Today we travel along with Music Citizens to go inside the highest stakes job in the industry – A&R.

Through the lens and life of A&R lifer Kim Buie, we get to see that this glamorous job is mostly about losing: missing out on artists who become superstars (her near-miss tale of N.W.A. is amazing), knowing that the majority of albums you help shepherd into the world will flop, and being the person who has to say no to a musician’s lifelong dream.

Buie, and guests Stevo Robertson and Anay Richardson, explain what keeps them going, what shapes their tastes and how their approach to the job differs. It is the TikTok era after all.

Guests

Music Citizens is a podcast series by WNXP and Nashville Public Radio about the people who make music work. Each episode will explore what it takes to do the jobs that keep the music business moving and introduce you to the characters who are often well known within their worlds but whose vital work goes largely uncelebrated. Listen to all episodes at wnxp.org.