Five Questions with honours Commerce student Rachael Anderson
2012-05-28 10:43:16

Rachael Anderson, from Ottawa, Ontario, is pursuing a combination of Commerce and Music at Mount Allison. Her honours project is looking at the changing role of the record label in the music industry.

1- Why did you choose Mount Allison?

I chose to come to Mount Allison for a few reasons. I am from Ontario and had never been to the Maritimes. Every other school where I applied was in Ontario and I decided that I wanted to go away to school. Also, I went to high school in music and, although I wanted to study business, I still wanted to do music. Mount Allison, because it is a small school, has allowed me to do this.

2- What was your most interesting summer job?

Definitely working for my parents. They own a baseball bat company. They bought the company when I was in grade 11 and I have worked there every summer since. It has been interesting learning the business. I went from knowing nothing about baseball to being able to spew out all these stats. We carry over 176 models of baseball bats and I did not know so many types even existed. Now if I take a customer’s call and they list off their height and requirements, I can recommend four different types of bat for them. My mother even gets calls from famous baseball players in the middle of the night requesting a certain type of bat.

It is also interesting because I get to see all aspects of the business. I will be told: “Today I need you to help me with legal documents, or today I need you to work with accounting software, Quickbooks, or today you will do some web designing.” When I first started with the company I was doing basic office stuff like answering calls. Once I got further on in my Commerce degree and started doing accounting courses, I could do data entry and be able to pick up when something didn’t look quite right.

I never know what I will be working on. Sometimes I have to get up a 6 a.m. and go to work, but sometimes they give me things to do where I can sit in my pajamas and work at home.

3- What instruments do you play?

I started on violin when I was about five years old, but now viola is my main instrument. One thing I have loved about being at Mount Allison is that since I have been here, I have played with multiple bands. Whenever people are doing little projects they will say “hey, I need a string player.” I have played both violin and viola and I have had a lot of fun being part of these projects.

4- What are you researching for your honours project?

It has been really interesting doing this project. I am looking at the changing role of the record label in the music industry and the future of marketing musicians and the individuals who market their work. Essentially I am looking at major record labels versus independent record labels.

With the introduction of the Internet, individuals are able to market themselves. Studies and pop culture references said that individuals were moving away from major record labels to independent labels. We also begin to see independent musicians becoming really famous, for example Arcade Fire. I am interested in to what extent this is true and to what extent has digital media assisted this process. I am also looking at whether the introduction of digital media has hurt record sales in major and independent record labels.

To get my data, I have been interviewing musicians, producers from major and independent record labels, and managers of musicians. It has shown me how helpful networking is. At the beginning it was really hard to find people willing to be interviewed, but once I got two or three names it snowballed from there. The producers were especially helpful as they suggested other producers and musicians to contact. I even had musicians who worked with this one producer e-mail me. I was able get a lot of the interviews done over this past summer, which was very helpful. There was blues festival in Ottawa and my dad was living in New York City, so everyone was in one place.

5- What do like best about being a student?

What I like best about being a student at Mount Allison is the number of different people I have got to meet over the past four years. I love that every time you walk around town you run into people you know.