Sony student intern discusses licensing, on-air scheduling

Mason Galemore
Contributing Writer
mgalemore@murraystate.edu

The day senior Zachary Boardman received a phone call from Sony Music Publishing in April was the day he had been waiting for.

The award-winning company called to tell Boardman, music business major, he had been selected to intern during the summer of 2021.

He had applied on March 30 after learning about the program through his music business adviser Professor Karen Kane. 

“I thought it would be a good jumping off point,” Boardman said. “They have such a huge catalog of music and very well-known artists. It was very exciting to work with a company that represents so much star power.”

Sony Music Publishing interned eight students, including Boardman, from all over the U.S. For 10 weeks, the interns trained extensively and gained work experience in the music publishing industry. 

Because of the pandemic, Boardman worked remotely for Sony’s Administrative Office in Nashville, Tennessee. The company works primarily with performance rights organizations including the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. The performance rights organizations collect money for different songwriters and give the money to Sony. 

Afterwards, Sony gives the money to the songwriters. It was Boardman’s job to make sure all royalties were correct by cross-referencing the information Sony had with the information held by the performance rights organizations. 

Boardman said his biggest responsibility during the internship was evaluating licensing and income for different clients. He said it was very interesting to see how everything works in such an unknown side of the music industry.

“It was an auditing process,” Boardman said. “I had to make sure everything aligned with royalties between Sony Music Publishing and its clients.” 

Boardman also worked on the program scheduling. Certain bands and symphonies started TV shows and needed to be scheduled for airing. He would work to make sure all of the dates did not overlap.

Boardman said it is important to plan ahead for income tracking and scheduling. He said there were strict deadlines that he had to follow. He said if he did not follow deadlines, clients would not be paid and schedules would be ruined.

“It seems very complicated and unknown for people who aren’t in the music industry,” Boardman said. “When I see the numbers and flow of the money it is very interesting. It’s a lot of work but interesting.”

Boardman said when he left the summer internship the most important thing he had learned was good time management and communication. He said he recommends for people to strive to have both of these qualities.

“Communication is the key that opens the lock,” Boardman said. “If you don’t have good communication you aren’t going to have the same amount of opportunity in the workplace.”

Boardman will continue as an intern for Sony Music Publishing until Dec. 1.

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