Al Schlesinger, a Living Legend

The last Sunday January 26^th , Full Sail students had the chance to watch the 56^th Annual Grammy Awards broadcasted live. The event was held in the Full Sail Live Venue and it was perfect. We watched the ceremony in a huge screen and the sound quality was incredible. Between the commercials, Full Sail were giving away some prizes. One of these prizes was to have a lunch with the entertainment lawyer and former president of the Recording Academy, Al Schlesinger. Fortunately one of my classmates won it, and she invited me to come.

We met up in a restaurant close to Full Sail. Mr. Al Schlesinger came with his wife and one Full Sail staff. Since we knew we didn’t have too much time to share with him, we started to ask questions right away.

The first question I always ask when I meet with someone experienced is how he or she got in the business. Al Schlesinger was a songwriter, he got his first job in a publishing company. After he ended up studying law focusing on music and entertainment.

He also managed the American rock band from 1970’s called “Bread.” Since in those days there was no social media or digital platforms, I asked him how he could got signed the band with Elektra Records and he told me that it was all about networking. He had a friend that was related with the record label that introduced him with the A & R department and that helped to make the deal happen.

 The most difficult part of managing a band is to deal with the band member's ego, he said. It is important that the band has a leader so the manager can address important information to this person and he can transmit that to the others band member. He did a great job, he managed the band since its conception until their breakup. 

Despite it has passed several years from the moment he got the band signed, the key word remains the same and it is networking. First of all, you need to have a good artist with a hit song, be in the right place at the right time, and meet the right people. If you mix all those ingredients, you will have more chance to break in the music industry.