Live Performance Interview Tips

The nature of your questions will be guided by the nature of the assignment or the subject. Try tailoring your questions to specifics about the artist's music, career and recent news.

Avoid being too general, but if you are interviewing a musician, here are some basic starter examples:

- Can you talk about the recording process for the latest album?

- What was it like to work with X as a producer?

- Some critics have pointed out X about your music. What’s your view?

- How did you get started playing piano/guitar/banjo or writing songs?

- You have a unique approach to songwriting/singing/playing. How has that changed over time?

- Tell me what inspired that song.

- You’ve had some interesting collaborations with X and Y. Talk about working with X or Y.

Avoid yes or no questions. Questions about influences can be effective, but avoid general questions about influences. If you know the artist has a surprising influence or experience, ask a specific question about that.

Most of all, it is important to listen. Instead of jumping back to your list of question, listen to your interviewee and think about your audience. Ask the next question on their behalf by considering what they would want to know, and what is a logical follow up to the point your interviewee just made?

Finally, consider using our best media channel for the content. That is, if the interview goes longer than 15 minutes, which is too long for the casual listener, plan to push the listening audience to our SoundCloud page to hear the rest of the interview. The production andmusic department will help you with editing, and preparation for airing the content.