I recently began interning at a music video promotion company in South River, NJ this month, and I finally understand what people mean when they say, "if you do what you love, you'll never have to work a day in your life." Music has always been a huge part of my life, and when it came to decide what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, I never thought I could realistically get my foot in the door of the music industry. When I was applying for college, my number one was Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA. Living only 20 minutes away, just across the bridge, Philly has always been my city. Add in the fact that Drexel has a Music Technology program, I was in love. I was elated when I got in, but the $60k tuition was not in my budget and I reluctantly settled with Rutgers.
Fast-forward almost 4 years later and I'm less than 4 months from graduating. Over the last 4 years I declared my major in Journalism and Media Studies and a decided on a double minor in Music and Sociology. The question, "what do you want to do with that?" has popped up on numerous occasions and the reply is always a slight shrug of my shoulders and a bland, generic response about working in the entertainment world.
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I was lack-luster and just sailing along through school when I was saved. I snagged an internship as a casting intern for Food Network's competition show, "Chopped." I learned an immense amount of knowledge about the pre-production world of television, but something was still missing. As the Fall came to an end, I was beginning to worry bout what I was going to do in the internship and eventual job front in the Spring. It was while I was sitting on the couch having a "Star Wars" marathon with my dogs that I got the email from Andy Gesner at HIP Music Video Promo responding to an interest in their internship. I had a phone interview an hour after responding to the message and after speaking with the whimsical, brilliant human who is Andy Gesner, I was hooked. I was all set up for a formal interview for the day after next and my skin was prickling with the familiar tingle I get when I know something great is about to happen.
My hunch was right. I am a almost a month into the position and I cannot imagine being anywhere else at the moment. I am able to "flex my writing muscle" in a topic in which I am passionate about. Everyday is a new thing; a new artist, a new band, a new challenge. The job does have some mundane tasks such as packing up pitches to go out to programmers and prepping emails to clients, but the weight in wisdom I have acquired since starting has astonished me. The guys at HIP Video Promo are the best at what they do. Artists from Sia to Moby to the B-52's, Maroon 5 and Paramore have all enlisted the help of the HIP Video Promo team to promote their music videos. Working with mostly indie artists just starting out, it is a treat to uncover these great new talents.
The most incredible feeling came last week when I saw my pitches in physical form. They had been formatted and ready to be sent out to various programming companies around the country to try and sell our clients in order to get their music videos on their programs. Seeing my hard work and words down on the sheet validated my belief that I am doing what I was born to do- I mean , this and maybe becoming a doctor like Bailey from Grey's Anaotomy.
