For the Leadership Portfolio I had the pleasure to interview record producer Ruben Kahno. He is also currently working as the A&R Manager for the independent Latin record label Top Stop Music in Miami, FL. Mr. Kahno has been in the recording industry around five years and started working as a producer and recording engineer for The World Studios. On his spare time he also writes music and works on his own material as a singer.
I chose to interview Mr. Ruben Kahno given my interest in networking with individuals in the music industry, which is where I intend to work either on my own, with my own business or with a company already established. Given the fact that he has been working, both as a permanent employee for companies such as the ones mentioned before and also as a freelance producer, engineer and composer I though he could give me a better idea of how is it to negotiate your way into this very tough industry and maintaining a growing contact base.While growing up in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, the 30-year-old music enthusiast always knew that music had to be a constant part of his life. According to him, he knew that living in such a small island was going to be detrimental in the process of learning about the industry he enjoyed so much and was looking forward to be a part of. That’s why in 2004 he decided he decide to move to the States, specifically to Miami, FL and enrolled at the Audio Technology program at the SAE Institute. After 9 months of been a full time student in the Institute he finished his degree and was already networking his way into the industry as a freelance assistant engineer at some of the recording studios in town. The networking factor, like in the other interviews I have done along the course of me being in the EBMS program at Full Sail University was a key factor in Mr. Kahno’s success to this day. While we were talking he expressed that one of his favorite quotes was “Success is where preparation and opportunity meet” because he had truly seen that the opportunities he had gotten by being prepared in his craft, while been in the right place at the right time, talking to the right people is what opened the doors for him in the business when no one else knew about his work.
I asked him about one of the toughest negotiations he had to be involved in and his answer was that it would probably had to be the negotiation to get on board as the A&R manager for Top Stop Records. He knew his passion laid in making music and creating something beautiful for the public to hear, so working a corporate business job in the industry was not something that he would just take at the first offer. By now he had worked as a recording engineer in the records of such amazing Latin artists as Enrique Iglesias, Luis Fonsi, Ricky Martin, Pit Bull, etc. He knew he had the chops to work as a producer for artists of this caliber so becoming part of the Top Stop Records family looked to him like the perfect opportunity to showcase his talent while also still maintaining the level of artists he worked with. So he decided to work in the deal that he would be able to, as part of his responsibilities, produce the work or some part of it of the artists of the label. One of his greatest accomplishment this far while been part of the Top Stop Records family has been taking part in producing the Latin Grammy winning single “No se mañana” that was responsible for the comeback of salsa singer Luis Enrique.
When I asked him how did he managed to maintain his deal making techniques in a creative world like the music industry where emotions are always flying high he laughed and said that at the beginning that was the hardest part because he came from a family of doctors, so creative, emotional people were not his expertise. At the end of the day he told me what we have been learning at class, that the best deal making technique he can have other than honesty, is just look at the other person as just that, a person. With the same needs and fears and dreams like you. To try and look at the situation from their perspective to see why is he or she making those demands and then reassess your “game plan” so you can get what you wanted out of the situation. Also a key factor for him in all negotiations in the professional world, but especially in the music industry, was professionalism. From the people working backstage, like himself more so than to anyone else. The unknown faces. Why is that you may ask? Well I really enjoyed how he explained that some artists get caught in the glitz and glamour of the industry and loose track of what’s important. They start getting involved in drugs and alcohol, thinking they can control it and at the end they don’t. They end up getting a bad reputation, the artist and everyone around them who are involved in that situation with them. For him, as much as he loves it, at the end of the day this is a job, and professionalism for him is key, because there are very few artists with a long careers. Artists fade, their careers end, but regardless of all of this his work will always be there and his calling card is how professional and competent he is while at work is and that is what is going to make of his career a long one and is what is going to give him more clout when he keeps negotiating deals in the future. If they don’t trust you, if they don’t trust you can do the job they will not hire you and make business with you and therefore that is the end of your career. I completely agree with Mr. Kahno’s point.
If I could summarize what I have learned and the most important points I could gather from talking to such and experienced man in the industry I could say they were some of the same basic points we need to know when we are doing a negotiation that we have been learning in class, which are:
- We are all the same and want the same things.
- We need to be straight and honest when negotiating because deceit will come back to haunt you further down the negotiation road.
- Communication is key. If you are not communicating well the negotiation is doomed from the start.
- And keep yourself and your emotions in check because they can cloud your judgment and hurt the negotiation process along the line.
Resources:
Information gathered from phone interview with Mr. Ruben Kahno on January 19, 2010 at 2:30 pm.
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