and other media outlets around the city. Drusky puts a lot into making sure that our shows receive as much coverage as they possibly can, so it is really important to keep up with the different media outlets and make sure that they are promoting our shows accordingly. When doing this, I have to do a lot of research into the different acts, find where they might and should be listed, and compile a report. This report contains information about each media outlet, and a listing of all our shows that are listed on that site. I also make observations if a show is missing from a certain site and why it should be listed. Forming this report has probably been one of the more time consuming tasks that I’ve been assigned to so far, but it is an essential one that serves a vital role in our business’ marketing campaign. 

Great Responsibility

At the beginning of this week, Josh contacted me and said that he wanted me to start learning how to do weekly press releases for Drusky. Using a screen-share video chat session, he walked me through exactly what goes into a press release and how to do one in the correct format. The press releases consist of the announcements of new shows with all their info, as well as a listing of all shows to which tickets are available for purchase. The First press release that I was assigned to do was rather lengthy and took me a fair amount of time to complete. These press releases are also sent to 105 different media outlets throughout the city, so it becomes even more crucial that the information I include is both correct and formatted well. Time management has definitely become one of my stronger suits since starting my internship. These projects need to be completed in a timely fashion and I have to schedule accordingly so that I can get them finished. Because i don't work in a formal workplace environment, it becomes all the more important that I remain self-driven to complete my work. By this time, I have now become relatively fast and efficient at completing my weekly emails to reps, so I now have more time to budget towards completing the press releases. I look forward to hopefully attending some shows in the upcoming week to work at the venues with the production managers as well. 

The Real Work Begins

As the following week passed, I completed all the necessary paperwork so start my internship and in doing so, was asked by Josh to meet again so we could discuss the first project that I would be working on. During my meeting with Josh, he explained to me that I would be contacting all reps for local bands playing at our shows on a weekly basis. I would be providing them with information to help them promote their shows, as well as gathering information from them regarding the number of tickets they had sold for the show. Given that Drusky is Pittsburgh's largest concert promoter, I didn't realize right away how big of a task this really was. While learning the correct way to correspond with the band's reps, I had to set aside a considerable amount of time every day to work on the emails and make sure that they were clear and that all the information included in them was without fault. This project definitely forced me to step outside of my comfort zone a little bit. Communicating with all these people and dealing with important information was pretty daunting at first. However, as the days passed, I became more and more comfortable in my correspondences and also found ways to work on the emails more efficiently so I could still dedicate plenty of time to my coursework. 

The Opportunity

 As I began the school year this fall, I knew that I wanted to take any possible chance I could to start an internship. Because I am a transfer student, I came into the program a year late and I'm trying my best to get caught up in the SAEM program. Last semester, I did a shadow with Drusky Entertainment and I got to see for myself what goes into working in the live entertainment industry. I loved every second of it and I knew from the experience that it was definitely something that I wanted to make a career out of. One advantage that I had coming into this semester is that I personally know many of the people that work at Drusky and I knew they were searching for interns. I contacted Josh Bakaitus, Drusky's VP, and we met over coffee to discuss me interning with them. The interview went really well and I was brought on board to intern for the semester. Josh told me that the scope of my duties would cover the marketing and promotions side of the business, and that my work would be done on my own, from my computer. Although I was very excited, I knew that starting this internship would prove to be a massive commitment and that I would have to learn to budget my time as effectively as possible in order to keep up with my work.