Creative Team Building: Music Magazines
What do music/art magazines look for in a creative dream team and inspiring contributors and collaborators?
As a co-founder and creative director of Metal Digest, the Normless Music Magazine, I lead a team, along with my business partner, working across various projects, from special features, covering shows, events, and interviews.
Adam and I started out with a massive leap of faith -just the two of us and a web developer willing to cope with my aesthetic O.C.D. We have since grown the team into a workforce of 8 brilliant music journalists, who contribute daily to the magazine.
Our diverse, normless curriculum integration focuses on different perspectives, viewpoints, and interdisciplinary approaches to meet the needs of our realm: a target audience with complex needs and styles, and nearly zero time for meaningless content and fillers.
So, what qualities are we looking for when building the creative team of our dreams?
Creative Chameleons
We do not want to suppress your personality under any circumstances. Being a creative chameleon is all about being able to harmonize with any given environment, respond accordingly to any given social context and represent the entire team properly.
...but with a strong personality that shines through their work
Writing for a magazine will amplify your voice and your vision should be unique to stand out. If you look good, we look good. It’s all about finding the balance between being a creative chameleon who rises to different occasions and still having your personality shine through when you’re faced with creative decisions.
Consistency & Integrity
Contributing to a music magazine is not about demonstrating your personal interests and preferences. Delivering content properly, respecting deadlines, and responding to messages on time, makes our lives easier.
We are here to help you carve out your own space and identity, however, following guidelines is a no-brainer must.
Show attention to detail
Your dedication reflects when you pay attention to detail. Spending extra time fine-tuning and editing your work before handing in a project is essential. Attention to detail and quality of work are always closely linked and this is a skill that we are really, really, into!
People who are pleasant to be around
We do not need yes-men. However, we need people who choose to harbour positive emotions. When you make the active decision to nurture a positive mindset, and bring that to work, you contribute to a happier workplace, leading to greater personal and social comfort, and success for all of us. Creative projects require lots of time. Even if we are working remotely, we probably need to communicate frequently and chat a lot to bounce ideas off each other or simply update each other on what needs to be done. So, yes, we do interact a lot, hence incorporating gracious behaviour into your daily life helps convey yourself pleasantly and respectfully, and we do appreciate that more than anything!
“Here’s what I think about music and journalism: The most important thing is to just press play”
Until the next one,
Chelf
