Director of A&R

Who We Are

UnitedMasters is building a marketplace that connects artists, brands and fans - empowering over 1.5M artists to earn and grow. UnitedMasters has taken the bold step of building a music distribution service that, radically, puts artists first - disrupting the legacy music business by letting up-and-coming artists distribute their music directly to fans through streaming services while maintaining ownership of their master recording rights and up to 100% of royalties. Through the combination of UnitedMasters’ music distribution platform and its deep ties to brands, UnitedMasters enables independent artists to grow and earn unlike any other platform. 

Its unrivaled monetization opportunities for artists are amplified by Translation, UnitedMasters’ in-house creative marketing agency renowned for helping ambitious brands thrive in contemporary culture. In 2022, Translation was awarded the number three spot in Ad Age’s Agency A-List and AdWeek’s Multicultural Agency of the Year. One year before, Translation was awarded Ad Age’s Small Agency of the Year.

We are looking for a Director of A&R to join UnitedMasters! Please note that this role is a Hybrid role: three days in office and two days remote.

What You'll Do

• Discover new talent for signing to UnitedMasters label tier.
• Develop artist projects, music, and team to build and grow their career.
• Develop and maintain relationships with industry professionals, including managers, agents, attorneys, etc., and seek new relationships necessary to ensure artist success.
• Find producers, writers, session musicians and mix engineers for projects.
• Understand deal points (advances, publishing splits, royalties) and market rates for talent and work with A&R administration to build recording budgets.
• Provide detailed and constructive creative feedback on new music to all stakeholders including artists, producers, and label teams.
• Keep projects within agreed budget, schedule, and timeline
• Confirm all recording-related documents are accurate and fully executed.
• Manage & coordinate full A&R lifecycle, from research to recording/production process to product release.
• Work closely with all necessary departments and team members including marketing, sync, partnerships, distribution, legal and finance to ensure recorded material is commercially successful.
• Research data and assets across a wide variety of artists and genres.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

•  Must be well organized and highly detail-oriented.
• Ability to work under high pressure in a fast-paced environment.
• Must be flexible, able to multitask and manage time effectively.
• Ability to establish priorities, work independently, and proceed with objectives without supervision.

Minimum Qualifications

• 5-10 years music industry experience with a track record of finding top songs for artists. 
• Must be flexible regarding hours; availability on nights/weekends as required; ability to travel and attend shows as required.
• Strong computer skills

Preferred Qualifications

• Have a knack for finding “trends” before they become mainstream.
• Passionate about the music industry and all modern music genres.
• Must have strong knowledge of music and the ability to identify what is commercially viable and most importantly, be able to see the next music trends on the horizon.
• Ability to negotiate and influence, leading all parties to an amicable outcome.
• Work well independently, take initiative, and identify potential issues to successfully problem solve and make sound business decisions.
• Ability to work cohesively with others and interact comfortably, effectively, and professionally with external partners.

About UnitedMasters 

UnitedMasters has over 1.5 million artists on its platform and is growing rapidly. Brands like Diageo, Ally, and ESPN come to UnitedMasters to partner with these artists and play a role in moving culture forward. In the past year, UnitedMasters subscribers have grown rapidly. With $170M raised to date and valued at $550M, UnitedMasters is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Apple, Alphabet (aka Google), and Disney amongst others. Over the last year, UnitedMasters artists have used our platform to land sync deals with major brands including the NBA, ESPN, Overtime Elite, Bose, Warner Brother Studios and in the NBA video game 2k. These deals give them additional money for their work and increase their exposure.

Salary Hiring Range: $112,000 - $130,000

Our salary ranges are based on paying competitively for our size and industry, and are one part of many compensation, benefits and other reward opportunities we provide (e.g. bonus, stock options, 401(k) match, etc.)

Individual pay rate decisions are based on a number of factors, including qualifications for the role, experience level, skillset, and balancing internal equity relative to peers at the company.  We expect the majority of the candidates who are offered roles at our company to fall healthily throughout the range based on these factors. 

The range above is for the expectations as laid out in the job description, however we are often open to a wide variety of profiles, and recognize that the person we hire may be less experienced (or more senior) than this job description as posted.  If that ends up being the case, the updated salary range will be communicated with you as a candidate.

The salary range above is for NY/CA.  As a company, we have a location based strategy, which means the salary range could be lower or higher than this if the role is hired in another location.

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