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How can I find companies with music internships?

HI i am Shailah phillips & i am really interested in becoming a music producer . How would i go about finding different music labels that have interns for teenagers my age (15)?

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Jared’s Answer, CareerVillage.org Team

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Great idea - Getting an internship with a music label would be a really great way to start your career. However, competition for these internships is fierce, and so you need to be working extra hard and be extra creative to find the opportunity you're looking for. Here are a couple of suggestions based on my own internship search from years ago (not in music, but in a similarly competitive industry).



  • Go meet people who work at record labels in your city. If you can figure out where they meet, including meetups or conferences, you can go to those events and try to meet staff members at record labels who will give you an opportunity to do an office visit and perhaps do an internship. For this, it would be a good idea to get some business cards to hand out (remain professional: just put your name, high school, and basic contact information).


  • Browse internship websites like monster.com or entertainmentcareers.net. Here's an example of internship listings from entertainmentcareers. Monster doesn't seem to have many internships for high-school students at the moment.

  • Start creating a list of all of the record labels in your area. If you need to, walk into their offices and ask them if they have office tours or internship opportunities for high school students. Make it easy on them - if they don't have an internship opportunity, ask them if there's a way you could do an "informal" internship helping out in the office with paperwork. Be friendly, humble, and creative. This might have to happen during workdays, which could be challenging depending on your school schedule, but if you can find a way to make it happen after school (before they close), then it might be worth it.


  • Expand your horizons: also look at other positions in the music industry if working at a record label is looking unlikely. Consider event promotion businesses, record store headquarters, or music equipment manufacturers.



You're going to need to figure out a few practical matters first: what cities can you reasonably work from? Do you need to be compensated for your time or can you work for school credit instead? Does your school provide credit for summer internships? (this matters because for regulatory reasons, taking unpaid interns is difficult if they are not receiving school credit).


If you don't already have a resume, now would be a good time to put one together, but I would get started with the search first.

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