Music Business: Industry Essentials

Offered By: Berklee College of Music via edX

Course Description

Overview

This XSeries will give you the knowledge, both theoretical and practical, to launch your career in the music business as an artist, manager, agent, and/or producer. Authored by industry experts, this XSeries will allow you to learn music industry essentials at your own pace.

You will begin with Introduction to the Music Business, which provides a broad overview of the music business, including a history of the industry as well as the various roles that exist and how they relate to one another. You will learn how record contracts are structured as well as a basic overview of copyright law. From there, you will complete Building Your Career in Music: Developing a Brand and Funding, designed for both musical artists and those who wish to work with artists.

This course will help you identify the unique elements of your artistry and provide you with the practical business know-how you’ll need to build a fanbase, become a recording artist, and successfully run a crowdfunding campaign. Next, you will complete Copyright Law in the Music Business, which gets to the heart of compensation and revenue in the music business. You will have the opportunity to unpack high-profile copyright law cases involving world-renowned artists, gaining a better understanding of how to leverage the law to their benefit. Finally, you will complete Creativity and Entrepreneurship, in which you’ll learn what it takes to be an effective entrepreneur in the music business, learning skills that are essential for thriving in an ever-changing music industry.

Syllabus

Courses under this program:
Course 1: Introduction to the Music Business

Learn the latest about the rapidly changing music industry from recording, publishing, and distribution to legal issues confronting music commerce.

Course 2: Building Your Career in Music: Developing a Brand and Funding

Explore how to launch your musical career from developing your artistic identity to recording your first record.

Course 3: Copyright Law in the Music Business

Learn the basics of copyright law and better understand how it works in the Music Business.

Course 4: Creativity & Entrepreneurship

Learn skills and listen to examples from world-renown entrepreneurs and innovators as they discuss the parallels between the creative and entrepreneurial journeys -- and why entrepreneurship, much like music or creativity, is something we all possess.

Courses

10 reviews
6 weeks, 2-4 hours a week, 2-4 hours a week
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Three things are clear about today’s music industry: The consumption of music is expanding at the greatest rate in history and from the most portals ever imagined, the cost of producing music is decreasing, and the number of artists creating and seeking to expose their work and develop careers through the Internet has increased dramatically. As demand grows and Internet piracy wanes, ad-supported and subscription models will generate unprecedented revenues that will surpass even the best of past earnings. And, many astute “music industry-watchers” predict a steep rise in business activity and trade earnings by the end of the decade.

Whether you’re a music creator, consumer, or facilitator of this process, you’ll want to understand the history, underpinnings, and basics of the music business. This course has been developed to provide students with the latest instruction on the best way for creators, consumers, and facilitators to navigate the resurgence of one of the world’s most exciting industries: the music business. Course author John Kellogg—administrator, educator, entertainment lawyer, performer, and radio and television personality—offers students the opportunity to learn the fundamental principles of the developing new music business, for now and into the future.
3 reviews
4 weeks, 3-5 hours a week, 3-5 hours a week
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Creativity & Entrepreneurship will help you tap into your inner creativity and learn how to leverage it for career development or business innovation.

Presented by Berklee Institute for Creative Entrepreneurship founder Panos Panay, this course features interviews with world renown entrepreneurs, innovators, songwriters, producers, creative directors, educators, performers, visual artists and chefs as they discuss parallels between the creative and entrepreneurial journeys.

The course approaches entrepreneurship as a creative process, a fundamental human instinct that we all possess and can unlock._ Creativity & Entrepreneurship _applies concepts from the creative and musical creation process, such as observing, prototyping, iterating and embracing failure, as a means of guiding you through the concept of thinking like a startup. You will develop the basic mindset, knowledge, and insights required to pursue an entrepreneurial career, whether as the steward of your own career or as the founder of a new business in any field.

Creativity & Entrepreneurship is about the side of entrepreneurship you won’t learn at a business school but, instead, in the music studio.

About video original music "Maria Antoinette" by Leo Pigot (feat. Brite Lite Brite)
0 reviews
1 week, 2-4 hours a week, 2-4 hours a week
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This course shares practical tips and strategies to help you take your first step into launching a successful music career as a musical artist. We’ll cover everything from developing your unique identity as an artist and how to lead a band all the way to planning and recording your first independent record with the help of crowdfunding. We will start by laying the foundation as a professional musician by defining your identity, vision, and intention as a new artist. Then, we will focus on building your brand and fanbase, developing business partnerships and recording your own music. Finally, we will look at the business side of music production and develop a crowdfunding campaign.

The course curriculum is modeled from the real-world experience of Leah Waldo (also known as the emerging country artist, Elisa Smith) and features interviews with industry executives, artists, producers, and engineers — all designed to help you navigate the music industry.
0 reviews
4 weeks, 3-5 hours a week, 3-5 hours a week
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In this course taught by E. Michael Harrington, students will learn the basis for copyright including what is and is not covered by copyright law. This course will help clarify what rights artists have as creators as well as what the public is free to take from their work. Students will also learn what to do if someone copies their work and what to do if they are accused of copying someone else. The course will also discuss how technology has changed copyright for the better (and worse) and how copyright laws may change in the coming years.

We will start by learning about copyright and intellectual property, who owns a copyright and copyright infringement. Then, we will look at the specific music copyright laws that deal with co-writing music, sound recording and sampling as well as understanding when music enters the public domain. Finally, we will cover copyright litigation and the mechanics of entertainment law in the courtroom. Through all of this, we will discuss actual case studies to put our new copyright knowledge into practice.

Taught by

Dr. E. Michael Harrington, Panos Panay and Leah Waldo