Blame the Intern: On (Not) Breaking into the Creative Economy

An inside look at the work lives of college interns and their uncertain path to paid employmentWhile generations of young adults used to spend their summers working as lifeguards or camp counselors, college students today are more likely to seek office experience as interns.Blame the Intern takes readers into the workspaces of the music industry to show how internships, especially unpaid ones, are problematic introductions to the working world that often provide little valuable training and are unlikely to lead to a job. Since the 1980s, shifts in labor markets and careers have made employers less prone to invest in training entry-level employees who may quickly change jobs anyway.In recent decades, higher education has filled the gap, fueling an explosive growth of internships to facilitate the transition from college to a career.Drawing on in-depth interviews with interns, record label employees, and college personnel, as well as his own experiences as an unpaid intern at two music i