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

4

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

5

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

6

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

7

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.

8

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.

9

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.

10

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.

11

Chapter7:Thelastchaptergivesthereaderanoverviewofthemajorfindingsofthe

researchandprovidestheconclusionofthethesisbycomparingtheresultsfromthe

interviewstothedatagatheredintheliteraturereview.

12

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).

13

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.).

14

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).

15

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.

16

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.

17

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.

18

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

98

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

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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

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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.

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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:

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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.

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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