°1824: Your Guide to the Workings of UMG's Musical Journey
I am Via, and you are reading an interview with Olivia Trejo, a former PR Representative under Universal Music Group (UMG)’s creative solutions team, º1824. In 2020, she spoke on behalf of °1824 and touches upon the meaning behind the title, working with the team, pursuing the music industry, a typical day, ideal qualities, accomplishments, and so much more. If you enjoy this, be sure to subscribe to our website and follow us on Instagram. to check out similar content and keep up with the latest!
During my time at Humankind Zine, I was presented with an opportunity to represent the zine in a press conference hosted by the team of young creatives. And when I came across the numbers °1824, I did not once believe they were random.
Trejo clarifies this, “The name ‘°1824’ is used to capture the age range of some of the core members of our team, students! We are goal-oriented to target the 18 to 24 age demographic and grow opportunities for those who are music lovers.” The degree symbolizes understanding the temperature and location of the age group.
“The team was earlier titled ‘UMusic Experience’. In October [2019], Universal Music Group rebranded to °1824. The team evolved into something bigger as our capabilities turned into something greater than the average college programs.”
°1824 is UMG’s creative solutions team focused on the connection of artists directly to fans through storytelling and experiences. Their offerings include content creation, ideation, PR, A&R, creator partnerships, experiences, and digital marketing. Being at the center of Universal Music Group, they work with artists from all labels under the company umbrella. °1824 is associated with artists like Katy Perry, Duncan Laurence, Yungblud, and many, many more!
Connecting artists to fans
°1824 scouts out playlisters who are willing to add their artists, publications interested in doing features, podcasters that interview or discuss artists, radio stations that do write-ups or streaming, influencers who want to collaborate to showcase their artists.
“We also partner with organizations on college campuses for speaking events and artist exposure,” says Trejo, seeing as the group targets the 18 to 24 demographic, “These are a few ways we help make connections and give our artists the recognition they deserve.”
How the °1824 fared during the pandemic
The pandemic has been a thorn in our side for quite some time now and a lot of businesses have slowed down, or in some cases completely halted. Artist tours and concerts used to be a great way for them to showcase their talents and grow their fanbase, not to mention sales, merchandise, artist meet-and-greets, which would’ve boosted revenue while allowing them to personally connect with fans. How did °1824 fare under these circumstances?
With its team of 80+ representatives spread out all across the United States in multiple different cities and markets, °1824 has risen to the challenge and closed that gap successfully:
“This pandemic has proven that the digital world is very powerful, and it is one of the ways we have still been able to thrive in such a different setting. Something we started doing at the beginning of the pandemic was hosting press conferences to bring awareness to our artists. This has been a great tool for our artists to gain publicity.”
The music industry, being a part of °1824, qualities that will help you thrive
The team is highly adaptive and rapidly responsive, accepting each day as a new adventure: “At °1824, we are constantly doing new tasks and projects. There really is no ‘typical day’ because the music industry is constantly changing, and it is important to keep up with it. But as a publicist on the team, I am constantly scouting out media outlets to partner with. And when I’m not doing PR or publicity, I love being a part of task forces. Task forces allow members of the team to create a strategic marketing and release strategy to bring awareness to up and rising UMG [Universal Music Group] artists.”
Exciting as that sounds, the ground shifting constantly beneath the feet requires a certain resilience, level-headedness. Does it ever get intense, is there any competition? Let’s take a peek behind the creative doors of °1824: “As cheesy as it may sound, °1824 truly is like a family to me,” narrates Olivia, “One of the great things about being on this team is to be surrounded by talented individuals who are passionate about the same things I’m passionate about, music! Working hard together and learning from one another is what made me find true growth as someone who wants to thrive in the music industry.
“Working as a team and seeing your ideations come to life is one of the most rewarding feelings”
Should you be interested in being a part of this team of creatives, you might like to read on to find out what it takes to be a part of °1824, to know if you have the qualities that would help you thrive in their company culture:
“Being passionate about music is a must for people who [want to] thrive on our team. In order to succeed on our team, strong communication skills and time management is important, and it is crucial to always be ahead of the game as this industry is always changing.”
So, you have decided to be a part of this family. Great! You could make this dream a reality. Trejo tells us how with a story of her own beginnings:
“It’s important to start creating a network and building your resume! I got involved in the music scene in my college town in Gainesville, Florida doing work for one of our local artists. As I got more involved in the music scene, I decided to learn about different areas of the industry which led me to switch to the A&R team of my school’s record label. Being involved in different areas of the Gainesville music scene and having prior internships was helpful in terms of earning this position. Because of my involvement in UF [University of Florida]’s record label, I was able to network and create relationships with many talented individuals, which is how I met the former Gainesville representative, Madi. She handed down my resume to our management and helped me land this position.”
One thing people must know about °1824
“Sometimes, people hear the word ‘college representative’ and they lose all respect for you and think that your only job is to post songs to your social media and hang up posters around town – kind of like a street team. However, with °1824 this could not be further from the truth. °1824 runs like an agency that uplifts the music industry in many ways. Our team consists of, publicists, strategic marketers, content creators, A&R reps, videographers, photographers, and more. Being on the team has given me the opportunity to come across some of the most hard-working individuals I know! I want people to know that the work put in isn’t always a walk in the spring meadow, we work hard to see our ideations come to life. It isn’t always easy, but seeing the outcome of the projects that you work so hard on is one of the most rewarding feelings.”
Looking back at 2021
There are so many things that °1824 has accomplished, especially in 2021 alone. The year has not been an easy one for many reasons, but as a team, they hit some incredible milestones. °1824 partnered with brands and universities across the country and hosted 43 experiences with crucial conversations pertaining to voting, activism, mental health, and more. Aside from their events, they have had 29 ideation teams to market ideas for their artists, had 132 million views on their YouTube content, had 77 campaigns with social media creators (which received over 59 million views and 8 million likes), and 1,000 pieces of press published. Click here to check out more of their wins in 2021.
Meet Olivia Trejo!
Olivia Trejo is a recent graduate from the University of Florida, where she majored in Public Relations. As an °1824 publist, she created meaningful relationships with press outlets to help promote artists like Still Woozy, Yung Gravy, Katy Perry, Tokyo’s Revenge, and many more. From a young age, she knew she was passionate about two things in particular: music and people. Olivia wanted to take these passions and pour it into a career that would benefit the public eye.
We thank Olivia Trejo and the °1824 team from the bottom of our heart, for participating in our interview. Be sure to follow °1824 on Instagram to see what they’ll do next this year!
We at Humankind Zine are thrilled to get such a close look at the family of creatives, and in such a grand fashion! If you enjoyed this, be sure to join our mailing list and follow us on Instagram for similar content and keep up with the latest.
