Music Marketing 101
The music industry has undergone extreme changes over the past few years, many of which have opened the doors for developing bands and artists. Gone are the days where the only option for getting fans to hear your music relied upon support from a limited number of "gatekeepers." Music Marketing 101 provides artists, managers, and business entrepreneurs with the foundational music marketing base they'll need to succeed and thrive in this new music business.
This course starts with the basics – an overview of key music marketing principles, terms, and practices which together form the foundation for all music marketing plans. From there, students will dig into the key areas of opportunities for musicians, including merchandising, publicity, radio promotion (online and traditional), retail & distribution (online and traditional), advertising, and touring. Students will learn what companies and partners to work with to reach their core fans, how to communicate with them, and the ways to leverage the changes and new opportunities that the internet offers to marketers. The information in this course can form the basis for a full marketing campaign, or be immediately implemented into a new marketing and promotion campaign. This course looks at the opportunities available at both traditional terrestrial marketing opportunities, as well as online opportunities. By the end of the course you will have an active marketing plan and timeline tailored to your own unique strengths and budget.
By the end of this course, you will:
- Gain a firm understanding of the foundational best practices involved with all successful music marketing campaigns.
- Develop an integrated approach to music marketing in the focus areas of Press, Retail, Distribution (online and traditional), Radio, Advertising, Merchandising, and Touring.
- Understand online music distribution and retail: the terms, deals, formats, options, and key companies to work with.
- Know the PR outlets that matter – national, regional, local, specialized and trade press – how and when to communicate to them, and when to hire outside help.
- Learn how to get your music into brick and mortar independent retailers, what kind of materials you should make to support your release, and the inner workings of the online retail and distribution outlets.
- Understand how radio promotion works, and learn when you should consider an independent promotion company.
- Know what to make for merchandise, when to make it, and how much to spend.
- Create a timeline and a working marketing plan tailored to your individual strengths.
Ready to Enroll? |
Online Summer Term Starts June 25th
Course Info
| For-credit tuition: $1,400 |
|
Non-credit tuition: $1,200 Add 6 CEUs: $25.00 |
| Credits: 3 |
| Duration: 12 weeks |
| Catalog #: BMB-125 |
Course Faculty 
| Mike King Course author, instructor, and the Director of Marketing at Berkleemusic. | |
| Jim Horan Senior Director of Product Management at Rounder Records. | |
| Jeff Straw Director of Music Licensing and Marketing at INgrooves. | |
Student Comments
"The course content was outstanding; a great mix of "high concept" and nuts-and-bolts. Mike King was a fantastic instructor; tremendous during chat sessions, great feedback in private messages, added extremely valuable discussion posts. On top of all that, he was very encouraging to the class, and gave great individual feedback!" - I. Gowda"There are so many things that I loved about the course, it gave very real and in depth strategy and insight into how to market music. It was an incredible class. The professor also gave the most in depth responses to our assignments, with links to helpful websites and ideas where we can improve our work or strategy over all." - I. Palmieri
"The teacher feedback was the best and most in-depth out of all the teachers I've had at Berklee so far. He really catered to what you were trying to achieve as it related to your situation." - L. Coe
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Berklee College of Music is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC)
