Week 9

Hours 80

I presented my project to my adviser and mentor at Borders Book store in San Rafael. I think everything went pretty well.To re-cap my project I was in charge of finding distribution. I researched and talked to the managers of independent record shops and asked about their distribution policy. The most time consuming part was to find and research each store. I wanted to make sure each shop was independent because I doubt the bands would want their merch sold in a chain (I know I wouldn't!) This was really hard because after I made a pretty decent list I found out that more than half didn't lead to a shop any more. This was disappointing because at the end I only had 7 shops and it looked like I didn't do too much work. I explained this to my mentor and she completely understood. She didn't expect there to be that many local record shops any way. I'm pretty happy with how my presentation went and glad I was able to help a non-profit which helps these bands.

Week 8

(Random days through out spring break)
total:80

I think that this could be a really fun job. I would love to go to shows and help struggling bands out in any way possible. I enjoy taking pictures or video and picking out songs of the month. The most tedious part the only thing I really did which was distribution. It didn't turn out to be as fun as I thought it would. This is only because I had to call places and find out what their policy was instead of going down there and showing them an actual product and talking to them face to face. It wasn't hard it was just boring and it felt impersonal. The business part of the job was pretty confusing too. While calling stores I heard a lot about consignment plans, buy out-right, ect ect. At one point I briefly went over the fine print of some online distributors (the whole shopping cart deal) I never would have thought that was a business in itself.

Week 7

Hours -
total - 56

I had a lot to do this week and decided to take this day off. I talked with my mentor and she was perfectly fine with it as long as I caught up with some work during my spring break. So today I mostly did a lot of chores and caught up with my homework. I got around to calling Watts Music in Novato and talked to him about selling there. Watts seems a lot more laid back about selling local band stuff than the other places I called. He said that they have a local music section and he just writes up a contract with you and sells it for however long you want. This is a lot less pressure to sell music compared to Back Door Disc and Tape which gives you 90 days to sell out before giving you any money or asking for more. I have also been doing a second internship at Aqus cafe in Petaluma. I went over what goes in different coffee drinks and how to make espresso shots. I got to steam some milk as well. The first time I tried let the milk foam up too much and it exploded all over me. The girl teaching me told that that usually happens and it was ok. I attempted to try again but I was too wary that it would explode again. I'm usually in the kitchen washing dishes or making food. I really enjoy the people I work with too.

I just contacted my mentor with f-labels about my presentation. We haven't really talked about it at all, which is my fault. I talked to Josh about the dates he has left and its down to April 7th around 1-2pm. We would probably meet my mentor somewhere and just present there. If this doesn't work out then I'll probably present during advisory without my mentor. I should have started talking to my mentor about this earlier, but I spaced it out.

Week 6

9-5
Hours:48

My mentor actually went to college at University of Berkly and studied to be a lawyer. I forget what she majored in but it was a common major for aspiring lawyers and it was hard for her to find a job. After college she realized that she wasn't interested in being a lawyer at all. Her friend took her to a few punk shows and she started to really like them. At one show she took some pictures of the band and the band really liked how they looked. After awhile she would just volunteer to help out some bands. She volunteered for awhile and created a myspace which showed her work and stated that she wanted to help out some bands, soon she just took it the next step and started to do it full time.

Today i'm working on calling places for my project and start getting ready to go to the places. I called Watts music in Novato and Back Door disc and tape in Cotati. The manager for watts wasn't in but the guy working told me that they had a local music section and they would probably be interested. I'm still calling a few places and found that some of the numbers I had don't work any more, so I need to research a few more stores. I got ahold of Back Door Disc and Tape and talked to them about their policy for selling music there.

week 5

9-5
hours:40

I talked to my mentor about my project, and I have to call stores and talk to them about distributing some of the bands stuff and what their policy is for doing so. I need to gather as much information as possible such as how many they'd likely want, how long they'd likely try to sell them, ect. Then, when I find out who is interested I'll go down and let them sample some music. I plan to work on this throughout the week if I can, because the managers aren't in on Mondays. I have already started calling places but haven't heard anything back.

Week Four

9-5
hours 32

My internship doesn't have any politics. Its just me talking to my mentor and researching things she'd like me to do, while I suggest some things that I'd rather do. Shes pretty cool and open to letting me work on what I like. The power is mostly with her because she is still the mentor/boss type. For my project I need to call the record shops again and see what their policy is for selling cd's. If they seem to have a good policy and are interested then I'll take a few records/cds down there to play for them. I'm going to start doing this during this week and I plan on making a report for my mentor. This week I just continued to work on all old stuff and figuring out my main project. It was a pretty easy day.

week three

9-5
hours 24

This week I had to compare this site called Cartfly to a few similar websites such as Paypal. It was hard to do because I didn't really know how to find online distributor sites like those. I went to a few sites I bought some clothes from to see what they used. I then read the fine print on all of them to find the one that turned out to be the cheapest or the one that took the least percent of profit. This actually took a quite a bit of time and was pretty much all I did. When I wanted a break from that I would check all the sites links to see if everything worked.

Week Two

2-11-08
9 am - 5pm
16 hrs

This week I started calling some places and asking about distribution. I mostly called some places in Santa Rosa. I was repeatedly told that I needed to visit the places in person so they can hear the music and discuss the technical stuff in person. I don't have the music on me right now so I asked my mentor if I should download a sample cd or to get some cds to bring with me. I've decided to start going around to some record shops next week after talking to my mentor for a little bit. After I called around I started to research some online distributors such as paypal. This was pretty difficult because I didn't really know how to find different ones, and I had to read the fine print on how much percentage of money they take. I tried going to other stores and seeing what they used but it all seemed like they had either made their own or used paypal. After I looked up this I found a few distributors which promised to carry merch for free. I started to find more distributors and emailed a few then called it a day.

My workplace learning acutally takes place at my home. I talk to my mentor either in the morning or the night before on what she'd like me to work on. When I met with her we both wore casual wear and it was pretty laid back. I actually have been going around to record shops and trying to see if they will carry some merch. Apprently thats the only way to deal with this sort of thing. I tried calling them at first but I kept being told that they needed to hear the music and talk about it in person. Once I get some music to bring with me I'm going to make some rounds to record shops and I probably will wear my every day clothes. It will most likely be laid back. This is about the same too school except I'm around more people of alternative style. Its a little different because I'm there on a more professional level, yet still acting laid back.

First Day Feb. 4 2008

Hours: 8
Time: 9am-5pm

I checked in with my mentor and asked what she would like me to do for the day. I did some small stuff at first. I spent a little while checking the site and making sure all the links worked out. Then I looked around for a song of the month. My mentor and I already talked about my project. She would like me to do distribution. This means that I need to find record stores to sell the bands merch. The record stores need to be independent or not corporate due to the bands preference. Since the music is specifically punk and hardcore I need to find stores that sell those genres. Finally, I have to find out what the stores terms are for selling the merchindise, such as if they take a percentage of profit and how much. I worked on this by checking the yellow book for record stores. I then researched the record store to check its history and see if it seemed like the bands would be ok with this store. After I researched the store I gave them a call and asked if they would like to sell some merchindise.

I didn't really know how to go about calling the stores and asking them about selling things. I didn't even realize that stores took a percentage of the sales, but it makes sense that they would. I asked my mentor how I should ask and she told me that she has left distribution up to the bands until this point, so my guess was was good as hers. She gave me an example of calling and explaining that I am an intern from a non profit ect, ect.

I enjoyed my first day. It wasn't very difficult and I liked feeling like I'm helping bands. My project seems like it can be an on going project and I will continue to work on it throughout my WLE even when I find some stores interested.

Beginnig

I am interning at a small non-profit punk label called f-labels. I met with my mentor and really like her. I don't really understand how she makes money, but she is against corporations ruining the music scene. I respect this point of view and am excited to start my internship. I have also been thinking about doing a second internship on the side, because f-labels doesn't require me to come into her office because there would not be any room for me. I have an interview today at a bakery in Petaluma. I am not sure what this bakery is called but my mom mentioned to me that they said I could come in and talk to the baker/owner.


My internship website is : http://www.flabels.net/