Kristin Robinson Interview
Kristin Robinson is the music publishing reporter for Billboard. It’s a relatively new gig for Kristin, who just started freelancing in the late 2010s. Previously, Kristin studied at USC and their Music Industry program, with a slew of internships at places like Atlantic Records, Fender, Live Nation, and more. In this excerpt from our interview, Kristin offers a tip for music journalists just starting out.
How did you get to where you are today, professionally?
It all started when I founded my own concert series at age 16 which benefitted a local suicide prevention organization. I was an aspiring artist at the time, but there was nowhere to play in my hometown of Fort Worth, Texas if you were underage, so I would book myself and my friends’ bands to perform. Shockingly, many people in my community rallied around it, and we always sold out our 200-cap venue. It was such a success that I even passed it down twice after my graduation to keep it going.
Likely because of this concert, as well as other music-related lines on my resume, I got into USC’s Music Industry program and studied there for four years (2016-2020). While I was there, I released my own music, founded an artist services company for college students, and did a slew of internships—Columbia, Atlantic, Fender, Live Nation, and Yebo (a management company now part of TMWRK)—to try to figure out what exactly I wanted to do in the music business.