Dalton Place

Teuscher

English 2010

11 May 2019

Interview Reflection

This interview assignment was not as bad as I expected it to be. I talked to my mom and

told her what the assignment was and she told me I should interview Richard Parkinson. He does

several different things in the music industry and he explains everything he does in the first

couple minutes of the interview. I contacted him over the phone to ask him if he would be

willing to do the interview. He agreed and we set it up to do it on Friday May 11. He told me it

would be easiest for him if he just swung by my house after he got off work. We just did the

interview in my basement to try and keep it as quiet as possible. It took just under 30 minutes to

do the full interview. I used my phone to record the interview because that seemed like it would

be the easiest way to get a copy of the information so I could be fully engaged in the interview

rather than trying to write down word for word exactly what he was saying the full time. He

definitely gave me a lot of good information. I was unsure how much truthful information I

would get but he did not seem to hold back anything and wanted to answer my questions fully to

the best of his ability. The thing that stuck out to me more than anything in the interview was to

him it seemed like there is not struggles within the music industry. It seemed more like he felt

the struggles experienced by people in the industry were due to the amount of work they were

willing to put in to be successful. He kind of implied that people who struggle in the music

industry do not care to be successful. He talked about a few things that made it harder for small
musicians to be successful. Whenever he talked about things that made it harder however, he

would reference things that are either being done to fix that or he would tell what the positives of

certain things are for musicians. For example, when he talked about technology, he mentioned

the bad that comes with it but he also talked about the good things from it and how these

positives cancel out the negatives and it isn’t necessarily harder or easier to be successful with

the introduction of technology. It seemed apparent he felt that it was difficult for musicians as a

whole to be successful and provide a living from music but it was also apparent he felt it was the

artist’s own doing to be unsuccessful. One thing that caught my attention from talking with him

was a lot of the time when he talked about how to be successful in the music industry most of

what he said was about the mindset and the work ethic rather than talent. Most people think you

success in music is just talent but after talking with him the music industry is just like every other

job. It is good to be talented in what you are doing, but no matter what you do it requires a lot of

hard work to be done well.

I had chose Richard because he is not a big time musician. The people that he works with are all

local people. He does quite a bit of different things in the music industry so I felt he would have

pretty good insight on different things.

I do not have a signature from him for consent on the interview because I have verbal consent

recorded in the interview.

10 questions
What do you do in the music industry?

Often it is that it is very hard for small artists to make it anywhere in the music industry. Can you

put this into perspective based on people you have worked with and how their music careers

have gone?

Do you feel there are certain things blocking musicians from getting big?

Technology has changed things for the music industry in major ways. Do you feel it overall

affects smaller artists in a positive or negative way?

Do you feel like the age of which people start with music, whether it is piano/singing lessons,

affects how well they do with their music career.

Based on public perception, it seems like it is easier to become successful as the singer rather

than a bandmember or songwriter. Do you feel like it is harder for people behind the scenes in

their path towards becoming successful?

There have been a lot of jobs created in the music industry over the past several decades. Do you

feel like this is causing in a way spreading the wealth to where it makes it harder for everybody?
There are obviously tons of talented people in the music industry. What causes one person to be

able to separate themselves from the rest in order to become more successful?

Some areas such as Nashville are better known for musicians to find success. Do you think

things such as where you live make an impact on your chances of success?

Overall do you feel like it is difficult for musicians to find success? If so, what would be the 1

thing you would change to try and fix that?