Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Drake.
Hi Sarah, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
In high school, I was trained as an opera singer. I had an incredible voice teacher (Zach Krieger) and mentors who really supported and encouraged me as a singer. I thought I might go to college to pursue a career in classical voice, however after one summer program, I started to realize the potential toll that being a professional musician would have on me. After two weeks of intensive training, I was drained and stressed from the physical and mental work it took being a performer. I needed to redirect myself into something that would fulfill me in a career.
In my junior year of high school, I was given the opportunity to be in an advanced research program, which allowed students to research a field of their interest and email professionals in that field with the hopes of getting a summer internship. When I initially applied, I wanted to separate my identity from the music space, so I chose food science and marketing. However, I emailed food firms, and as I kept researching, I realized that my heart wasn’t fully in it. I kept going back to my home: music. So, I decided to look at music from a different perspective than a performer. Impulsively, I started emailing record labels, and I knew it was a long shot, but I had to work in the music industry.
About four months later, in March, I got an email from an indie record label, it basically said this sounds interesting, let’s do it. I was ecstatic, so a few days later I met with Ben Goldberg, the owner of Ba Da Bing Records. I got the job on the spot.
In June, I started and I had no idea what I was doing. Working in the industry was so different from school. You are not given rules, instead you need to find results in creative ways. So I found myself breaking the rules that academia had taught me. One week, I needed to code an entire catalog on Google Docs, I had never learned Java, so instead I turned to ChatGPT, it gave me simple formulas, and then I worked out the rest. While school taught me discipline and detailed work, my summer at the label taught me creativity and finding results, which is something that I have carried with me to every job.
I loved my internship at Ba Da Bing Records, it was one of the most amazing opportunities of my life. Because of how much I loved it, I stayed an extra week doing more work. At the end of my summer, I talked to Ben, and asked if he would write me a letter of recommendation for college. I was going to apply to school for Music Business.
In every artist meeting that I got to sit in on, I got to see how Ben and the artists interacted. It showed me that a career in the music industry could be one of good rapport and even friendship, while bringing your own business skills and creativity for success. I knew that I wanted to work as close to artists as possible, however I had no idea what my next steps would be.
In the fall, I applied to NYU’s Music Business program. I needed a program that would challenge me, while giving me plenty of accessibility to working in the industry while I was a student. NYU gave me the right balance of opportunities and challenges for a future career in music. I wrote my essays about my love for music and the hope of working with artists in a space that provided opportunities for pure creativity. In December, I opened my decision and I had gotten in. I was so excited.
Since my worries about college were gone, I started looking for a new opportunity. I needed something to do while I waited to dive into my studies at NYU. So I started cold emailing music firms and people at labels that I really admired. I got a response from Mind of a Genius Music Group, and I met with them. Initially I was looking for a summer internship, however they gave me an A&R internship starting that day.
My job as an A&R was creating weekly playlists for my boss to overlook and then he would send me feedback about what he liked and what I should keep searching for. Somehow, I always ended up researching R&B and Indie music because that is what the company really seemed to like. I learned how to cater my tastes and the companies tastes in playlists, while doing research about artist statistics and social media presences. It was the perfect introduction into how to do research as an A&R and to this day it has influenced how I find artists.
In July of 2025, my internship there ended, and I started looking for something else in A&R that would let me do what I always wanted to do: work with artists. Come around in August, I saw a role posted for A&R interns at Grind by Faith Music Group. I had never heard of the company before, but they seemed intriguing and it was worth a shot, so I applied. A few weeks later, I got an interview. I was so excited! So I met with Mustapha, the founder, and we talked through some interview questions, and he sent me over an offer that same day.
My first weeks at the company were doing research and outreach. It took me several emails to get meetings with artists, which then led to basic consultations about the company’s resources and overall mission. I started to develop a stronger sense of advocacy and want to fight for artists. In every email I have sent, I have gotten more passionate about the artist. I want them to succeed. Finally in October, I got my first signing, her name is CIN.
After she signed, we got to work. Now, I had never done artist branding or releases. I only knew the basics from what I was learning at NYU, and what I had seen my past boss talk through at Ba Da Bing Records. Luckily Mustapha gave me a lot of guidance and he supported me. After my successful first meetings with CIN, I got another client who was already at the company named Tina Jay. What I love about these artists is their passion and they are truly amazing. Since we are all starting out in our careers, our relationships have gone both ways. I have learned a lot from them, while bringing my own knowledge and creativity to the table.
Now, I have been working at Grind by Faith for almost five months, and the passion for artist’s creative freedom and supportive work environment has driven me to work harder for my clients and made me want my career to be one of artist advocacy.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I think because I started in the music industry at 17, I had unique struggles. First off, it was harder to gain credibility especially when I was in high school. I really had to prove myself, and I pushed myself to do twice the work of what was expected of me from my bosses and coworkers.
I am also the first person in my family to pursue a career in the music industry, so I had to start from scratch. I had no connections, and nobody to teach me the ropes. I had to learn how to do it all on the job. Especially before I got to college, I learned things either on the job, in movies, or on quick safari searches.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
At Grind by Faith Records, I work as an A&R Team Lead. My role consists of duties in management and artist creative services. First I lead a team of eight interns who are just starting out in their career, and provide mentorship and work through the larger company tasks for the A&R department. For those who don’t know, A & R stands for Artist and Repertoire, which means that I scout artists and then once I get an artist signed I work on their record with them. Basically I take care of the business for the artist on the label side, while they focus on the creative.
Specifically at Grind by Faith, we offer distribution services which means that we share the music. We have many resources and connections in the industry, which allows us to playlist pitch, talk to press and get more accessibility for artists. We are not a label, however we offer services that a label offers such as touring, branding, and sync. We focus on distribution for our artists while emphasising our passion for the creative. I see our company as a more of a place for creative development, artists are given resources and the time to develop music, while we pitch them so that we can help them get more attention from listeners and even indies or major record labels.
I am most proud of my first signing CIN. We are working on an incredible record, with a single called If I Shall Die that comes out on December 29th. She is such a hardworker, and I believe in her success and hope to get her more fans and support.
What sets me apart from others is my dedication to creativity and understanding the artist. I care about every artist I work with. I want to understand their creative mission and develop their record in a way that is honest to them. I work very closely with the artist, and I work through the record, as well as branding and press. I go above and beyond what is expected of the role, because I want the artist to succeed so I am willing to put in extra time and do more outreach for a better future outcome.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
For me, I am most concerned about AI in the creative space of music. I believe that AI is a tool that can be used, however, for more administrative purposes to cut down on timely tasks such as organization of files and coding, which would be an asset for smaller labels who don’t necessarily have the budget or resources to hire someone or a source to do those tasks which might be costly. There is a growth in AI music and it is scary to see. I come across channels of AI music on spotify, and it is a rabbit hole. I hate seeing it as an A & R, AI steals and creates inauthentic music that robs human talent and artists who deserve more attention. It also goes into the portion of streaming royalties, and it actually monetarily steals from artists. AI is growing and it needs to be addressed in creative spaces. I ask myself the question if AI would be used in music, if there was no real profit? We need to redirect the music space to human connection and authenticity rather than what is convenient or what makes money the fastest.
Pricing:
- At Grind By Faith we offer distribution services for artists, we have several different tiers for a yearly fee
- Level O: Free
- Level 1: 24
- Level 2: 40
- Level 3: 100
Contact Info:
- Website: https://grindbyfaith.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sardrake25/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah–drake/
Image Credits
Moodboard: Pinterest
