Music Business

Given the shifting landscape of the music industry, the more business-minded musicians are, the better prepared they値l be to take on an active role in guiding their careers and allowing their music to reach the widest-possible audience. Similarly, for those who aspire to work or start their own music-related firms傭e they labels, management companies, or publishing companies葉he chances of success in these firms increases exponentially with a solid music business foundation. The Music Business Professional Program provides students with a detailed background in key areas of the music industry, and a plan for success developed with Berklee痴 seasoned experts in their respective fields.

The program begins by providing a broad overview of the inner workings of the music business and how the various segments operate on a day-to-day basis in Music Business 101. You will study the symbiotic relationship between the recording, music publishing, and live performance businesses, and learn about the career opportunities that are available within these different segments. After covering the past and present of the music business, you値l move on to discover the innovations, technologies, and powerful trends that are affecting the future of the industry in The Future of Music and the Music Business. You値l examine non-traditional outlets for distributing and marketing music, and uncover new opportunities available to forward-thinking musicians, and music business entrepreneurs.

From there, you will gain an understanding of the important recent legal changes that are of special concern to musicians, engineers, and producers in Legal Aspects of the Music Industry. Particular emphasis is placed on issues you値l encounter when building your careers, including copyright law, recording and music publishing agreements, common contracts and agreements including producer, label and distribution agreements and club contracts, and digital rights management issues.

Next, you'll take an in-depth look at the tools and emerging technologies artists can use to generate interest in their music, acquire new fans, and sell their music in Online Music Marketing: Campaign Strategies, Social Media, and Digital Distribution. In this course you'll get an introduction to online marketing and learn important foundational online music marketing techniques such as developing and selling music from your own Web site; what offers you should be making to your fans and how you should position these offers; the importance of Web optimization, best practices for effective messaging, branding, and communication, and much more.

You値l go deeper into publishing in Music Publishing 101, a step-by-step guide to setting up a publishing company, including administration of copyrights, the role of performance rights organizations, and how to effectively market and promote your compositions and writers by developing effective pitch and promotion strategies.

To wrap up the program, you will learn to apply your newfound wealth of music industry information towards creating a successful business plan that can apply to many different music business ventures in Music Industry Entrepreneurship. You値l learn the entrepreneurial tools particular to the music industry that will enable you to innovate and create new ventures, and be empowered to actualize with confidence your chosen vision in the music industry.