“After six years in TMT (Tech, Media, and Telecom) consulting, I’m struggling to land interviews for roles in Artist & Label Strategy or Music Partnerships. Despite leading my firm’s global music community and driving business development in the sector, I can’t seem to bridge the gap from consultant to industry insider. How do I translate my high-level strategy experience into a language that resonates with music labels and platforms?” —Curious Consultant

This week’s response was prepared by a Queer Capita Board Member

Hi Curious Consultant,

This sounds much more like a positioning issue than a qualification issue.

Six years in TMT consulting, plus leading a global music-focused initiative and driving business development in the sector, is serious experience. The challenge is that music companies don’t automatically translate “consulting” into “an operator who can sit inside our building and drive commercial outcomes.” If that translation isn’t obvious on paper, you’ll get filtered out before anyone really looks closely.

The biggest shift I’d suggest is emphasizing outcomes over “strategy.”

In music, strategy roles are still commercial roles. Hiring managers want to see revenue impact, partnership development, growth initiatives, stakeholder influence — not just advisory language. If your resume leans heavily on words like “advised,” “developed frameworks,” or “led strategy,” it may read as high-level and abstract. Instead, make the commercial implications impossible to miss: What revenue did this influence? What deals were originated? What decisions changed because of your work? You don’t need to exaggerate — just tighten the framing around tangible impact.

Also, get very specific about what “leading the global music community” actually entails.

To you, that may represent meaningful industry engagement and sector expertise. To a hiring manager skimming quickly, it may sound like an internal networking initiative. Clarify whether it involved direct client work with labels or platforms, sector-focused business development, revenue generation, or relationship-building with music executives. Precision removes ambiguity.

It’s also worth sanity-checking the roles you’re targeting.

“Artist & Label Strategy” and “Music Partnerships” can vary widely across companies. Some lean heavily on hands-on label operations or release-cycle experience; others are more analytical and commercially oriented. Compare a few job descriptions line-by-line with your background and assess where the gaps may appear from the outside. If there’s a mismatch, it doesn’t mean you can’t do the job — it may just mean you need either sharper positioning or a strategic bridge role inside the ecosystem.

Finally, don’t rely solely on cold applications.

A few focused conversations with people already in those roles can give you clearer insight into how they frame their experience — and how you should frame yours. From what you’ve described, this feels solvable. It’s less about proving you belong in music and more about making it unmistakably clear how your experience directly supports commercial outcomes in that environment.

— Queer Capita Board Member