Live out Loud ProductionsThis summer I was offered an internship with Live Out Loud Productions. Live Out Loud is a small and upcoming record label based out of Houston, TX that caters to local Houston and Prairie View artist. As a business management major an also as an individual that is interested in entertainment management and also one day owning her own record label this was a good experience for me to learn the ends and outs of building a company.
I began this journey with Live Out Loud Productions on May 21, 2012 when I started with orientation. During orientation we learned about the history of the company and how they started off as just a band and then branched off into a company that has a management division, marketing division and a production division and is still in the process of growing larger. In orientation our supervisor Grace Dada went over all of our duties and responsibilities that each intern would be held accountable for during the duration period of the internship. As a business management major and upcoming entertainment manager, I would get the opportunity to shadow the CEO of the company Joshua Dada around the office and go on business meetings with him and learn how to negotiate contracts, prepare follow up and invoices for clients and make sure invoices and emails are sent. I also would be in charge of creating the line-up for the Avanti Lounge each week which is one the venues that the band performs at each and every Sunday. My job would be to find different upcoming talent around the Houston area to come and showcase their talent each week and get their material that they will perform and make sure the band learns all of their songs by Sunday. I also have to make sure that the artist gets everything that they need to make sure that they show goes well. She also informed us of all the fun trips the company will take over the summer to places such as L.A, New York, Dallas and also explained they always have unexpected trips that are taken throughout the year. As interns we are not required to take the trips but if wanted we are welcome to.
During the first week of my intern I worked in the office with my supervisor for the most part sending out invoices and emails to different clients receiving faxes, basically doing the basic office assistant work. I also learned how to create the night for the Avani Lounge each Sunday and what is expected from an artist to come perform. To come perform at the Avani lounge you have to have some kind of following, what I mean by following is have people that come out and support you. Live Out Loud has a nice following but in order for everyone to get paid the right amount of money each week we need to fill up the venue, the money that is made each week comes from the door and spilt between us and the club owner since we are not only the performers but the promoters as well which means we are responsible for paying everyone including our team at the end of the night. Artist also have to
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At the time of the show I only have one set of wings, but it can accommodate up to 100 people and my set consists of:
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I am responsible for building the hotel with the people who are around the building for work, transportation, logistics and as well as getting all of that done all before the concert. All expenses I incur before the show go into my personal account to pay for the space. The next event will be a big dance floor and everything I need to make it happen is paid for by the event sponsor.
I am also responsible for the food for the event and I have to pay for a couple of times for the extra room that I take it on. I use the same budget for the food as I do for my other expenses.”
After the main night there is also a free set of food for the event that I will eat from and it is usually a mix of a meal and a bottle of wine that I purchase during the night.
The only thing I do during the night is I have to give the DJ what he or she wants and if anybody is in a rush so much so that it happens it can get hard on me like I used to.