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.