human resource management in the music industry: chances
TRANSCRIPT
HumanResourceManagementin
theMusicIndustry:Chancesand
RisksofNewPlatformssuchas
“SynchronStage”
BachelorThesisforObtainingtheDegree
BachelorofSciencein
InternationalManagement
SubmittedtoEvaAileenJungwirth-Edelmann,MA
AndreasKarall
1421021
Vienna,25.05.2017
2
Affidavit
IherebyaffirmthatthisBachelor’sThesisrepresentsmyownwrittenworkandthatI
haveusednosourcesandaidsotherthanthoseindicated.Allpassagesquotedfrom
publicationsorparaphrasedfromthesesourcesareproperlycitedandattributed.
Thethesiswasnotsubmittedinthesameorinasubstantiallysimilarversion,noteven
partially,toanotherexaminationboardandwasnotpublishedelsewhere.
25.05.2017
Date Signature
3
Abstract
Topic:HumanResourceManagementintheMusicIndustry:ChancesandRisksofNew
Platformssuchas“SynchronStage”.
NameofAuthor:AndreasKarall
Course/Year:2017
Pages:121
Content:ThisthesisinvestigatesthetopicofHumanResourceManagement(HRM)in
themusicindustry,specificallylookingatonlineHRMplatformsandtheentailedop-
portunitiesandchallengesforbothmanagersandmusicians.Therelevancewhythe
researcherhasdecidedtoinvestigatetheissuemorecloselyderivesfromthesmall
timeframeofexistingHRpracticesinthemusicindustryandtheincreasingimpactof
technologyonmanagerialduties.
Forthepurposeofthisthesis,ninequalitativeinterviewswereconductedbythere-
searcher.OneinterviewwasheldwithaViennesemusicmanagerandfounderofthe
onlineHRMplatform“SynchronStage”andeightinterviewswereconductedwithpro-
fessionalmusiciansfromvariousmusicalgenres.Theresultsfromtheinterviewswere
afterwardscomparedtorelevantliterature,todisplaysimilaritiesand/ordifferences
ofHumanResourcedepartmentsinthemusicindustrytotraditionalHRdepartments.
Themainresultsoftheinterviewsrevealedthatonlineplatformssuchas“Synchron-
Stage”canbemoreefficientthantraditionalHRdepartmentsbasedonthetimeand
moneythatcanbesavedformanagers.Flexibilityandaccesstoabroadermarketare
themainadvantagesformusicians.Adisadvantage,whichwasmentionedbymusi-
ciansregardingonlineHRplatforms,isthemissingpersonalcomponent,whenevery-
thingismanagedonline.Lastly,managersinthemusicindustryshouldhave,besides
traditionalmanagementskills,aprofoundmusicalunderstanding.
Supervisor:EvaAileenJungwirth-Edelmann,MA
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TableofContents
Affidavit.................................................................................................................2
Abstract.................................................................................................................3
ListofTables..........................................................................................................6
Chapter1:Introduction..........................................................................................7
1.1 MotivationandCognitiveInterest...........................................................7
1.2 OutlineoftheResearch:Aim,Questions,HypothesisanditsLimitations.8
1.3 OutlineoftheThesis.............................................................................10
Chapter2:Management.......................................................................................12
2.1DefinitionofManagement..........................................................................12
2.1.1DutiesandTasksofManagers..................................................................13
2.1.2CharacteristicsofManagers.....................................................................15
2.1.3ManagingChallenges...............................................................................15
Chapter3:HumanResourceManagement...........................................................17
3.1.1Definition.................................................................................................17
3.1.2EvolutionoftheHumanResourceManagementFunction........................18
3.1.3DutiesofanHRmanager..........................................................................20
3.1.4HowTechnologyaffectsHRM..................................................................24
Chapter4:MusicManagement.............................................................................27
4.1.1Definition.................................................................................................27
4.1.2CompensationofArtists...........................................................................28
4.1.3RecordDeals(MajorvsIndependentLabels)............................................30
4.1.4A&RandHRMintheMusicIndustry........................................................31
4.1.5MusicManagementinDifferentGenres...................................................32
Chapter5:Methodology.......................................................................................34
5.1.1Aim..........................................................................................................34
5.1.2ResearchDesign.......................................................................................34
5.1.3UnitofAnalysis........................................................................................38
5.1.4Participants..............................................................................................38
5.1.5ReflectionsconcerningtheInterviewQuestions.......................................39
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Chapter6:EvaluationoftheInterviews................................................................43
6.1.1InterviewPartners...................................................................................43
6.1.2SynchronStage.........................................................................................44
6.1.3Interpretation(Musicians).......................................................................44
6.1.4Interpretation(Manager).........................................................................59
Chapter7:Conclusion&Recommendations.........................................................64
Bibliography.........................................................................................................68
Appendix..............................................................................................................78
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ListofTables
Table1:TypesofCompensation…………………………………..........................................p.22
Table2:Threepillarsconcerningbehaviourofemployees.………………………………...p.23
Table3:TypesofnewHRMplatforms………………………………….................................p.26
Table4:Typesoflabels………………………………….........................................................p.30
Table5:DataCollectionQuestionsandPurpose(Manager)………………...................p.40
Table6:DataCollectionQuestionsandPurpose(Musician)……………......................p.42
Table7:InterviewParticipants……………..............……………...........……………..............p.44
Table8:Question1:MusicianInterviews……………..............……………......…..............p.45
Table9:Question2:MusicianInterviews………..............……………......…...………..…...p.47
Table10:Question3:MusicianInterviews………..............…………......…...………..…...p.49
Table11:Question4:MusicianInterviews………..............…………......…...………..…...p.51
Table12:Question5:MusicianInterviews………..............…………......…...………..…...p.53
Table13:Question6:MusicianInterviews………..............…………......…...………..…...p.54
Table14:Question8:MusicianInterviews………..............…………......…...………..…...p.56
Table15:Question9:MusicianInterviews………..............…………......…...………..…...p.57
Table16:Question10:MusicianInterviews………...........……………......…...………..…...p.58
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Chapter1:Introduction
1.1 MotivationandCognitiveInterest
AccordingtoAlexisJenkins“Musicistheartoforganizingtones,rhythms,temposin
asuccessivecombinationtocreatemelodiesandharmonies”(2013).Musicisamajor
componentofeverydaylife.Nowadayspeoplelistentodifferentkindsofmusicde-
pendingontheiremotionalstatus,whichcanleadtoeitherapositiveoranegative
mood.Itisproventhatpartsofthebrainareaffectedwhenlisteningtomusic(Crouse,
2015).Musiccanincreasepeople’sintelligence,aswellasmakepeoplehappierand
moreproductive(Alban,n.d.).Overtheyearstherehavebeenmanystudieswhich
triedtoinvestigatehowmusicaffectsthehumanmind.Itcannotonlyhaveastrong
impactonlisteners’moodsandfeelingsbutcanalsoimprovetheperformanceofem-
ployeesinanorganisation(Crouse,2015).AstudyconductedbyMindlabInternational
showedthatnineoutoftenworkersperformedtheirtasksbetterwhilelisteningto
music.Thereareevencertainmusicgenreswhicharerecommendedforperforming
various jobs: listening toclassicalmusichelpsworkerswhendealingwithnumbers
while ambientmusic increases the accuracy of employeeswhen solving equations
(Davidson,2016).
“Thetruebeautyofmusicisthatitconnectspeople.Itcarriesamessage,andwe,the
musicians,arethemessengers”(RobAyers).
Theresearcher’sinterestinchoosingthisparticulartopicderivedfromthelongexpe-
rienceofbeingamusician.Playingdrumssincetheageofsixaswellasbeinginseveral
bandsincreasedtheresearcher’sexperienceinthemusicbusiness.Thecooperation
withmusiclabelsledtoanintensivecontactwithHumanResourcemanagersinthe
musicindustryinAustria.AccordingtoDeMagalhaes(2015)theconceptofHuman
Resourcedepartmentsinthemusicindustrybegantoevolveinthe1990s.Beforethat,
thereweremainlyafewA&R(ArtistandRepertoire)scoutsinchargeoffindingnew
talentsandbands.Technologicaladvancesmade iteasier formusicianstoproduce
andrecordCD’sfor lesscostand in largerquantities.Therefore,tomeettherising
demand,majorlabelstransformedtheirA&RdepartmentsintoHumanResourcede-
partments.
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AstheconceptofHumanResourceManagement(short:HRM)inthemusicindustry
is relativelynew, there isaneed to investigate themethods in thisparticulararea
moreclosely.
Duetotheincreasingimportanceoftechnologyinbusinessestherehasbeenashift
fromtraditionalHR(HumanResource)Managementpracticestoamoremodernap-
proach(Bodi,n.d.).
Withtheadvancesinthecomputertechnologyaswellastheinternet,onlineHRM
platforms began increasingly gaining importance. Whereas traditional managers
whereconfrontedwitha lotoftime-intensivepaperwork,onlineplatformsprovide
thepossibilitytoclearlystructureandstorethedataonline.Theseadvancescanhelp
acompanytosavetimeaswellasmoneyinthelongrun(Lewis,n.d.).
1.2 OutlineoftheResearch:Aim,Questions,HypothesisanditsLimi-
tations
TheprimaryaimofthisthesisistoinvestigateHumanResourceManagementandthe
correspondingpractices, techniquesandmethods in themusic industry.Thethesis
willgiveaclearinsightintothepracticesofHRmanagerstoprovideabetterunder-
standingforHRdepartmentswhenitcomestohiring,firingandworkingwithmusi-
cians.SecondaryresearchwillfocusontraditionalHumanResourceManagementas
well asHumanResourceManagement in themusic industry to display similarities
and/ordifferences.
Furthermore,newpossibilitiesforHRmanagerswillbedisplayedwhichhaveevolved
due to technological changes, i.e.onlineHumanResourceManagementplatforms.
Advantagesaswellasdisadvantagesconcerningthesenewplatformswillbeexam-
inedandoutlined.
ThisthesisalsoaimstoidentifywhetherHumanResourcepracticesdifferinthemusic
industryorwhetherthepracticesarethesamebetweendifferentgenres.
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Theresearchquestionsidentifiedare:
1. WhatistheroleofHRMinthemusicindustry?
2. HowareHRdepartmentsstructuredinthemusicindustry?
3. HowdoestheHRdepartmentinthemusicindustrydifferfromHRdepart-
mentsinnon-musicbusinesses?
4. DoHRmanagersinthemusicindustryneedamusicalbackground?
5. Hasmusicmanagementchangedinthelastyearsandifyes,how?
6. Doesmusicmanagementdifferinmusicgenres?
TheaimofthesequestionsistoidentifythetasksofHRmanagersinthemusicindus-
try as well as comparing their structure to departments with a notmusical back-
ground.Furthermore,thegoalistoinvestigaterisksandopportunitiesofonlineHRM
platforms such as “SynchronStage” and whether these platforms provide all im-
portantHRMrequirements.“SynchronStage”isanonlineHRMplatformforclassical
musicianswhichwasfoundedbyChristianBuchmann.Theplatformwillbeexamined
ingreaterdetail inChapter5.Lastly,theresearcherexamines iftheplatform“Syn-
chronStage”canmeetperceivedservicesbymusiciansandifnot,whatneedstobe
donetomeetthem.
Basedontheseresearchquestions,theresultinghypothesisis:
Onlineplatformssuchas“SynchronStage”cancompetewithtraditionalHRMprac-
ticestomeetandsatisfytheemployee-employerrelationshipandbeevenmoreeffi-
cient.
Theresearcherisawarethatthisapproachtogatherandcompareinformationcan
presentpossiblelimitations.Duetolackoftime,onlyeightmusicianshavebeenin-
terviewed.Therefore,musiciansfromdifferentmusicalgenreshavebeenchosento
ensureabroadvariety.Theplatform“SynchronStage”isuniqueinitscreationwhich
makesitdifficulttofindotherHRexpertswithsimilarplatformstocompare,which
displaysanotherlimitation.Inordertocompensatethis,theliteraturereviewwillpro-
videaclearinsighttocoverpotentialmissingparts.Furthermore,theresearcherisa
musicianhimself,whichmightleadtoabiasedview.
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Forthisreason,managersaswellasmusicianswereinvolvedinthestudytocreatea
clearandunbiasedthesis.
OtherlimitationsarethemissingacademicsourcesofHumanResourceManagement
inthemusicindustry,aswellasthelowrateoffemalesinvolvedinthethesis.Even
thoughtheremightbedifferentopinionsaswellasHRtechniquesinothercountries,
theresearcherdecidedtolimitthisstudytoAustria.
1.3 OutlineoftheThesis
Chapter1:Thefirstchaptercoverstheresearcher’spersonalinterestinthechosen
topicaswellastheaimofthethesis,itsresearchquestions,theresultinghypothesis
anditslimitations.
Chapter2:Thischapteroffersanin-depthliteraturereviewintothecentraltermsof
management.Morespecifically,adefinitionofmanagementandmanagersfollowed
byinformationabouttheskills,characteristicsandtraitsthatmanagersneedtohave
aswellaschallengesthattheyface,ispresented.
Chapter3:HumanResourceManagement:Readerswillbeprovidedwithadefinition
ofHumanResourcesandHumanResourceManagement ingeneral. Followingthis,
thedutiesofHRmanagersandthegoalsandhistoryofHumanResourcepracticeswill
bediscussed.Lastly,aninsightwillbepresentedonhowtechnologychangesmodern
HumanResourceManagement.
Chapter4:Thischapterfocusesonmusicmanagementandwillstartwithadefinition
oftheterm,followedbythedutiesandtasksofmusicmanagers.Furthermore,the
evolutionofHRdepartmentsinthemusicindustrywillbediscussed.
Chapter5:Thefifthchapterinthisthesisisthemethodologyanddescribesthepro-
cessusedtocollectdataandinformation.
Chapter6:Inthischaptertheinterviewparticipantsaswellastheplatformofinves-
tigation(“SynchronStage”)willbeintroduced.Furthermore,theanswersgivenbythe
managerandthemusicianswillbeinterpreted.
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Chapter7:Thelastchaptergivesthereaderanoverviewofthemajorfindingsofthe
researchandprovidestheconclusionofthethesisbycomparingtheresultsfromthe
interviewstothedatagatheredintheliteraturereview.
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Chapter2:Management
AccordingtoDunmade(2015)managementisakeyessentialofeverybusinessand
contributes to a company’s success or failure. Developing effective management
strategieshelpsanorganisationtoincreasetheskillsoftheirworkforceaswellasto
directthecompanytowardstherightdecisions.
2.1DefinitionofManagement
Althoughthetermmanagementiswidelyspreadintoday’sworkenvironmentitisa
termwhichishardtoclearlydefine.
Specialistsfromdifferentfieldsofexpertiseinterpretthetermfromtheirownper-
spective:while
1. Economists:considermanagementtobearesource,
2. Sociologists:perceivemanagerstobesomesortofeliteclassinthesociety
(PrasadandGulshan,2011).
DaltonE.McFarland(1974,citedinPrasadandGulshan,2011)describesmanage-
mentasaprocesswheremanagerschanneltheworkforceofacompanytowards
plannedorganisationalobjectives.KoontzandWeihrich(2010)definemanagement
asaprocessofcreatingaworkenvironmentwhereemployeesworkeitheraloneor
inteamstowardssomeorganisationalgoal.StanleyVance(1959,p.3)statedthat
“managementissimplytheprocessofdecision-makingandcontrolovertheaction
ofhumanbeingsfortheexpresspurposeofattainingpredeterminedgoals”.These
organisationalgoalsincludemotivatingcurrentemployees,providingsatisfyingser-
vicestocustomersaswellasincreasingtheprofitofthecompany(Balle,n.d.).
“Themanageristhedynamic,life-givingelementineverybusiness”(Drucker,2006,
p.3).
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Managers are specialised individualswho are responsible for certain departments
withinanorganisationandcooperatewithsubordinatestomeetandsatisfycompany
purposes(Reh,2016).Therearecertaintypesofmanagerswhoarenotinchargeof
anentiredepartmentbutofcertainprojectsorproducts.
• Projectmanagersareresponsibleforguidingparticipantsofaspecificpro-
jecttoachievedesiredobjectiveswithinanagreedtimeframe.(Association
forprojectmanagement,n.d.).
• Productmanagersontheotherhandareaccountablefortheperformance
ofproductsorservices(Reh,2016).
Whatismore,DonaldJ.Clough(1963,citedinPrasadandGulshan,2011)arguedthat
managementcombinesdecisionmakingaswellasleadership.Glen(n.d.)defineslead-
ershipas the capabilityofaperson topersuasivelyguideothers towardsa certain
concept.According toArruda (2016)beingamanagerdoesnotnecessarily involve
beingaleader.Theconceptofbeingaleaderinvolvescreatingaclearvisionandre-
cruitingpeopletoworkforfulfillingthisidea.Arruda(2016)adds,thatthedutiesofa
managerincludesettingclearobjectivesaswellasmeasuringandachievingorganisa-
tionalaims.
Toconclude,itcanbementionedthatalthoughtheconceptofmanagementandman-
agersiswidelyspread,peoplefromdiversefieldsofexpertisefollowadifferentap-
proachwhendefiningtheterm.
2.1.1DutiesandTasksofManagers
AccordingtoPrasadandGulshan(2011)thedutiesofmanagersincludesixmaincom-
ponents:
Planning:Theprimepartoftheplanningprocessfocussesonclearlysettingandde-
finingorganisationalgoals.Tomeetthesegoalsadetailedplanandschedulewillbe
developedtosupportemployeesinworkingtowardstheperceivedgoal.Monthlyre-
ports help themanager to get anoverviewabout the current state of theproject
(McQuerrey,n.d.).
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Organising: Theorganisingprocess involves identifying and combining activities as
wellasdividingtasksandresponsibilitiesamongemployees.Amainapproach isto
build teams by grouping employees who perform similar tasks (Kalpana, n.d.). To
maintainaneffectiveworkflow,asupervisorisassignedtoeachgroupandrelation-
shipsarebuiltamongmemberstoremovebarriers(ManagementStudyGuide,n.d.).
Staffing: The staffing process starts with Human Resource planning. HR planning
meansevaluatingthequantityaswellasthetypesofworkerswhoareneededinthe
future.Ifthereisaneedformoreworkers,thentherecruitmentaswellastheselec-
tionprocessstarts(Samiksha,n.d.-a).
Directing:Directingdescribestheprocessof instructing,coordinatingaswellassu-
pervisingemployees.Thegoalistoenhanceemployeeperformanceaswellasmoti-
vationbyadvisingsubordinatesonhowtoperformtheirtasks(Chand,n.d.).Oneof
themaintoolsformanagerstoleademployeestowardsadesireddirectioniscom-
munication.Managersneedtohaveagoodwayofcommunicationtobeabletotrans-
mitinstructionstoemployeesinadecisivebutprofessionalmanner(Samiksha,n.d.-
b).
Controlling:Controllingistheprocessofoverseeingthecurrentstateofworkinview
ofthelongtermorganisationalobjectives.Managerssetmilestonestocreateshorter
periodsforemployeestoaimat.Thecontrollingprocessiscloselyrelatedtotheplan-
ningphase:effectivecontrollingcanonlybeguaranteediftheobjectiveswereclearly
definedduringplanning(Fourcadeetal.,2011).
Coordinating:Althoughplanning,organising,staffing,directingandcontrollingcon-
tributetoreceiveagoodcoordination,coordinatingissometimesseenasaseparate
managerialfunction.Coordinationispresentinallfunctionsmentionedbefore:Inthe
organisingphaseforinstance,theprimaryaimistoguaranteecoordinationbetween
people.Furthermore,costcontrolcanonlybeaccurateifallparticipantscontribute
anddeliverdatatomakeestimations(PrasadandGulshan,2011).
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2.1.2CharacteristicsofManagers
Managersneedtohavespecificcharacteristicstofulfiltheirjobinthebestpossible
way.Therefore,goodmanagersareoftenconsidered tobe rare resources (Hogan,
2016).
• JanGordon(n.d.)arguedthatanessentialpartofbeingamanageris
tohaveaprofoundknowledgebasetoperformtherequiredtaskseffec-
tively.
• Gordon(n.d.)furthermoreoutlinedthatcreativityisakeyfactortocatch
theattentionofemployees.
• Oneofthemosteffectivemanagementtoolsiscommunication.Itincludes
notonlyalltypesofcommunicationsuchassendingformalletters,emails,
telephonecalls,textmessagesorpersonalconversationsbutalsolistening
andpayingattentiontowhatpeoplewanttoexpress(Goyal,2012).
• Whatismore,apositiveattitudeisahighassetformanagersandcanen-
hancethemotivationofco-workersaswellasimprovetheperformanceof
theentireteam(Hogan,2016).
• Anotherqualityofmanagersisdelegation.Distributingimportantresponsi-
bilitiesandtasksamongemployeescanleadtoahigherproductivityandim-
provetheworkperformance(Sawalha,n.d.).
To sumup, being amanager does not only require job based knowledge but also
knowledgeofhumannaturetoprovideaprofessionalworkenvironmentwhereall
employeesworktowardsdesiredgoalsaswellastobeabletocommunicateeither
positiveornegativefeedback(Sawalha,n.d.).
2.1.3ManagingChallenges
AsstatedbyMcCarthy(2016)managersneedtomakeuseoftheirqualitieswhenit
comestosolvingproblems.Oneofthemostcommonsituationsistoprovidefeedback
toemployees.
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Ifamanagerrecognizesapoorperformancebyemployees,themostimportantthing
istotakeimmediateaction.Thesoonertheaffectedemployeeisinformedaboutthe
weakperformancethefasterrespondingactionscanbemade.
Ashkenas(2013)adds,whenthereisstillnoimprovementintheemployee’sperfor-
manceitisthemanager’staskstodismisstheemployee.OftenHumanResourcespe-
cialistsareaskedtojoinimportantappointmentswithemployees.TheseHRspecial-
istsareparticularlytrainedforthosesituationsandwillsupportmanagers.
AccordingtoRyan(n.d.)oneofthemainchallengesistomanagethediversework-
force.Globalisationentails thatpeoplewithdifferent cultures, religionsandethics
worktogetherinacompany.Althoughdifferentpeoplewhoworktogetherprovide
betterresultsthanhomogenousgroupsitisstillachallengeformanagerstoprovide
anenvironmentwhereallemployeesaretreatedinafairandequalmanner.
AsstatedbyRutaihwaAristides(2016)anothertrendthatissimilartoglobalisationis
work-forcediversity.Nowadays,theroleofwomenandmenhaschangedvastly.Itis
notwidelyspreadanymorethatwomenstayathometonurturethekidsbutinthese
daysworkingmenareoftenlookingforafamily-friendlycompanywheretheyhave
flexibleworkinghoursandemployeebenefitssuchaschildcare.Havingagoodfamily-
life-workbalanceplaysanimportantroleinordertomotivateandsatisfyworkers.
Lastly,Ray (2012) stated thatbasedon theeconomic situationaswell as thehigh
competitionworkrelatedstress ispresent innearlyallbusinesses.Highlystressed
workerscanleadtohighercostsfortheemployerduetoabsenteeismandemployee
turnoveraswellastoapoorerperformance.
Tosumup,duetothechangingworkenvironmentaswellasnewtrendsthatgain
popularityamongemployees,thereisaneedformanagerstocooperatewithHuman
Resourcemanagerstobeabletosolveparticularsituationsinaprofessionalbutalso
humanmanner.
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Chapter3:HumanResourceManagement
AsmentionedbyBurma(2014)employeesarethemostvaluablecomponentofan
organisation.Therefore,HumanResourcedepartmentsevolvedtobecomeamajor
elementtoachieveorganisationalgoals.Intoday’sworkenvironment,competitionis
oneofthemostfundamentalelements.Tobeabletocompetewithothercompanies
onaglobalscale,organisationsneedtoutilisetheirhumanresourcesinthemostef-
fectivemanner.
3.1.1Definition
HumanResources:AccordingtoBirgerWernerfelt(1984)resourcesingeneral
refertoassetsthatacompanyowns.Heclassifiestheseresourcesinto:Human,
TechnologicalandCapitalResources.InthisthesisthefocuswilllieonHuman
Resourcesonly.AsstatedbyFenner(n.d.)therearetwodifferentapproaches
todefineHumanResources:
• Ontheonehand,HRisatermwhichisusedtodescribetheworkforce
ofacompany.Peoplewhoarecurrentlyemployedatacompanyare
referredtobeHumanResources.Ontheotherhand,itdescribesade-
partmentofacompanywhichisinchargeofmanagingworkerrelated
duties(Fenner,n.d.).
• DeNisiandGriffin(2008)defineHRashumanswhoareemployedatan
organisationtoperformcertaintasksanddutiesinexchangeforsala-
ries,rewardsorbenefits.Furthermore,theyarguethateveryindividual
whoworksinacompanyisahighlyvaluableparttothecompanyand
contributestomeetorganisationalgoalsandenhanceorganisational
effectiveness.
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HumanResourceManagement: JohnStorey (1995,p.5)definedHumanRe-
source Management as “distinctive approach to employment management
whichseeks toachievecompetitiveadvantagethroughthestrategicdeploy-
mentofahighlycommittedandcapableworkforce,usinganarrayofcultural,
structural and personnel techniques”. On the other hand, Buchanan and
Huczynski(2004)mentionedthatHumanResourceManagementincludesthe
needformanagerstosetorganisationalguidelinestosupporttheoverallpolicy
ofthecompany.BasedonthedifferentapproachesofHRMtwotermsevolved:
Soft&HardHRM:
• SoftHumanResourceManagementfocusesontraininganddevelop-
ingcurrentworkforcetoenhancetheirqualityanddedication,whereas
in
• hardHRMpractices,peopleareseenasanyotherresourceinanor-
ganisationthatcontributetomeetingorganisationalgoals.HardHRM
is furthermore often combinedwith strategies to reduce costs: low
wagesforemployeeswithahighdegreeofsupervision
(BeardwellandClaydon,2007).
3.1.2EvolutionoftheHumanResourceManagementFunction
AsmentionedbyDeNisiandGriffin(2008)thepracticeofmanaginghumansinbusi-
nesseswasfirstlyintroducedintheindustrialrevolution.Inthisperiodthefocusled
onexpansionandascompaniesgrewtheroleofmanagersstartedtoevolve.Bigbusi-
nesseslikeGeneralMotorsandBoeingbegantoexpandandhencetherewasaneed
formoreemployees.Tomeetthedemand,specialdepartmentswerecreatedwho
were in charge of hiring new employees aswell asmentoring current employees.
Therefore,personneldepartmentsbegantoevolveinthe1990s.
19
KumarandSharma(2000)furthermorestatedthatRobertOwenisconsideredtobe
themainreasonfortheintroductionofPersonnelManagement.Hetreatedworkers
inafriendlyandprofessionalmannerandwasengagedtoimprovetheworkingcon-
ditionsinhisfactoryaswellastoabolishchildlabour.
DeNisiandGriffin (2008)added that, thehumanrelationsera and theHawthorne
studiesbetween1927and1932madetheideapopularthatmanagersdonotseeem-
ployeesasstandardizedmachinesbutasindividualswhodifferbasedontheirskills.
TheHawthornestudiescontributedanessentialparttotheevolutionoftheHuman
Resourcefunction.Theideabehindthehumanrelationerawastosatisfyandmoti-
vateworkersinthebestpossiblewaytoenhancetheirproductivity.Theawareness
ofthisconceptmadecompaniesmuchmoresuccessfulsincetherewasalowerturn-
overrateandfirmswereoperatingmoreeffectively.
Whatismore,Merencilla(2013)arguedthat,inthesocialissuesera(1963-1980)the
termHumanResourceManagementwasintroducedforthefirsttime.Theprohibition
ofdiscriminationaswellastheintroductionofemployeeprotectionlawsincreased
manager’sawarenessoftheHRfunction.Merencilla(2013)adds,thattechnological
advances providednewpossibilities formanagers to storeemployee relateddata.
Duetotheoverallprosperingeconomy,tradeunionsstartedtocontributeingaining
betterconditionsattheworkplace.
Further technological advances have brought newopportunities for HRmanagers.
Computers,hardwareanddatabaseshavenotonlyfacilitatedtheprocessionofhuge
amountsofdatabuthavechangedtheconceptofHumanResourceManagement(Ku-
marandKumar,2013).
Althoughnewopportunitieshaveevolvedbasedontechnologytherearealsosome
disadvantageswhichwillbebothdiscussedinchapter3.1.4.
20
3.1.3DutiesofanHRmanager
AccordingtoGaryDessler(2009)theHumanResourcemanager’sjobisnotonlyasso-
ciatedwith rewardingemployees fairlybut thedutiesalso include trainingcurrent
staff,findingandhiringnewtalentsandprovidingaworkenvironmentwherehumans
fromallethicalbackgroundsaretreatedinanequalandfairmanner.
TogetaclearinsightintothetasksofHRmanagers,thedutieswillbeexplainedin
greaterdetailbelow.
1.RecruitmentProcess:
AsmentionedbyHeathfield(2017)oneofthefirstthingsthatneedstobedoneinthe
recruitmentandselectionprocess,isconductingajobanalysis.Analysingajobmeans
togatherdataabouttherequirements,dutiesandtaskstoperformacertainjobef-
fectively.Thiscanbedoneforexamplebyinterviewingcurrentemployees.Afterthe
jobanalysisthedataisusedtocreatejobdescriptions.
AccordingtoMader–Clark (2013)a jobdescription isa list,whichentailsdetailed
informationaboutwhatperformingaparticular jobincludes.Ajobspecificationon
theotherhand,focusesonthenecessaryskillsandqualificationsfutureemployees
needtohave(Dessler,2009).
ThefirststepintherecruitmentprocessisHumanResourceplanning.HRplanningis
aprocess,whichdisplayswhetherthereisaneedformoreemployeesinanorganisa-
tionornot.Ifthereisaneedformore,thenthereareafewdifferentopportunitiesto
increasethenumberofworkers,accordingtoGusdorf(2008):
• Employerscaneitherpromoteacurrentemployee(internalenvironment),
whichhelpstomotivateemployeesaswellastoincreaseemployeereten-
tionor
• hireahighlyskilledworkerfromtheexternalenvironment.
21
2.SelectionProcess:
PortoleseDias(n.d.)statedthatafteracertainnumberofapplicantshasbeenreached
in the recruitment phase, the selection process startswhere employers select the
mostadequatecandidates.Duetothefactthathiringaswellasselectingemployees
isaverytime-andcost-intensiveprocedureitisimportanttoevaluatethebestcan-
didatesatanearlystageaswellastoprovideafairapproachtoselectaspirants.
AccordingtoPortoleseDias(n.d.)thereareseveralstepsintheselectionprocess:
• ThefirststepistoreviewCV’sandotherrequiredapplicationforms.Ifthese
documentsmeettherequirementsapplicantsareinvitedtopersonalinter-
views.Therearesometimessmalltestsincludedintheinterviewswherethe
candidate’scommonknowledgeorlogicalreasoningistested.
• Thelastpartoftheselectionprocessistoreviewallthepartsmentioned
aboveandtochoosetheapplicantwhofitsbestintothecompanyandto
makehim/heranoffer.
3.CompensationandBenefits:Compensationreferstopayingmoneytoemployees
inexchangeforperformingvariousfunctionsinanorganisation(Nazir,2010).DavidJ.
Hoare(2013)andDoyle(2017)arguedthattherearefourwaystocompensateem-
ployees:
22
Compensation Definition Source
Salary Salaryisaregularpaymenttoemployees(forexample
onmonthlybasis)whichisagreedoncontract.
David J.
Hoare
(2013)
Hourly Describesthepaymenttoworkersbasedonthetime
spentinthecompany.Forexample:8€/hour.
David J.
Hoare
(2013)
Commission Commission based salary is a form of compensation
whereemployeesarerewardedwithsalariesafterthey
havefulfilledrequiredtasks(i.e.disposingaminimum
quantityofgoodsorservices).
Therearetwotypesofcommissioncompensation:Em-
ployeeseitherreceiveabasesalaryandcanearnaddi-
tionalmoneywhensellingmoreproductsorservicesor
employeesworkentirelyoncommission.
(Doyle,
2017)
Bonuses A sum of money given to employees additionally to
their base salary. Bonuses are rewarded to increase
motivationaswellasretentionofemployees.
David J.
Hoare
(2013)
Table1:Typesofcompensation
Ascanbeseenabovetherearethreedifferentwayshowemployeescanbecompen-
satedinanorganisation:Workerscaneitherreceiveafixedsalary,anhourly-based
compensation, or commissions. Employees can be additionally rewardedwith bo-
nuses,whicharepaidontopofthefixedsalary.
4.TrainingandDevelopment:AccordingtoQureshi(2016)traininganddevelopment
describestheprocessofinstructingemployeeswhoworkeitheraloneorinteamsby
increasingtheirknowledgeandimprovingtheirskills.
23
Thereareseveralmethodshowtotrainworkers.Mostcommonways include: lec-
tures,examplecases,roleplaysorcomputer-basedtrainings.
Qureshi(2016)addsthattraininganddevelopingemployeescanincreasetheircon-
tentednessaswellastheirindependence,whichmeansthattheyneedlessguidance.
Furthermore,strengthsandweaknessescanbedetectedbyappraisingperformance,
toeitherbepromotedoradvanced.
5.EthicsandFairTreatment:ManagersofHRdepartmentsarefurthermorerespon-
sibleformaintainingtheoveralljobsatisfactionofemployeesaswellasprovidinga
workenvironmentwherepeoplewithdifferentculturalbackgrounds,ethicsandreli-
gionsaretreatedinanequalmanner(Mayhew,n.d.).
AccordingtoDessler(2009,p.277)thereare“threepillars”concerningthebehaviour
ofemployees:
Pillar1 Pillar2 Pillar3
The first pillar refers to
rulesthatneedtobeob-
servedbyemployees.For
example: prohibition of
alcohol in theworkplace,
stealing, or intentional
damage.
The second pillar applies
topenalties.Incaseofan
employeebreakingoneof
the rules mentioned be-
fore, there are several
punishments towards
employees.Thesecan in-
clude either written or
oralcautionsorcan,inse-
vere cases, even lead to
thesuspensionofanem-
ployee.
Thelastpillaris:“appeals
process” (Dessler, 2009,
p.277). The appeals pro-
cess provides the oppor-
tunity for employees to
find out whether disci-
plines from supervisors
were distributed equita-
bly.
Table2:Threepillarsconcerningbehaviourofemployees
Source:Dessler(2009,p.277)
24
Tosumup,thethreepillarsdescribedbyDessler(2009,p.277)refertothebehaviour
ofemployees inanorganisation.Pillar1relatestorules inanorganisation,pillar2
representspenalties,incaseanyoftherulesareviolatedandpillar3helpsemployees
toascertainwhethertheirpunishmentwasfair.
3.1.4HowTechnologyaffectsHRM
Advances in the information technology (IT) led toashift fromtraditional tomore
modernHRpractices.While technology changesHRMpractices,HRmanager’sde-
mandsoncomputerbasedtechnologiesascendsaswell.Althoughthisshiftbrought
upopportunities,therearealsonewchallengesthatHRmanagersneedtoface(Ku-
marandKumar,2013).
AccordingtoLewis(n.d.)therearesomeadvantagesformanagerswhoworkinthe
HRdepartmentbasedontechnologicaladvances:
1. Recruitmentprocess: The recruitmentprocesswas improvedvastlydue to
thelargenumberofpotentialemployeesthatcanbereachedbyasinglepost
onaparticularwebsite.
2. Reductionofpaperwork:Onlineplatformsreduceda lotof thepaperwork
thatHRmanagerswereconfrontedwithinthepastanddevelopedthepossi-
bilitytolookforrequireddocumentsinadatabase.
3. Access to information: With the possibility to access information online,
trainingscanbeprovidedinvirtualclassroomswherealargernumberofem-
ployeescanbetrainedatthesametimewithoutrequiringsupervisionfroma
HRmanager.
Lewis(n.d.)
StephenBruce(2014)addsthatonlineplatformsprovideacleardatastructurewhich
canbeeasilyaccessedbyemployeesandemployers.Thisprovidesthepossibilityfor
employeestochangedata(forexampletheiraddressormaritalstatus)ontheirown
withouthavingtocontacttheHRdepartment.
25
Disadvantages:
1. Security:AccordingtoBruce(2014)securityisamajorproblemofonline
platforms.
2. Usageofpersonaldata:AsmentionedbyBodi(n.d.)potentialemployees
areadditionallyrestrictedintheirpersonallivessince92%ofallpeoplein
chargeofrecruitingandfindingnewtalentsusesocialmediaplatformsto
examinenewjobapplicants.
3%ofemployersevendigdeeperthanonFacebookorLinkedInandinvesti-
gatenewapplicantsonSnapchattoseethemintheireverydaylife.
3. Downsizing:KumarandKumar(2013)mentionedthatdownsizingisanother
problem.AccordingtoHeibutzki(n.d.)downsizingdescribesreducingthe
numberofemployeesinacompany.Sincealotoftaskswhereemployees
wereneededinthepastcannowbecompletedonacomputer,companies
reducetheirworkforcetosavecosts.
TypesofnewHRMplatforms:
Name Definition Source
E-HRM ElectronicHumanResourceManagement(E-
HRM)describesamethodtoassistworkers
inHRMpracticesbyusinginformationtech-
nology.E-HRMis focusedonmanagersand
employees(incontrasttoHRISwhichmainly
concernsmanagers)andentailseveryaspect
ofHRMthatiscompatiblewithIT.
Stefan
Strohmeier
(2007);
(Bondaroukand
Ruël,2008)
HRInformation
System
HumanResourceInformationSystem(HRIS)
iseitheranonlineorofflineplatformwhere
employee relateddata is storedandsaved.
HRISprovidesthepossibilitiesforbusinesses
tomanageHRdutieselectronically.
(Chugh,2014)
26
Web-basedHR Web-basedHRmeansusingonlineservices
toprovideinformationforemployeeseasily
andimmediatelyavailableviawebsites.
(Rietsema,
2015)
VirtualHRM Virtual Human Resource Management de-
scribes the possibility for employees to ac-
cessanetworkwhereanumberofself-ser-
viceHRfunctionsareavailablei.e.payroll,or
administrativematters.
(HRZone,n.d.)
Table3:TypesofnewHRMplatforms
Ascanbeseenabove,therearedifferentwayshowHRmanagerscanusetechnology
nowadays.Dependingontheproposedobjectives,companiesareabletochoosebe-
tweendifferent (online)platforms toeither improvemanagerial dutiesor to store
employeerelateddataorboth.Incaseofanonlineplatform,HRmanagershavetwo
opportunitiestoprovideaccesstoemployees:Therecanbeeitheraninternalnetwork
(intranet)oraccessforemployeesviawebsites.
Toconclude,effectivemanagingskillsaswellassophisticatedHumanResourceMan-
agementpracticeshelpscompaniesnotonlytoincreasetheirorganisationaleffective-
nessbutevolvedtobecomeanessentialpartofeveryorganisation.Nowadays,due
tochangingprioritiesandambitions(i.e.work-lifebalances)ofemployeesaswellas
duetothediverseworkforce,HRdepartmentsbecameakeycomponentforthesuc-
cessofeverycompany.
27
Chapter4:MusicManagement
Themusic industryhasundergonesignificantchangeswithin the lastyears.As the
importanceoflargemusiclabelsdecreasedsignificantly,thedutiesofmusicmanagers
begantoincrease(Allen,2015).Musiciansareartistswhoworkeitherindividuallyor
inagroupofpeopletomakealivingfromcreatingandsellingart(Grant,2011).In
viewofthefactthatmusiciansareinchargeofthecreativeprocess,musicmanagers
needtohandlebusinessrelatedduties(McDonald,2016a).
4.1.1Definition
Thetermmusicmanagement ismostlyusedasahypernymtodescribeallkindsof
managerial related responsibilities in themusic industry.According toAllen (2015)
therearethreemaintypesofmusicmanagers:
1. PersonalManager(alsoreferredtoasArtistManager)
Asmentioned byDonald S. Passman (2015) a personalmanager (also called artist
manager)isanindividualwhoworkstogetherwithamusicianorbandtowardsthe
highestpossibleresults.Goodpersonalmanagershavethepossibilitytopromotean
artist’scareertothepeaklevel.Theirdutiesrangefromfindingadequateproducers
foranewCDtocoordinatingorganisationaldutiessuchasplanningconcerts,tours
andrecordingsessions.Personalmanagersaretypicallyrewardedwith15-20%ofthe
artists’earnings.
McDonald(2016a)furthermorearguedthatthedutiesofartistmanagersdependon
thecurrentgradeofpopularityoftheband.Ifabandhasarecorddeal,thenthetasks
includemanagingfinancialmatterswiththerecordlabel.Incaseofabandhavingno
recorddeal,itisthemanager’sdutytopromotethebandanddirectthebandtowards
greaterpopularitybysendingoutdemostomediaandradiostations,aswellasto
helpcreatinganetwork.
28
2. BusinessManager
Businessmanagersareinchargeofallpaymentrelatedduties.Therefore,musicians
orbandsneedtofindhighlytrainedprofessionalswhokeepthefinancialrecordscon-
stantlyinsight.Thesemanagersarerewardedalsoeitherwithapercentage(typically
5%),ortheyworkonanhourlybasis(Passman,2015).
3. BookingManagers(BookingAgents)
Lastly,bookingmanagers(mostlycalledbookingagents)areworkingasaninterface
betweenmusiciansandfans.Thesekindofmanagersaremostlyconfrontedwithcon-
tactingvenuestobookconcertsfortheparticularartistaswellasnegotiatingthefee
fortheband/musician.Bookingagentsearnmoremoneythemoreshowstheybook
aswellasthehigherthefeeis(Roos,n.d.).
AsWeisman(2014)stated,bookingagentsdonotonlyorganiseconcertsbutalsore-
cordingsessionsforartists.Bookingarecordingsessionforclientsmeanstointerfere
musicianstostudiojobs.Forexample:AbandwantstorecordanewCDbutthedrum-
merisnotcapableofplayingaparticularbeat.Thenbookingagentshireaprofessional
musician(inthiscaseadrummer)torecordthedrumtracksfortheband.Themusi-
cian’sjobisdoneassoonasthedrumtracksarerecorded.
4.1.2CompensationofArtists
AccordingtoMcDonald(2016b)therearefivewayshowmusicianscanearnmoney:
1. PlayingLive
Whenplayinglivemusicianscaneitherearnmoneyviapreagreedfees,orviadoor-
deals(i.e.70%fortheartist,30%forthelocationàthemorepeoplearecomingto
theconcert,thehighertherevenue).
29
2. RecordingSessions
Asexplainedabove,musicianscanearnmoneythroughrecordingsessionsforother
artists.Thismighthelptobuildanetworkaswellasimprovingskillsbyplayingdiffer-
entkindsofmusicalgenres.Musiciansareeitherpaidafixedchargeperdayorreceive
royaltiesonthenumberofcopiessold.
3. SellingMusic(DigitalCopies)
Bands/artistscaneitherearnmoneythroughsellingphysicalcopiesatconcertsand
localshopsorthroughdigitaldistribution(Amazon,iTunes,…).
4. SellingMerchandise
Furthermore, artists can earnmoney by selling t-shirts, hoodies, lighters, stickers,
patches and othermerchandise products. This can both increase the band/artist’s
budgetaswellastheirpopularitysincepeoplearewearingproductswithacertain
logoandnameonit.
5. ProducingotherArtists
According to Ian Shepherd (2009) a music producer is a musician with a certain
knowledgeofrecordengineeringwhosupportsartistsorbandsfromwritingsongsto
producing, recording,mixing andmastering them.Producers have a unique sound
whichtheyhavecreatedoveryearsofexperienceandartistscontactcertainproduc-
ersbecausetheywanttocaptureaparticularsoundontheirrecord.
Tosumup,therearetwodifferentapproacheshowmusicianscanearnmoney:Either
byplayinglive,andsellingmerchandiseafterconcertsorbyplayinginthestudio,asa
producerorasasessionmusician.
30
4.1.3RecordDeals(MajorvsIndependentLabels)
Arecorddeal (alsoreferredtoasarecordingcontract) isa legalagreementsigned
betweenartists/bandsandarecordlabel.Dependingontheagreementinthecon-
tract,theartistrecordsoneormoreCDsandtherecordlabelisinchargeofselling
andpromotingtheCD.Inreturnfortheamountspent,therecordcompanyreceives
royaltiesforeverycopysold(Salmon,2007).
Nowadays,musicianscaneitherhavearecorddealwithanindependentormajorla-
bel:
IndependentLabel MajorLabel
• Independentlabelsarenotconnected
with any major label and use inde-
pendent partners to offer client’s
productsat themarket (Knab,2010).
• AccordingtoDaveCool(2015)anad-
vantagewhensigningacontractwith
anindependentlabelisthattheteam
is rather small and hence there is a
personal relationshipto labelmanag-
ers.
• On theotherhand, Cool (2015) adds
thatthebiggestproblemistoprovide
financing.
• Independentlabelsdonotsupportart-
ists/ bands financially, therefore art-
istshavetopayfortheirproductwith
theirownbudget.
• Currently,therearethreemajorlabels
inthemusicindustry:SonyMusic,
WarnerMusicandUniversalMusic.
Approximately2/3ofallmusicsold
nowadaysiscausedbythe“bigthree”
(Resnikoff,2016).
• AsCool(2015)mentioned,thead-
vantagesofbeingapartofamajorla-
belincludefinancing,promotionand
reputation.Bands/artistsdonothave
togathertheirownbudgetforthepro-
ductionofaCDbutthemajorlabel
bearsthefullcosts.
• Therefore,theychargeusually30%ofa
copysoldwhereasartistsearnapproxi-
mately7%percopysold.(Therestisdi-
videdamong:distributors,songwriters,
producers,…).Furthermore,majorla-
belsareresponsibleforpromotingnew
artistsandpositioningthematthemu-
sicmarket.
Table4:Typesoflabels
31
In summary, it can be stated that independent labels are rather small companies,
whichprovidenofinancialsupportforbands.Consequently,musiciansorbandshave
topaytheproductionofsongsthemselves.Majorlabelsontheotherhand,takeover
thecostsfortheCD-productionandpromotion,butchargetherefore30%percopy
sold.
4.1.4A&RandHRMintheMusicIndustry
Startinginthe1990sthefirstHRdepartmentsinthemusicindustrybegantodevelop,
asA&RmanagersandHRmanagersmoreandmoremergedtheirresponsibilities(De
Magalhaes,2015).
AsstatedbyMellor(2006),Artist&Repertoiremanagersarearelevantpartofevery
recordlabel.DependingonthesizeofthelabeltheremightbeonlyoneA&Rmanager
oranentireA&Rdepartment(whichisoftenincludedintheHRdepartment).These
managersareconstantlylookingfornewtalentsandbandswhotheycansign.There-
fore,theyneedtohaveaclearunderstandingofthekindofthemusicthatispopular
nowadays.Mellor(2006)addsthatArtist&Repertoiredepartmentsalsomanagecur-
rentbandsandartists.Theyworkcloselytogetherwithmusiciansandworkasanin-
terfacebetweentherecordlabelandmusicians.
What ismore,DeMagalhaes (2015)argues thatnowadaysevery largemajor label
suchasSony,Universal,andWarnerMusichasanHRdepartment.Duetothefactthat
musiciansandbandsareemployeestoo,thedutiesofanHRdepartmentwithinamu-
siclabelaresimilartotheonesinothercompanies:hiringandfiringemployees,fair
paymentandmanymore.
32
4.1.5MusicManagementinDifferentGenres
According toPassman (2015) therearehugedifferencesbetweenmanagingapop
artistandaclassicalmusician.
ClassicalMusic
• Classicalmusiciansdomostlynotwritetheirownsongs,butplayexisting
compositions.Hence,thesongwritingprocessasitisknowninpopmusic
doesnottakeplace.
• Themarketforclassicalmusicfurthermoredifferentiatesfromthepopmar-
ketbecauserecordsalesaremuchsmaller.
• AsstatedbyPassman(2015)typicalalbumsalesrangefrom5.000to10.000
copiessoldworldwide.50.000copiesintheclassicalbranchareconsidered
tobeabigseller.Inadditiontothelownumberofcopiesbeingsold,there-
cordingprocessrangesfrom150.000to400.000dollarswhenusingafullor-
chestra.
PopMusic
• Asacomparison,McIntyre(2017)statedthatAdele’salbum“25”wassold
1,731,000timesintheUSonly.
• Passmanfurthermorementioned,thattheroyaltiesaremuchlowerinthe
classicalmusicthaninthepopindustry:
- Typically,itrangesfrom7,5to10%.(Passman,2015),
- whereasinthepopmusicroyaltiesrangefrom13to20%(Passman,
2015).
-
Therefore,itcanbementionedthatmanagersinthemusicindustryneedtobeex-
pertsinthegenresthattheyareworkingin,inordertobeabletofullysupportclients.
33
Tosumup,musicmanagersplayakeyroleforthesuccessofbandsandartists.There
aredifferenttypesofmanagers inthemusic industrywhoeitherhelpmusiciansto
advancetheircareersorhelpthemtoincreasethenumberofbookings.Duetothe
factthatmusicianswhoareundercontractatlabelsarealsoemployees,HRdepart-
ments inthemusic industryneededtoadapttomusician’sconcerns.Althoughthe
practicesofHRmanagers inthemusic industryaresimilartothoseinregularbusi-
nesses,HumanResourcemanagerswhoworkinthemusicbusinessneedtohavean
understandingofthedesiresandneedsthatartistsandbandshave.
34
Chapter5:Methodology
TogainabetterinsightintothechosenonlineHRMplatform“SynchronStage”aqual-
itativeinterviewwasconductedwiththefounderChristianBuchmann.Acomparative
researchhasbeenchosentodisplaythedifferencesand/orsimilaritiestotraditional
HumanResourcepractices.Forthemusicians’perspectiveeightqualitativeinterviews
wereconductedwithprofessionalmusiciansfromdifferentmusicalgenres.Thesein-
terviewswereanalysedandcomparedtotheanswersgivenfromMr.Buchmannto
detectwhetherthisnewplatforminvolvesallimportantaspectsinordertosatisfythe
employee-employerrelationship.
5.1.1Aim
TheprimaryaimofthisthesisistoexaminethepracticesandmethodsofHRdepart-
ments in themusic industry. Secondly, the researcher aims to display advantages
and/ordisadvantagesofonlineHRMplatformsandstrivestofindoutwhetherthese
platformscansatisfyexpectationsanddesiresofmusiciansornot.
5.1.2ResearchDesign
AccordingtoHairetal.thethreemostcommonresearchdesignsare:“exploratory,
descriptiveandcausal”(2013,p.76).Eachofthethreemethodscanbeusedfordif-
ferentsituationstheresearcherwantstoinvestigate.Exploratoryresearchisusedto
identifyandunderstandoccurredproblemsbyusingasmallsampleofdataandpar-
ticipants.DescriptiveResearchisamethodtocollectalargeamountofdatatoidentify
trends,characteristicsandfrequencies.Lastly,causalresearchisusedtotestthecon-
sequencesofchangingcertainvariablessuchasthepriceforaproductorservice(Hair
etal.,2013).
Whereasexploratoryresearchrequiresaqualitativeapproachtocollectdata,descrip-
tiveandcausalresearchinvolvesaquantitativeinformationcollection.
35
Accordingto(Hairetal.,2013)qualitativeresearchmethodsinclude:
• Smallsamplestounderstandthethoughtsandfeelingsofparticipantsas
wellastounderstandbehavior.
• Answers,whichcannotbegeneralized.
• Either:open-ended,semi-structuredorunstructuredinterviewquestions.
• Ashorttimeframe.
The researcher investigates interviewees and interprets the given answers after-
wards.
QuantitativeResearchontheotherhandavail:
• Largesamplestodiscoverrelationshipstomakepredictionsandvalidate
facts.
• Answers,whichcanbegeneralizedandappliedtoabroadaudience.
• Structuredquestions:mostlyusedinconnectionwithsurveys.
• Alongtimeframe.
Datausedbyconductingquantitativeresearchisusedtocreatestatisticalanalysisand
interpretthedata(i.e.numbers).
As statedby JohnW.Creswell (2014) therearedifferentmethods to gather infor-
mationforeitherqualitativeorquantitativemethods.Qualitativeresearcherscanei-
theruse:observations;interviews(face-to-face,telephone,focusgroup,e-mail),doc-
uments(privatejournals,ordiaries)orlastly,audio-visualmaterials(videos,photos,
soundsorfilms).Qualitativeinterviewsaremostlyrecordedandtranscribedbythe
researcherafterwards.
Asmentionedaboveinterviewscaneitherinclude:structuredinterviews,semi-struc-
turedorunstructuredquestions:
StructuredInterviews:AccordingtoDoyle(2004,citedinQuandDumay,2011)struc-
turedinterviewsrefertoaskingpre-establishedquestionstoparticipants.Theinter-
viewerasksquestionsfromascriptanddigressesaslittleaspossibletogetbriefan-
swers.Allparticipantsareaskedtheidenticalquestionsinthesamechronology.The
36
advantageofusingstructuredinterviewsistoreduceanybiasbytheresearcherby
thehighlystandardizedprocessofaskingquestions.
Unstructured Interviews:Unstructured interviews follow amore informal and un-
standardizedapproach,wherethefocus liesonopen-endedquestions(Hannabuss,
1996,citedinQuandDumay,2011).Thepurposeofunstructuredistogainadetailed
insight into the interviewee’s perception (Greene, 1998, cited in Qu and Dumay,
2011).
Therefore,itiswidelyspreadtoaddadditionalquestionsthatariseduringinterviews
toscrutinizeanswersgiven(FontanaandFrey,1998,citedinQuandDumay,2011).
Semi-StructuredInterviews:AsmentionedbyKvaleandBrinkmann(2009,citedinQu
andDumay,2011)semi-structuredinterviewquestionscombineamixtureofthetwo
approachesmentionedaboveandarethemostcommonwaystoconductqualitative
interviews.Thesekindofinterviewsincludepre-establishedandsystematicinterview
questionswheretheresearcherdirectsintervieweestowardsadesireddirection.In-
terviewquestionscanvaryfromarathersystematictoarelativelylooseapproachand
allowinvestigatorstoexploitcovertaspectsofparticipants.
AccordingtoKvaleandBrinkmann(2009,citedinQuandDumay,2011),semi-struc-
turedinterviewquestionsprovidethepossibilitytocreatequestionsinawaytodis-
coverdetailedandpersonalperceptionsabouttopics.
Face-to-FaceInterviews:AsstatedbyEMANS(1986,citedinOpdenakker,2006),face-
to-face interviewsprovide thepossibility for researchers togainanadditionalper-
spectiveofinterviewees,sincebodylanguage,voicechanges,etc.canbefurthermore
investigated.Anadvantageof this typeof interviews is the small timehorizonbe-
tweenthequestionaskedandtheanswergivenbyparticipants.Therefore,investiga-
tors collectmore spontaneous rather than pre-established answers. Based on this
smalltimeframe,researchersneedtopayclearattentionhowtoformulatetheques-
tionsinordertoreceivetheappropriateanswers.
AccordingtoWengraf(2001,citedinOpdenakker,2006)face-to-faceinterviewsare
mostly recordedbyusingaudio recordingdevices. Interviewers shouldadditionally
37
takenotestocheckwhetherallpreparedquestionswereasked.Disadvantagesofre-
cordinginterviewsaretechnicalfailuresthatcanoccurduringtherecordingprocess.
Furthermore,aftertheinterviewwasrecordedtheresearcherneedstotranscribethe
entireinterview,whichrequiresalotoftime.
Concerningquantitativeresearchesthemostwidelyspreadformofcollectingdatais
viasurveys.ElaboratingonJohnW.Creswell(2014)surveyshelptheresearchersto
gainanumericrepresentationoftrendsbystudyingsamplesofaparticularpopula-
tion.Thisnumericinsighthelpstheresearchertoconductageneralizationofthatpar-
ticularpopulation.
ForthisthesisaqualitativeapproachwaschosentoinvestigateHumanResourceMan-
agement practices in the music industry. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews
wereconductedwithonemusicmanagerandeightprofessionalmusicians.
Theinterviewquestionswerecreatedbasedonrelevantliteratureusedinthelitera-
turereviewpart.Thereasonwhytwopartieswerechosenforthisthesiswastocover
twoperspectives.Musicianshavedifferentopinionsthanmanagersandtherefore,for
thecompletenessofthethesis,bothaspectsweretakenintoconsideration.
Interviewsseemedtobetherightchoicebecausenotthequantityofanswerswas
importantforthethesisbuttogetadetailedinformationofeachparticipantabout
theiropiniononHumanResourceManagementinthemusicindustryaswellasabout
investigatingchancesandrisksofonlineHRMplatforms.Afterconductingtheinter-
views,theresearchercomparedtheanswersgivenbythemanagertotheanswers
givenbythemusicianstodisplaysimilaritiesand/ordifferences.
Fiveinterviewswereaudiorecorded,oneinterviewwasconductedviatelephoneand
twointerviewswereface-to-face,wheretheresearchertooknotesduetoabadre-
cordingquality.Theentireinterviewsweretranscribedandcanbefoundintheap-
pendix.Allparticipantsagreedtobementionednamelyinthisthesis.
38
5.1.3UnitofAnalysis
Theselectedunitofanalysisconsistsoftheintervieweesthatparticipatedinthisthe-
sisaswellasrelevantliteraturegatheredintheliteraturereview.
“Whenconductinginterviews,eachinterviewservesastheunitofanalysis”(Schreier,
2012,p.130).
AccordingtoCole(2017)usingindividualsofaparticularsocialfieldorentityasaunit
ofanalysiscanhelptheresearchertoidentifypatternsorproblemswhicharewidely
spreadinthefieldthattheyareoperatingin.
Apossiblelimitationconcerningthisapproachtogatherandcompareinformationis
thesmalltimeframe.Onlyeightmusiciansandonemusicmanagerwereinterviewed.
Tocompensatethat limitation,abroadrangeofmusicianswerechosen,whohave
completelydifferentmusicalbackgroundtogetawiderangeofanswersandopinions.
Secondly,anotherlimitationisresource.
Whatismore,onlineHRMplatformsarenewandthereforeitishardtofindotherHR
expertsofsimilarplatformssuchas“SynchronStage”tomakecomparisons.Tocom-
pensatethat,theliteraturereviewprovidesaclearinsighttocoverpotentialmissing
parts.Furthermore,theresearcherisamusicianhimself.Thismightleadtoabiased
view.Therefore,therearebothmanagersaswellasmusiciansinvolvedinthestudy
tocreateaclearandunbiasedthesis.Additionally,academicsourcesofHumanRe-
sourceManagementinthemusicindustryarelimited.Anotherlimitationisgender.
Thereareeightmenandonewomeninvolvedinthisthesis.Womenmighthavedif-
ferentopinionsabout certainaspects. Lastly, the study is limited toAustria. There
mightbedifferentHRtechniquesorpracticesinothercountries.
5.1.4Participants
Asmentionedbefore,theresearcherconductednineinterviewsintotal.Eightinter-
viewswereheldwithprofessionalmusicians,whereasoneinterviewwasconducted
withaViennesemusicmanager.Themusicmanagerwasaskeddifferentquestions
thanthemusicians,sotheresearchercreatedtwotypesofquestionnaires.
39
Duetothefactthatthereisonlyonemusicmanagerinvolvedinthisthesis,theinter-
viewwithhimwasapproximately1,5hourstogetanin-depthinsightintohisaspects
ofHRMinthemusicindustry,aswellastogatherdetailedinformationabouttheplat-
form“SynchronStage”.
Theinterviewswiththemusicianswereeachapproximately20-30minuteslong.All
interviewswereconductedwithAustriancitizenswholiveandworkinAustria.
5.1.5ReflectionsconcerningtheInterviewQuestions
Tocoverthemanagerialperspectivetherewerenineinterviewquestionsaskedtothe
VienneseHRmanager.
InterviewQuestions PurposeoftheQuestion
1)Pleasegiveanintroductionabout
yourself.
àThefirstquestionwasaskedto
verifyrespondents’personneldata.
2)Pleasegiveinformationabouttheplat-
form“SynchronStage”.
- Howdidtheideaevolve?
- Howisthecompanystructured?
- Howmanypeopleareworking
behindthescenes?Whatare
theirduties?
- Howmanymusiciansareapart
oftheplatform?Whatkindof
musicians?
- Whatisthepurposeofthisplat-
form?
3)Whoarethecustomersthatareusing
“SynchronStage”?Arethecustomers
onlyfromAustriaorarethereinterna-
tionalclientsaswell?
àQuestions2&3wereaskedto
gatherrelevantinformationabout
theplatformofinvestigation“Syn-
chronStage”.
40
4)Whataretheadvantagesand/ordis-
advantagesofhavinganonlineplat-
form?
àQuestion4wasaskedtoidentify
generaladvantagesand/ordisad-
vantagesofusingonlineHRMplat-
forms.
5)Howcanpeoplebecomeapartofthe
platform?Howdoestherecruitment/se-
lectionprocesstakeplace?
6)Howaremusicianscompensated?
- Howdoyouguaranteefairre-
warding?
- Whatifarecordingsessionis
cancelled?
- Whatifmusiciansgetill?
àQuestions5&6focusedinvesti-
gatingHRpracticesof“Synchron-
Stage”tobeabletocomparetoan-
swerstothegatheredliterature.
7)DoyouthinkthatHRMinthemusic
industrydoesdifferfromHRMin“nor-
mal”businesses?
àQuestion7focusedonthere-
searchquestion:“HowdoestheHR
departmentinthemusicindustrydif-
ferfromHRdepartmentsinnon-mu-
sicbusinesses?”
8)Doesmusicmanagementdifferinmu-
sicgenres?
àQuestion8wascreatedtofinda
possiblesolutiontotheresearch
question“DoesHRMdifferinmusic
genres?”
9)DoyouthinkthatHRmanagersinthe
music industry need to have a musical
background?
àLastly,Question9oftheinterview
withBuchmannfocusedonidentify-
ingwhethermanagersinthemusic
industryneedtohaveamusicalback-
ground.
Table5:DataCollectionQuestionsandPurpose(Manager)
41
For themusician interviews,different interviewquestionswere createdby the re-
searcherbutfollowedthesamesemi-structured,face-to-faceapproach.
InterviewQuestions PurposeoftheQuestion
Name:
Work(Instrument&genre)
Freelanceoremployed:
Age:
Yearsofexperience:
Gender:
àFirstly,theresearcherwantedtocol-
lectgeneralinformationabouteach
participant.
1)WhatdoyouunderstandunderHu-
manResourceManagement?
àTheintentionofthefirstinterview
questionwastoinvestigatethegeneral
awarenessofmusiciansofHRM.
2)WhatdoyouexpectideallyfromHR
managersinthemusicindustry?
àThesecondquestionintendedtoex-
aminetheexpectanciesofHRmanager
inthemusicindustry.
3)DoyouthinkthatHRMplaysanim-
portantroleinthemusicindustry?
YES/NO
Ifyes:why?Ifnot:whynot?
ààThirdly,theresearcherwantedto
identifytheinterviewee’sperception
aboutHRM’sroleinthemusicindustry
4)WhatdoyouthinkofonlineHRM
platforms?
5)DoyouthinkthatonlineHRMplat-
formsbringadvantagesformusicians?
6)Arethereanydisadvantagesorrisks
thatcometoyourmindwhenthinking
aboutonlineHRMplatforms?
àQuestion4,5&6focusedononline
HRMplatformsandtheperceivedad-
vantagesaswellasdisadvantagesby
eachparticipant.
42
7)Haveyoualreadyheardaboutthe
onlineplatform“SynchronStage”?
Yes/No
àIftheparticipantalreadyheardabout
the platform “SynchronStage” there
were threeadditionalquestions,which
could be directly opposed to answers
given by Buchmann. (If not the inter-
vieweeendedatquestion7.)
Ifyes:
Doyouthinkthattheplatformcan
meetallperceivedservicesbymusi-
cians?(Faircompensation/Fairre-
cruitmentprocess)
Does“SynchronStage”bringad-
vantagesformusicians?Ifyes,which.
Wouldyouhaveideastoimprove“Syn-
chronStage”?
Table6:DataCollectionQuestionsandPurpose(Musician)
43
Chapter6:EvaluationoftheInterviews
6.1.1InterviewPartners
NAME
INSTRUMENT
GENRE
WORK
MarcoBlascetta
Vocals,ElectricGui-
tar,DoubleBass,Ac-
cordion;
Rock,FolkMusic,
Rap,ClassicalMu-
sic,Acting
Freelancer
ChristianBuch-
mann
(Violin)
(ClassicalMusic)
MusicManager;
Founderof“Syn-
chronStage”.
AnnaBudnowski
Vocals
Pop,Jazz
Freelancer
MartinEdelmann
Viola
ClassicalMusic
Freelancerand
employed(RSO)
RubenGludovacz
Vocals,Guitar
Pop/Rock
Freelancer
RaphaelHandschuh
Viola
ClassicalMusic,Art
Music
Freelancerand
employed(RSO)
44
Table7:InterviewParticipants
6.1.2SynchronStage
TheplatformtoinvestigateonlineHumanResourceManagementis“SynchronStage”,
whichwasfoundedbyChristianBuchmann.BuchmannisaViennesemusicmanager
with30yearsofexperience.Afterfacingtheusualobstacleswhilebookingmusicians
heevolvedtheideatocreateaplatformtoremovebarrierswhenbookingmusicians.
Practically,theplatformcanbeusedtomanageallkindsoffreelancersbutismainly
usedtobookmusiciansforinternationalfilmrecordingsessions.Thestudiowherethe
recordingstakeplaceisbasedinVienna.ThecustomerswhoareusingSynchronStage
are international filmmusiccompanies suchasFox,Warner,Paramountaswellas
well-knowndirectorssuchasHansZimmerandConradPope.Currently,thereare370
musicianspartoftheplatform.
6.1.3Interpretation(Musicians)
Question1:WhatdoyouunderstandunderHumanResourceManagement?
Blascetta HRMis theability tousehumancapabilities toproducecertain
outcomes.
PaulRabeck
Viola
ClassicalMusic
Freelancerand
employed(RSO)
MatthiasReissner
Viola
ClassicalMusic,Or-
chestra
Freelancer
NikolaZeichmann
ElectricBass;Dou-
bleBass;Violin
Jazz,Pop/Rock
Freelancer
45
HumanCapitalreferstothevalueofHRskillswhichcanbeapplied
toaneconomicmarket.
Budnowski HRMdealswithorganisingpeopletoachieveahighworkquality.
HRM also contributes to achieve a high employee satisfaction,
work-lifebalanceaswellasafairworkenvironment.
Edelmann HumanResourceManagementshouldbeacontrolsystemtopro-
videafairenvironmentforemployeesandthecompanyandto
controlthefairnessofwork-relatedprocesses.
HRmanagersshouldbesomesortofmediatorsbetweenemploy-
ers, employees and the company toensure fair andequal pro-
cesseswithinthecompany.
Gludovacz HumanResourceManagementisanecessaryfunctioninevery
businesstoimprovetheeconomicstabilityofthatcompany.
Managersinthisdepartmenthavetodealwithhiring,firingand
retainingemployeestoprovideaneconomicallyefficientcom-
pany.
Handschuh HumanResourceManagementdealswiththecoordinationof
employees.
Rabeck HumanResourceManagementisaboutmanagingpeopleand
employees.
Reissner HumanResourceManagementdealswithmanagingandsupply-
ingworkforce.
Zeichmann HumanResourceManagementdealswithmanagingworkforce
andhowtoeffectivelytreatemployees.
Table8:Question1:MusicianInterviews
46
TheresearcheridentifiedthatthereisageneralawarenessofHumanResourceMan-
agementamongtheinterviewedmusicians,eventhoughtheparticipantsplaydiffer-
entinstruments,genresaswellashaveadifferentlengthofexperience.Thepartici-
pantsmentionedemployeesatisfaction,fairworkenvironmentandmanaging/coor-
dinatingemployeesasthekeycomponentsofHRM.Twomusiciansfocusedaddition-
allyontheeconomicperspectiveofacompany.
Question2:WhatdoyouexpectideallyfromHRmanagerinthemusicindustry?
Blascetta IwouldlikethatHRmanagerssupportmusicianswhowantto
presentacertainmessageandhaveaparticularmusicalitywith-
outhavingthefinancialandeconomicperspectiveasatopprior-
ity.
Budnowski Themostimportantthingistohavefaircontracts.HRmanagers
needtohaveabasicknowledgeofthemusician’slifetogetabet-
terinsightintotheindustry.Onlyaninterestinlisteningtomusic
isnotenoughforme,butpeoplewhoworkinthemusicindustry
needtohaveanunderstandingofthelifeasamusicianandthe
strugglesthatcomewiththat.
Edelmann Providingfairandequalprocesses.Tobehonest,Ihavenoidea
whetherHRMexistsfororchestras.MaybeinlabelsyouhaveHR
departmentsbutnotinorchestras.WetrytobetheHRmanagers
in theorchestra, especially in the yearof probationwhere the
musiciansdecideaboutindividualswhethertheyfitinornot.
Gludovacz IexpectfromHRmanagersthattheyraisetheirinterestinmusic
andgotoconcertsthemselvesratherthanwaitingforapplicants
tocontactthemtogetacontract.IhaveneverseenanyHR
scoutsonconcertsandIthinkthat’stheonlywayitshouldbe:
seeingbandsliveandhavingapassioninmusic.Besidesthein-
47
terestinmusicmanagersshouldhave,theyneedtohaveacer-
taindegreeofeconomicbackground,becausetheyconstantly
havetobeup-to-dateaboutwhatiscurrentlyaskedforonthe
market.
Handschuh Iexpectadegreeoforganisation,whereallnecessaryinfor-
mationaboutjobsaswellastasks,schedules,locationsarepro-
videdbytheorganiser.
Rabeck Iexpectfairness.Itishardintheseculturalfields,suchasartand
music.Alotofworktoprovidefairnessisbeingdonebutthere
arestillsomegapstofill.Especiallywhentakingthefewjobs
availableintoconsideration.Peoplepracticemonthstoplaya
certainauditionandhavetoprovetheirentireexpertisewithin5
minutes.Auditionscanbecrucialfortheentirecareerofamusi-
cian,andthereforefairnessneedstobeensured.
Reissner Managingthesupplyanddemandofmusicians,creatingplat-
forms,providinginformationaboutprojects(concerts,sessions,
jobs)…
Zeichmann Generalinterestandknowledgeinmusicandanunbiasedview
ofbandsandmusicalgenres.Concerningdiscoveringnewartists,
IexpectfromHRmanagersthattheydonottrytoreproduceal-
readyexistingbands/musiciansbutthattheyarebraveenough
totrysomethingnew.
Table9:Question2:MusicianInterviews
FourmusicianspointedoutthatHRmanagersinthemusicindustryneedtohavea
generalinterestoraparticularmusicality.Theresearcherfurthermoreidentifiedthat
fairness, fair andequalprocessesand fair contractsplayan important role for the
interviewedmusicians. Gludovacz stated that HRmanagers should go to concerts
themselves,ratherthanwaitingforapplicantstocontactthem.Ontheotherhand,if
48
peopleapplyfora“regular”job,theyalsohavetoinvestsometimeandeffortinto
theirapplication.Therefore,musiciansneedtopaymoreattentiontomusicasabusi-
ness,ratherthanseeingonlythecreativepartofit.
Question3:DoyouthinkthatHRMplaysanimportantroleinthemusicindustry?
Ifyes:why?Ifnot:whynot?
Fiveofeightparticipantsansweredthequestionwith:YES.
Twointerviewparticipantsansweredthequestionwith:NO.
OneoftheinterviewparticipantsansweredthequestionwithYESandNO.
Blascetta YES;nowadaysthepresenceofmusicians,especiallyontheinter-
net,isakeyfactorwhichrequiresalotoftime.Itiseasierformu-
sicianstofocusonthecreativeprocess,whenthereisaHRman-
agerinchargeofhandlingthemanagerialduties.
Budnowski YES;Ithinkthatitplaysanimportantrole,becausebigmusicla-
belscanonlysurvivewithHRM.
Inthesetimes,wheresmalllabelsandindependentproductions
aregettingmoreandmoreimportant,biglabelshavetoin-
creasetheirawarenessofHRMandneedtotreattheirartistsas
ahumanwithneedsandfeeling,maybeevenasafriend.
Edelmann No,but it shouldplayan important role.Orchestrasconsistsof
sizeslike89-170people.
InbiggroupsliketheseitwouldbegoodtohaveanHRmanager.
The important thing is included in the termHumanResources.
Youshouldtakecareoftheresources:themusicians.Thatwould
bethemaingoal.
49
Gludovacz Yes,ofcourse.PeoplewhoareworkinginHRdepartmentsare
necessarytofindandhirenewbandstoavoidthedigitalisation
oftheentiremusicindustry.
Handschuh Yes,definitely.IthinkthatgoodHRMcandistributetoachievea
highqualityaswellastofindthemostsuitablemusiciansfor
particularjobs.
Rabeck Yes.Ofcourse.Toprovidethebestqualityfortherightsituation.
Therightmusiciansfortheparticularjobneedtobefound.Espe-
ciallywhenneedingmusicianswhoplayextraordinaryinstru-
mentsorgenres,whoarenotavailableinlargenumbers.
Reissner Inmypersonalexperience,no,becauseImyselfgetmybookings
directlyandnotviathirdparties.
Zeichmann Yes,andno.It’squiteaparadoxexamplebecausemanyartists
trytogotheirownwaywithoutalargeagencyintheirback-
ground.That“doityourself”principleisquitecommonatthe
moment.Butonceabandhasachievedacertainlevel,they
needtocooperatewithmusicmanagersandHRmanagerstobe
successfulandspreadtheirmusictoabroadaudience.
Table10:Question3:MusicianInterviews
Fiveofeightparticipantsanswered thequestionwhetherHRMplaysan important
role inthemusic industrywithyes. Itcanbeindicatedthattheopinionamongthe
classicalmusiciansvary.WhereasHandschuhandRabeckarguedthatHRMisneces-
sary toprovideahighquality, Edelmann indicated thatHRMdoesnotplayan im-
portantroleinthemusicindustrybutshould.
HearguedthatitwouldbegoodtohaveanHRmanagerinbigorchestrastotakecare
ofmusicians.Reissner,whoisalsoaclassicalmusician,answeredthequestionwith
“no”becausehegetshisbookingsdirectlyandnotviathirdparties.
50
Concerningthemusicianswhoareplayingpopmusic(Popularmusik)animportance
ofHRMcanbeseenintheanswersgiven.
Question4:WhatdoyouthinkofonlineHRMplatforms?
Blascetta Tobehonest,Idonothaveanyexperienceinworkingwith
onlineplatformsbutIhavesomeperceptions.Generally,Ithink
thathavingonlineplatformsassistsmanagersinmanyduties,for
example:administration.Iamsurethat,people,whoareapart
ofcertainonlineplatformshavealotofadvantages.
Budnowski Itsoundsreallyconvenientformanagers,butapersontocon-
tactismissing.Ifthereisaratherinsecureartistwhoisnotreally
sureaboutstepsinthemusicindustry,heorsheneedstohavea
contactperson.Maybeonlineplatformsshouldintroducelive
chats,tobeabletodirectlygetintouchwithmanagersincaseof
questions.Thetrendissurelygoingtowardsworkingwithapps,
workingacrossdistancesandworkingindependently.
Edelmann Therearealotofgoodandbadthings.Itisveryeasytoapply,it
isjustoneclick.Theothergoodthingis,becauseitisalloverEu-
rope,youfindnewmarkets.ANorwegianguyreadingaboutavi-
olapositioninVienna,cansimplyapplyforthat.Theproblemis
veryoften that if youhaveanauditionwhere800people read
about the audition, 200-300 people apply but will not actually
come.Wecallthat“Auditioning-tourism”.Buttherearetoolsto
preventtheseproblems.Itisgettingbetterandbetter.
Gludovacz Ithink,thatonlineplatformshaveanimpersonalflavourandI
thinkthatitishardtomanagemusiciansviaonlineplatformsbe-
causethismakesmusiciansfeelliketheyarejustanumberand
oneofmany.
Handschuh Itisagoodpossibilitytoincreasethetempooforganisingpro-
jects.Ithinkthatthetrendwillgotowardsworkingviadigital
51
platforms,especiallyinmodernfields,wheretimeandmoney
playanimportantrole.
Rabeck Iamverysceptical.Technicalskillscanbemadeavailableonline
butthehumanpartismissing.Therefore,yearsofprobationare
made.Toseewhetherpeoplefitin,toseewhethertheyare
punctual,howtheyworkandsoon.Thereisahugedifference
whenyouknowthepeopleyouareworkingwith.Thiscannever
beguaranteedwithonlineplatforms.
Reissner Itissurelyagoodideathatwillgainpopularityinthefuture.Due
totheglobalisationandduetothereasonthatconcertstake
placeatdifferentlocations.Today,theworldisentirelycon-
nectedtechnologically.
Zeichmann Tobehonest,Idonothaveanyexperiencewithonlineplat-
forms.ButIpersonallythink,thatonlineplatforms,especiallyso-
cialmediaplatforms,willplayahugeroleinthefuture.
Table11:Question4:MusicianInterviews
ItcanbestatedthatthereisageneralscepticismconcerningonlineHRMplatforms.
Theinterviewedpopmusicianshavenoexperienceinworkingwithonlineplatforms.
Furthermore,theresearcherdetectedthatmusicianscriticizethatonlineplatforms
haveanimpersonaltouchandseethatasadisadvantageorrisk.Itcanbementioned
that the interviewees seemore advantages for themanagerswho create and run
onlineplatforms, rather than formusicians.Havinganonlineplatformhelps to in-
crease the speedoforganisingprojects, reducesadministrativepaperworkand re-
quireslessemployees.
Most of themusicians involved in this thesis have no experience in workingwith
onlineplatformsandtherefore,thereisnoevidencethatonlineplatformsareimper-
sonal.
52
Question5:Doyouthinkthatonlineplatformsbringadvantagesformusicians?
Blascetta Iamsurethatusingonlineplatformsassiststhosewhorunthe
platformbecauseyoucanreachmanypeoplewithoutalotofef-
fort.Ithinkthisdisplaysahugeadvantageformusiciansbecause
theydonothavetolookforbookingsontheirown,butarea
partofalargecommunity.
Budnowski Independenceaccordingtotimeandlocation.Itmakesorganis-
ingthingseasier.Yougetjobsthatyouwouldnotnormallyhear
of.Moreopportunities.Toworkwithpeopleyouwouldnoteven
know.
Edelmann Yes.Theydo.Youcanreachdifferentmarketsveryeasilyand
quickly.Onlineplatformsingeneralareaveryusefultooltoget
quickinformationaboutavailablespotsworldwide.
Gludovacz Yes,ofcourse.Becausethiscanconnectmusiciansandleadto
newopportunities.Furthermore,theaccessibilityformusicians
willbeimproved.Inthedigitalagewearelivingnow,itisgood
toreceivebackgroundinformationaboutacertainconcertinad-
vance.
Handschuh YesandNo.
Yes,becauseifyouareconnectedinagoodway,youcanpartici-
pateinalotofsessions,projects.No,ifyouarenotavailable
24/7,certainprojectscannotbeattained.
Rabeck Anadvantageistoincreasethesizeofthemarket.Hiddental-
entscanbefound.Butthereisstillroomforimprovement…
Reissner Idonothaveanyexperienceinworkingwithonlineplatforms
becauseIpersonallyamgenerallycontacteddirectly.
53
Zeichmann Iguess,yes.Ithinkthatflexibilityisanadvantageformusicians,
becauseinformationcanbeaccessedontheroad.
Table12:Question5:MusicianInterviews
TheanswersgivendisplaymoreadvantagesforthemanagerswhorunonlineHRM
platforms.Someadvantagesformusicianscanbeidentifiedaswell:flexibility,easy
andmobileaccesstoinformation,reachingnewmarketsaswellasnewconnections.
Thepossibilitytoaccessinformationwhilebeingonthegoprovidesahugeadvantage
formusicians.Duetothefactthatthereare370professionalmusiciansadministrated
bythe“SynchronStage”system,nomusicianisdisadvantagedbecausetheplatform
canbeaccessedfromeveryelectronicdevice,fromeverywhereintheworld.
Question6:Arethereanydisadvantagesorrisksthatcometoyourmindwhen
thinkingaboutonlineHRMplatforms?
Blascetta Ifbookingsareentirelydistributedviaonlineplatforms,then
peoplewhoarenotapartofacertainplatformfallbytheway-
side.Ithinkthatisarisk.
But,Ihonestlydonotthinkthatbookingmusicianswillsolely
workonlinewithinthenext10years,becausemanagingmusi-
ciansdiffersinmusicalgenresandtheirspecificsettings.
Budnowski Adisadvantagethatcomestomymindwhenthinkingabout
onlineplatformsistheextremedigitalisation.Thetrendsisgoing
towardsmanagingeverythingonline,andthereforepersonality
andemotionisgettinglost.
Edelmann Yeah.Itisareducedinformationtool.Nowadayseveryonehasa
standardizedapplicationform.Inthepasttherewereapplication
letters,whichwerehandwritten.Theapplicationhadamuch
morepersonaltouch.
Gludovacz Ithinkthattheseplatformsareabitimpersonal.Andapossible
riskistobeoneofmanynamesinacatalogue.
54
Handschuh Apossibleriskisthatpeopleareseenmoreasnumbers.Ifyou
arenoteventalkingortextingwithothers,thehumancharacter
willnotbeintheforegroundanymore.
Rabeck Ariskisthatthepersonalcomponentisgettinglost.Itishardto
findtherightpeopleandtoconstantlyprovideahighqualityof
musicians.Therefore,itwouldbegoodtohaveyearsofproba-
tionforajobformorethanonemusician.Butthiscannotbe
done,sinceitisveryexpensive.
Reissner Apossibleriskisthatpeoplecanspreadwronginformation
abouttheirskills.Andtherefore,thereisarisktohiremusicians
withlessskillsthantheyclaimtohave.
Zeichmann Icanimaginethatcheapermusicianswillbechosenovermore
expensiveonesandItisdifficulttomeasurequalityonlybased
onrecordingsandCVs.Iamusedtoamoreold-schoolap-
proach:Peoplecallmeortextmethattheywanttobookme.I
guessitisquitedifficulttofilterqualityonlineprofiles
Table13:Question6:MusicianInterviews
Itcanbementionedthattheinterviewparticipantsagaincriticisedthemissingper-
sonal component. Furthermore,whenall the information isavailableonline,every
musicianhasaCV,whichfollowsthesamelayoutandtherefore,itishardtodifferen-
tiatewhethersomeonehasinvestedalotoftimeinhisorherapplicationornot.One
interviewee argued that people who are using online HRM platforms can spread
wronginformationabouttheirskills.Thisargumentcanbedisprovedbecauseassoon
asmusiciansplaysanaudition,theirreallevelofmusicalabilitycanbenoticedbythe
manager.
55
Question7:Haveyoualreadyheardabouttheonlineplatform“SynchronStage”?
Yes/No
Fiveoutofeightparticipantsansweredthequestionwith:No,theyhavenotheard
abouttheonlineplatform“SynchronStage”.
Thethreeparticipantswhoansweredthequestionwith:Yes(MartinEdelmann,Paul
Rabeck,RaphaelHandschuh)wereaskedthreeadditionalquestionsregarding“Syn-
chronStage”.
Question8:Doyouthinkthattheplatformcanmeetallperceivedservicesbymusi-
cians?
(Faircompensation/Fairrecruitmentprocess)
Edelmann Itdoesinalotofways.Itisareallyfairandtransparentplatform.
Thepaymentisfair,ontime,andnoonehastowaitforthecom-
pensation.Theypaymentisnotchangingprojectwise,whichis
verygood.
Furthermore,thereisaconstantprocesstoimprovetheplatform.
IfyouhaveanideayoucantellChristianBuchmannyourim-
provementidea.
Handschuh Faircompensation,Yes.
Fairrecruitmentprocess,Yes.
Rabeck SynchronStage:isagoodplanningtool,butitishardtoprovidea
highqualityconstantly. Theauditionhelpstocreateaminimum
requirementlevel,butguaranteeingqualityonlybasedononetool
isnotsufficient.Here,theyearofprobationismissingagain.Syn-
chronStagecanbeagoodopportunitybutalsostressfulsincepeo-
pleneedtoconstantlyprovetheirskills.Ifamusicianfailsatacer-
tainrecordingsession,hewillnotbelongerapartoftheplatform.
56
Formefaircompensationmeanscompensatingmusicianson
time.AndthatisthecaseconcerningSynchronStage,thereis
nothingtocomplainabout.Musiciansarepaidhourly,completely
fair,wellthoughtout,plausibleandlogical.Threehoursofre-
cording,30Eurosperhour,musicianshavetopaytaxesthem-
selves.Paymentisnotextremelyhigh,butfair.Ifarecordingses-
sioniscancelledbasedontheorganiser,thereisnocompensa-
tionformusicians.
InputsgivenbymusiciansarealwayswelcomedandSynchron-
Stageconstantlytriestoimproveservices,basedonfeedbackby
participants.
Table14:Question8:MusicianInterviews
The three participantswho have already heard about the platform describe “Syn-
chronStage”asafairandtransparentplatformwithafunctioningandontimecom-
pensationsystem.Thepayment is fixedanddoesnotchangeprojectwise.Rabeck
statedthatthepaymentisnotextremelyhigh,butfair.Headdedthatmusiciansget
30eurosperhour.
AccordingtoEdelmann,overtimesarecharged15-minutes-wise.Ifthereisaone-mi-
nutedelay,Buchmann(manager)paysfortheentire15-minutedelay.Both,Edelmann
andRabeckpositively emphasized that there is a constantprocess to improve the
platformandBuchmann(manager)isopenforfeedback.
According to theanswersgiven the recruitmentprocess seems fair. Itneeds tobe
mentioned that it canbeunfair formusicians tobe takenonto theplatform“Syn-
chronStage”onlybasedonrecommendations,whereasothershavetoplayanaudi-
tion.
57
Question9:Does“SynchronStage”bringadvantagesformusicians?Ifyes,which.
Edelmann Yeah.Itdoes.Youdonothavetonegotiateaboutpayment.For
informationaboutspecialprojects,youcanalwaysaccessthe
platform.Schedule,sheets,time.Yougetreminders.Flexibilityis
ahugeadvantageformusicianssincestartingandendingtimes
arefixed.Overtimesarecharged15minutes-wise.Ifthereisa
one-minutedelay,Buchmannpaysfortheentire15-minute
overtime.“SynchronStage”providescateringandahighlyprofes-
sionalsetting.
Handschuh Formepersonally,asIdonothaveverymuchtime,itisvery
goodtobeabletodesignmyscheduleasIwanttoanddecide
howmanydays,hoursIwanttowork.ForViennaasaculturallo-
cation,manymusicianscanprofitbecauseSynchronStagepro-
videsanewwaytoearnadditionalmoneyandexperience.
Rabeck Itisagoodplanningtool.Flexibilityisalsoanadvantage.People
canchecktheircalendarswhethertheyhavetimeforaparticular
sessionornot.Noe-mails,nophonecalls.Easy,clear,andwell
structured.
Adisadvantageisthatrecordingsessioncanbeeasilycancelled
anddeletedformtheplatform.Ifarecordingsessioniscancelled
itwouldbegoodtosendoutanemailaboutthecancellationof
thesession.Thiscouldbeimproved.
Table15:Question9:MusicianInterviews
Concerning the advantagesof “SynchronStage” formusicians all threeparticipants
(Edelmann,Handschuh,Rabeck)mentioned flexibility,which is basedon theexact
schedule.
Edelmannfurthermoreunderlinedthehighlyprofessionalsettingandtheinformation
availabilityontheplatformincludingexacttimesandsheets.Rabeckdescribedthe
reductionofphonecallsande-mailsasanadvantage.
58
Question10:Wouldyouhaveideastoimprove“SynchronStage”?
Edelmann Ineverthoughtaboutthat.Concerningtheauditioningprocess:I
gotintoSynchronStagebyword-ofmouth,Ididnotaudition.
Maybeitisdifficultforfreelancerstogetintotheplatform.If
youareemployedatanorchestra,thenyoualreadyhaveagood
reputation.Butforfreelancers,itmightbedifficult.
Handschuh Tobehonest,Idonothaveanyideastoimprovetheplatform.In
thefieldthattheyareworkingin,theyhavecreatedanidealap-
proachtoorganise,andhiremusicians.
Rabeck Thetoolisgreat,butformepersonallytherearetoomanyfea-
turesandinformationavailable.Theuserinterfacecouldbemade
moresimple.
Anotherideawouldbetogiveupdatesaboutsessions.ANotifi-
cationifasessiongetscancelledawouldbegreat.Furthermore,
reminderswouldbegreatoffixedsessionsviatextmessagesand
viae-mail24hoursbeforeasessionstarts.
Table16:Question10:MusicianInterviews
Edelmannindicatedthatitmightbedifficultforfreelancerstobecomeapartofthe
platform.Rabeckstatedafewideastoimprove“SynchronStage”:Recordingsession
canbeeasilycancelledbytheorganiser.Ifarecordingiscancelleditwouldbegood
tosendoute-mailsaboutthecancellation.
Secondly,Rabeckmentionedthattherearetoomanyfeaturesontheplatform,which
makesitconfusing.Accordingtohim,theuserinterfacecouldbemadesimpler.Lastly,
hesuggestedtosendoutreminders24hoursbeforearecordingsessionstarts.
59
6.1.4Interpretation(Manager)
The interviewwith Christian Buchmann was conducted at his office on the 8th of
March,2017.
Question1:Pleasegiveanintroductionaboutyourself.
ChristianBuchmannstatedthatheis50yearsoldandhasbeenworkinginthemusic
businessforthelast30years.HeisthedirectoroftheViennaChamberOrchestraand
nowworksinafamily-basedagency,whichworksforthemajorAustrianorchestras
toexportculturetoothercountries.
Question2:Pleasegiveinformationabouttheplatform“SynchronStage”.
Buchmannindicatedthattheideatocreatetheplatformaroseduetotheusualob-
staclesinthedailyofficework:callingmusicians,runningafterthem,notbeingable
toreachthem,theydonotcallback,theycancelandsoon.Eightyearsagohesat
togetherforthefirsttimewithabigprogrammingcompanyandtalkedtothemabout
theissuesthathefaceswhilemanaging.Afterstartingtoworkwiththe“Synchron-
Stage”asapartner,andsigningthecontractfortheexclusivepartnership,theydevel-
opedthesoftwarefurther.
Buchmannmentionedthatthesoftware isveryuniversallyapplicableandcouldbe
alsousedtomanageacleaningteamorevenasecuritycompany,becausetheplat-
formwascreatedtomanagehumanresources.Heemphasizedthattheplatformcan
handlethousandsofindividualsinoneturn,withthepushofonebuttoneffect,butis
stillaverypersonalthing.
Theplatformcanbeaccessedfromanydevice:mobilephone,smartphone,tablet,PC,
Macandsoon.As themusicianaccesses theplatformallnecessary information is
providedandthemusiciancansimplydrawswitchestoconfirmhisorheravailability.
60
Ascanbeinvestigatedabove,onlineplatformsbringhugeadvantagesformanagers
inviewofspeed.DuringtheinterviewBuchmann(manager)statedthattheymanaged
tobook350musiciansinsixhours.AlthoughBuchmannemphasizedthatthemusi-
cianswerehandselectedandplayersofexcellentquality, itstillcanbementioned
thatfromamusician’sperspectivethiscreatesanimpersonalfeeling.
Question3:Whoarethecustomersthatareusing“SynchronStage”?Arethecus-
tomersonlyfromAustriaorarethereinternationalclientsaswell?
Buchmannstatedthecustomersthatareusing“SynchronStage”areinternationalfilm
music companies. He mentioned a few examples: Fox, Warner, Paramount, Ralf
Wengenmayr,Japaneseproductions,ChinesevideogameproducersandAustrianpop
artists.BuchmannfurthermoreaddedConradPopeandHansZimmertotheirlistof
customers. Buchmanndescribed thatVienna is always comparedwithbig interna-
tionalstudiossuchastheAbbeyRoadsStudioinLondonorotherstudiosinLosAnge-
les.Hearguedthatthereasonforthesuccessmayrelyonthestudioandthehall,
whichwasespeciallybuiltforfilmmusicrecording.
Theresearcheridentifiedthatthecustomerswhoareusing“SynchronStage”arewell-
known international partners. Therefore, having an online platformbrings the ad-
vantageofhavingagreaternumberandvarietyofmusiciansinordertobeableto
supplyevery instrumentandmusician theclientasks for.Thisprovides theoppor-
tunityformanagerstohaveamorebroad-rangingworkforce.
Question4:Whatare theadvantagesand/ordisadvantagesofhavinganonline
platform?
According to Buchmann, online platforms give huge advantages in view of speed.
Buchmannmentionedthat“SynchronStage”managedtobook350musicians insix
hours.Buchmannemphasizedthatthehumansidemustnevervanish.Thisiswhythe
platformisverypersonal,ashestated.Someplayersdonotevenrealizethattheyare
notevencontactedbyanactualperson,becausethesoftwareisverypersonalized.
Buchmannindicatedthathecanstilladdinformationtostandardizedemails.
61
Buchmannaddedthathecannotseeanydisadvantagesatthemoment.Hecanstill
callandmeeteverysingleplayer ifhewantsto.Furthermore,hestatedthatasan
orchestramanager,director,administratoryoumeetthepeopleanywayonceorsev-
eraltimesaweek.Fromthefounder’sperspectiveBuchmanndescribedthehighcost
tocreateonlineplatformsasadisadvantage.
Again,itcanbestatedthatspeedisthebiggestadvantageformanagers.
Question5:Howcanpeoplebecomeapartoftheplatform?Howdoestherecruit-
ment/selectionprocesstakeplace?
Buchmannindicatedthatthereareconstantlyauditionstobecomeapartoftheplat-
form.Afterpassingtheauditiontheplatformismadeavailabletothosepeopleand
theybecomepartoftheorchestra.Currently,thereare370memberswhoareadmin-
istratedbythesystem.Headdedthatsometimesitisheadhunting,sometimesbased
onrecommendationsandreputationofplayers,butusuallymusicianshavetoaudi-
tiontobecomeapartofthe“SynchronStage”orchestra.
Itcanbementioned,thattherecruitmentprocessmightbeunfairinsomecases.It
seemsunjust ifonemusicianhas toplayanaudition,whereasanothermusician is
recruitedviaheadhunting.
Question6:Howaremusicianscompensated?
Thepaymentformusiciansisbytheservice.Thereareextremelyprofessionalfree-
lancersinvolvedinrecordingsessionsandtherefore,goodpaymentisexpectedby
themusicians.Ifarecordingsessioniscancelledtherearedifferentrulesthatapply.
50%forsoandsomanydays,100%forsoandsomanydays,asBuchmannindicated.
Ifmusiciansgetillorsomethinghappens,Buchmannneedstoreplacetheimpeded
musician.
Thepaymentschemeseemstobefair.Duetothefactthatmusiciansarepaidbythe
service,theyknowexactlyhowmuchmoneytheywillearnforaparticularrecording
session.
62
Question7:DoyouthinkthatHRMinthemusicindustrydoesdifferfromHRMin
“normal”businesses?
BuchmannstatedthatHRMofanorchestraandofmusiciansissomethingparticular,
becausepeoplewhoplayinorchestrasareveryspecialhumanbeings.Theconstantly
havetopracticenotesandphrases,whichproducescertainstructuresinthebrain.
TheimportantthingishowyouhandleandtreattheHumanResources:morefree-
dom,morerespect,moreflexibility.Ifagroupworkswelltogether,thecompanyis
likeanorganism.Ifsomethingischanged,thishastobedoneverycarefully.
Althoughmusicianrequireparticularmanagementtechniques,itneedstobestated
thateveryemployeeissomethingspecialandneedstobetreatedinafairandequal
mannerinordertoprovidethebestoutputinanyorganisation.
Question8:Doesmusicmanagementdifferinmusicgenres?
Buchmannmentionedthatvariousmusicalgenresrequiredifferentneedsanddiffer-
entaspectsandtherefore,therearehugedifferencesbetweenmanagingforexample
classicalmusicians,pop/rockmusiciansandchoirs.
Theresearcheridentifiedthatdifferentkindsofmusicianshavedifferentneedsand
wants.Therefore,itiscrucialforthesuccessofthemanagertobeanexpertinthe
particularfield.
Question9:DoyouthinkthatHRmanagers inthemusic industryneedtohavea
musicalbackground?
Buchmannargued that in the keypositionpeople are in, theyhave tobeexperts.
Buchmannusedtoplaytheviolin,butthenofficebecametooimportantforhim.But
peoplewhoworkinthemusicindustryneedtounderstandthebasicsandthechal-
lengesofwhatyouaredoing.Heemphasizedthatpeoplewhoworkinthemusicbusi-
ness,shouldhaveamusicalbackground, inorder tobeable todiscuss,argue,and
decideproperly.
63
Theresearcherinvestigatedthatmanytourmanagerswhoworkinthemusicbusiness
aremusiciansthemselves.ThissupportstheanswergivenbyBuchmann(manager),
asmusiciansknowaboutthewantsandneedswhilebeingontour.Buchmannused
toplaytheviolinandnowmanagesclassicalmusicians.Duetothefact,thatBuch-
mannknowsthemusician’sperspectivetoo,hedefinitelyhasadvantagesoverother
managersinthefieldofclassicalmusic.
64
Chapter7:Conclusion&Recommendations
TheprimaryaimofthisthesisistoinvestigateHumanResourceManagementandthe
correspondingpractices,techniquesandmethodsinthemusicindustry.Thus,there-
searcherreviewedliteratureonmanagement,HumanResourceManagementaswell
asmusicmanagement.Basedontheinformationgatheredduringthatprocess,the
interviewquestionsforthemanagerandfounderof“SynchronStage”aswellthein-
terviewquestionsforthemusicianswerecreated.
Human Resource Management in the music industry is a relatively new concept,
whichstarted toevolve in the1990s (DeMagalhaes,2015).Dueto this small time
frameandthecomplexfield,therearealmostnoacademicstudiesabouttheroleof
HRMinthemusicindustry.Furthermore,theresearcherdidnotfindanyinformation
aboutthestructureofHRdepartmentsinbigmusiclabelssuchasSonyorUniversal.
For“SynchronStage”asanexample,Buchmann(manager)mentionedthatthecom-
panyconsistsonlyofhimasafounderandtheprogrammersofthesoftware.Dueto
thefactthattherearenoHRmanagersinbigorchestras,themusicianstrytofulfilthe
dutiesofHRmanagers.
Generally, itcanbementionedthatfairness(intermsoffaircontracts, fairrecruit-
mentprocess,faircompensation,fairtreatment)wasmentionedremarkablyoftenby
interviewparticipantsanddoesplayanimportantroleforemployees.Basedonthe
answersgiven,musiciansexpectthesameHRtechniquesandmethodsasinanyother
company.What ismore, the researcher identified that fourmusicianspointedout
during the interview thatHRmanagerswhowork in themusicbusinessesneed to
have a particular musicality and knowledge about the music industry. Buchmann
(manager)statedthathewasamusicianhimselfandaddedthatpeoplewhoworkin
themusicindustryneedtounderstandthebasicsandthechallengesofthatindustry.
Therefore,itcanbementionedthatdependingonthefieldmanagersareoperating
in,thereneedstobeacertainlevelofexpertisetobeabletounderstandandmanage
humanseffectively.
65
AdifferenceofHRMpracticesinthemusicindustrycomparedto“normal”businesses
canbeseenconcerningthetrainingofemployees.Qureshi(2016)describedtypical
trainings for employees in “normal” companies include lectures, case studies, role
playsor computer-based trainings.This isnot thecase formusiciansbecause they
needtomotivatethemselvesinordertoimprovetheirskills.Anotherdifferencecan
bedisplayedconcerningthehiringprocessinthemusicbusiness,whichisbasedon
playinganaudition,whereas inothercompaniestheprocess tobecomeemployed
cantakemuchlonger.In“normal”businessesthereareseveralstepsintherecruit-
mentprocessrangingfromapplying,writtenororaltests,topersonalinterviews.
Allen(2015)mentionedthatthemusicindustrychangedalotinthelastfewyears.A
possiblesolutionwhythemusicindustrychangescanbeattributedtothedigitalisa-
tionandtechnologicaldevelopments.Althoughthisdigitalisationleadstoadvantages
onthemanagerialsidewherealotoftimeandresourcescanbesaved,musiciansare
sceptical.Buchmann(manager)initiallydecidedtocreate“SynchronStage”todelete
theobstaclesthatcomealongwithworkingwithmusicians:runningafterthem,call-
ingthem,andsoon.Theplatformisuniqueinitscreation,whichmakesitdifficultto
comparetheplatformtootheronlineHRMplatforms.Furthermore,“SynchronStage”
onlyworkswithclassicalmusicians,theremightbedifferencesinothergenres.Addi-
tionally,itcanbementionedthattherearealsosomeadvantagesformusicianswhen
usingonlineplatforms:flexibilityandindependenceontimeandplacetoaccessin-
formation.
Whatismore,manymusicianscriticisedthatonlineplatformshaveanimpersonalfla-
vourandthatthepersonalcomponentismissing.Buchmann(manager)ontheother
hand, emphasizedduring the interview that thehuman sideonhisplatform“Syn-
chronStage”mustneverdisappear.HepointedoutthattheonlineHRMplatformis
verypersonalbecausehecancallandmeetmusicianseverytimehewantsandfur-
thermoreseesmusicianswhoarepartofhisplatformanywayonceormoretimesa
weekduringrecordingsessions.AlthoughBuchmannemphasizedseveraltimesthat
thehumansidemustnevervanish,onlineplatformsaresimplymadetosavemana-
gerialcostswhilemaintainingahighproductivityandtherefore,themissingpersonal
componentcannotbedenied.
66
Maybethescepticismofmusicianscanbeexplainedbythelowrateofexperiencein
workingwithonlineplatforms.Onlythreeoftheinterviewedmusicianshaveexperi-
enceinworkingviaonlineplatforms.Iftheseonlineplatformswillgainmorepopular-
ityinthefuture,thereneedtobeimprovementsmadetoreducetheseworries.
Anotherdangerconcerningonlineplatformswhichwasmentioned,referstothepos-
sibilityofgivingwronginformation.Reissnerargued,thatpeoplecanclaimtohave
betterskillsthantheyactuallyhave.Buchmann(manager)statedthattherearecon-
stantlyauditionstohirenewmusicians.Duetothefactthattherecruitmentprocess
workseitherviarecommendationorplayinganaudition,unskilledmusicianshaveno
chancetobecomeapartoftheplatform.Generally,therecruitmentprocessof“Syn-
chronStage”seemstobefair,althoughitneedstobementionedthatfreelancerswho
becomeapartoftheplatformwithoutplayinganauditionmightbeprivileged.
Aterm,whichwasusedsignificantlyoftenbyclassicalmusiciansisthe“yearofpro-
bation”.Thisreferstoinvitingmusiciansforayeartorehearsetogetherinorderto
seeifacolleaguefitsintoanorchestra.Thispersonalcomponentcanneverbeguar-
anteedviaonlineplatforms.Ontheotherhand,itcanbestatedthattheyearofpro-
bationforsuchalargenumberofmusiciansissimplyimpossiblebasedontheunbear-
ablecostsforthemanager.Additionally,everyrecordingsessionvariesinviewofre-
quiredmusiciansandequipment,andthereforethe“yearofprobation”isnotcom-
patiblewith“SynchronStage”.
Furthermore,Edelmann introducedtheterm“auditioningtourism”,which isalsoa
disadvantagethatcomesalongwithonlineplatforms.Manymusiciansseejobpost-
ingsononlineplatforms,apply,butdonotshowuptotheaudition.Thismightlead
toadisadvantageformusicianswhoactuallywanttoapplyforajob.
Concerning“SynchronStage”allintervieweesmentionedthatthecompensationisfair
andontime.Buchmann(manager)statedthatthemusiciansarepaidbytheservice
andthepaymentisfixed.Edelmannfurthermoreadded,thatthereisnogenderpay
gapinorchestras.Everyoneiscompensatedwiththesameamountofmoney.Buch-
mann(manger) indicatedthatifamusiciancancelsasessionbasedonillnessheor
shewillnotbeautomaticallyfired,butifamusiciancancelsforfun,heorshewillno
longerbeaskedtoparticipateinrecordingsessions.
67
Lastly, itcanbeclearlystatedthattherearedifferencesinmanagingmusiciansbe-
tweenmusicalgenres.Passman(2015)mentionedthatthemarketismuchsmallerfor
classicalmusic compared to popmusic.Musicians needmanagerswith an under-
standingintheparticularmusicalgenre.Therefore,therearehugedifferencesinman-
agingapopartistandaclassicalmusician.Buchmann(manager)arguedthatyouhave
tobeanexpertinthefieldyouareworkingin.Therefore,theresearcherconcludes
thatmanagersinthemusicindustryarenotapplicabletoallkindsofgenres,butneed
tospecialiseandfocusontheirfieldofinterest.
Afterconductingthisstudy,theresearcherhasanumberofrecommendationstoim-
provetheplatform“SynchronStage”.Remindersforeitherupcomingorcancelledre-
cordingsessionscouldbeintroduced.Furthermore,a livechatcanbesuggestedto
providethepossibilityformusicianstoaskquestionsdirectlytothemanagers.Lastly,
thestructureoftheuser interfaceof“SynchronStage”couldbemademoresimple
andclearertoprovideaneasieraccessforabroadvarietyofmusicians.
Toconclude,thehypothesisinthisthesis“Onlineplatformssuchas“SynchronStage”
cancompetewith traditionalHRMpractices tomeetandsatisfy theemployee-em-
ployerrelationshipandbeevenmoreefficient”canbeansweredwithyes.Working
withonlineplatformsincludesadvantagesforthemanageraswellasadvantagesfor
musicians.Duetothefactthatthisstyleofworkingwithmusiciansisrathernew,it
hastobementionedthatthereisstillsomeroomforimprovement.Nevertheless,due
totechnologicaldevelopmentsthetrendwillgotowardsworkingonlinebecausealot
oftimeandmoneycanbesavedfromthemanagerialperspectiveandfromthemusi-
cian’sperspectivenewmarketscanbefoundandentered.
68
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Appendix
Theappendixshowstheinterviewsconductedbytheresearcherasawhole.
Interview:MarcoBlascetta;March22nd,2017.
Interviewer/Interviewee;
Name:MarcoBlascetta
Work:(Instrument&genre)Vocals,ElectricGuitar,DoubleBass,Accordion;Rock,
FolkMusic,Rap,ClassicalMusic,Acting
Freelanceoremployed:Freelance
Age:27
Yearsofexperience:21
Gender:Male
WhatdoyouunderstandunderHumanResourceManagement?
Inmyopinion,HumanResourcesreferstoskillsandknowledgeofhumanbeings.
HumanResourceManagementontheotherhand,describestheabilitytousehu-
mancapabilitiestoproducecertainoutcomes.HumanCapitalisconnectedtoHR
andrepresentsonly(knocksontable)thevaluewhichcanbe(ahm)appliedtoan
economicmarket.
WhatdoyouexpectideallyfromHRmanagersinthemusicindustry?
Ithink,thatatthemomentthemostimportantthingofamusicianishishumancap-
ital.Thisisabigproblem,because,music,lyricpoetryandartingeneralisgetting
lessimportant.IwouldlikethatHRmanagerssupportmusicianswhowanttopre-
sentacertainmessageandhaveaparticularmusicalitywithouthavingthefinancial
andeconomicperspectiveasatoppriority.Forme,itisthewrongapproachtofocus
creativityandmusicentirelyonearningmoney.
79
DoyouthinkthatHRMplaysanimportantroleinthemusicindustry?YES/NO
Ifyes:why?Ifnot:whynot?
Yes,becausenowadaysthepresenceofmusicians,especiallyontheinternet,isa
keyfactorwhichrequiresalotoftime.It’seasierformusicianstofocusonthecrea-
tiveprocess,whenthereisaHRmanagerinchargeofhandlingthemanagerialdu-
ties.
TheHRmanagerassistsmusiciansinformalitiesandpromotion.
Theproblemmanymusicianshaveespeciallyatyoungagesisthattheycannotfo-
cusentirelyonthecreationofmusicbuthavetodealwiththingssuchas:promo-
tion,management,booking…(shortlypauses)atthesametime.
WhatdoyouthinkofonlineHRMplatforms?
(Hm)Tobehonest,Idon’thaveanyexperienceinworkingwithonlineplatformsbut
Ihavesomeperceptions.Generally,Ithinkthathavingonlineplatformsassistsman-
agersinmanyduties,forexample:administration.I’msurethat,people,whoarea
partofcertainonlineplatformshavealotofadvantages.
DoyouthinkthatonlineHRMplatformsbringadvantagesformusicians?
I’msurethatusingonlineplatformsassiststhosewhoruntheplatformbecauseyou
canreachmanypeoplewithoutalotofeffort.Ithinkthisdisplaysahugeadvantage
formusiciansbecausetheydon’thavetolookforbookingsontheirown,butarea
partofalargecommunity.
Arethereanydisadvantagesorrisksthatcometoyourmindwhenthinkingabout
onlineHRMplatforms?
Ifbookingsareentirelydistributedviaonlineplatforms,thenpeoplewhoarenota
partofacertainplatformfallbythewayside.Ithinkthatisarisk.
But,Ihonestlydon’tthinkthatbookingmusicianswillsolelyworkonlinewithinthe
80
next10years,becausemanagingmusiciansdiffersinmusicalgenresandtheirspe-
cificsettings.
Haveyoualreadyheardabouttheonlineplatform“SynchronStage”?Yes/No
Ijustknowbasicsabouttheplatform.
81
Interview:ChristianBuchmann;March8th,2017
Interviewer/Interviewee;
Sothankyoufortakingyourtime
Ah,thewholethingisinEnglish?
Yes
Ok,noproblem
Thefirstquestionisaratherstraightforwardone:Pleasegiveanintroductionabout
yourself.
Alright.MynameisChristianBuchmann(ah).Ihavebeenworkinginthemusicbusi-
nessforthelast30years.(ah)like(ah)IwasadirectoroftheViennachamberor-
chestra,theyoungestever,whichIbecamein(ah)1995,rightandIamnow50and
(ah)sotheotherthingiswearerunninganagencyasafamilybusiness(ah)working
forthemajorAustrianorchestrasandexportingculturetoothercountriesand
thirdlyand(ah)justrecentlythe“SynchronStage”wasfoundedinVienna(ah)thisis
anewspotof(ah)Hollywoodfilmmusicrecordingand(ah)Iwas(ah)oneoftheini-
tiatives,nolikeIwasthe,theinitialpartnersofthe“SynchronStage”andsowehad
tosetupanorchestrafromscratchandthishadtobeabigorchestraandthiswas
(ah)quiteachallengeforthemandtheysawitasahugerisk(ah)because(ah)the
orchestraandIamalreadycomingtocertaincoreissues(ah)theorchestraislikethe
engineofacar.Withouttheengineyouwon’tberunning.So,theyentrustedme
andtherewasaselectionoflikethetwistbetween4or5differentpartieshereand
soIgotthejobbecausetheyknewmybiography,theyknewmyexperienceandI
toldthemIwas(ah)easilyabletoprovidetheservice.
Mhm.
That’sthepointyes.
82
Sothatwaspracticallyalsotheideawhyyoudecidedtocreatetheplatform?
No,no.Theplatformreachesfurtherback.Sointhedailyofficeworkwefoundthe
usualobstaclesthatanyotherorchestraofficewouldfind(ah)callingmusicians,run-
ningafterthem,callingthemagain,youcan’treachthem,theywon’tcallyouback,
theycancel,theymakemistakes,thereis(ah)miscommunicationlike(ah)everynow
andthen.(Ah)that’squitetiringsowethoughtandIthoughtwehadtolikekindof
breakdownalltheobstaclesandallthedifficultiesthatwerelikeourevery,every-
day,an-anywaysintheoffice,right.So,duetomy,myexperience,Iusedtobea
programmerwhenIwasabout18to26attheageof,I,Iwrotedatabaseprograms
fordifferentcompanies,justcompletelydifferentthingslikepointofsale,nothingin
connectionwithmusicbutdatabases.So,Istayedalwaysontopof(ah)theinfor-
mationwaveof(ah)ofITandstillIam(am)oftheleading(ah)experts(ah)concern-
ingallthepeopleIknow,thatIknow.Everybodycomesandasksmeabouttheir
computerissues,problemsandIusuallyandluckilycan,canusuallyresolvethem
andgivethemgoodadvice.So,wetookateamof(ah)like(ah)programmingcom-
pany,infact.Theyknowemploy200people.It’sabigcompanysowedidn’twantto
relyonasmall(ahm)youknowoneshotthingthatmightdisappeart,twoyears
later.Weknewtherewasabig(ahm)developmentjustin,inheadofus,right.So,
westartedexactlyinthatroomnowatthattablewherewe’renowsitting(pointsat
thetable).
Someofmyorchestrapeopleand(ah)the,thecompanywhostillisentrustedwith
a,withthedailyandweeklydevelopmentofoursoftware/platform.Wesathere
(pointsatthetableagain)andItoldthemaboutourissuesandIthoughwewantto
dosomethingaboutthat.Thiswaslikealmosteightyearsagonow.(Ah)Whenwe
hadthefirst(ah)scratch,likethefirstno,thefirst(ah)draftandthefirst(ah)ideasof
howthatcouldbeturnedinapro-programoraplatformwefoundmoreandmore
opportunitiesthatwecouldmanagewiththesoftware/platform.Ialwayssayplat-
formbecauseit’slikeaserver,it’sacloudbasedthingand(ah)it’sjustaserverin-
stallationthatyoucan(ahm)approachfromanykindofdevicefromanywherein
theworld.Butyouhaveyourowninstallationasanorchestraforexample,Isay(ah)
anofficethatrunsmusicbookingsandHumanResourcebookings.
83
Sothesoftwareofcoursehadtobeaveryuniversalthingapplicablefor(for)musi-
ciansbut(ah)but(ah)notnecessarilyonly.So,theoreticallyyoucanrunacleaning
teamwithitorevenlikeasecuritycompanycouldrunonthesoftwarebecauseit’s
about(ah)managinghumanresource.Thisisparticularlyaboutfreelancerspecialists
ofanyfieldbecauseIdon’tthinkitdoesmakeadifferenceif(ah)forthesoftware,if
(ah)somebodycomeswithhisviolinorwith(ah)somethingelse.Doesn’tmatter
withabicycleorwitha…whatever,backtoacleanerdoesn’tmakeabigdifference–
forthesoftware,fortheidea,forthetheory.Soweputthepratic-practicalsituation
andthedailysituationintotheory.Thisiswhatprogrammersusuallydo,theytheo-
rizethe(ah)everydaysituationsandfinallyt-t-t(stammers),thebiggestchallenge
wastoputitinthesystemwhichusersfind,find(ah)wantingtouseandfindsympa-
theticand,theand(ah)whichdoesnotreallyproduceadistancebetweentheor-
chestraofficeortheorganisingofficeandtheindividualwhoworksforthegroup
thatyoumanage.Sowehadaresearchgroupofabout250musiciansovertwo
years,whichwe,thegroupthatweusedtoreceivefeedbackandwereallyencour-
agedthemto(to)giveusasmuchaspossible(ahm)oftheir(ah)emotionstheyhad
oftheirimpressionstheyhad,theexperiencetheygotfromusingthesoftware.So,
weranonthe(ah)alternativesystemthatwehadsofarwhichisthesameIthinkas
everybodyhasgotlikeExcel,Outlook,Word,allthesethings,spreadsheets,different
forms,(ahm)dependingonyourdaily(ah)constitutionthat(ah)mightvaryfrom
thentowhen,usuallyit’snotstandardizedwefinditinthe(the)examplesthatwe
knowlookat.Otherorchestras(ah)thatweinspectnowandweintroduceoursoft-
waretothem,wefindthatthey’restillwherewehavebeeneightyearsago.
Mhm
So,know(ah)thencameSynchronStage,that’swhyItoldthem:“YES,ICAN”,Iam
sorryIdon’twantquoteanybodyfromthepast(ahm)American(ahm)government.
(Laughs)
Anyway,but(ah)soIcouldinfact(ah),(ah)offermyservices,knowingthatwehave
tobepreparedforalotofbookings–ahugeamountofbookings(raisesvoice).
84
Sotheplatformispreparedtoevenhandlethousandsof(ah)individualsinoneturn,
inone,withthepushofonebuttoneffect.Butstillit’saverypersonalthingthatwe
havenow(pauses)onourscreens.
Mhm(222)
Sonow,the(the)factthatIstartedtoworkfor,withprobablywithSynchronStage
asapartner,amI,I,insistedonhavingtheexclusivepartnershiporexclusiveposi-
tionofthecontractorbecause(ah)assoonasmorepeopleworkonthesamething,
there’sconfusion,therewillbemistakesandtherewillbe(ah)discouraged(ah)mu-
siciansand(ah)everythingyoudon’twant.(phonerings)Excusemewehaveto
pauseshortly.That’stheSynchronStage,sorry.�
(1minutelaterheBuchmanncontinues)Okay,because,becauseIknewIhadthe
systeminmybackgroundthatnobodyelsehad,ItoldthemthatIknowfulfilmyser-
vices.Butstill,whenIhadthe(ah)contractsignedbythemandwehadtakenouta
veryprecisecontractaboutwho’sgonnadowhat.OnceIsignedthecontractI,I
wentawayfromthemeeting,Iwasquitenervous,honestlyspeakingbecauseIsaw
itwasalot,thatreally(ah)camelikeabigwaveand(ah)withtheproductionsthat
arrived,oneaftertheother,(ah)wedevelopedthesoftwarefurtheryeah.Likewe
putdownotherobstacles,resolvedsituations.Wehave(ah)introduced(ah)some
mechanismsthatreallyenableustodoelegantandverycomfortableworkandfi-
nallywecanmanage,wejusthad(ah),asetupoflike350bookingsthatweused
threehoursfor,toputtheminasystemandtorollthemoutand(ah)sixhourslater
wehadthe350positionsfilledwithfreelanceplayersofexcellentquality,handse-
lected,everybodyintherightpositionand(ah)Icouldinthistimehavedinnerwith
familyinfactIwas,honestlyspeakingIwasintheairplane,bymycolleaguesentit
outnow,sixhourslater,butIcouldhavedoneeverythingelsebuttakecareofbook-
ingand(ah)runningaftermusiciansthatwouldusuallytakelongerthanwehaveun-
tiltheproductionstarts.(285)
85
Mhm.
Wehaveanoticetime,probablyof(ah)sometimestwodays,sometimesaweekand
aweekalreadyfeelscomfortable.So,imaginethepressurethatusuallyis(ah)on
yourshoulderswhenyouhavetofulfiltherequestsofaHollywoodproducerwho
expectsthatViennaasafilmlocation,recordinglocationdoesworkexactlyasother
locationsthathavebeenupandrunningfordecadesalready,dorunofcourseand
dowork.So,wewerethrownintothecoldwaterand(ah)weimmediatelystarted
swimmingatthehighestenergypossibleandwemadeit.Wedidn’tonlymakeitin
comparisontootherindustrialrecordingspotslikeLosAngelesandLondon.Were-
portedlyandaccordingtothe(ah)opinionoftheproducersexplainandexpressto
us,we’redoingevenbetterthanotherspots.
Iactuallywantedtoaskadifferentquestionnow,butsinceyoumentioneditshortly
beforeIwantedaskhowpeoplecanbecomeapartoftheplatform?
Alright,(ah)thisdepends.Theplatformissimplybyloginthattheorganiserpro-
videsforyou.So,we’reputtingyourfirstname,yourlastnameandyouremailad-
dressandtherestisbeinghandledbysystem.So,yougetanemailautomatically,
yougetapasswordsentandyouhavetoalterthepasswordbyyourself,obviously.
(Ahm),otherwisethesystemwon’tletyouintwiceorthreetimeswiththesame
passwordbecauseitshouldbegeneratedbyyourself.
So,thefactis(ahm),sincethesoftwarewasproducedfromscratchwecanbasically
doeverythingwithit.We’rejustinnegotiationswithhuge,infacthuge,institutions
ofthemusicsceneryofViennaandAustriaandtheyhavegottheirown,ofcourse
loginsystemwecanusethat.(Ah)wecangoasfarasusersareapartofanother
systemandwecoupleourselveswiththeirsystem.We,wedo(ahm)produce(ahm),
(ahm)interfacesanddataexchangechannels(ah)likeprovidingthenamesandthe
instrumentsthatauserhasorplays.(Ah),sowecanmake(ah)thesystemlikeex-
cept(ahm)animplicationfromtheuser.So,thattheorganiserortheorganisingin-
stitutiondoesn’tevenhavetointerferewiththatprocess.Ofcoursethathastobe
somesortcertificationorsomekindof(ahm)identificationthatyouareentitledto
usethesoftwarebecauseotherwise(ah)itwouldn’tbeusable.(381)Formycase,
86
it’sanorchestrathatwereflectinthesystemandwe(ah)managewiththesystem,
whichmeanswehad(ah)stemgroupanddefinedmusicianswhoaremembersof
theorchestra.Sowedid(ah)ofcourse,wedoofcourseconstantlyholdauditions
becauseweneedmoremusiciansevennowwehaveroughly500intheSynchron-
Stageorchestrabutwe’restilllookingforcertaininstruments.So,weauditionmusi-
ciansandwhentheypasstheauditionandwhentheyhavethelevelthatwereally
havetohaveatleast,becauseit’saveryhighlevel.So,wemakethem(ah)wemake
themmemberoftheorchestraandwemakethesystemavailabletothem.Soit’sa
handselection,maybesometimesit’sheadhunting,sometimesit’srecommendation
whichisalmostthesameofcourse,sometimesit’s(ah)just(ah)fromthereputation
ofplayers–soyouwannahavethese,youknowthem,whichisagainheadhunting,
thatyou’reluckywhentheplayer(ah)isamemberofyourband,and,andusually
it’sanauditioningthing.(419)
Howisthecompanystructured?Howmanypeopleareworkingbehindthescenes?
(laughs)Hm,it’slikethis.(Ah)firstofallitwasahugeexpense,togostepbystep.
Therewasafinancialburdenthatwehadtomanagetoinvest.Butwewantedmore
andmoreandmore,sotheexpansesgrewandgrew.(Ah)infact,it’smeonlyand
(ah)and(ah)theprogrammers.Oncethecompanysawthereallifeeffectofthe
softwareishuge,soyoucanreallyuseitineverydaylifeandoncewesaw,andwe
toldthemthatwecan’tworkwithoutthesoftwareanymore,theyofferedtobe
partners.So,thesoftwareisnowgoingtobesold,worldwide.Wehavegotthefirst
installationsnowbecausewe’renowinthestatethatwethoughtthatisgoodtogo
tothemarket.Andwehavealreadynegotiationswithothercompaniesofother
products.Combinationsofthingslikemusictravellersthatoffersrehearsalspaceall
overtheglobeandoursoftwarewhichcanprovidethatyou(speaksunclearly)col-
lectinformationandexportittothemusictraveller’ssystem,whichtheyarenowal-
readysettingup.So,we’rehelpingeachotherout.Antheeffectsofcombinations
areimmense.
(481)So,(ahm)thestructureofthecompany:it’sjustmeasacompanyownerhere
oftheagencywhoinvestedalotofmoneyandtheprogrammers.That’sit.
87
Isthesoftwareforclassicalandorchestralmusicordoesithaveabroaderrangeof
musicalgenres?
Thesoftwarecouldbedescribedasorganisingindividualspecialistswhohavetotally
differentlifeplansandtotallydifferenteverydayliveswhoprobablydon’tevenlive
atthesameplace.Buttheykindofmeetatcertainpointsoftimeandtheydothe
samethingcoordinatedwhichistheprojectthatwearemanaging,right.
Socanbefromeverywherecanbefromlikeanything,whatever,ifweneedhimor
her(ah)andhe’sinthesoftwarehewillknowwhereheorshehasgottobeand
whatsheorhehasgottodo.And(ah)sothat’swhatthesoftwaredoesandthen
latertheyarereleased.Wedon’thavetoknowwheretheyare,whattheydo,when
theyareavailable,wedon’thavetoknowthat–becausethat’swhatthesoftware
resources.Weresearchthepeople’savailability.Firstofall,wesettheperiodswhen
weneedthepeopleforrehearsalandthentheappropriatemembersofthesoft-
wareortheprojectparticipantsareinformedbyane-mail.Theemailisjustasassis-
tantofthesystembecausetheydon’twannalookintotheplatformlikeeveryfive
minutes.Butsometimeswehavetobefaster,wesendanemailautomaticallyout.
Soitjustsays,yougotanewproject,pleaselookituponline.Sotheygoonlineon
themobilephone,smartphone,tablet,PC,mac,whatever,doesn’tmatter.Anyplat-
form,anyoperatingsystem,anydeviceworks.Sotheylookitup,findallthedetails
fromthefirstmoment:likewhoelseparticipatesandsoonandtheyjustpushabut-
tonordrawsmallswitches(whichweknowfromtheIphone),likeyesorno,green
andred,andthat’sit.Andthentheyarewaitingfortheconfirmation.Tofinallyan-
swerthequestionofcoursethesystemwasdesignedattheexampleofanorches-
tra,whichisabrilliantexample.
Youmentionedbeforethatyoutrytobroadentherangeofinstruments,thatyou
arelookingformoreexoticinstruments?
Firstofall,IamrunningtheViennaChamberOrchestrawiththatandverysuccess-
fully,peoplelikeit,andtheguysbecamemorereliableIknowthatwasnottheques-
tionbutit’safact.
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Ontheotherside,forproducingfilmmusicyouneedallkindsofinstruments.Any-
thingthatiscalledaninstrumentandproducesacertainsound,wehavetoinfact,
theoreticallybeabletoprovide.(602)
BeforetheinterviewIjusttoldyouthatwehavealsohaveatuctucplayer,whichisa
wonderfulethnicinstrument.Onceyouheardit,itmightbeyourfavouriteinstru-
ment,forawhile…(laughs).That’ssomethingweprovideoranykindofinstrument,
right.Butusuallytheclassicinstrumentsarewhatwe,whatweneed.Butweneed
loadsofplayers.Usuallyupto100perproduction.
Howmanypeoplearecurrentlypartoftheplatform?
Thereare370membersthatweadministratewiththesystem.Andusually,every-
bodygetsinformation(aboutnewrecordingsessions).We’rejusthavinganaudition
foranother35playersofdifferentinstruments.Becausewewannabeopen.That’s
thenextthing.Youhavetostayopen,givepeoplethechancetointroducethem-
selvesandtobepresent,toparticipate,right.
So,basically,let’ssayyougetarequestforacertainjob…
Yes.
Yousendoutinformationaboutthejobviatheplatform…
Yes.Right.
Andeveryonewhoisapartoftheplatformgetsanotificationaboutthenewjob…
Right.
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Andthememberscantickwhethertheyareavailableontheparticulardateofthe
jobornot?
Exactly.
Andthegroupsthatwecontact,ofcourse,theyare(ah)exactlywhatweneed,usu-
ally,Imeanexactlytheinstrumentsthatweneedbutsinceithasgottobeveryfast,
itmightbethatweneedonlyfiveviolinsfora…whatever,and(ah)weask50play-
ers.Becauselet’ssayweneedtheinformationonehourlaterandwewannahave
goodplayers.Sowehaveahugegroupandthepeopleknow,thefaster–thebetter,
foreverybody.BecauseViennaasalocationthatoffersfilmmusicnow,dependson
theefficiencyofthesystembehindit.So,theydon’tknowofcoursetheyknowhow
weorganisetheorchestrabutstilltheydon’tknowhowwereallymakethiswork
andtheyarealwaysamazedwhenweconfirmaproductionwith70playersover5
days,whichisalotofbookings.
Mightbe1500individualbookingsinfivedays.(Ahm)ohnosorry,it’smore,anyway,
doesn’tmatter.Alot.Itmightbe1500bookingsinfivedays,easyandweconfirm
theseintwodays.
Buthugeproductionsliketheseareusuallyannouncedearlierliketwoweeks,three
weeksinadvance.Whichisfortheclassicalbusinessalmostridiculous.Ifyoutella
classicalorchestraorganiser:“yougottasetupanorchestratwoweekslaterwith70
musicians”,theywilljuststartlaughingandthinkit’sajoke.Wedon’teventhinkit’s
ajokeiftheycallusat11inthemorningandwanttohaveagroupat6pm.We
mightbeabletomanagethat.
Sowouldthatbeanadvantageofonlineplatforms?
(Online)platformsgiveahugeadvantagewhenithastobefastbutyouneedtrained
playersforthat.Notaboutthemusicalperformancethattheygivebutabouttheor-
ganisationalbehaviourthattheyadoptduringthetimewhentheyaremembersof
thesystem.There’sonethingabouttheplatformthehumanside,thehumanele-
mentmustneverdisappear.Mustnevervanish,mustnevergetsomewhere…farre-
mote.That’swhythesystemisverypersonal.Someplayersdon’tevenrealize
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they’renotbeingcontactedbyanactualpersonwhowritesoneemailtoeachplayer
becausethesoftwareisvery,verypersonalizedandyoucanswitchoffifyoudon’t
wannahaveinformation,emailandthingslikethat,anyway.Wecanstilladdinfor-
mationtostandardizedemailstomakeitfeellikeitiswrittentothesituationthat
wehaveandwedothat.Andpeopletoldmethattheylikeitbecausetheyfeelthey
canalwaysaccesstheplatform,havealwaysnewnotificationsandarealwaysupto
date.Wealllookatthesamedata.Butwelookatthesamedatafromdifferent
sides.Ofcourse,theadministration(data)ismuchmoreandmusiciansseesonlyhis
(ah)tailormade(speaksunclearly)…onlythedatesthatheparticipates,shepartici-
patesin.Onlythingsthatareinterestingforherorhim,that’swhattheplayerssee.
Whataredisadvantagesofonlineplatforms?Iknowit’salwayshardtosaythat
aboutone’sownplatform…
(overlaps)No,no…IseemyplatformveryobjectivebecauseIamprobablythehard-
estcriticof(ah)myownplatform.Becausewealwayslookforgettingbetterand
betterandbetter.Thedisadvantageisifwesellittoomanypeople,whichwedo
(willdo),wewilllosetheuniquesellingpointofmyownposition.Weareinareally
mightypositionbecausewecandowhatwedoonlybecauseoftheplatform.Butwe
canstillswitchtheserviceoffifwedon’twantotherpeopletouseit(laughs).
Ican’tseeanydisadvantagesatthemomentandIamverycriticalItoldyou,be-
causeIcanstillcalleverysingleplayerifIwantto,Icanstillmeeteverybody.So,no-
bodypreventsmeornothingpreventsmefromdoingthat.So,anyway,asanor-
chestramanager,orlikeadirectorandadministratororcontractoryouanyway
meetthepeopleonce,twice,threetimesaweek,whatever,manytimesatanypro-
duction.Ithinkwehave(ah),kindof(ah),kindof(ah)destroyedalltheobstacles
whichisahugeadvantage.Thedisadvantageisthecost.Andthedisadvantageis
thatthedevelopmentisextremelyexpensive.So,it’salmost400.000Eurosthatwe
havenowinvested,becauseprogrammerscostalotofmoneyandthat’sthousands
andthousandsofEurosthatranintothesoftwarealready.
And(ahm),noinfact,oncewestartedactuallyusingthesoftware,wehadnoidea
whatiswasgoingtobe.Wehadnoideawhetheritisgoingtoworkornot.Wehad
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noideahowpeoplewouldacceptit.Wehadnoideaifthesoftwarehadapersonal-
itythatwasverydisturbing,youdon’tknowhowmuchcareyouhavetoinvestinto
systemssothatitisrunningproperly.Becausetherewerebadexamplesofother
softwareonthemarket.Whichisalltogetheracertainburden,touse.Becauseonce
theybought,Idon’twannamentionanykindofproduct,ofcoursenot,butpeople
boughtitandnowweheard“It’ssodifficulttouse,complicating”and(ah)infact
youdon’twannauseit.Everbodytalksbadabouttheproductsthatareonthemar-
ket,exceptoneortwobigproducts(ah)butthey’renotforthefieldthatweare
workingon.Wedon’tworkforprofessionalorchestraswhichmeansmonthlypay-
mentthingandinsurancethat’snotourbusiness.(836)
We’relookinginthefreelancemarketandethicallywecandosomethingagainstun-
employment.Thisisabigtheme.Oncepeopleareinmysystemtheywillgetjobsof-
fered.Wecannotforgetanyofourmembersbecausetheyallappearatthesame
time,everytime.Ifwesetupaproductionweseeeveryplayeractively,onthe
screensowecannotforgetsomebody.Peoplelikethesystem,becausewenow
managed,withthesystemtofulfil100%oftherequests.Wehad4000bookingsin
thelastyear(singleindividualbookings).Noplayerwastoolate,noplayerwasthere
whenheorsheshouldn’tbethere.Noplayerwasmissingandtheseguysarefrom
allsocialshifts,areas,backgrounds,lifeplans,lazynotlazy,earlycomers,latecom-
ers,wehavegotthemall.Ofcoursemusicians,youknow.
(Laughs)
Butnooneeverfailed,likeoveroneyearandtwomonths,sincetheorchestrawas
founded,therewasnoincidentwhatsoever.Andweblame,inagoodway,thesys-
temforitbecausetheadvantageisyouconcludeacontract.Youjustsayyesbutnot
likeinanemailoraphonecall,butyousayyesinthesystemandsomethinghap-
pens,right.Thatistheadvantage:thatpeoplecanalwayslookitup.
DisadvantageIdon’tknow.Thingsthatwehaven’tyetdevelopedbutwe’regoingto.
(Laughs)
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Howaremusicianscompensated?
Thisisthepaymentscheme?
Yes,exactly.
Okfirstofall,theuseofthesoftwareisofcoursefreeofcharge.That’sforsure.
Concerningthepaymentfortheservice,it’sjust(ah)asitusedtobe:bytheservice.
Itdependsonhowpeoplewannapaytheirmusicians.It’suptothem.So,wehavea
paymentbytheservice.That’safreelancetypicalthing.Yougetajobchanceof-
fered,jobopportunityofferedanditalsosayshowmuchyouwillgetforthat.So
usuallyifyou’reavailableandyouwannahavesomemoneyyouwilldoitonce
you’regoodenoughtoparticipateinanexcellentgroupofspecialists.
That’swhatweareusuallyhandling.Particularly,theSynchronStageorchestra–
theseplayers,mygod,theyhavetobetrainedspecialists.Youcan’tbelievehowwell
theyhavetobetrained.6-9hourseverydaywithaclicktrackintheear,onthespot,
playingjustfromsightreading,you’renotevenallowedtobreathalmost,because
themicrophonesaresosensitiveandthingslikethat,youknow.Thesehavetobe
verytrainedpeople.So,we’rehandlingspecialists,sotheyexpectgoodpayment.
Andtheyarebeingpaidbytheservice.
Whatifarecordingsessioniscancelled?(957)
Therearerules.Likesoandsomanydays.50%soandsomanydays,100%soandso
manydays.But,we’retryingnottohavethat.
Whatifmusiciansgetill?
Theydon’thaveanemploymentcontract.Theyhaveaservicecontract,which
meanswehavetoreplacethem.Ifamusicianbecomesillorsomethinghappens:ac-
cident,toolate,trainstuck,subwaystuck,whatever,it’smydutyasacontractorto
providetheorchestrainfullcastat9sharp,10sharpwheneverthe(ah)session
93
starts.Nobodyisinterestedwhysomethingdoesn’twork.(Ahm)sofarnothinghap-
pened.Ihavetoknockonwoodbut(ah)iflet’ssaysomethinghappensthereareal-
wayspeopleinvolved.So,IcanseetheproducerandIcantelltheplayerhatanacci-
dent,somethinghappened,helosthiskeyintheflat,whatever,something.It’sall
humansafterall,right.
Butlet’ssayamusiciangetsill:Wouldyoucontactanothermusicianviatheplat-
form?
Inthatcase,IfIhavegotenoughtime,likeadaysomething,right.Sometimesyou
have…
Theplatformgivesenoughalternatives.Soweknowalreadywhoisavailableorwho
wasavailableatacertaintimeandwehopetheinformationisstilluptodate.Once
musiciansarebooked,theycannotgetoutofthesystem.Ifpeopledisappearthatno
basisforanything.Sooncewebookthepeopleandtheyconfirmtheproduction
theyhavetocallmeiftheyhaveareal,like,somethingthatpreventsthemfrom
coming,right.Therearethingswearealwaysunderstanding.But,usuallyweseethe
reserves,weseethebackupplayerssowecallthem.Usuallyinthatcaseifit’sreally
close,youcalltheseguysandtheyjumpintothetaxiandtheyjustcomeinandplay.
(1022)IthappenedwiththeSynchronStageorchestra,butwealwaysmanaged.
Luckily,theplayerswhoparticipateinSynchronStagebecomemoreandmorerelia-
blebecausetheyknowwhatsaboutandtheyknowhowseriousthethingis,right.
Iflet’ssayamusiciancancelslikeafewsessions,heorshewon’tbelongerapartof
theplatform,right?
Well,italwaysdependsonwhythecancellationtookplace(raisesvoice).Ifit’sanill-
ness–noproblem.Ifhejustcancelsforfunhewillnothavetocancelanymorebe-
causehewon’tbeaskedanymoreofcourse.That’salogical(ah)consequenceofhu-
manbehavioursandjusthumanrelationshipsthatareneveroverrulesbyanykindof
softwareplatform.Whatwedoiswebundlecommunicationwithmanypeopleinto
onecommunication.Webundletheexchangeofinformationin(ah)in-intoone
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platformand(ah)soIthinkifyou’vegot1000peoplewhoyou’vegottoregisterthe
addressof,right,ifyououtsourcetheprocessoftypingintheliving(ah)space,ad-
dress,whatever,(ahm)to1000individualpeople,itwilltakemaybe5minutestodo
that.Ifeverybodyworksatthesametime.Ifyou,onyourown,dothat,itwilltake
youaweek.Notaweek,butitfeelslikeaweek.Becauseit’sboring.Andyoumight
bemakingalotofmistakesandmaybeyoumisspellit.Musiciansknowtheirad-
dress,theyputitinthesystem,sothat’sthekindofthoughtandideabehind(ah)
thesystem.Weaskpeopletoprovideinformation,wedon’tcallthem.Theydon’t
havetocallus.Wedon’thavetoexplaintoeverbodyit’sthen,it’sthere,it’sthat,it’s
what,wedon’thavetoexplain.Weputitinthesystemonceeverybody.Everybody
canprovidetheavailable(ah)informationwhetherheorsheisavailable,weseeit
andwecanbookthem,right.That’sit.
Soit’seasy.
AdditionalQuestion:Howdomusicianspreparefortherecordingsession?Doyou
uploadthesheetsordotheycometothestudioandgetthematerialsattheloca-
tion?
That’sthenextthing.Wehaveto(ahm)wehavetoprovidethemusicviathesystem
onlinebecause(ah)usuallymusiccomesbetween12and8hoursbeforethesession
starts.(Ah)in50%ofthecasesthemusicisjustthere–onmusicstands.Sothat’s
thenextthing.That’swhywehavespecialists,that’swhywehaveauditionsthat’s
whyweasktheplayersattheauditiontojust(ah)sightreadsomethingverycompli-
catingand(ah)theauditionsaresohard,thateverysinglemusiciandefinitelyfails,
themusician’sfail.
Butwejustlookatthepointoftimewhentheyfail,howfartheymakeit.Butwhat
wedoattheaudition,weputupactualmusicthatwasrecorded.And(ah)so,asin-
gleplayerattheauditionhasgotnohelpfromothers,that’sthepointtomake.
There’snohelp,there’snorhythmthatothersprovideforyouasagroupbecause
that’salsosomethingtomentionbecauseifyou’reinagroupyouhavelikeanet
thatcatchesyou.Attheauditionyou’realone.So,butstillattheendeveryplayer
hastobetoplayfromlikejust,spreadsheetseveniftheyarecomplicated.Thisis
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whyitissohardtorunanorchestra,likearecordingorchestraisprobablythe
MountEverestoforchestras.Becausetheplayerscanbeverygoodplayersbutif
he’snotabletosightread-wegotnouseforhimorher,right.(Ah),sotheseplayers
havetobereally,reallywelltrained,yes.So,theygetasecondchance.Ifyoufailan
auditionbecauseofnotbeingabletosightread,wetellthem,gopracticesightread-
ing,andyoucandothat,gopracticewithametronome,youcandothat-comeina
year.Andthenauditionagain,andthenwewilltakeyouprobablybecauseit’s,it’sa
thingthatonecanlearn.
Thenextquestionis:WhoarethecustomersthatareusingSynchronStage?
Internationalfilmmusiccompanies.Fox,Warner,Paramount,(1192),Ralf
Wengenmayr,Japaneseproductions,(ahm)filmmusicfromjapan,fromchina,Chi-
nesevideogameproducers,Japanesevideogameproducers,(ah)Austrianpopart-
ists,sometimes,buttheyarerarelybecauseitissuchahighprofilestudiothatit’s,
it’sonthesamelevelthevery,very,veryinternational,(ah)andmostimportant
stageslike(ahm)AbbeyRoadsStudioinLondon.It’salwayscomparedwiththese
kindsofveryfamousstudiosandallthesestudiosinLosAngeles.Sothere’sahuge
pressureinternationallyseenonthetechnicalequipmentastudiohastohave.Vi-
ennaisoneoftheleading,world-wide,leadingstudiosofallbecause(ah)it’sahall,
maybeit’stheonlyhallthatweknowof,whichwasparticularlybuiltforfilmmusic
recording,fornothingelsebutthat.It’satripleshellbuildingwhichmeansonehuge
outerwall,amiddlewallandthenthehallisagaininanotheryouknowkindofshell
likewallsright.Andthere’snorightangleinthebigrecordinghallonpurposebe-
causethemusicsoundsmorenaturalandit’sallwoodeninsideanditwasrefur-
bishedbeautifully,elegantlyand(ah)withthemostuptodateequipmentthatyou
couldimagine.
Doyouthinkthatthisplatformbecamethatpopularbywordofmouthorbyprovid-
ingconstantlyahigh-quality?(1237)
Bothistrue,butyouneed(ahm)youneed(ahm)peoplewhodareandinvestthe
riskofoneproductionintoanewhouse.Pioneers.Andwehadapioneer,whichis
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ConradPope,ifyoulikeupConradPopeyou’llknowwhoheis.Heisinvolvedinthe
StarWarsproductionandsoon.WehavegotHansZimmer.Whoisahugefanofthe
ViennaSynchronStage.(Ah)sotheyalllovethe(ah)atmosphere,thepeople,the
musicians,theinstruments.HansZimmerparticularly,healwayssaysoneofthebig-
gestassetsofarecordingstudioisthegoodqualityofinstrumentsthattheyhave
got.AndViennaisaplacewhereyoucanfindverygoodinstrumentsinthepeople’s,
musician’shands.Sousuallytheyownexcellentequipment.IamamusicianmyselfI
wouldneversayequipmentforaninstrumentbutinthatcasethewordisprobably
righttouse.Andalsothetechnicalequipmentisunbelievable.
Whatisthepurposeof“SynchronStage”?(1288)
It’sastandardizedplatformthatweproduced,online,whichis(ah)accessiblebyany
technicalonlineequipment/devicethatbundlesdifferentindividualspecialistswith
differentlifeplansanddifferentdayplans(ah)todeploycoordinatedperformance
likearehearsaloraconcertoranythingelsethattheyhavetodoandeverybody’s
gottoknowwhereandwhentheyhavetobeandwhattheyhavegottodo.And
that’swhatwedo.That’sit.Withaminimumeffortinfact.It’salotofeffortstill,but
theminimumeffortpossible.
Therewasprobablyahigheffortrequiredinthepasttogettothepoint.
Right.Yes,Yes.
DoyouthinkthatHRMinthemusicindustrydoesdifferfromHRMina“normal”
business?
Firstofall,whatisanormalbusiness?
Abusinesswhichisnotbasedinthemusicindustry.Canbeanykindofcompany
withanon-musicbackground.Let’ssayyouhaveacompanywhichisbasedinthe
musicindustry…
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(overlaps)Whatever,anorchestra?
Andyoucompareitto…
(interrupts)Taxidriverscompany?
(laughs)Forexample,yeah.
Manypeoplecandriveacar.Tobeataxidriveryouneedprobablykindofabilityto
sitalongtimeinthecar,whatever.Butusuallythereisnohugeprocessofselection
forataxicompanyorsomewhatever,food-canproducer,whatever.ButIthink
manybusinessesthinktheyareveryparticularandtheyhavetheirownrulesandI
amsurethatappliestoanykindofbusiness:rules,specialrequestsandspecial(ah)
qualitiesthatarerequiredmoreorless.Somebusinessesmore,someless.(Ah)for
examplelikeifyoutaketeachers.SoIamtryingtocompare(ahm)themusicbusi-
nessliketheorchestramusician,organisationtootherorganisation’shumanre-
sourcestokindofputitinarelativepositiontoeachother.Whichmeans(ahm)mu-
siciansusuallythinkofbeingsomethingveryspecialandunique.Andthenyoulook
atothercompaniesandtheyprobablythinkaswellthattheyareveryunique.ButI
finditmoreandmore,that(ahm)becauseIamtravellingthewholeglobeandexpe-
riencesdifferentstructures,companiesandofficesandwhatever.Butagainsome-
howfortheorchestralmusiciansandorchestrasit’strue.Theyhavetobeveryspe-
cialbecausetherepetitivepracticingof,of,ofnotesandphrasesproducesacertain
structureofthebrain.That’strue.Forsure,thatmakespeoplespecial.Musician’s
usuallylistenverywellbecausethebusinessisto(ahm)listenandreproduce.So
theyareusuallyverygoodatlanguagesandtheyarealsoverygoodlistenersusually
(1384).Somusicianshavetobeatypeofpersonwhoisverysensitiveandvery
open-minded.Anyway,butmusiciansareveryparticularthat’strue,Ifinditmore
andmoreandwedon’twannabelieveitsometimes.Butit’strue(ah)musiciansare
veryparticularasasociety.Soitisaveryspecialthingandthisissomethingthatre-
flectsintheHumanResource.HowyoutreattheHumanResource.Morerespect,
morefreedom,moreflexibility,butthenyouneedsomeresultsanywaysandthat
appliestoeverybody.Atacertainpointoftimeyouhavetohaveresults.AndIfound
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itveryinterestingtoworkwithmusicianmywholelifebecauseit’savery,veryhu-
manapproach.
Usually,everybodythinkstheyarenotreplaceableintheirpositionsandit’susually
true.It’slikeafamily(ah)likeinanoffice,likemyoffice,weloveeachother,we
haveagoodcolleagueship,wehaveagoodcooperationandwelikeeachotheralot
butsometimesyouloseanemployee.Thatwon’tchangemostprobablythestruc-
tureorthe,thequalityabusinessdelivers.Ifhe’snottheboss.Sothatmightchange
thequalityeventothebetter(laughs),sometimes.Soifthegroupworkswellto-
getherandspeakingofHumanResource,it’slikeanorganismthatyouhavetoman-
ageandtheorganismisalwaysalive.Ifyouchangesomething,ithastobedone
carefully.It’slikethestructureofafamily.Youknow.Soifyoutakeoutafamily
membertherewillbeanegativeimpactusuallyorapositivesometimes,youknow.
Butitchangesalotinfact.SoHumanResourceManagementofanorchestraandof
musiciansinthatkindissomethingparticular.It’sparticularlynervous,itcanbe.
Everythingyouchangeproducesalotofnoise,sotospeakandfinallyyouhearon
themusicwhetheragroupisharmoniousornot.Ifthegeneralstateofmindand
(ah)themindsetofanorchestraispeacefulandrelaxed,that’swhatweareusually
tryingtoproduce/achievethentheresultthattheyproduceisgood.Anditisbetter
thanitiswhenthereisafightgoingon.Youcanhearthatsimply.
Doyouthinkfromamanagerialperspective,thatmusicmanagersneedtohavea
musicalbackgroundoramusicalunderstanding?
Yes.Definitely.Inthekeypositionsthatyou’rein,youhavetobeanexpert.Let’s
say,I,myself,Iusedtoplaytheviolin.Andthentheofficejustwastooimportantfor
mylife,Isawthat,Ididn’twannaworkonstagebecausefirstofallmynerves
wouldn’tallowthat.Iwasagoodviolinistbut(ah)Ididn’twannadothatasabusi-
nessbecausewehaveafamilybusinessgoingonandIknewIwasgoingtoworkin
thecompany.Soitwasnosense.Butyouhavetosimplyunderstandthebasicsand
themiddlerange(ahm),(ah)kindofchallengesandtheexpertsideofwhatyou’re
doing.Andthebestthingisfrombothsides.Youcanofcoursehavenoideaofmu-
sic,andyoucanlearnaboutthesymphoniesandyoucanwatchwhatpeopledo,you
99
cantakeexamplesofotherpeople’sopinionsforexample,that’swhatcritiquesusu-
allyliketodo.Andyoucankindofpretendtoknoweverythingbut,in,let’ssay,ifit
comesdowntothecoreandyou’renotsettledinwhatyoudo,there’snotareal,
kindof,believeinyourperson,youwillloseposition,yourcredibilitywilljust,will
just(ahm),(ah)becomelessandless.Oryouareaninhumanlikeleaderwhodoesn’t
careabout(ah)thepeople’sopinionsthenyoucanforsurerunanykindofbusiness
butthequestionishowlong.Therearemanypeopleinthefield(ah)whodon’t
knowalotaboutmusicandstillaregoodbusinessmenbutit’saboutmusicit’snot
aboutmoney,right.Samewiththesoftwarethatweproduced,theplatformthat
we’respeakingof.Wediditforthepurposeofresolvingourownproblems,we
didn’tdothisinordertoearnmoney.Ifeverythingrunsnicelyandproperlyandthe
waywewantitnow,wewillnotbeabletoavoidearningmoneywithitbutthat’s
nottheobjective.Theobjectivewastoresolvesituations,right.Alsoifyourun,if
youworkinthemusicbusiness,Ithinkyoushouldreallyhaveamusicalbackground
inanycase,inordertobeabletoargue,todiscuss,todecideproperly,right.The
otherthingis,ifyou’reagoodbusinessperson,youcantakeaconsultantwho
knowsalotaboutmusic,nexttoyourdesk,fineaswell,butstillyouasapersonwill
losecredibility.
Right.
Doyouthinkthatmusicmanagementdiffersinmusicgenres?
Oh,sure,ofcourse.Ofcourseitdoes.Itdoes.OperaissomethingIdon’twannado.
WorkingforsingersissomethingthatIdon’twannadobecauseIdon’thaveany
ideaofsingers:oftheirbehaviours,oftheirproblemsandIhonestlyspeakingIal-
wayshearit’shard.SoIamnotanoperatype.Idon’twannaworkforasymphony
orchestraasadirectorbecauseit’sratherimpersonaland(ah)theimpactsthat
mighthityoufromsocietywhichisanger,aresostrongthatIdon’twannaconfront
myselfwiththiskindofproblems,probablyand,andadditionallythere’salotofor-
ganisationandstructuresandlabourunionthingsandquestionsandallthatkindof
stuff,whichisnotreallyintheinterestofwhatyoudoofmusicinfact,right.SoIam
runningachamberorchestraandtheotherislikeaprojectthing(ah)theSynchron-
Stageissomethingdifferentitisalsofreelanceandthat’sgoodandtheycomeplay
100
andgoyouknowbutalotofpeopleanyway.Butthechamberorchestraisanorgan-
izationwhichissteadywhichhasbeenfounded70yearsago.Isympathisealotwith
thesizeofchamberorchestrasbecauseit’ssomethingyoucanmovealot,reacha
lot.Thenthereisthenextbusinessandstillstayinginthesocalled“ErnsteMusik”,
whichisnotagooddistinctionanywayforclassification,doesn’tmatter:Choirs.
Choirsissomethingdifferentbecausepeopleusuallyhavejobs,differentjobs,like
beingtaxidriverswhatever,no,Ihopenotbutmightbe.Theycometogetherand
singbythewaythat’sthetypical(ah)examplewhereourplatformis,issuperwell
fit-inandwe’renowaddressingalotofchoirswiththis,becausetheyarehavinga
hardtimegettingholdofthepeople.Becausetheywork,they’renotathome,they
travel,whatever…
Andthenofcoursethere’stheothersideoflet’ssay(ah)bigstars:soloistmanage-
ment.Whichwedointheoffice,butwe’rejustthemanagers,right.(Ah)likeaman-
agementcompanywhoorganisestours.Wealsotourbigorchestrasbutwe’renot
runningthem.(Ah)theotherthingis,forexamplefestival,musicfestivals,typical
Austrianopenairfestivals.Iamalsorunningoneofthese.And(ah)likethere’salso
Mörbischandthatkindofbusiness,butthat’sverymoneyoriented.Alot.These
guys,Idon’tthink,theyhavegotalotofknowledgeaboutmusic.Somehave,some
don’t.Butthereyoucansurvivewithoutknowinganythingaboutmusic.Yougotthe
stagedesigner,orchestrawhatever,manager,yougottheseandthat,yougetsome-
bodyforeverything.Youdon’thavetoknowhowtopaintatheatrefaceandyou
canstillbeatheatredirector,right.Butyouhavetoknowwhatyoudo.That’sa
businessthing.Andthenofcoursethere’srockmusicand,andpopmusicandthe
wholefieldofinternationalartists,whoareplayedatMTVandco,right.Idon’t
knowaboutthatmusicatall.IthinkthisisjustsomethingPRandIexperiencesonce
thebacksideofthiskindofapres-skihitproduction.Iwasthere.Thisiskindofawful
forme.That’snotmusic.Theseguyshaven’twrittenthemusic.Theysometimes
knowhowtosingbutnotverywell.They’rechangedtechnicallybysomekindspro-
grammes,whichlevelsthevoices.Butthere’snoconnectiontomusicbusinessinmy
understandingasitshouldbe,right.Sotherearedifferentaspects,evensmaller
fieldsofmusicthatyoumightimagine.Becausefromtheoutsideit’seither“Ernste
Musik”orentertainmentorwhatever,ashoworwhatever.It’sunbelievablehow
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manydifferentaspectsandhowmanydifferentneedstheseparticularfieldsofmu-
sicrequire.
That’sit.Thankyouverymuch.
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Interview:AnnaBudnowski;March23rd,2017.
Interviewer/Interviewee;
Name:AnnaBudnowski
Work:(Instrument&genre)Vocals;Pop,Jazz
Freelanceoremployed:Freelance
Age:26
Yearsofexperience:9
Gender:Female
WhatdoyouunderstandunderHumanResourceManagement?
IpersonallythinkthatHumanResourceManagementreferstoorganisingpeopleto
achieveahighworkqualitywithregardstoworkingwithhumanstoobtainahigh
employeesatisfaction,work-lifebalanceandanoverallfairworkatmosphere.
WhatdoyouexpectideallyfromHRmanagersinthemusicindustry?
Forme,themostimportantthingistohavefaircontracts.HRmanagersneedto
haveabasicknowledgeofthemusician’slifetogetabetterinsightintotheindustry.
Onlyaninterestinlisteningtomusicisformenotenough,butpeoplewhoworkin
themusicindustryneedtohaveanunderstandingoflifeasamusicianandthe
strugglesthatcomewiththat.Managersinthemusicindustryneedtoknowhowto
guidemusicianstowardstherightdirection.
DoyouthinkthatHRMplaysanimportantroleinthemusicindustry?YES/NO
Ifyes:why?Ifnot:whynot?
Ithinkthatitplaysanimportantrole,becausebigmusiclabelscanonlysurvivewith
HRM.Inthesetimes,wheresmalllabelsandindependentproductionsaregetting
moreandmoreimportant,biglabelshavetoincreasetheirawarenessofHRMand
needtotreattheirartistsasahumanwithneedsandfeeling,maybeevenasa
friend.
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WhatdoyouthinkofonlineHRMplatforms?
Itsoundsreallyconvenientformanagers,butapersontocontactismissing.Ifthere
isaratherinsecureartistwhoisnotreallysureaboutstepsinthemusicindustry,he
orsheneedstohaveacontactperson.Maybeonlineplatformsshouldintroducelive
chats,formusicianstodirectlygetintouchwithmanagersincaseofquestions.The
trendissurelygoingtowardsworkingwithapps,workingacrossdistancesandwork-
ingindependently.
DoyouthinkthatonlineHRMplatformsbringadvantagesformusicians?
Independenceaccordingtotimeandlocation.Itmakesorganisingthingseasier.You
getjobsthatyouwouldn’tnormallyhearof.Moreopportunities.Toworkwithpeo-
pleyouwouldn’tevenknow.
Managerscansavetimeandcostsbecauselessemployeesareneeded,youdon’t
needtorunaftermusiciansanymore.Timeandmoneycanbesaved.
Arethereanydisadvantagesorrisksthatcometoyourmindwhenthinkingabout
onlineHRMplatforms?
Adisadvantagethatcomestomymindwhenthinkingaboutonlineplatformsisthe
extremedigitalisation.Thetrendsisgoingtowardsmanagingeverythingonline,and
thereforepersonalityandemotionisgettinglost.
Haveyoualreadyheardabouttheonlineplatform“SynchronStage”?Yes/No
104
Interview:MartinEdelmann;April6th,2017.
Interviewer/Interviewee;
Name:MartinEdelmann
Work:(Instrument&genre)Viola,ClassicalMusic,Orchestra
Freelanceoremployed:Employed
Age:47
Yearsofexperience:25
Gender:Male
WhatdoyouunderstandunderHumanResourceManagement?
HumanResourceManagementshouldbeacontrolsystemtoprovideafairenviron-
mentforemployeesandthecompanyandtocontrolthefairnessofwork-related
processes.HRmanagersshouldbesomesortofmediators,whichisareallyhard
partbecauseputtingtwopartiesinbalanceisabsolutelydifficult.Everydecisionis
differentandneedstobehandledaccordingly.Youhaveallthestufflikegender,
payment.Inorchestrasthegenderpaygapdoesn’texist.HRMshouldprovidea
chanceforcompaniestotransmithowtodealwitheachother.Hrmanagersshould
beabletomediatebetweenemployees,employeesandthecompanyandtomake
surealltheseprocessesarefairandonanequallevel.Inbestcasetheyareableto
createtoolsforeverybodyinthecompanytopreventconflictsandproblems.Forme
personally,itwouldbethebestthingtotrainemployeesinawaytoavoidconflicts
beforehand.
WhatdoyouexpectideallyfromHRmanagersinthemusicindustry?
Tobehonest,IhavenoideawhetherHRMexistsfororchestras.TheORFhasaHR
department,butthatisnotreallyinthemusicbusiness.Themainpartisjustreally
tohaveagroupofpeoplemakingsurethateverythingisinafairandequalmanner.
Tocheckwhethertheyearofprobationisfair.ButthereisnoHRMtakingalookat
this.MaybeinlabelsyouhaveHRdepartmentsbutnotinorchestras.
WetrytobetheHRmanagersintheorchestra.Especiallyintheorchestraandinthe
yearofprobationwherethemusiciansdecideaboutindividualswhethertheyfitin
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ornot.Withanewemployeeyouhavetoplaytogethermaybe35years.Ifthereare
personalproblems,itcanbehardtoplaytogetheranditcandestroythegroup.This
isreallyspecialinorchestras.ButHRMdoesn’texistinorchestras.Wedon’thaveHR
managerfororchestras.Wehaveaworkscommittee(Betriebsrat)tocheckthatno
oneismobbedorsomething,butnoHRmanager.Idon’tknowwhatHRmanagers
woulddowithanorchestra.No,aHRmanagercoulddosomething:Hecouldcheck
certainprocesses.Transmitideasfromtheorchestratothemanagement.Hecould
checktheorganisationalstructuresandwhethertheyareatthebestpoint,thatthey
areoptimal.Oftenitisaproblemofacommunicationstructure.Aclearstructureof
communicationandbehaviourwouldbeimportant.Andtomakechangesinparticu-
largaps,toimprovetheentirecommunicationstructure.ThiswouldbeapartofOB,
butagoodHRmanagershouldbeabletodothataswell.
DoyouthinkthatHRMplaysanimportantroleinthemusicindustry?YES/NO
Ifyes:why?Ifnot:whynot?
No,butitshouldplayanimportantrole.Orchestrasconsistsofsizeslike89-170
people.InbiggroupsliketheseitwouldbegoodtohaveanHRmanagerfororches-
tras.Ifyoutaketheoperahouse,Idon’tknowwhethertheyhaveanHRdepart-
ment,theyshouldhaveit.ButI’mnotsurewhetheritexists.Theimportantthingis
includedinthetermHumanResources.Youshouldtakecareoftheresources:the
musicians.Thatwouldbethemaingoal.Thisanswerfitsalsointothedefinition
HRM.Tosaveandtakecareoftheresources.Becauseyouhavenoconcert,orches-
trawithoutmusicians.
WhatdoyouthinkofonlineHRMplatforms?
Therearedifferentones.Thereis“Muv”,whichisanonlineplatformfororchestra
auditions.Youcansimplycreateaprofile,andthenyouarepartoftheplatformand
getinformationaboutauditions.Approximately200-300orchestrasusethatplat-
form.Therearealotofgoodandbadthings.It’sveryeasytoapply,it’sjustone
click.Theothergoodthingis,becauseit’salloverEurope,youfindnewmarkets.A
NorwegianguyreadingaboutaviolapositioninVienna,cansimplyapplyforthat.
Theproblemisveryoftenthatifyouhaveanauditionwhere800peoplereadabout
106
theaudition,200-300peopleapplybutwon’tactuallycome.Wecallthat“Audition-
ing-tourism”.Buttherearetoolstopreventtheseproblems.It’sgettingbetterand
better.TheViennaSymphonicOrchestraforexampledemandsashortvideo(about
5minutes)toavoidthisproblem.“Vio-world”isanotherrecruitmentplatform.This
platformisjusttogetinformation,whereas“Muv”iscompletelyautomated.
DoyouthinkthatonlineHRMplatformsbringadvantagesformusicians?
Yes.Theydo.Youcanreachdifferentmarketsveryeasilyandquickly.It’snecessary
toopenupthemarkets.IfthereisaplatformlikeSynchronStageitwouldbemuch
moredifficultformusicianstoapply,becausetheplatformisbasedinVienna.Tobe
honest,itwouldbeimpossibleIthink.Butonlineplatformsingeneralareaveryuse-
fultooltogetquickinformationaboutavailablespotsworldwide.Inspecialnewspa-
perswhereavailablespotsareprovided,theinformationmightbenolongeravaila-
bleasthenewspapergetsprinted,orthenewavailablepositionsarenotinthecur-
renteditionofthenewspaper.
Arethereanydisadvantagesorrisksthatcometoyourmindwhenthinkingabout
onlineHRMplatforms?
Yeah.It’sareducedinformationtool.Nowadayseveryonehasastandardizedappli-
cationform.Inthepasttherewereapplicationletters,whichwerehandwritten.The
applicationhadamuchmorepersonaltouch.Howtheapplicationformlookedlike
wasastatementaboutyourself,howitwaswritten,howitwasdesignedandsoon.
Maybeit’sold-fashionedbutIlikedthatway,toseetheeffortsomeonehasputinto
theapplicationform.Thispartismissingnowcompletely.Thereisnopersonalway
tocreateapplicationsanymore.Attheendofthedayeveryonehastoplayanyway,
andnowadaystheauditionistheprocesstodecidewhetheramusicianisskilled
enoughornot.Butthismakesitmoredifficulttoselectbetweentheapplicantsbe-
causeeveryapplicationismadeinthesamestyle.Soit’shardtodifferentiate
whethersomeonehasinvestedalotoftimeinhisapplicationformforaparticular
positionornot.
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Haveyoualreadyheardabouttheonlineplatform“SynchronStage”?
Yes/No
Ifyes:Doyouthinkthattheplatformcanmeetallperceivedservicesbymusicians?
(Faircompensation/Fairrecruitmentprocess)
Itdoesinalotofways.It’sareallyfairandtransparentplatform.IfyoujointheSSO
orchestrayoualreadyknowalltheinformationaboutpayment,andsoon.It’sal-
waysthesamepayment.
It’snotchangingprojectwise,whichisverygood.Thereisaconstantprocesstoim-
provetheplatform.IfyouhaveanideayoucantellChristianBuchmannyourim-
provementidea.Theyhadatestrunwithanewtool,wheretheygaveacallanhour
beforethesessionstarts.Idon’tknowwhetherthisisafixedprocessnow,butthey
havetriedthatout.Thepaymentisfair,ontime,andnoonehastowaitforthe
compensation.
Does“SynchronStage”bringadvantagesformusicians?Ifyes,which.
Yeah.Itdoes.Youdon’thavetonegotiateaboutpayment.It’sfixed.Paymentisex-
actlyontime,youneverhavetowaitforsomething.Forinformationaboutspecial
projects,youcanalwaysaccesstheplatform.Schedule,sheets,time.Yougetre-
minders.Whenyou’reinthepooloftheSSO,youcantickyouravailabilityforses-
sions.IfChristiancheckstheplatformandseeshowmanymusiciansareavailable,
thenhe’sabletocommunicatetheprogresstotheclient.That’sagoodandeasy
waytosetupanentireorchestra.Christiantoldme,thathewasabletomanageor-
ganisinga125peopleorchestrawithinafewdays.Thiswouldn’tbepossibleviatele-
phone.Theexactscheduleisincludedontheplatform.Whenthesessionstarts,
whenthereisabreak,whenthesecondhalfstarts.Ifamusicianhasonlytimefor
onesessionaday,Christianseesontheplatformwhohastimetoplaythesecond
sessionthatday.IfIhavearehearsalwiththeRSO,Icancheckmycalendarwhether
IhavetimetoplayarecordingsessionintheafternoonoreveningwiththeSSO.
Overtimesarecharged15minutes-wise.Ifthereisaone-minutedelay,Buchmann
108
paysfortheentire15-minuteovertime.TheSSOprovidescateringandhighlypro-
fessionalsetting,withthepossibilitytocreateseparatein-earmixesforeverymusi-
cian.
Wouldyouhaveideastoimprove“SynchronStage”?
Ineverthoughtaboutthat.Concerningtheauditioningprocess:IgotintoSynchron-
Stagebyword-ofmouth,Ididn’taudition.Maybeit’sdifficultforfreelancerstoget
intotheplatform.Ifyouareemployedatanorchestra,thenyoualreadyhaveagood
reputation.Butforfreelancers,itmightbedifficult.
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Interview:RubenGludovacz;March22nd,2017.
Interviewer/Interviewee;
Name:RubenGludovacz
Work:(Instrument&genre)Vocals,Guitar;Pop/Rock
Freelanceoremployed:Freelance
Age:31
Yearsofexperience:20
Gender:Male
WhatdoyouunderstandunderHumanResourceManagement?
Inmyopinion,HumanResourceManagementisanecessaryfunctionineverybusi-
nesstoimprovetheeconomicstabilityofthatcompany.Ithink(ahm)thatmanagers
inthisdepartmenthavetodealwithhiring,firingandretainingemployeestopro-
videaneconomicallyefficientcompany.
Ipersonallythink,thatitisanungratefuljobbecauseyouhavetodecideabout
otherpeople’sfuture.
WhatdoyouexpectideallyfromHRmanagersinthemusicindustry?
IexpectfromHRmanagersthattheyraisetheirinterestinmusicandgotoconcerts
themselvesratherthanwaitingforapplicantstocontactthemtogetacontract.I
haveneverseenanyHRscoutsonconcertsandIthinkthat’stheonlywayitshould
be:seeingbandsliveandhavingapassioninmusic.Besidestheinterestinmusic
managersshouldhave,theyneedtohaveacertaindegreeofeconomicbackground,
becausetheyconstantlyhavetobeup-to-dateaboutwhatiscurrentlyaskedforon
themarket.
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DoyouthinkthatHRMplaysanimportantroleinthemusicindustry?YES/NO
Ifyes:why?Ifnot:whynot?
Yes,ofcourse.ThepeopleworkinginanHRdepartmentarenecessarytofindand
hirenewbandstoavoidthedigitalisationoftheentiremusicindustry.Nevertheless,
musicisaspeakingorganforhumansoulsthatneedtobeabsorbedbyothersouls.
WhatdoyouthinkofonlineHRMplatforms?
(Hm)Ithink,thatonlineplatformshaveanimpersonalflavourandIthinkthatitis
hardtomanagemusiciansviaonlineplatformsbecausethismakesmusiciansfeel
liketheyarejustanumberandoneofmany.
DoyouthinkthatonlineHRMplatformsbringadvantagesformusicians?
Yes,ofcourse.Becausethiscanconnectmusiciansandleadtonewopportunities.
Furthermore,theaccessibilityformusicianswillbeimproved.Inthedigitalagewe’re
livingnow,itisgoodtoreceivebackgroundinformationaboutacertainconcertin
advance.
Arethereanydisadvantagesorrisksthatcometoyourmindwhenthinkingabout
onlineHRMplatforms?
Asmentionedabove,Ithinkthattheseplatformsareabitimpersonal.Andapossi-
bleriskistobeoneofmanynamesinacatalogue.
Haveyoualreadyheardabouttheonlineplatform“SynchronStage”?
Yes/No
111
Interview:RaphaelHandschuh;April3rd,2017.
Interviewer/Interviewee;
Name:RaphaelHandschuh
Work:(Instrument&genre)Viola,ClassicalMusic,E-Musik(artmusic)
Freelanceoremployed:Both
Age:33
Yearsofexperience:8
Gender:Male
WhatdoyouunderstandunderHumanResourceManagement?
Inmyopinion,HumanResourceManagementdealswiththecoordinationofem-
ployees.
WhatdoyouexpectideallyfromHRmanagersinthemusicindustry?
Iexpectadegreeoforganisation,whereallnecessaryinformationaboutjobsaswell
astasks,schedules,locationsareprovidedbytheorganiser.
DoyouthinkthatHRMplaysanimportantroleinthemusicindustry?YES/NO
Ifyes:why?Ifnot:whynot?
Yes,definitely.IthinkthatgoodHRMcandistributetoachieveahighqualityaswell
astofindthemostsuitablemusiciansforparticularjobs.
WhatdoyouthinkofonlineHRMplatforms?
Itisagoodpossibilitytoincreasethetempooforganisingprojects.Ithinkthatthe
trendwillworktowardsworkingviadigitalplatforms,especiallyinmodernfields,
wheretimeandmoneyplayanimportantrole.
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DoyouthinkthatonlineHRMplatformsbringadvantagesformusicians?
YesandNo.
Yes,becauseifyou’reconnectedinagoodway,youcanparticipateinalotofses-
sions,projects.
No,ifyou’renotavailable24/7certainprojectscannotbeattained.
Arethereanydisadvantagesorrisksthatcometoyourmindwhenthinkingabout
onlineHRMplatforms?
Apossibleriskisthatpeopleareseenmoreasnumbers.Ifyou’renoteventalkingor
textingwithothers,thehumancharacterwillnotbeintheforegroundanymore.
Haveyoualreadyheardabouttheonlineplatform“SynchronStage”?Yes/No
Ifyes:
Doyouthinkthattheplatformcanmeetallperceivedservicesbymusicians?
(Faircompensation/Fairrecruitmentprocess)
Faircompensation,Yes.
Fairrecruitmentprocess,Yes.
Does“SynchronStage”bringadvantagesformusicians?Ifyes,which.
Formepersonally,asIdon’thaveverymuchtime,itisverygoodtobeabletode-
signmyscheduleasIwanttoanddecidehowmanydays,hoursIwanttowork.For
Viennaasaculturallocation,manymusicianscanprofitbecauseSynchronStagepro-
videsanewwaytoearnadditionalmoneyandexperience.
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Wouldyouhaveideastoimprove“SynchronStage”?
Tobehonest,Idon’thaveanyideastoimprovetheplatform.Inthefieldthatthey
areworkingin,theyhavecreatedanidealapproachtoorganise,andhiremusicians.
114
TelephoneInterview:PaulRabeck;March31st,2017.
Interviewer/Interviewee;
Name:PaulRabeck
Work:(Instrument&genre):Viola,ClassicalMusic
Freelanceoremployed:Both
Age:33
Yearsofexperience:15
Gender:Male
WhatdoyouunderstandunderHumanResourceManagement?
TobehonestIamnotthatfamiliarwiththetermHumanResourceManagement.
ButIthinkitisaboutmanagingpeopleandemployees.
Inthemusicbusinessthereisabigdifferencebetweenfreelancersandemployees.
Thefreelancefieldismoreaboutrecommendations,wordofmouthandauditioning.
Playingauditionsasafreelancerisarelativelynewconcept,whereasauditioningfor
astableemploymenthasalwaysexistedandiswidelyspread.
WhatdoyouexpectideallyfromHRmanagersinthemusicindustry?
Iexpectfairness.Itishardintheseculturalfields,suchasartandmusic.Alotof
worktoprovidefairnessisbeingdonebuttherearestillsomegapstofill.Especially
whentakingthefewjobsavailableintoconsideration.Peoplepracticemonthsto
playacertainauditionandhavetoprovetheirentireexpertisewithin5minutes.Au-
ditionscanbecrucialfortheentirecareerofamusician,andthereforefairness
needstobeensured.
DoyouthinkthatHRMplaysanimportantroleinthemusicindustry?YES/NO
Ifyes:why?Ifnot:whynot?
Yes.Ofcourse.Toprovidethebestqualityfortherightsituation.Therightmusicians
fortheparticularjobneedtobefound.Especiallywhenneedingmusicianswhoplay
extraordinaryinstrumentsorgenres,whoarenotavailableinlargenumbers.
115
WhatdoyouthinkofonlineHRMplatforms?
Iamverysceptical.Technicalskillscanbemadeavailableonlinebutthehumanpart
ismissing.
Therefore,yearsofprobationaremade.Toseewhetherpeoplefitin,tosee
whethertheyarepunctual,howtheyworkandsoon.Thereisahugedifference
whenyouknowthepeopleyouareworkingwith.Knowingthepeoplepersonally
createsacompletelydifferentworkenvironment.Youhavetoworktensofyearsto-
gether,youmakemusictogether,youbreathetogether,togettoacertainpersonal
level.Thiscanneverbeguaranteedwithonlineplatforms.
DoyouthinkthatonlineHRMplatformsbringadvantagesformusicians?
Anadvantageistoincreasethesizeofthemarket.Hiddentalentscanbefound.But
thereisstillroomforimprovement…
Arethereanydisadvantagesorrisksthatcometoyourmindwhenthinkingabout
onlineHRMplatforms?
Ariskisthatthepersonalcomponentisgettinglost.Itishardtofindtherightpeo-
pleandtoconstantlyprovideahighqualityofmusicians.Therefore,itwouldbe
goodtohaveyearsofprobationforajobformorethanonemusician.Butthiscan’t
bedone,sinceitisveryexpensive.
Haveyoualreadyheardabouttheonlineplatform“SynchronStage”?Yes/No
Ifyes:
116
Doyouthinkthattheplatformcanmeetallperceivedservicesbymusicians?
(Faircompensation/Fairrecruitmentprocess)
Theplatformisreallyadvancedinviewofplanningandimplementingcertainpro-
jects,amulti-tool,butstillinprogress.Guaranteeingqualityonlybasedononetool
isnotsufficient.Here,theyearofprobationismissingagain,playingoneauditionis
notenough.SynchronStageisagoodplanningtool,butitishardtoprovideahigh
qualityconstantly.Theauditionhelpstocreateaminimumrequirementlevel.
Whethermusiciansaresuccessfulornotdependsontheirperformanceineachses-
sion.Viennahasgoodpreconditionsformusicians,thereisagoodscenewithalotof
goodmusicians.IfpeoplemanagetogetintoSynchronStageitcanbeagoodoppor-
tunitybutalsostressfulsincepeopleneedtoconstantlyprovetheirskills.Ifamusi-
cianfailsatacertainrecordingsession,hewon’tbelongerapartoftheplatform.
Formefaircompensationmeanscompensatingmusiciansontime.Andthat’sthe
caseconcerningSynchronStage,thereisnothingtocomplainabout.Musiciansare
paidhourly,completelyfair,wellthoughtout,plausibleandlogical.IthinkthatSyn-
chronStagehastheadvantagethattheyonlymanagerecordingsessions.Thisisrela-
tivelyeasytocalculate.Threehoursofrecording,30Eurosperhour,musicianshave
topaytaxesthemselves.Paymentisnotextremelyhigh,butfair.Ifarecordingses-
sioniscancelledbasedontheorganiser,thereisnocompensationformusicians.
Concerningbigprojectslikethesepeopleshallexcusesmallmistakes,becausemany
peoplebelieveinaprojectandifeverymusiciancomplainsaboutthesmallest
things,theprojectcannotsurvive.Inputsgivenbymusiciansarealwayswelcomed
andSynchronStageconstantlytriestoimproveservices,basedonfeedbackbypar-
ticipants.Forexample,inthepasttherewereonlytwopossibilitiesformusicians:
theyeitherhavetimeforarecordingsessionornot.Nowtheyintroduceda“tempo-
raryavailable”,wheremusicianscanconstantlychangetheirstatusuntilaprojectis
fixed.It’sareallyopen-mindedproject,whichfollowsanAmericanapproachofdo-
ingsthings.Maybe,becauseofthecollaborationwithAmericans.
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Does“SynchronStage”bringadvantagesformusicians?Ifyes,which.
It’sagoodplanningtool.Flexibilityisalsoanadvantage.Peoplecanchecktheircal-
endarswhethertheyhavetimeforaparticularsessionornot.Noe-mails,nophone
calls.Easy,clear,andwellstructured.
Adisadvantageisthatrecordingsessioncanbeeasilycancelledanddeletedform
theplatform.Ifarecordingsessioniscancelleditwouldbegoodtosendoutan
emailaboutthecancellationofthesession.Thiscouldbeimproved.
Wouldyouhaveideastoimprove“SynchronStage”?
Thetoolisgreat,butformepersonallytherearetoomanyfeaturesandinformation
available.Therearealotofthingswhicharenotrelevantforindividualssuchasthe
listofinstrumentsforcertainsessions.Theuserinterfacecouldbemadesimpler,it
ispartlyalmosttocomplex.Generalinformationaboutcertainsessionsshouldbe
providedatthebeginningsuchasfromwhentowhensessionstakeplace.Youhave
toscrolldowntilltheendtoseehowlongthesessionis.
Anotherideawouldbetogiveupdatesaboutsessions.ANotificationifasession
getscancelledawouldbegreat.Furthermore,reminderswouldbegreatoffixed
sessionsviatextmessagesandviae-mail24hoursbeforeasessionstarts.
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Interview:MatthiasReissner;March24th,2017.
Interviewer/Interviewee;
Name:MatthiasReissner
Work:(Instrument&genre)Viola,ClassicalMusic,Orchestra
Freelanceoremployed:Freelance
Age:54
Yearsofexperience:36
Gender:Male
WhatdoyouunderstandunderHumanResourceManagement?
HumanResourceManagementdealswithmanagingandsupplyingworkforce.
WhatdoyouexpectideallyfromHRmanagersinthemusicindustry?
Managingthesupplyanddemandofmusicians,creatingplatforms,providinginfor-
mationaboutprojects(concerts,sessions,jobs)…
DoyouthinkthatHRMplaysanimportantroleinthemusicindustry?YES/NO
Ifyes:why?Ifnot:whynot?
Inmypersonalexperience,no,becauseImyselfgetmybookingsdirectlyandnotvia
thirdparties.
WhatdoyouthinkofonlineHRMplatforms?
Itissurelyagoodideathatwillgainpopularityinthefuture.Duetotheglobalisation
andduetothereasonthatconcertstakeplaceatdifferentlocations.Today,the
worldisentirelyconnectedtechnologically.
119
DoyouthinkthatonlineHRMplatformsbringadvantagesformusicians?
Idon’thaveanyexperienceinworkingwithonlineplatformsbecauseIpersonally
amgenerallycontacteddirectly.Theinternetplaysaveryimportantroleintoday’s
lifeandtherefore,theseonlineplatformswillbecomemoreandmoreimportantin
thefuture.
Arethereanydisadvantagesorrisksthatcometoyourmindwhenthinkingabout
onlineHRMplatforms?
Apossibleriskisthatpeoplecanspreadwronginformationabouttheirskills.
Andtherefore,thereisarisktohiremusicianswithlessskillsthantheyclaimto
have.
Haveyoualreadyheardabouttheonlineplatform“SynchronStage”?Yes/No
120
Interview:NikolaZeichmann;March20th,2017.
Interviewer/Interviewee;
Name:NikolaZeichmann
Work:(Instrument&genre)ElectricBass;DoubleBass;Violin;Jazz,Pop/Rock
Freelanceoremployed:Freelance
Age:27
Yearsofexperience:14
Gender:Male
WhatdoyouunderstandunderHumanResourceManagement?
Inmyopinion,HumanResourceManagementdealswithmanagingworkforceand
howtoeffectivelytreatemployees.
WhatdoyouexpectideallyfromHRmanagersinthemusicindustry?
Generalinterestandknowledgeinmusicandanunbiasedviewofbandsandmusical
genres.Concerningdiscoveringnewartists,IexpectfromHRmanagersthatthey
don’ttrytoreproducealreadyexistingbands/musiciansbutthattheyarebrave
enoughtotrysomethingnew.Example:TheAustrianmusicindustryconstantlytries
toorientoneselfontheGermanmarket.Wecouldbemoreinnovativeandconfi-
dent(laughs).
DoyouthinkthatHRMplaysanimportantroleinthemusicindustry?YES/NO
Ifyes:why?Ifnot:whynot?
Yes,andNo.It’squiteaparadoxexamplebecausemanyartiststrytogotheirown
waywithoutalargeagencyintheirbackground.That“Doityourself”principleis
quitecommonatthemoment.Butonceabandhasachievedacertainlevel,they
needtocooperatewithmusicmanagersandHRmanagerstobesuccessfuland
spreadtheirmusictoabroadaudience.
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WhatdoyouthinkofonlineHRMplatforms?
Tobehonest,Idon’thaveanyexperiencewithonlineplatforms.ButIpersonally
think,thatonlineplatforms,especiallysocialmediaplatforms,willplayahugerole
inthefuture.
DoyouthinkthatonlineHRMplatformsbringadvantagesformusicians?
Iguess,yes.Ithinkthatflexibilityisanadvantageformusicians,becauseinformation
canbeaccessedontheroad.
Arethereanydisadvantagesorrisksthatcometoyourmindwhenthinkingabout
onlineHRMplatforms?
Icanimaginethatcheapermusicianswillbechosenovermoreexpensiveonesand
it’sdifficulttomeasurequalityonlybasedonrecordingsandCV’S.I’musedtoa
moreold-schoolapproach:Peoplecallmeortextmethattheywanttobookme.I
guessit’squitedifficulttofilterqualityonlineprofiles.
Haveyoualreadyheardabouttheonlineplatform“SynchronStage”?
Yes/No