The 20 most coveted Colorado music-industry jobs: The complete list with five new profiles

By Team Backbeat Fri., Mar. 8 2013 at 4:00 AM

Nightlife Photographer/Online Marketing (Jordan Loyd, Beatport)

Jordan Loyd creates images that make you want to go to experience the shows he's shooting. Following a random photo gig at Beta Night Club, he received a recommendation from Catherine Nguyen (profiled in an earlier installment of our coveted jobs series) that took him to Florida to shoot the Ultra Music Festival. From there, it's all history, as they say.

"After high school, I was real into ski and snowboard photography," Loyd recalls. "But Ultra was the real jump into music for me." The folks at Beta noticed some of his photos after a show one night at the famed club, and he was put at the top of the list for photographers. But why dance music?

"I think the culture surrounding the dance music industry is pretty cool," Loyd explains. "I don't think a lot of genres of music really hit that. It's all about that singular moment in the night, and the crowd goes insane."

Along with being photographing festivals and events all over the country, Loyd also recently started working for Beatport, the world's largest hub for dance music. "I work a lot on the email marketing campaigns, translations and analytics," he notes. "I went in as social media and marketing intern, but I don't really do that as much anymore."

These days, you can find Loyd's fingerprints all over the electronic music scene. From festivals in New York (Electric Zoo) to Miami (Ultra Music Festival), Lloyd's work is perused by some of the biggest names in the world. Chances are if you've seen a photo from any of these events pop up on your Facebook feed or your Twitter timeline, it's got Jordan Loyd's watermark in the bottom corner. -- Britt Chester

Talent/Service/Administration Coordinator (Albreanna Watson, SoCo)

When Albreanna Watson moved here from the Dirty South, she had no idea at the time that she'd end up doing what she is now. Starting in an entry level retail position, Watson possessed a passion for fashion, and that inspired her to go to school for merchandising. All of that changed, however, when she was offered the job as a cocktail waitress at Vinyl Night Club.

"I started right when I turned 21 at Vinyl," Watson recalls. "And if you work in the industry, you know, but people always want shifts." The night club scene is a grind, and where the money is good, there is a lot of temptation and competition. "I downgraded to braceleting, cashiering, and just learning things from the bottom." It didn't take long before her managers noticed how hungry she was, and she quickly moved up to bartending.

"There is a very fine line between partying and working," Watson points out. "And a lot of people get sucked into the party, keeping them from moving up the ladder." Still hungry for more, Watson expressed interest in an opening at the SOCO Nightlife offices answering phones and other office responsibilities.

These days, Watson wears as many hats as she can fit into, including booking artists for weekly events, coordinating fashions shows, tending a bar, making schedules, running social media channels for several clubs, and she is the voice that informs you about tickets sales, keeps you up on lost and found, bottle service details and whatever else you call a night club about. "You hear people say 'that was the craziest weekend of my life!' and that's my weekend all the time, except I have to be at work the next morning as well."

Any tips for a hungry up and comer? "Plot, plan and pursue," she says with a laugh. "Persistence is key." -- Britt Chester

Tags:

3 Deep, 95.7 The Party, artists, DIA Studios, DJ Bedz, DJ Chonz, djs, Hip-hop, ks1075, Music, national, promoters, rappers

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lltt2177

This is great about denver scene, but being someone who has visited Denver a few times, and been to some of these "events" that some of the above names mention has thrown parties in the past. I will say they are not approachable people. They are not humble. Maybe some should realize that in order to be example you need to act like one and really give back.

tagava

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@lltt2177

i'd like to disagree with you on that. Being someone who LIVES in Denver/Boulder I've been to these 'events' more times than I can remember (don't know why you put events in quotations). if you're approaching someone to try and chit chat at an event they're producing and managing, they don't have time for that. Imagine someone coming up to you at your job and trying to have a conversation with you? It doesn't work like that - yes the event may seem like a fun time, drinks are being had everyones having a good time - but SOMEONE has to be making sure that these events are running smoothly, and those people usually are the people mentioned in the list above. If you want to meet the person as they are in person when they're not 'on the clock' - do your best to contact them and meet them at a time that fits both of your schedules. Being that the music industry isn't a strict 9-5 type of job, this is very important. I intern for Berk Visual (Elm & Oak) and he is one of the nicest and more open people i've ever met, and it's been great working and learning from him. There isn't a person or even little kid that comes into the shop with their own clothing line or music that he doesn't give his full attention too, he's open to helping everyone and unlike you said, he is a very approachable guy - and Ben Baruch, despite how busy he is, he still found the time to meet a starry eyed college kid like me at a coffee shop one morning just to give me advice on how i should go about pursuing a career in music. I don't know most of the people on the list, but the ones I do know - have been nothing more than helpful as i'm trying to pursue a life in the cutthroat industry that is modern music. I think you may need to change the way you present yourself before you jump to the conclusion that these people are just self centered.