Just Jaded
Music Industry Insights: Gen Admission
Written By: Brooklyn Poutra
Hey Jaded Babes! Thanks for tuning in for this month’s ‘Just Jaded’! This month, I am so excited to delve into our newest podcast episode of ‘A Little Jaded’!
This month's episode is extra special because it is the first edition after our rebrand. If you didn't already know, Jaded Productions is now focusing on producing the next wave of music industry professionals, and we are now featuring a new segment called ‘Music Industry Insights’. This month’s podcast features insights from Gen Admission Founder Louisa (Lou) Rochdi, and Co-Founder and Head of Social Media, Stefani Riskijevic. Here I will be providing a recap of the conversation Jade and Joanna had with the Gen Admission team members but be sure to check out the full podcast here to get the full conversation!
Gen Admission, previously known as Coda Collective, is an educational tool for students interested in pursuing a career in the music industry and covers a vast range of topics throughout their chapters. It is innovative and unconventional and is targeted at Gen Z students. The Gen Admission Instagram page is also full of information and news related to the industry, and is a vital tool for anyone interested in pursuing a career in music.
Lou and Stef discuss the process of building their collection of resources for students to utilize. The multi step process is begun by conducting online research on each given topic. Each step in the process takes place over one week. Topics that Gen Admission has covered have ranged from the different aspects of a record label, live event positions, and the many members of an artists team. Gen Admission conducts thorough research to gather all of the information that already exists on the internet to compile it into one convenient source. After conducting research, team members will build a list of questions that they still would like to answer about each position in the music industry. The second week of research consists of interviews with industry professionals. These interviews allow the researchers to fully form the information they would like to include as a part of the Gen Admission website, and they are able to obtain an inside look at each position in the music industry from someone that is currently working in that area. The third week is creating the final research document that will be uploaded on the Gen Admission website. The research documents are edited and fact checked, and uploaded to the site.
Lou and Stef share the methods to their madness and ways that they balance school, work, and other commitments and chaos they may have in their lives. Lou says “It's definitely a lot of finding balance, and I think we all struggled a little bit at first, and I think 2022 is like we're starting to get the hang of it. We're starting to figure it out. But it was definitely, I think even as leaders or as the founder, it's a lot of time where you have three weeks where it's just 20 hours, 30 hours a week, and then three weeks where it's like 5 hours a week, I'm exaggerating it's never 5 hours a week. I wish, but there's a lot of inconsistency in terms of the workload.” Balancing inconsistency in workloads and other outside commitments is key when it comes to starting a new organization or project. The team also is able to lean on each other, and help out each other when it is needed. It is normal to struggle to find balance, but with organization and a team full of understanding and caring people, the common goal will be reached.
Lou and Stef also talk about their own personal journey through different career ideas and goals as they have learned throughout the creation of Gen Admission. Lou initially wanted to work in touring because of her knowledge in the area and the information she was able to learn from Tour Management 101. After learning through Gen Admission, Lou has found a love for artist management. She says “But the more I've been diving into this industry and the more I've learned through Coda, the more I realized that I can see myself doing a lot of things, like a lot of different things. I don't think I'll do one thing for the rest of my life. I will probably try different types of jobs, but the one thing that really feels like I have a little baby is artist management. It's weird to explain I've had a couple of internships and artist management, but I think it's the way I like the close relationship with the artist and the fact that you help them on their day to day. It's like you're there on everything and you need to know a bit about everything.”
Stef also feels that the formation of Gen Admission has been a vital part of helping her narrow down the potential career paths for her. She said “Gen Admission showed me what I didn't want to do too. Because sometimes I'm just listening to people talk about their job and I'm like, no, that is not going to work for me.” Stef has found interest and passion for artist management as well, but also has entertainment law in the back of her mind. Lou and Stef both prove that education is a wildly valuable resource in getting to know yourself and learning about what it is that you could see yourself doing in the future, but it is okay not to know.
Be sure to check out the full conversation here, or read the transcription of the podcast here and enjoy the insightful and thoughtful conversation with Lou and Stef. I hope you enjoyed this conversation as much as I did, and I hope you found it educational and motivating! Be sure to check out Gen Admission for more great content to come!