We are very pleased to add Sam Ramage to our list of industry columnists. Mr. Ramage is Senior Director of A&R at RCA Records Nashville and will be writing monthly about A&R-related topics. We at the Amplifier feel honored to have his insight and wealth of industry knowledge as a resource. If you have any questions for Mr. Ramage, please send them to bratner@gibson.com and we will forward them to him.

By Sam Ramage

This is the first installment of a monthly column I've been asked to write.

I'm not entirely sure what to write about, so I'll just ramble. You might gather that I'm not a journalist, but if I begin by explaining what I do, maybe this endeavor will chart its own course through FAQ's and responses.

I am Senior Director of A&R for a major record company in Nashville. "A&R" is an antiquated but pertinent term that stands for "Artists and Repertoire", or simply put: singers and songs. It is my responsibility to help the recording artists find or create the songs they sing. It is also my responsibility to find the recording artists. Essentially, it is on my skinny shoulders to find songs and singers that sell records.

"Sounds easy" you might be saying to yourself. Well, maybe for you. If anyone in my position was right every time, then there would only be one person doing it! It's easy to find good songs and it's easy to find good singers. It's hard to find great songs and great singers.

Anyway, it is a business of opinions and there are a lot of them. Experience has given me a little bit of insight into how to assimilate all of the opinions, find the common denominator then (hopefully) turn that in to success.