R.W. Enoch, Jr. '09

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Name: R.W. Enoch, Jr.
Job: Free-lance Musician & Music Rights Expert
Current City: Los Angeles, CA
School: Princeton - Class of 2009
Major: Music
Social Media:

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Career During college, I knew I wanted to work in the music industry, but had a very difficult time figuring out what types of jobs were available beyond the plainly obvious (e.g. working at a record label). After school, I relocated to Los Angeles to pursue a career in music, both as a composer/performer and as a music industry professional. I worked for a year doing copyright & royalty administration at an independent music publisher before spending 18 months doing research and database management at a digital rights management firm, and I'm about to start a new job in international copyright at Universal Music. During this time I've also been judiciously pursuing free-lance work as a musician. I joined ASCAP and AFM and have had considerable success and managing my own band through performances around the West coast; writing music for independent film, TV, & web projects; and gigging locally at private functions and special events. Advice Read-While they may seems silly, a lot of those "Everything You Need to Know About X-Industry" books can be pretty informative on a general level, especially if you feel like you don't know anything. I read three of these books before I moved to L.A. and wished I had read even more. Network-As a young professional, meeting people and cultivating new relationships is of paramount importance, even more than your day job. Do some online research and see what kinds of industry events are available in your area. As you meet people, start to asking if they have any further suggestions of ways to meet people, or if they can introduce you to anyone helpful. Always follow up with new acquaintances; try to grab their card, or e-mail address, or at least their last name so you can look them up and then send them a "nice to have met you" message. If you live in an especially large city (NYC, D.C.) or an industry-specific region (Hollywood, Silicon Valley), networking is also a 24/7/365 reality. You never know who you might meet at a nightclub or a coffee shop. Be Aggressive-This ties into the "Networking" advice, but is especially true for anyone who's job hunting. It's easy to become complacent with e-mail, but picking up the phone can be so much more effective. It shows people you actually care, and is a good way of forcing someone to give you an answer, as opposed to ignoring your e-mail. I've found LinkedIn to be a really good resource too, especially if you can afford a premium account. If there's a company you're interested in, but you can't find any job openings, look up some of their people on LinkedIn, particularly Directors, VPs, and Recruiters. Tell them you're interested in working there and ask if they can put you in touch with someone who handles the hiring. This works surprisingly well. I also strongly recommend sending hand-written thank-you cards (yes, Jimmy Fallon-style) in the mail after any meeting or interview. It may seem silly, but everyone, especially middle-aged and older folks, really appreciates it over an e-mail. Never Stop Looking-This one is most important, because a lot of people land a full-time job and become too secure and comfortable, even when it's not ideal. The days of working your way up from fry-cook to CEO at the same company are mostly gone. You don't want to job-hop too much, but if you've been at a company for a year or two, it's time to entertain the idea of changing jobs. It never hurts to look. You never know what might be out there; it could be your dream job, and you're missing it because you're too scared to think about looking outside. Apply to some things; see what's out there; and go on some interviews, if for no other reason than to practice interviewing. If you get a job offer, you can always say "no."

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