Culminating Experience Project Abstracts

Technology is changing the live music industry faster than ever. The past decade has seen an immense increase in innovation in the live events technology sector, but music venues and festivals have unique set of challenges to integrating these technologies. This research paper attempts to understand and analyze these challenges by applying digital transformation frameworks to the results of interviews with industry experts. Using these results and analysis as a guide, emerging solutions and trends are highlighted, and a digital maturity model for the modern music venue is proposed and discussed.

This Culminating Experience defense discusses the scope of the work of my role as the Head of Marketing and Branding for Disrupción records, Berklee Valencia’s student run record label. This year the label took a Community Based Marketing approach, this CE discussed the impact this strategy had on the label, our imprints, and our artists.

Mega music festivals are increasing in popularity and number (Brennan-Horley, Connell, & Gibson 2007) and with it, the concern about their impact on the environment, the economy, and society/culture increases. The current impact seems more negative as festivals tend to have an enormous ecological footprint (David 2009), are losing cultural value due to commercialization (Arcodia & Whitford 2006) and, can cause over-consumption and increased criminality in the host communities (Getz 1997; Smith 2009). Fortunately, festivals have an enormous potential to positively influence the overall sustainability of the region, its audience, suppliers and employees as music festivals are excellent opportunities for transformative learning because they are sources of powerful, soulful and sometimes mystifying experiences (Stettler 2011). ‘Music is one of the most powerful mediums to communicate environmental awareness to billions of people worldwide - irrespective of race, religion, income, gender or age’ (Jones & Scanlon 2010, 4). This research paper has analyzed the sustainable performance of three mega music festivals, using the triple-bottom-line definition of sustainability that includes environmental, economic, and social sustainability. The status quo of the festivals has been analyzed against 10 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from which it can be concluded that festivals are facing the above-mentioned challenges but are actively trying to become more sustainable by focusing on a couple of SDGs. Festivals could use their role in society more to influence their stakeholders and the music industry in general to become more sustainable. Based on these results, specific SDG recommendations, general recommendations and financing recommendations are provided for mega-festivals to advance on their sustainability journey. The general recommendations focus on monitoring all data, establishing a clear strategy, urgency and goals, and communicating these goals and its importance to the festival’s stakeholders.

Project Summary
As the Production Manager of INOCON, I will be the primary in charge of organizing the performances during the conference and the live concert at the end of the conference. In addition to being the person who will organize the talent search and selection, in coordination with the different stakeholders at the school, I will also take care of the production needs of the acts. Apart from my primary responsibilities, I will also work with the core team to put together the vision and general structure to INOCON 2022. This would include giving my input on all aspects of the whole conference.

Keywords: Operational project, action oriented, live event, music & tech

As my culminating experience project, I had the opportunity to take on the role of Head of Legal and Business Affairs at Disrupción Records. Legally, I have supported our label and imprints by drafting and revising different agreements, creating supportive materials such as deal memos and a licensing revenue splits sheet, taking care of termination requests and any legal issues, and overseeing and guiding artists’ negotiations and signings. Financially, I have contributed through financial reporting, budgeting and overseeing our financial arrangements and spending.

The following Business Plan outlines the details of the next 5 years of operation for MetaLive; a Limited Liability company that focuses on the development and publishing of a video game that will host virtual concerts and other events in a virtual world, where the players can interact with their friends and participate to activities together.

When Covid 19 put a halt on any kind of social interactions, millions of concerts were cancelled. The Live music sector of the music industry was badly hit, and one of the major income streams for the music industry slowly disappeared, heavily damaging the state of the industry. Artists saw 70% of their revenues disappear due to the cancellation of their shows and faced serious limitations in the way they could interact and connect with their fans. To find an alternative to performances and reduce the damages done to the industry, companies started innovating and thanks to the recent technology advancements, artists found news ways to perform and stay relevant through new kinds of performances: in-game performances. The pandemic helped the discovery and development of these new types of performances, that have the potential to offer an incredible augmented and immersive experience to the audience and the possibility for artists to welcome their fans in a virtual world created and built to their image.

Despite the many conversations on the topic, in-game performances are not an alternative to real live performances and should not be treated as such. They come with new benefits and offer a completely different kind of experience to the audience. While these innovations are still “new”, it is important to stay ahead of the curve and keep exploring these new opportunities. Many different companies have started investing in live streaming and/or new VR technologies to create new experiences for fans during the pandemic (Tomorrowland, Coachella 360, The wave XR, Fortnite, etc…). The ones that already had concerts in the metaverse have had viewership numbers in the millions. However, most of them only occasionally hold concerts and only provide these opportunities to big artists. Till today, “small” artists do not have access to the metaverse to perform. For that reason, I am building MetaLive’s business plan. MetaLive’s goal is to build the bridge between these small artists and the metaverse to give them new tools to develop their brand, showcase their music and connect with their fans in an innovative way.

This study emerges from the era of the Music Modernization Act (2018), a sociopolitical moment which sees the United States government and the music industry at large collaborating to update music copyright procedures to meet the demands of the digital age. The research itself was contracted by the United States Copyright Office in collaboration with Berklee Valencia as a means of improving the Copyright Office’s outreach to the American independent music scene. The purpose of the research was to explore what DIY musicians (mis)understand about copyright, the Music Modernization Act, and the newly-established Mechanical Licensing Collective. To address the research questions, a hybrid of qualitative focus groups and quantitative survey techniques were utilized. The results demonstrate a fundamental lack of understanding about copyright amongst independent musicians due to structural barriers. Additionally, unhelpful attitudes and widespread misinformation further alienate these creators from the copyright process. However, the research findings posit solutions like barrier reduction and cultural shifts to enable DIY musicians to access the copyright space. More research is required to further determine how to engage independent artists in copyright, and the current research lays a framework for how to move forward in that process.

Keywords: Copyright, Independent Musicians, D.I.Y., Music Modernization Act, Mechanical Licensing Collective, Intellectual Property

This project takes a critical look at the challenges and opportunities facing Japanese pop music (“J-Pop”) export and culminates in a series of recommendations and best practices that should be implemented by J-Pop artists, managers, and record labels for successful crossover to Western markets. The conclusions outlined in this project are found through a systematic and comprehensive analyses of the Japanese recorded music market, J-Pop song structure, case studies of J-Pop artists` attempts to break into the U.S. and U.K. markets, and successful export of K-Pop. In the key findings of the research compiled for this project, music industry scholars will come away with an understanding of the historical and modern challenges that J-Pop music has faced (including being pigeonholed as a novelty genre, anti-Japanese racism, and inadequate support from labels and management companies), as well as opportunities to exploit new technologies and societal attitudes to redirect advanced fan engagement tactics towards Western fans. Areas of continued analysis and research based on the findings in this project are further proposed.

Keywords: J-Pop, music export, crossover, Western markets.

Zusembler is an international artist consulting agency with the core mission of bringing the right people together to assist in exporting independent artists from the US into new territories. With headquarters located in Berlin, Germany, Zusembler acts as a bridge connecting US artists to a hub in the European music market. The objective of this company is to empower rising artists to grow their international audience while simultaneously educating their teams on specific tactics to practice when outside of the US. The following plan outlines the specifics of Zusembler from its core beliefs and target audience to the predicted income and pricing policy. This business plan includes an operational case study with an American artist, Jack Van Cleaf, and incorporates plans for focusing on territories in Europe, starting specifically in France, Holland, Germany, and Ireland. By working on this practice subject, Zusembler has been able to refine its offers for clientele while gaining credibility within the artist community. Within the next 5 years, Zusembler has the potential to see immense growth as more artists begin to expand beyond their traditional borders.

Keywords: business plan, consultation, international markets, tour planning, market analysis, music business, Zusembler

Korean Pop– also referred to as K-Pop– has been a trending and dominating music genre over the last several years. However, with the aggressive takeover it has had on a global scale, this research paper will study the effects and influence of K-Pop in the United States, with specifications towards the live entertainment industry within the past ten years. This project will address through surveys, data collecting, and past vital moments within the past decade how much-said influence has reformed the US market in terms of live music. Additionally, it will also address the behavioral and social impact on fan culture within the US and provide a more consolidated view of how this genre will continue to grow as it becomes more ingrained within Western pop culture.

My project is Sessioms, a one stop booking platform that allows you to get all of your musical needs, a place that’s consistent in quality. Every industry is getting acclimated to the digital age but it always seems that the music industry is behind, I want to propose a way to scale word of mouth. Word of mouth is a strong method of networking, this is why every skill of the freelance creatives will need to be verified. This verification will be done through an automated tracking system for each creative who applies. Unlike our competitors we won’t limit ourselves to one side of the industry this is a music all platform all you need to join is to be qualified, and to really be passionate about your career. This project is not feasible because of the risks that are beyond a person’s skill level; things like professionalism and compatibility. These are risks that can ruin the brand of the platform. This company is not solving an issue but more so offering an alternative option to the way the industry operates but my data proved that most people are satisfied with their network system that’s in place now.

Artists around the world have had to turn to digital platforms such as Instagram and TikTok to keep up with their fanbase throughout the social-restricting pandemic of COVID-19. With this digital engagement, artists, managers, and labels alike turned their marketing strategies towards creating daily content for artists to post on their social feeds to retain these fans and continue to grow their bases in this uncertain time. Two years into the pandemic, artists are facing the great content burnout of 2022 after having to shift gears from making music to becoming self-marketers for themselves. Not only is this burnout creating mental health issues for these artists and their teams, but it is also becoming a point of contention between artists, managers, labels, and society's expectations of what it means to be an artist-influencer. This research paper is an exploratory report on how artists and their teams are managing the balance of content creation and burnout while managing their primary jobs as music creators. Through literature reviews, an online survey, and various first and second hand interviews, this study takes a close look into the mental health outcomes of this new primary form of self promotion two years into COVID-19. Finally, it concludes with what can be done moving forward to create healthier standards within the industry to better manage artist mental health around content burnout and how this new topic can be further studied down the line as more individuals speak out about their personal stories and how further research down the line can be conducted to create a more holistic view of this issue.

With the rise of digital music and streaming platforms, distributing, and releasing music has become easier than it was decades ago. Platforms such as Spotify receive 50,000 - 60,000 new songs daily and have made music more accessible. However, for these 50,000 artists to see royalties and earn a sustainable income, they have to go above purely ingesting their music to platforms. To monetize content, the artist needs to refine their marketing campaigns and focus on connecting with their audiences using multiple avenues to reach these fans. For these artists to thrive in the industry, they must find a fanbase and convert them into loyalists. Multiple start-ups in the artist-to-fan marketing space provide solutions for the challenges that streaming platforms create. Many independent and mainstream artists have realized the problem early on and are working towards creating a community for their music using different channels like Instagram, TikTok, Twitch, and Discord. The players who support and practice fan engagement are the ones who have been generating a lot more success compared to their counterparts. However, there is now a thin wall between the artist and their fans. With increasing access to artists, fans are demanding more content and communication from their favourite musicians. As a result, more and more artists are suffering from serious mental health problems and burnout. While many stakeholders in the music industry see the problem and are trying to alleviate it, there is still room for improvement, but the needle has moved forward.

My business plan outlines the details of the launch of the independent record label: Kumo Records. This company is an SARL that provides musical artist the opportunity to create and explore new music genres, build projects that embed more than one creative medium, connect with creatives around the world as well as engage and collaborate in innovative ways with their fans on a global scale. Our objective as a record label is to curate new sounds by targeting unique emerging artists internationally and create a common sphere between the audience the artists themselves through the advent of Web3.
It presents a detailed plan of the company environment, market analysis, financial projections and plan of action for Kumo Records.

South Africa is known to be one of the most influential countries on the continent of Africa and is seen as a cultural hub across the continent. It reigns as the most prominent music market on the continent and is home to some of the biggest names in African music. However, over the last ten years, the scene in South Africa has declined, and opportunities are reducing. In 2011, local music made up 50% of the country’s music scene, yet in 2022 it sits at less than a quarter.

This year Music Africa reported that the monthly total music revenue is €8 812 500 a month, but professional musicians earn an average of €562.5 a month. With the average cost of living in Johannesburg and Cape Town sitting at €2000 a month, musicians are not earning enough to build a sustainable career. The declining market is complex but is primarily due to poor management from collective agencies, a lack of resources, and a lack of education that allows an industry to thrive. Due to the lack of resources, artists constantly need guidance and often become a ""Jack of All Trades"". Their vast skills include working in and mastering both musicianship and performance, PR & Marketing, and production. In essence, they also become their management team and label service. While some musicians prefer to have complete autonomy over their business, many are looking for the guidance that Poetic Beats will provide.

Poetic Beats is a Record Label and Entertainment Consultancy, providing artists with the resources they have been lacking and, if they so wish, a management team to handle bookings, marketing, promotions, A&R services, and specific legal affairs.
Due to South Africa's unique socio-economic climate and available resources, we have a fundamental understanding that the models of music businesses need to look different from global business models. Perhaps South African musicians need a ‘one-stop-shop’ to build their careers.

Below is the business model for Poetic Beats as a record label and an entertainment consultancy. By following this model, we believe we can build a business that benefits South African musicians and cements South Africa as an emerging market whose musicians can be consumed globally.

This research paper had as main objective to analyze the success of Latin Music in the U.S., the key factors that makes it so popular among every culture, which streaming platforms are the most important according to music industry experts and to develop a Latin artist index.
Methodologically it was developed under the quantitative paradigm, with a documentary proposal (The latin Index) model, the design was not experimental transversal – descriptive. Measuring the variable with a twelve (12) item questionary supported and revised and approved by experts from Berklee College of Music.
The research paper has two parts, the quantitative/qualitative part of interviewing Latin music industry experts, determining the most important Latin artists now and key factors that make Latin music so popular, then with that information, scrape data from different platforms and last design a Latin Music Index.
Among the results is evidenced that the most influential Latin artists at the moment are: Bad Bunny, Rauw Alejandro, Karol G, J Balvin, Jhay Cortez, Ozuna, Maluma, Myke Towers and Eslabon Armado; the most impactful streaming platforms are: Youtube, Spotify, Tiktok, Apple Music. And the key factors that make Latin music so popular in the United States are the rhythm, the culture and the universal sounds.
Finally, a Latin Music index was developed, responding the different factors identified through the description of the dimensions above.

Keywords: Data, Streaming platforms, Latin Music, U.S. Latin, Latin Index

TV and film production companies now produce streaming content with greater focus on traditional sync licensing. Given the popularity of global platforms’ productions compared to network television, in addition to the scale of their audiences, the power these DSP’s now hold has shifted aspects of traditional sync licensing. Social media platforms are now taking up an increasing amount of attention and can center around audio like TikTok, creating a space for more user-generated content syncing music, as well as influencer and branded content using music. Streamed fitness classes by companies like Peloton are also utilizing sync in a nontraditional format. Additionally, the evolving world of metaverses, centralized and decentralized, pose many interesting opportunities for sync deals. The issue with the increase in nontraditional licensing formats is that many uses of sync that would require a license can go unacknowledged and require lawsuits until different deal types and solutions are forced into being later. The biggest concerns today include the confusion about what constitutes influencer content, lack of proper Content ID infrastructure across different social platforms, collecting agencies lacking the ability to keep up with digital evolution, and the ability to form adaptive deals early in the metaverse.

Keywords: Sync, Evolution, Metaverse, Nontraditional Sync, Micro-licensing, Adaptive Deals, Fitness Streaming, Infrastructure, Collective Agencies, Content ID

Music Axlerator is a an E learning website that offers educational content about the key areas of the music business with a primary focus on the Indian audience. This site os designed to provide relevant, affordable, localised and easily accessible knowledge and insights about the Indian music business to all emerging artists and aspiring music business professionals. The website offers the choice of three different online subscription models to educational content such as videos, modules, tests in 4 languages, and the option to book one on one sessions or group workshops.

Koza Müzik LLC is an environmentalist music promoter based in Istanbul. We have two annual indie-music events that are also fundraisers for supporting Turkish non-profits with emphasis on donations and planting trees but not profits. We take a data-driven approach on curating line-ups and an artist-focused approach on marketing the events to create long-lasting effects even after their performances. We promote Turkish non-profits’ efforts to the target audiences by associating them with good experiences and forming communities based on shared values. We form chains of eco-friendly partnerships and provide them online and live channels to showcase their products and services. We take an educational approach to initiate behavioral and cognitive change by organizing workshops and talks during the events. We catch trends to find and support emerging artists, providing “I was there” moments for the audiences.

My Culminating Experience is a business plan for Uncovered, an organizer, producer and promoter of album listening sessions.
The main goal of this project was to create immersive events where people feel truly connected to the music, its appreciation is elevated, and people can experience the music they love with like-minded people. To understand how the best album listening session could be, I hosted three album listening sessions, collected feedback from the audience through forms and conducted individual interviews with the attendees. The result is a finalized album listening session format and concept that highly appeals to music appreciators.
Throughout my CE, I got experience on producing live events, while organizing, producing, and promoting my album listening sessions. I understood what these events should offer to create the best experience possible and to increase people’s willingness to pay. Additionally, I gained and developed skills such as time management, hard-work capacity, autonomy, and perseverance. Since I want to have a career in live entertainment and to create Uncovered in the future, all these learnings and experiences will help me succeed in reaching these goals.

Latin America is the favored destination for new branches of global firms in the music market, particularly those involved with music streaming, as a result of the internationalization of Latin Music and the accelerated and sustained growth of the region over the last decade. The entry of global corporations as music aggregators, publishing administration services, or digital service providers reveals the attention that LATAM has drawn to itself as a result of its performance in growth rates, broadband and smartphone penetration. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic threatened to put an end to the region's persistent expansion, having a significant influence on sales in other music industry sectors such as live entertainment and leaving a huge amount of musicians without occupation. However, what appeared to be a threat to the region's long-term prosperity may now be the definitive catalyst towards legitimate digital consumption in a context where piracy has always been a systemic problem. The most pressing challenge in the current setting is determining how companies involved in music streaming operations may embrace the potential possibilities arising in the region as a result of this phenomena.

Keywords: LATAM, Streaming, Digital Service Providers, Infrastructure, COVID-19, Digitalization, Playlists

This project lays out the work done this year as the Head of Distribution, Production and New Business carried out this year. The project centers around how this position impacted Disrupción Records’ operation and how the different processes were carried out. Disrupción Records is Berklee Valencia’s student run record label, providing record label services to emerging artists in an artist-friendly manner. From its inception in 2015, Disrupción has amassed more than 70 releases, and will continue to be one of the most successful student-run labels around the world. During this operational process, there were a number of steps taken to ensure a successful result. From creating guidelines documents to delivery calendars, the production process was a pivotal part of this role. Later, I was tasked with manually managing the delivery to The Orchard, our distribution party and troubleshooting any release issues that we may have. This project is still ongoing and will be until about October of 2022, but I’m glad to say that the groundwork laid out for the next Executive Team will be strong and useful.

Keywords: operational project, music business, distribution, record label, disrupcion records

As my Culminating Experience, I acted as CEO / Label Manager of the student label Disrupción Records. In this role, I had the privilege and opportunity to oversee a team of seventeen students and six imprints, and to facilitate the release of over thirty tracks from twelve artists hailing from eight different countries. With the support of Disrupción’s executive team, the Berklee professors and administration, and the record practicum family, we were able to create a robust and eclectic community of powerhouse musicians and curious music business professionals and to provide plenty of space for trial and error.

The following business plan outlines the details of a Startup called “SeeMe”. It was created to develop a tool design to connect fans with emerging artists and bring more opportunities of Live Shows.
SeeMe is the marketplace of crowdfunding for live events. Our main objective as a company is to try to equal the playfield for emerging artists by providing them with a tool where they can test trial possible live shows without having to face the monetary risks, and at the same time help them realize where their fan base is and where it could possibly be developed.
SeeMe has the potential to expand into other markets too as it is a tool that could be easily plugged into any major platforms, like both social media and DSPs, that already exist worldwide. Although the market is competitive, we believe that the fan power and audience engagement that SeeMe could create can change the course in any market that is willing to adopt it.

Keywords: business plan, live entertainment, shows, app, tool, platform.

INOCON is a conference that covers the latest cutting-edge technologies and the way they can be implemented in the music industry. It unites a wide range of international speakers, joining to teach attendees about their experiences and share their insights on the issues and solutions that could improve the life of people wishing to work in this highly dynamic industry. INOCON22 was divided into two parts that would take place across three days: the conference, on April 7th and 8th, which involved panels and guest speakers talking about a plethora of topics, and the second part being a concert on April 9th, which was the culmination of months of hard work. The main difference between this INOCON and the previous editions was that the concert would in fact be in-person for the first time, while simultaneously being livestreamed. This presented a new challenge as I needed to incite people in Valencia to attend in person instead of having them choose the livestream, which was targeted towards an international audience at this point.
As the Marketing and Social Media Manager, my main tasks included content creation, managing different communication channels, maintaining audience interaction high, conducting a post-conference survey and analyzing the end-of-conference data.

With podcast advertising revenue out-growing forecasts and media platforms creating strategies and teams around the audio format, it is evident that an increasing amount of attention is on podcast markets and creators. The recent developments in podcasts over the past four years indicate the belief in the future value of the format. Audio platforms and streaming services have recognized the potential of podcasts as a way to capture more time spent on their services and ad revenue from their content. Although podcasts are leading the hype around audio streaming services and are playing a part in driving an audio renaissance, audience sizes are still not meeting expectations. Audio streaming platforms, led by Spotify, have addressed this issue by implementing various new audio features and partnerships. However, the challenge remains of drawing new listeners and keeping them engaged with the format by encouraging them to find and listen to new shows.

As the music industry joins the fight against climate change, there are many wasteful business practices that it will need to reevaluate. This research paper defines the practices that make up the carbon footprint of record labels, based in the United Kingdom and Europe in 2022. It also serves as a guide for record labels and music fans that wish to understand the negative environmental effects of the recorded music business, and how that business can be conducted more sustainably. In addition to this abstract, there are five sections of the paper. The paper begins with some necessary context: defining the central issues of climate change, how record labels function, and reviewing the history of environmental activism in music. Following the literature review is an explanation of the research question, and the methodology for and limitations of this research. The results section presents the identified label practices that have a negative impact on the environment, as well as how to address them, and introduces some emerging related topics in the field of sustainability and labels. Finally, the paper concludes with some thoughts about the impact and necessity of eco-consciousness in the music industry.

This project outlines the business plan for my music publishing company that aims to focus on integrating sync and TikTok to find new and creative ways to generate revenue, achieve sync placements, and utilize TikTok as a means for promotion. Viral songs on TikTok often translate over into film and television, while songs appearing in film and television achieve much of their popularity through TikTok virality. In building this business plan, I wanted to incorporate TikTok development as an arm of the company that helps artists come up with unique and creative ways to use the platform as a stepping stone for success in the sync world, whether that be coming up with compelling trends or collaborating with other artists and songwriters on the platform. While carrying out the services of a traditional publishing company, we offer creative admin deals that give artists flexibility and range while allowing us to be hands-on in the creative and promotional process as a publishing entity. In this business plan I have outlined key points of distinction between my publishing company and others, an in-depth look at our core functions and values, evidence into the growth and expansion of the independent music publishing sector, along with detailed financial projections for the company.

The purpose of this research is to investigate reasons behind gender disparity in the music industry and the efforts being done to counter it. This study will approach the wider structures of gender stereotypes and occupational segregation in society, and dive in specifically in the music industry’s gender gaps to understand masculine hegemony in the sector, relying both on literature and quantitative data collected in the recent past in Europe, the UK and the USA. The paper will also investigate historical feminist resistance methods for participation and space-claiming, such as the Riot Grrrl scene and the creation of girls-only spaces, followed by an overview of the historical exclusion of genderqueer individuals from these scenes. The literature review is supported by interviews with music industry experts in the subject of diversity, equity and inclusion.

PŌC Studios is a unique creative hub located in the magical Lake Atitlán in Guatemala, with a breathtaking view and mesmerizing culture surrounding it, PŌC offers a creative residential space like no other. It features a state-of-the-art mobile production studio and a hybrid facility that seeks to develop and host creative retreats, music seminars & workshops as well as offer musical services such as music production, mixing and mastering.

We aim to submerge the visitors in the culture of Guatemala and in the traditions of the lake, provide them with a space for truly disconnect form the outside world and re-connect with themselves, their art and creativity. We draw inspiration from the local culture and the history from the lake, the name Pōc came from the ancient duck that lived on the lake, derived from the sound of the bird diving into the water to hunt.

Located in Santa Catarina Palopó, one of the 7 villages surrounding lake, the space is a private and secluded property with lakefront panoramic view of the lake, it features a boutique luxury accommodation that can host up to 15 people at the same time and counts with all the necessary amenities for our guest to feel fully immersed. The space also features a music production studio, a totally hybrid and mobile set up that can be modified to the necessities of our clients, focused mostly for artist and songwriters that also produce, and for in the box mixing and mastering, we will feature some seriously great gear raging from guitars, pianos, vocal & instrument microphones, some outboard gear such as Mic Pre’s, EQ’s and Dynamics and much more.

The space is not only equipped with the necessary equipment to produce and develop projects but also counts with a breathtaking location which will allow artist, songwriters and creatives of all disciplines to re-connect their art, take a step back from the buzz of day-to-day activities and immerse in the creativity. Our residential space will allow us to host these artists, but as well to create a space for knowledge with our workshops/seminars and a production house with musical and creative services.

The following business plan outlines my company Way Up High, which is an inclusive entertainment company devoted to uplifting queer artists in Upstate South Carolina. The different branches of the company will include the independent record label and the management/A&R consultancy for new artists. Serving the whole Upstate region of South Carolina, it will be based in my home in Greenville, South Carolina where there is also a professional home recording studio. Our objective as a company is to serve an underrepresented population in the music industry and give opportunities to musicians that haven’t had the chance to due to their identity or economic status. We want to create a community of like-minded individuals and uplift them, their stories, and their music, jumpstarting their careers as musicians while increasing their revenue streams. While we will of course welcome allies of the LGBTQ+ community to be signed to the label and be our clients, we will have a focus of searching for queer artists to help with the industry imbalance.

This project aims to establish the scope in which social media data plays a considerable role in A&R signings in 2022, from the discovery to the management of new talent; and evaluate the risks associated with said signings. The study dissects the paradigm shift in artist discovery following the digital transformation of the music industry and predominance of social media, within the context of the attention economy. The re-definition of what is seen as ‘talent’ in 2022 is therefore introduced and the importance of virality in data-based signings is discussed; in addition to an evaluation of the role of data in offering record contracts (data collected across all social media and streaming platforms). A specific focus is given to TikTok metrics, as a highly relevant social media platform within the attention economy, and a source of considerable major record deals since 2020. The risks associated with signings resulting from going viral on Tiktok are covered, aiming to grasp the success rate of specific artists and assessing talent originality. Hence the research question of this study: To what extent can Data de-risk A&R signings?

Based on 13 interviewees from the UK, US and Canada and a quantitative analysis of TikTok-based major signings in 2020, this paper introduces an A&R speculative Framework, aiming to assess the risks associated with the signings based solely on TikTok virality. It presents a music-factors vs a data-factors based analysis, to better grasp the decisions behind the multi-millions dollars record deals. The results conclude that although virality offers short-term visibility on both social media and funnels to DSPs, it does not constitute a strong enough argument for return on investment of multi-million dollar desks. Indeed, out of all the artists analyzed in this study, the only ones managing to keep consistent streaming numbers are the ones who display strong music-factors, and respond to a more traditional approach of A&R. Therefore, data helps in filtering the thousands of songs released everyday, and in calculating the risks associated with a new signing in the short term, but does not de-risk nor predict the long term potential of an artist.

The music industry has been dominated by American music and culture for many years. Recently with the growth of technology, other countries and cultures have been able to share their music with the world. As people have become more open to listening to a wide variety of music, various genres have been able to gain exposure and growth. For example, music from my culture including Afrobeats and Afropop in particular have been able to gain a worldwide audience. Artists such as Wizkid and BurnaBoy have given a platform for Afrobeats music and collaborated with International artists to build that audience. The European market in particular is showing a growing audience for Afrobeats, Afropop and Rap/Drill music. ELEMENT a live entertainment agency will incorporate booking, promoting and live music management services in London, Paris and Amsterdam. The agency will aim to cater to this growing audience by being one of the first leading agencies within these specific genres. ELEMENT will expand across European cities. Artists in the ELEMENT roster won’t only be collaborators due to their talent, unique voice and sound but also due to their modern style and contribution to the rise of these music genres.

This paper described the process of organizing a live event on behalf of Disrupcion Records’ imprint, Nikko Records with 3 DJs, 1 virtual artist (Hatsune Miku)and a video mapping in Valencia, Spain. First, I aimed to describe what the meaning behind the project was as well as what ancillary goals this project had. Then, by going over each step of the process I described the details about booking the venue, picking the artists and collaborating with foreign companies. Furthermore, I go over the promotion efforts that were made, the challenges I had to face and finally the outcomes and results. With this project I tried to broaden my horizons in booking acts I had no experience working with in a completely new environment and tried to bring people to listen to new types of music they may not have been familiar with. I believe this project will show future students the challenges of creating a live event from scratch with limited resources in a foreign country.

Keywords: DJ, virtual artist, record label, showcase

INOCON is a yearly conference focusing on the intersection of music and technology. The conference is a means of connecting the Berklee student body to industry professionals and for the general public to participate in cutting-edge conversations. INOCON began as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The conference was a fully online event that hosted a variety of industry experts discussing the future of the music industry and musical acts from the Berklee Valencia community. It has since been a part of the Berklee Valencia framework as a means for students to understand and execute a long-form project. INOCON ‘22 was the 3rd edition of the conference.
As Technical Manager, I was tasked with aiding the team with technical support and being the bridge between the INOCON Team and Berklee Valencia Technology Team. The primary focus of my role was to facilitate the live stream, manage the Post Production Team, set and create audiovisual standards, and build and maintain the INOCON website. By taking on this role, I challenged myself to develop my skills as a communicator, web developer, and managerial organizer.

Keywords: inocon, technical manager, production, live stream, conference, operational project

INOCON is a music and technology conference that brings together young professionals and industry leaders. It is a hub that generates meaningful conversations around innovation and explores cutting edge technologies that impact the future of music businesses. It also provides a platform for Berklee artists to showcase divergent music performances for attendees around the world.
This event began in July 2020 and kicked off Berklee’s first online conference, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was organized conjointly by GEMB and MPTI programs and had two main goals: to produce a high-quality virtual experience that provides practical, forward-thinking knowledge and to give artists an opportunity to grow their careers by showcasing innovative solutions in the music industry through performances. Two years later, our team solely represents the GEMB program, and we have two new challenges to carry out: to execute Berklee’s first hybrid conference and to increase INOCON’s brand recognition and awareness.
This year, INOCON22 took place between April 7th, 8th, and 9th. It consisted of two online conference days filled with 12 panels and an INOCONcert series (15-20 minute pre-recorded performances done by Berklee students). The final day was entirely dedicated to INOCONcert, our very first edition of a hybrid concert made up of Berklee students performing at the Centro del Carmen de Cultura Contemporánea Centro (the CCCC) in Valencia, Spain.

This culminating experience showcases the work that Tyler Appleby completed as the Head of Artists and Repertoire for Disrupción Records during the 2021-2022 academic year. From co-creating and operating six imprints, to leading all A&Rs through scouting, signing, development, and release processes, and learning how to be an effective leader in the A&R space, this culminating experience project details every aspect of Tyler’s role. Key objectives, resources, tasks, risks, outcomes, and challenges are all elaborated upon, while a detailed GANTT Chart timeline is included to present how Tyler’s experience occurred throughout his tenure as Head of A&R. All releases and signed artists are also presented, with details as to how Tyler was involved with them.

Keywords: artists and repertoire, A&R, record label, record practicum, disrupción records, operational project, slide deck, imprint, independent label

The purpose of this paper is to examine the lack of disability inclusion within the United States music industry. In 2022, there has been an uptick in disability awareness and inclusion within the US music industry; however, it is lagging behind what other countries and industries are doing in this space. We examine the current state of disability inclusion along with what companies that are associated with the US music industry can do to improve. The research is focused on the three pillars of Awareness, Attitude, and Accessibility; referred to as the “Three A’s.” While there are a number of other factors that might also be considered pillars in disability inclusion, these three will be looked at in-depth to determine how awareness can be raised, attitudes can be changed, and accessibility can be prioritized in order to have a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive industry. Through a series of interviews and review of existing literature, along with survey data, the research will help further identify what the US music industry can do to progress and become a more diverse and inclusive industry for both those working in the industry and consumers.

Keywords: Diversity, Equity, Disability Inclusion, Mental and Physical Disabilities, Disability Awareness, Accessibility, Music

Since China’s entry into the top 10 recorded music markets around the world in 2017, a number of high-profile cross-border collaborations have occurred amongst established artists across mainland China and the international market. This research paper aims to explore and understand recorded music collaborations between Chinese and international artists from 2017 onward using a mixed approach of content analyses, interviews, and case studies. While many recent collaborations have been done to promote international artists in China, certain players in the cross-cultural space are pushing towards more balanced collaborations that will also bring Chinese artists international recognition. Ultimately, collaborations between artists from within and outside of China serve to expand the collaborators’ fan bases in new territories and acts as a medium for cultural exchange.
Keywords: China music industry, cross-border music collaborations, transnational recording collaborations.

The KPOP industry has taken the world by storm with their ability to create and maintain loyal fanbases. They do this with specific marketing tactics, focused on fan engagement. However, since the beginning of COVID, there have been less opportunities to function in the same ways as the industry is used to. Established KPOP artists have been able to transition easily with simple elimination of contact with others, without any damage to their fanbase. Yet, new groups who have debuted during 2020 have seen consistent rises in fandom members. These groups have thrown themselves into social media marketing, rather than relying on show appearances. They strategically oversaturate their fans with content, like YouTube reality shows and TikTok accounts. There are standard practices used among Korean idols when it comes to specific areas like day to day curated content, release and event promotions, and distribution. These practices, while not entirely unique to the Kpop industry, have been utilized to their advantage in a way that no one else has been able to accomplish due to tactical changes that the Korean entertainment industry has added over the years. I chose to take it upon myself to see if the Korean style marketing strategies could be utilized by artists not associated with the Kpop industry. Using my own artist career and social media accounts as the test subjects, I conducted a five month social experiment to coincide with the question: Can unknown western artists use Kpop idol marketing tactics to create a fanbase? I found through this experiment that while it is possible to grow a fanbase using these strategies, it is not as rapid or successful as what is typically seen for Korean artists. The biggest factors for this is the lack of time and resources and a general difference between what goes into a Kpop idol identity and that of a DIY artist.

Case study on the independent music distributor Amuse and and the indie music distribution scheme. Keywords: indie music; music distribution; music start up; amuse.

My project was a talent finding initiative that I created and ran through our Berklee based record label Disrupción Records. It revolved around a songwriting and production competition that ran over 4 months where I invited exclusively berklee students to participate and display their best creative abilities. Throughout the competition students were also paired together as they progressed through the rounds. This facilitated with not only finding and creating new talent but helped students find new collaborators and connect the different Berklee campuses. Each round was three weeks of submission with about one week of voting. This kept things moving smoothly along with applying some real life pressure to the contestants to race a deadline, while also working with someone completely brand new. Through this process I invited industry professionals to help me judge the contestants along with acquiring sponsors and cash prizes for any winners throughout the competition. At the end of the competition, we took our winning song and are planning a final release through the label. We will be helping them with A&R, final deliverables, marketing, and support.

Recent studies provide concrete evidence supporting the benefits of listening to music while exercising, including reduction in perceived exertion, increase in time to exhaustion and increase in workout intensity and efficiency. This research aims to provide deeper understanding as to why and how consumers are using music or audio during exercise, how this consumer behavior has influenced the interdependent relationship between the music and fitness industries, and how new technological developments can be utilized to open new revenue streams to music rights holders while providing unique fitness experiences to consumers. Through a series of focus group discussions and a survey, it was discovered that most consumers are using familiar music and audio as a source of motivation, and selecting music based on their mood. Among participants, the use of podcasts and a distrust in curated playlists were common. Using these results, four consumer profiles emerged, and two unique innovations were conceived. These findings and consumer profiles suggest that mood indicators in connection to music are an adequate direction to follow when integrating audio and technology into the fitness landscape. To continue to improve the beneficial relationship between music and fitness, the music must be properly licensed depending on its use, which offers an opportunity to emerging artists for exposure to an untapped audience.

Keywords: research project, fitness, exercise, consumer research, focus groups, qualitative research, exercise music

For my CE project, I oversaw Disrupción’s Marketing and Branding department. My project was operational, and I worked in conjunction with the record practicum during the Spring semester. My project was twofold: define the Disrupción brand and implement a content and marketing strategy to communicate the brand; and provide branding and marketing guidance for all the artist teams within the label. I solidified Disrupción’s brand as a youthful, innovative, and global independent record label by implementing a soft rebrand and various social media campaigns. I also compiled a number of marketing and branding resources for the teams to access at their convenience and followed up with the project managers to ensure that all the artist projects were on track. The reflective paper and operational slides go into detail about my accomplishments and my future plans. I will continue to serve in this position until we transition the label to the next team of GEMB students.

This Business Plan analyzes the possibility of developing a Consulting Marketing Agency in Quito, Ecuador to provide Branding and Digital Marketing services to emerging and mid-size Ecuadorian artists to help them further their professional music careers. Valkyria Studios’ services consist of different bundles, based on a monthly subscription or a flat flee, depending on the client’s needs, at reasonably affordable prices. Its main objective is to help artists develop a successful, long-term musical career by focusing mainly on creating a strong visual and conceptual identity that can be easily recognized and endures with time, accompanied by a great story to be told along the way. The independent music scene in Ecuador has increasingly been growing for the past decade; which has led to the appearance of many musical acts, most of them dangerously similar to one another. Many music artists don’t realize the importance of having a unique artistic identity and the big role it plays in the music industry. This business plan emerges from the need to provide specialized marketing services to artists so they can develop a strong artistic identity, and with that, a creative digital marketing strategy to boost all of their upcoming launches and professional activities. Valkyria Studios’ aim is to advise music artists how if they treat their ‘band as a brand’ they can take their music career to the next level and into the big leagues. The company’s services are meant to set apart the amateur musician that creates music as a hobby from the professional musician that wants to make music for a living.

Keywords: business plan, branding, digital marketing services, artistic identity, agency, Ecuadorian artists, professional music careers, affordable bundles.

As you all know, in 2020 the world was turned upside down and all live events came to a halt. In an effort to bring the school together and showcase Berklee Valencia's incredible talent, a team of GEMB and MPTI students came together to create INO CON -a 4 day live- streamed virtual conference that aims to highlight innovation in the music industry. After the incredible success the team had in its inaugural year, Berklee decided to continue the conference and pass it on to the following class. Our team was fortunate to take on this project and solidify it as part of Berklee's academic program. It was our job to take the conference to new heights, taking the framework that was provided to us and giving it a fresh look that is still representative of the INO CON brand. From May 18-21 2021, INO CON hosted 20 hours of content, nearly 1300 attendees from 83 different countries, 20 panels, 18 performances, and gathered music industry professionals from all sectors of the industry in one event. INO CON is more than just a virtual conference. It is an opportunity to learn, grow, and develop as a music business professional.

This CE project is about developing an education tool adapted to the modern independent artist. I searched for the most efficient way to empower the independent artists’ community, and education has been the first and main answer that came to my mind. In this project, I developed a full business plan for an artist accelerator program that I named Steps. Steps has the potential to help thousands of artists take their music careers to the next level. My approach has been very pragmatic, learning from my own artistic experience and the artists I have worked with as well as interviewing important actors of the independent music industry sector to frame the most efficient idea possible. Berklee college of music gave me access to a huge database of knowledge that I based my program on. I took out of my own GEMB classes the most useful information, I tailored it for artists and imagined a 7-modules program to cover these notions. If the program will be enhanced in the future with the help of professional music business teachers and consultants, I believe I now have a solid basis to take as a starting point. Steps is about climbing up the stairs toward success, one step after another. This program has huge potential for profits but this is not the primary reason why I decided to develop it. If it is important to show proof of profitability to potential investors, I believe it is even more important to demonstrate real value for artists and stakeholders. Indeed, too many programs have been overpromising and charging a substantial amount of money to artists in search on guidance. Steps is not one of these. Not only will we create real value for our stakeholders but also charge lower fees than competitors, because we believe making profits with artists as partners is possible but not make money off artists' back. We will build a relationship of trust, transparency, inclusion and kindness with our artists because being an artist is one of the hardest positions in society, it requires courage, perseverance, resilience and hard work. Artists deserve the best; we will give them Steps.

INO CON is a four-day, globally streamed music and technology conference hosted in collaboration with Berklee Valencia from May 18 through 21. The conference hosts networking opportunities between creative startups, industry experts and artists. INO (short for Innovative Nomad) CON was created in order to provide a global network of creators with access to new ways of collaborating and learning without physical limitations. The conference takes a deep dive into the topics of innovation, discovery, education, and artistry within the music industry. The conference consisted of 20 Panels, 40 Speakers, 15 Partners, 18 Performances and engaged a total of 1300+ Registrants from 80+ Countries.

The purpose of this research paper is to gain knowledge on how the feeling of community is created among fandoms, live music events, and also the impact of Covid-19 on the attendance and interest of future live events. This study will explore the different building blocks needed to create the feeling of community, joy, and inclusion from the stance of festival directors, artist managers, music event producers, and superfans. To understand this concept, the conduction of interviews, creation of survey's and research of applicable literary works took place.

This document is a business plan of Noize Virtual, an intermediary entity/agency in the emerging landscape of in-game concerts, virtual realities and other digital platforms. Noize Virtual is primarily focused on independent artists and other music industry entities from growing Eastern-European market. This business plan also outlines controlling mechanism, marketing and implementation strategies and maps the current market. It also provides a professional background of the creator.

Keywords: virtual concert, in-game concert, business plan

ToLo Group provides public relations services to Afro-Colombian musicians (Black, Afro-Colombians, Raizales, and Palenqueros) to improve their global promotional efforts, shape their public image in the most professional and cost-effective manner following global best practices and experiences.

This Cumulative Experience was created through the GEMB Entrepreneurship practicum throughout the Spring and Summer semester. This practicum focuses on developing a business plan for students who wish to start their own company once graduated from Berklee. I was inspired to create a business plan for a company named DAYA, whose purpose is to work with Jamaican and Caribbean artists on creative assets for single or album releases. The business plan to follow below shows all aspects, services and necessary finances of the company from launch to year three. The Entrepreneurship course acted as a guiding hand to ensure all sections of the business plan were completed properly and the overall idea of the company could be proposed to future investors in a professional manner.

This is a business plan for the creation of a platform (website/app) meant to help artist with a focus on mental health. an all-in-one self care platform 100% dedicated to artists. The company will help them in the following fields: nutrition, sport, mental health, inclusion/diversity and personal development.

My culminating experience consisted of an operational project where I acted as the marketing and content manager for INO CON Music & Tech Conference 2021. INO CON is a 4-day, globally streamed music & tech conference hosted in collaboration with Berklee Valencia. The conference presents interactive panels between creative startups, industry experts, aspiring professionals, and artists, as well as unique multimedia performances from around the globe. The conference took a deep dive into the themes of innovation, discovery, education, and artistry through the curation of diverse seminars featuring leading professionals from across the industry. My role was to create the branding of the conference as well as build the communication strategy that showcased that branding to our audience in a meaningful, impactful way. It was my job to make all major announcements during and after the conference and to ensure that all of our social channels were consistently updated with all important information and news surrounding the conference.

After analyzing the global macroeconomic climate and entertainment industry with the aim to point out current trends that will mark business and the relationships between consumers, creatives, governments, companies, and largely the global population, a conclusion has been reached in terms of what could be one of the best mechanisms for investment in the entertainment industry for the long term. With the expectation of world economies going through a wave of inflation that will cause serious economic turmoil, along with market trends in the entertainment industry that lead us to believe that the best investments in entertainment for the long term include the following characteristics: a global perspective, market leaders, differentiated content, technology driven, sustainable, diversified and a strong balance sheet. In the other hand, investments in royalty catalogs were also analyzed in relation to the economic environment, and although the final conclusion was to not invest currently in this asset class, a market based queue to be followed for investment was found. Along with that, a top 25 list of publicly traded companies within the entertainment industry was arrived at through both technical and fundamental analysis. These companies are the most optimal for investment, according to the specified parameters within the thesis.

As you all know, in 2020 the world was turned upside down and all live events came to a halt. In an effort to bring the school together and showcase Berklee Valencia's incredible talent, a team of GEMB and MPTI students came together to create INO CON -a 4 day live- streamed virtual conference that aims to highlight innovation in the music industry. After the incredible success the team had in its inaugural year, Berklee decided to continue the conference and pass it on to the following class. Our team was fortunate to take on this project and solidify it as part of Berklee's academic program. It was our job to take the conference to new heights, taking the framework that was provided to us and giving it a fresh look that is still representative of the INO CON brand. From May 18-21 2021, INO CON hosted 20 hours of content, nearly 1300 attendees from 83 different countries, 20 panels, 18 performances, and gathered music industry professionals from all sectors of the industry in one event. INO CON is more than just a virtual conference. It is an opportunity to learn, grow, and develop as a music business professional.

The music industry has been facing a major mental health crisis over the past decade, which has been heightened by the impacts of the global pandemic. From the uncertainty and high pressure naturally associated with a career in entertainment, these stressors have reached a new level of intensity this past year. Research shows that artists are now twice as likely to face mental health issues than the general population. Therefore, more support needs to be provided as we lose an increasing number artists every year due to poor mental health and addiction issues. As music industry executives work in the same environment and face many of the same issues, it is also important to address how they can be better supported, especially since they are often overlooked. One of the greatest stakeholders in an artists’ success are often record labels. They continually invest in artist marketing and promotion; however, they lack a real investment in the artist’s wellness to support career longevity. Furthermore, the record label’s role in artist and employee mental health needs to be addressed, especially with the resources they have at hand. This paper intends to present the context of the current music industry landscape in terms of the mental health crisis while analyzing current initiatives that have been put in place by both independent and major record labels. In order to explain the context of this topic, the paper evaluates past, present, and future issues in the industry while highlighting specific labels and trends. Research was conducted through secondary articles, primary interviews, and two surveys. More specifically, interviews were with music industry professionals to identify best practices for record labels in supporting artist and employee mental health. The paper also reviews two surveys conducted with artists and label employees to identify the most valued and desired mental health initiatives labels could implement. Lastly, it concludes with overall insights, possible action plans, and next steps for research.

Keywords: Mental Health, Music Industry, Record Label, Wellness, Meaningful Change, Independent Label, Major Label, Artist, Employee, Company Culture

The objective of this research paper is to provide a dissemination document that easily explains and contextualizes the business model of Hipgnosis Songs Fund. This research will analyze in an exhaustive way how music intellectual property works, the growth opportunities it has, and based on that, what are the key reasons that make Hipgnosis Songs’ strategy one of the most interesting and disruptive today from both an M&A and rights management perspective. The first section will consist of a literature review on music intellectual property and why today is considered an attractive asset class for investors. It will describe what are music rights and how they generate revenue for rightsholders, as well as showcase why they are a
stable, predictable, and uncorrelated source of income. The second section will focus on Hipgnosis Song’s business model. First, it will bring a little overview of the company’s purpose, followed by an analysis of the company’s catalog strategy and why it makes sense from an investment standpoint. It will also touch on the Hipgnosis advocacy argument and how it could positively affect Hipgnosis shareholders –apart from improving the paradigm for songwriters. Also, it will describe what’s “Song Management”, what effects it has had on the company’s results, and how it breaks with the traditional publishing model. Finally, a conclusion will be provided collecting the ideas drawn about the research and that simply will explain the “why” of Hipgnosis. To undertake this research and support the hypotheses, the research methodology carried out has been based on the analysis of articles, official reports, and essays from specialized sources such as CISAC, IFPI, Goldman Sachs, MBW, Music Week, Rolling Stone Magazine... Also, this research has been complemented with interviews made to experts in the field and music professionals from companies such as Sony Music Publishing, Association of Independent Music (AIM), Hipgnosis Songs Fund, and Warner Chappel.

Keywords: music rights, Intellectual Property, M&A, catalog, streaming, asset, investors, label, publisher, copyright, songwriter, investment, Hipgnosis, Merck Mercuriadis.

A dive into the life of the student-run, independent on-campus label in 2021, Disrupción Records. Founded in 2014, Disrupción Records has seen and lived evolution in many ways. innovation, diversity and inclusion, first student-label NFT ever, global artists, pandemic... Dive into an intimist and factual summary of what the year 2021 looked like for the expanding label, the music industry in general, how indie label work, the ambitions of a team and their achievements, all through the eyes of the label manager that year, Laure Herouart.

The outcome of this Culminating Experience is a business plan detailing a full proposal for a company called Bxtchin’ Entertainment. The company is a full-service management and booking agency catering specifically to women and woman-identifying artists operating within the electronic dance music genre. Women are generally underrepresented in the industry as a matter of principle, and the company seeks to remedy this problem. The plan explains in great detail the challenges that women in dance music often face. The company’s mission is to empower women within the electronic dance music genre, to help them overcome the barriers and problems that they face in their careers, and to ultimately make atangible difference in the industry gender imbalance. The company will offer full-scale services for artists, and will act as both manager and booking agent. The company will also offer extra enrichment opportunities to clients such as workshops, lectures, teaching opportunities, and mentor/mentee programs.

MAGS LLC. is a music marketing consultancy company based in Europe, which works with independent artists and labels on their marketing and promotion. My project is a complete business plan for the company.

The digital age has changed the way music is seen in the modern world. In order to combine the past history of music censorship in America with the current trends and topics in music, this paper examines three miniature case studies based on the RIAA’s guide for explicit content: depictions of violence, sex, or substance abuse. The conclusion of this paper is not a definitive answer, but a call to continue discussions about morals and ethics of music as America continues to move forward.

Throughout my year as a Music Business student at Berklee, I came to reflect on my own personal journey as a musician from Lebanon. I started playing classical piano at a music conservatory at a young age. After a few years, I did not have time to continue on, due to academic studies, so I decided to quit. This was the case for many of my friends. Having my education taken at a private American school in Beirut, Lebanon, I was fortunate enough to participate in a mandatory music course throughout my fifteen years as a student. After researching music education in the Middle East and North Africa, I concluded that this is the case for numerous private schools in Arab countries but not for public schools. This is a shame because there is talent in the region, but no music education access to it. Firqa is a digital platform - and an aggregator - that provides content for music education in the Middle East and North Africa. With technologies such as Virtual and Augmented Realities, courses related to music offer a fun and interactive way of learning to students and to anyone interested in learning about it. Firqa partners with music industry professionals and platforms who excel in providing content related to music. Firqa then aggregates music education related content on its platform and gives back a percentage of its shares to its partners. Firqa is distributed for free public schools in Arab countries in the Middle East and North Africa first. It is also available for use to individuals who are willing to subscribe to it in order to participate and gain access to the courses.

Keywords: music education, Middle East and North Africa, music courses, music industry professionals.

The creation of a record label and publishing company gravitating in the EDM sphere. The concentration of the project is on the Dance Pop subgenre. We will be distributing and promoting records from various producers and will control the publishing of those releases. We also will create collaboration opportunities for our producers through our publishing department.

This project analyzes music investing via catalogue acquisitions and looks at the viability of creating asset-backed securities with music royalties as another form of investing in music. The paper looks at historical examples, other industries, and interviews industry professionals to conclude that music-backed securities are possible and a good alternative for institutional investors with little knowledge of the music industry.

With more of Nigeria’s biggest contemporary artists gaining traction on playlists and mainstream radio as well as receiving awards and recognition for their notable collaborations, it is evident that an increasing amount of attention is now being placed on the country’s talents and its growing music market. The influx of digital service providers, distributors, record labels and various startups expanding their operations into the country within the past five years, speaks to the sudden urgency for companies to focus on this particular industry given its rich cultural capital. Although streaming is leading the growth in Nigeria’s recorded music sector, issues centered around monetization and digital infrastructure are currently affecting the entire ecosystem, from artists to the consumers who go about seeking this music. Some digital service providers and distributors already present in the market have gone about their respective methods of maneuvering around these challenges or have attempted to solve them through the implementation of new initiatives. However, the biggest concerns that still remain are how companies can improve their value proposition to maintain a sustainable business model while also tailoring their services to meet the music demands of the consumers in this particular market.

Keywords: Africa, Digitalization, Digital Service Providers, Infrastructure, Nigeria, Piracy, Pricing Models, Playlists, Sustainable Business

Boomerang Music Brazil is a Brazilian record label and music production company aimed to spread Brazilian music to the world. Currently located in Goiânia, in central Brazil, the label’s roster embraces artists from the most different Brazilian cultural manifestations, traditional and contemporary, and is already recognized for working with the most reputable musicians in the country. The recent experience of the label with physical media, particularly Vinyl Records, and the owner’s DJ and record collector background have biased the company towards the physical music market, once it has proven to be more profitable and able to provide more fair remuneration to the music supply chain around the label’s orbit. Physical media still represents 20% of the total revenues of the music industry, and Vinyl have been experiencing subsequent increases in the last years, in what has been called the Vinyl revival. This business plan regards the internationalization of Boomerang Music Brazil, targeting the European market, and deploying new business models and services such as a subscription service and the release of Non-fungible tokens (NFTs), the latest format that has shaken the foundations of the music industry in 2021.

Oxyd Music is a company that was created during my master's program which became my CE project. The company is operating as a Record Label and Publishing company in the EDM world. This project was the fruit of a collaboration by student Nicolas Klersy and myself.

With the rise of platforms like Splice and other music creation technologies, the market for samples in the music industry is rapidly growing. This project outlines the trials of starting a new sample label and exploring the emerging artist-to-artist market. A sample label is very similar to a record label with the difference of signing producers, musicians, and sound engineers instead of recording artists. Record labels sell songs to consumers on DSP’s like Spotify and sample labels sell samples to producers. Essentially, it is the B2B market for musical assets.

My culminating experience for masters of arts in global entertainment and music business from Berklee College of music is a prospective business plan of a music supervision and sync placement company in India following a series of educational initiatives to improve awareness and knowledge about sync placements in the Indian market. An improvement in the sync and licensing market benefits several stakeholders in the music industry, such as artists, publishing houses, and production houses and supports their goals in the industry. Music licensing is an underdeveloped market in India, where normally a song only gets licensed if a script calls for it, and even after repeated attempts at changing this pattern with the help of production houses independent of the Bollywood film industry, a vast majority of the industry remains hesitant to change ways. A music supervision company, in an enormous market like India, would benefit all its stakeholders with recognition, economy, and further development of the market. A series of interviews with individuals from the Indian market with extensive knowledge in sync and music supervision were conducted as a part of market research for this business plan. While conducting the research and developing the plan, I learned about ways to introduce concepts to individuals, strategize and plan finances for a business, conduct research, create marketing plans and a business blueprint.

Keywords: sync and licensing, music supervision, business plan, Indian market, sync placements

StudioPoet is an app for songwriters to network in a professional setting, store and organize their catalogues and share access with their Publishers to ensure the correct transfer of metadata.

My CE is the business plan of a potential music export and education initiative in India. A music export office benefits all the stakeholders of the music industry, such as artists, managers and promoters, and supports their export activities. Music was first recognised as an exportable product in Asia only with the global success of K-Pop, even though European countries have successfully used and continue to use music export as a tool for soft diplomacy. An export office in as culturally rich and diverse emerging market as India would benefit the economy, create jobs and help recognise and develop the local music industry. A survey of artists and music business professionals from India was conducted, as part of my market research for this business plan. Through this research and plan, I learnt about possible ways of strategizing and funding private non-profit organisations such as the one I am aiming to build. Through the process, I have learnt methods of conducting surveys, analysing data, projecting finances and strategizing and writing a business plan.

Keywords: Business Plan

Despite China's ranking as the seventh biggest music market globally, few Chinese artists or bands have significant international influences. Comparing China with its neighbors, South Korea - made the viral boy band BTS a world phenomenon and started a craze of learning Korean, and Japan - have been influencing western cultures by its anime and independence music scenes, China has not been able to export any of primary modern culture. This paper takes a deep dive into understanding the root cause of China's struggle of nurturing a more diverse and flourished music industry, which A&R plays a vital role in developing. By reviewing the history of music industry development in China and discussing topics on what a good A&R entails, how A&R (or lack of A&R) has impacted the music scenes, the author explores where the opportunities of A&R lie in the new streaming era.

Keywords: China Music Industry, A&R, Music Education, Tencent Music Entertainment, Tiktok, Talent Shows, Artist Management.

The following business plan outlines the product and business roadmap for Flex, a SaaS product to be launched by Creatorbase. Technology has significantly lowered the barriers to content creation and distribution, blurring the line separating content consumers and content creators. These content creators are now becoming entrepreneurs running businesses centred around their intellectual property. Our goal is to give them access to the tools that enable them to run their careers as lean and scalable enterprises. The following business plan outlines the details around Flex, our first product offering. Flex is a platform that uses natural language processing to analyze artist management and label contracts to give them clear and actionable legal insight helping them make well-informed decisions. The plan aims to build a product that creators love to use, rather than something that’s too complicated for them to understand. Our mission is to use technology to bridge the gap between art and commerce. We have detailed a comprehensive business plan with a macro-level analysis of the market, a micro-level view of the product, how it can achieve Product-Market Fit, as well as revenue projections that help prospective investors understand the intricacies of the business.

Summer Whistle project is a comprehensive music-creating experience that begins with a diverse, innovative, and collaborative songwriting and production camp and culminates in a global collaborative album release, under the A&R theme of Summer Whistle. This project offers an opportunity for beginning artists and emerging artists over the world to adapt to the working pattern of the globalized music industry, develop their professional skills, and expand their audience by the final album release. Meanwhile, to include more diverse music styles in this album, the connection with the Berklee Global Initiative is built. Artists studying at or graduated from the Berklee Global Academic Partners are also represented in this album. This is the first cross-campus collaboration between Berklee Boston and Berklee Valencia which received support from the top faculty members from both campuses. This is also a global collaborative project that represents artists from nine countries: United States, United Kingdom, France, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador,
Austria, Japan, and China.

This is research paper that examines the relationship between the music listening data and live music data and how it structures artist marketing, touring routes, and festivals. I will be analyzing the current data that is available, the perspectives of key professionals in both areas of the music industry, and how each influences the other whether by touring routes, A&R, marketing campaigns. This research seeks to find gaps and overlaps in the different aspects of the music industry, and how to bridge them in creating a centralized artist fan database.

A business plan about an artist service company, The Three Bs.

This year, I co-founded a creative agency focused on Augmented Reality experiences for artists. What started as a vision about helping artists reach new fans and build emotional connections has now become an officially registered company taking on first clients and projects. The academic project outcome is a business plan, however my co-founder James Shannon and I spent a significant amount of our time starting and operating the business. This business is combining complementary experience and knowledge of two professionals. While my expertise is rooted in the Creative Direction and Marketing field and the European market, James has experience in Business Development and Sales in the North American market. Our company is registered as “Auras Studios ltd” in the UK. Auras Studios’ main business is the creation of AR filters to be used on social platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and TikTok. Additionally, the company advises artists on their Augmented Reality strategy, offers creative direction for AR campaigns and will help with the filter distribution and data analysis of the AR campaign’s performance. The papers offer a description of the company's business strategy for the next three years.

Keywords: Augmented Reality, Creative Agency, AR, Face filters, AR lens, Creative Direction, Music Marketing, Digital Marketing, Social Media, Innovation, Immersive technology.

In March 2020, the emergence of COVID-19 soon led to widespread economic and cultural carnage in the music and entertainment industries, with immediate and most direct implication on the live music sector. Overnight closures and unfulfilled ticket orders pressured the live-music economic model the industry once thrived on. This paper examines the different opportunities and threats live music venues, managers, promoters, and artists faced as a result of the crisis. Including the use of business pivoting theory presented in Eric Ries’ The Lean Startup, it is shown how the live music sector reacted to COVID-19 through the variety of decision-making practices implemented to cut costs and instill new growth practices. The methodology for this is in the form of a qualitative study and founded on inductive reasoning. Analysis of twelve industry interviews supports the popular reactionary shift to implement more online/digital practices during the pandemic. Later reactions support a second wave of decisions that reconsider these practices’ profitability, potential implementation, and growth in the new climate. It is argued that COVID-19’s shock in the traditional live industry allowed many companies to readjust their models, leading the live music industry to become less of a cashflow gamble than it once was.

The Stay at Home Fest (@athomefest) project was a collaborative online music festival on Instagram created by students at Berklee Valencia as an attempt to cooperate with peers across campuses during the Spanish lockdown in May 2020. Our roster of artists consisted in Berklee students from Valencia and Boston, alumni, fellows, professors and non-Berklee musicians – from expats living in the city to local artists.

The Culminating Experience for my Master of Arts in Global Entertainment and Music Business was an operational project to expand our activities and range of Licensing and Synchronization services within Disrupción Records, and this was my main mission as Sync Department Manager within the label. During my term, my strategic goal was to create a viable structure that would ensure continuity between generations: Disrupción Records Sync Services. The objective was to provide the minimum viable tools and methods to build from, as well as a diverse catalogue to enrich year after year. My most valuable deliverables can be summarized with the following: two featured initiatives, four contracts templates, two platforms as main resources and a complete roster including: artists, songwriters and composers. This was the start of my journey in the Sync world and it has been a revelation for me as it allowed me to discover a career path that I desire to pursue further. In regard to the future of this department, I am very optimist with our representation model and our structure. It will only evolve and grow with the partnerships we bring along, as my work this year showcased.

Keywords: Operational project, Synchronization, Music Licensing, practice- based research.

INO, being short for Innovative Nomad, would be the first completely virtual conference Berklee Valencia has ever hosted, which provided a solution to the dilemma of COVID in 2020. INO CON provided access to a new way of collaborating and learning from a global network of creators, regardless of location. Presented in simultaneously streamed hubs, the conference took a deep dive into KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (KPI) of the music industry essential to build a sustainable career. This culminating experience walks through the process of creating and launching INO CON 2020.

The following business plan details the startup entity OFF TO. Founded by Dan Attias and Raouf Grissa, OFF TO seeks to provide new avenues for artists, listeners, and cultural institutions to explore in the new music environment brought upon by COVID-19. OFF TO will capitalize on the burgeoning need to accommodate new kinds of live experiences in the post-pandemic world through our unique offerings. We aim to record, film, and broadcast shows in carefully selected locations around the world, then make those experiences available in tangible, physical forms. Our core tenant is to showcase the perennial relevance of jazz music through the visual prism of cultural heritage sites and landmarks, and to keep the heartbeat of jazz live while providing unique experiences to consumers and listeners. By providing new spaces for music performances to occur, OFF TO will offer creative solutions for artist looking to perform and reach new audiences. OFF TO has the capacity and potential to grow in this new environment, and although the livestreaming market is competitive and particularly cluttered at present, OFF TO sits in a unique position to capitalize on recreating some of the lost value of live performance.

In this reflective paper, you will find a detailed summary of my journey to Producer & Creative Director of INO CON and how it has impacted my career, so far. As part of my culminating project, I have also prepared a chapter on the INO CON Handbook, developed alongside my team, as a resource guide for the next generation of Berklee’s virtual event producers, as well as a visual presentation of my project outcomes. I hope you enjoy reading on how this journey has impacted my life and more importantly, show how even in times of uncertainty, resilience and determination will help you push through and achieve your goals.

xplör is a Limited Liability Corporation registered in India. In essence, xplör is a music discovery platform for people who are dissatisfied with tracks that are accessed through top charts, recommendations from Digital Service Providers and other recommendation engines. xplör provides a new way of exploring new music - one that aims to remove all biases from the listener’s mind - one that does not discriminate on the grounds of language, genre or content - and one that is global, truly. xplör provides a 30-second preview clip of a carefully curated track each day with a guarantee of exposure to a track that makes the dopamine levels rise. Unlike Spotify, xplör is the best place to discover unbiased, non-mechanized, uncorrelated music from all geographies, genres, languages and styles - while saving time by not getting lost in the noise of 40k tracks being uploaded on a single DSP each day. We like to say that we are like Spotify’s weekly recommendation playlist but with the human curation spirit. The daily tracks are chosen by local curators and music enthusiasts who bring the global perspective while putting forth the track of the day. We ensure that tracks from under-represented and/or minority artists/ languages/ regions are given appropriate spotlight because they deserve to be heard.

After the COVID-19 Pandemic and worldwide lockdown happened, forcing the music industry’s live sector to stop, our previous project - the EU DIY Musician Conference - got canceled. In an attempt to have at least one event that could showcase Berklee Valencia talent, host keynotes and panels with topics that were helpful for Berklee students and for the music industry, a group of students from the GEMB program alongside their advisors Alexandre Perrin and Pablo Munguıá created a whole new event that was going to be held online. The very first official online Berklee event: INO CON INO CON was 3-day virtual music and tech conference, in collaboration with Berklee College of Music, streamed globally. The conference featured lectures, workshops, multimedia performances, and networking opportunities so attendees could look at innovative ways on how to move forward in their careers. On July 8th, 9th, and 10th of 2020, INO CON hosted more than 20 hours of content, 600+ unique registrants, more than 40 online sessions, and gathered music industry professionals from all over the world. In pursuit of innovation, INO CON became more than a project, but an opportunity to learn, grow, and enjoy music and knowledge when the only stage was your screen.

This business plan entails the details of future entertainment company “Guichao Culture Limited”, registering and operating in China. In the course of this business plan and the future operations of “Guichao Culture Limited”, we will aim to reconnect the public, current popular culture, and people in the Chinese music industry with traditional Chinese culture, through offering services to artists with similar beliefs and fostering collaborations with people in other industry who has similar goals. We will redefine “Guofeng” as a new music genre in more rigour and academic way, targeting a relatively barren market focusing on high- quality music and production and creating Guofeng superstars, rather than what the “hit-making machine” way of working that most of the competitors in Guofeng genre are doing currently. We will walk you through the hows and the whys for the creation and execution of “Guichao Culture Limited” while touching on the importance and evolutions of Guofeng music in the bigger society today.

Between 2019 and 2020, Disrupción Records, Berklee Valencia's independent label, has grown a great deal. The organization has grown from 8 to 20 team members, while integrating as a core part of the Global Entertainment & Music Business program's Record Practicum. As the incoming Label Manager, I found myself having to balance curriculum, culture, and creativity as we continuously expand our scope of operations to meet new constraints and opportunities. Throughout the year, our team battled evolving priorities and goals, a fresh roster or creative talent, and a global pandemic. We explored the intersection of music and culture with our four unique imprints and determined what key factors must be considered when navigating between distinct cultural moments. This experience has been tremendously formative for me and many other on the Disrupción team, with over eighteen Culminating Experiences being supported. The label is just getting started, and will be a sustainable resource for years to come.

The following culminating experience project was completed in the year 2020 as part of the Graduate Entertainment and Music Business program. The authors are James Shannon and Alica Molito. This project includes business plan, reflective paper and presentation deck outlining the business Auras Studios – Augmented Reality Music Marketing. The authors have incorporated this business in the UK as an LLP and successfully completed a pilot project with the Glass Animals signed to Polydor records. The following project culminates over a year’s work and study at the intersection of Augmented Reality and music. It reflects not only the authors’ evolving understanding of how technology moves the music industry but also a real world plan for implementing a business in the height of the covid-19 pandemic. To you, the faithful reader. The authors hope you find some small inspiration in our journey and wish you the best of luck on yours.

This business plan analyzes the opportunity to bring “Don’t Let Daddy Know”, an electronic dance music festival, from Amsterdam to Lima, Peru. I had the chance to be a marketing volunteer for their 2020 Amsterdam edition, which led me to evaluate the risks and benefits of introducing the brand to my home country, Peru. The electronic dance genre has shown growth in South America in the past few years, which has slowly created a big market for international electronic dance music festivals. I have collaborated with E&A Events, owners of the brand currently based in Amsterdam, and Vastion Group, a production company based in Lima, in order to develop a realistic marketing and financial plan, as well as a tentative production timeline, line-up, venue, and sponsors list. During this project, I have faced the unexpected challenge of pivoting and adjusting due to a global pandemic. For this reason, this business plan briefly overviews the impact of Covid-19 in Peru, an important factor in determining the best way to market this festival. “Don’t Let Daddy Know” would bring a massive, international and rollercoaster experience to Lima, offering a different concept and perfect tourism opportunity for Peru.

Keywords: business plan, creative project, live performance, event, festival, production, electronic dance music, Don’t Let Daddy Know.

I believe we are in the ‘Entrepreneurial Age’ of the global entertainment and business industry. Technology has created opportunity like never before. Artists and musicians have more control over creating, producing, and promoting their content while fans are able to contribute to the creative process in real time. From social media to subscription services, the industry has been experiencing dynamic growth at exponential increments. Now more than ever, artists across all sectors of the entertainment industry have the potential to monetize from ancillary products and services creating a demand for investment in these emerging markets throughout the world. This is the perfect time for artists to fully monetize on their crafts while taking ownership of their businesses. The following is a proposed business plan of SpeakEasy Music Group, Inc., an independent record label. SpeakEasy Music Group, Inc is presenting a solution for the Artist Direct, a segment of the record industry that has chosen the "Do It Yourself" (DIY) approach, yet find it difficult to achieve meaningful success.

The purpose of this research is to investigate if traditional genre structures created by the music industry are still relevant in today’s world. In the last few years, we have seen a high influx of artists blending influences and sounds - this phenomenon is what we call genre fluidity. This study will tackle pinnacle concepts, defining a genre, the evolution of popular music genres and finally the relationship of genres with the Recording Industry and some of its stakeholders. In order to understand this phenomenon, data analysis of music charts and interviews with record label stakeholders took place.

Based on my internship and experience in Midem Talent Exporter's 2020 edition, I have created a guideline for the next generation of GEMB students that will get on this project to use as a resource throughout their internship, as well as to provide insights on how Midem Talent Exporter was launched and executed in 2020.

In this Culminating Experience, the reader will explore the business framework of a Music Discovery Platform. This project combines the intellectual exercise of designing a business plan and the creative application of content creation. Having developed these two elements since the beginning of this project, I had the chance to experience a constant sense of direction and learn through a hands-on process. Hence, this Culminating Experience merged my necessity to prove my entrepreneurial spirit with the desire to connect with creatives and singers. Eventually, I realized that the biggest asset I have created with Pouf is not only the sessions we have filmed so far, but the reputation among artists and collaborators. This is what really makes me proud of this project.

This project aims at defining the role and impact of Do-It-Yourself (DIY) independent artists in the music industry, as well as demonstrating how to manage their careers in the era of artist entrepreneurship. Following the industry analysis, a case study of ARAE, “the pop music vigilante” will illustrate the points previously mentioned and picture an independent artist’s business strategy. To support my research, mixed methods have been used, ranging from literature reviews and conducting interviews, to building a business model and analyzing my audience data. Lastly, this project is meant to highlight a change in the music business and prove that an artist can develop and maintain their career themselves aided by a more artist-centric industry. However, this study also presents the hardships of owning your business and concludes by establishing the need for independent artists to find suitable partnerships to support their careers.

Keywords: independent artists, entrepreneurship, case study, ARAE.

INO CON was 3-day virtual music and tech conference, in collaboration with Berklee College of Music, streamed globally. The conference featured lectures, workshops, multimedia performances, and networking opportunities so attendees could look at innovative ways on how to move forward in their careers. On July 8th, 9th, and 10th of 2020, INO CON hosted more than 20 hours of content, 600+ unique registrants, more than 40 online sessions, and gathered music industry professionals from all over the world. In pursuit of innovation, INO CON became more than a project, but an opportunity to learn, grow, and enjoy music and knowledge when the only stage was your screen.

My Culminative Experience presents a case study regarding an ongoing collaboration that uses music as a bridge-builder between Sweden and Denmark. The long-term goal of the collaboration is to use music as a tool to unite the population of Nordic countries and create a music hub in the region around the Strait of Øresund. The collaboration started in 2017 between two venues, Kulturværftet (Elsinore, Denmark) and The Tivoli (Helsingborg, Sweden) - They are separated by a thirty minutes ferry ride. From March, 2018 to February, 2020, thirty-one concerts were put together as a result of this collaboration, as well as the music competition, Popkorn Nordic, that is in its third edition. According to Rasmus Schrøder, one of the founders of collaboration, the initiative has already achieved positive results: the flow of people between both cities has increased, both venues have grown their revenue, and the region is starting to be recognized as a music hub. My primary goal with this case study is to evaluate the flow of people between the two cities in those events through data analysis on ticket sales, alongside interviews with major parties involved in this international collaboration. I will contextualize this project within the larger framework of Music City though analysis of the Swedish and Danish Music Ecosystems. A Music City is defined as a place which has a vibrant music economy. According to the report The Mastering of a Music City, “There is growing recognition among governments and other stakeholders that Music Cities can deliver significant economic, employment, cultural and social benefits.” Through the lens of these essential Music City elements it will be possible to identify how this collaboration can efficiently achieve its goals.

Keyword: Nordic, Nordic Countries, Music hub, Music Ecosystem, Music Cities, Music City, Denmark, Sweden, Strait of Øresund, Live Entrainment, Nordic Culture Found, PULS, Elsinore, Helsingør, Helsingborg, Music.

The purpose of this research is to investigate if traditional genre structures created by the music industry are still relevant in today’s world. In the last few years, we have seen a high influx of artists blending influences and sounds - this phenomenon is what we call genre fluidity. This study will tackle pinnacle concepts, defining a genre, the evolution of popular music genres and finally the relationship of genres with the Recording Industry and some of its stakeholders. In order to understand this phenomenon, data analysis of music charts and interviews with record label stakeholders took place.

LAVICHI Entertainment is an innovative record label that seeks to break the rules of the current market through a unique approach in its A&R process and with a fresh business focus. Created by people who are not only business professionals but also artists and producers themselves, the company is built with insights from people that have already been working for years in the industry on both sides of the business. Our label is dedicated to offering artists better deals for their music and disrupting archaic music industry structures.

This Culminating Experience Operational Project centers on the position of Director of Marketing for Berklee Valencia’s independent record label, Disrupción Records, for the 2019-2020 academic year. The following work details the label-level, imprint-level, and artist- level marketing and branding activities performed in this role. The main role of the Director of Marketing at Disrupción Records is to manage all of the marketing efforts within the label, including the branding and marketing of the label itself, as well as supporting the marketing campaigns and projects of its teams and artists. This paper dives into the various facets and responsibilities of the role, as well as the evolution of the position based on the developing needs of the label and its artists. By discussing both opportunities and challenges, this paper outlines the branding and marketing activities that took place in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite a global glitch that required pivoting and innovation, the Disrupcion brand is stronger than ever, and it has set the stage for the continued success of the label in years to come.

LAVICHI Entertainment is an innovative record label that seeks to break the rules of the current market through a unique approach in its A&R process and with a fresh business focus. Created by people who are not only business professionals but also artists and producers themselves, the company is built with insights from people that have already been working for years in the industry on both sides of the business. Our label is dedicated to offering artists better deals for their music and disrupting archaic music industry structures.

Sandwich Management is an Artist Management company created with the purpose of supporting artists to accomplish their goals. With the ‘here to there’ mindset, managers work with artists to help them with their next steps, bringing an idea to a creation and the creation to the fan. Through an extensive network of music industry professionals and a wealth of knowledge on the needs of growing artists, artists are put at the center of our strategy. Whether the needs are project-based, requiring full focus, or needing consulting, there is something for every artist at any stage. If artists are looking to expand their current team with a certain project, or simply get some guidance on their career at the beginning stages, all are applicable services. Artists can choose to work with a consultant, who gives guidance on what the artist should do, for a flat rate. Artists can also get help on a project basis, where the artists still retain their full percentage and pay up front for an agreed upon set of services. Whatever the needs, we will adapt and create the right strategy for you.

My business plan is inspired by the current business model of a U.S. based mass media company, 88rising, as well as a few other innovative record labels/entertainment/music service companies from all around the world such as Majestic Casual, AWAL, AOMG, YG Entertainment, Believe, and more.
My company, UwU, is determined to discover and promote emerging and established Asian artists from across the world. In particular, we aim to valorize those who are targeting the music markets in East Asia and Southeast Asia and with an interest in exporting their music to North America. We also seek to build a network and community for the artists to connect and collaborate with each other all across the world. We serve to incorporate the cultures in Asia and the concept of diversity into music, art, lifestyle and fashion. More importantly, we are dedicated to creating more music export opportunities in Asia, to help up-and-coming talents gain more exposure in the global music market, while simultaneously breaking into different territories. Meanwhile, we also strive to develop more international collaborations between eastern and western artists and music producers in efforts to bridge the gap between east and west.

This business plan entails the details of future entertainment company “Guichao Culture Limited”, registering and operating in China. In the course of this business plan and the future operations of “Guichao Culture Limited”, we will aim to reconnect the public, current popular culture, and people in the Chinese music industry with traditional Chinese culture, through offering services to artists with similar beliefs and fostering collaborations with people in other industry who has similar goals. We will redefine “Guofeng” as a new music genre in more rigour and academic way, targeting a relatively barren market focusing on high- quality music and production and creating Guofeng superstars, rather than what the “hit-making machine” way of working that most of the competitors in Guofeng genre are doing currently. We will walk you through the hows and the whys for the creation and execution of “Guichao Culture Limited” while touching on the importance and evolutions of Guofeng music in the bigger society today.

The following business plan details the startup entity OFF TO. Founded by Dan Attias and Raouf Grissa, OFF TO seeks to provide new avenues for artists, listeners, and cultural institutions to explore in the new music environment brought upon by COVID-19. OFF TO will capitalize on the burgeoning need to accommodate new kinds of live experiences in the post-pandemic world through our unique offerings. We aim to record, film, and broadcast shows in carefully selected locations around the world, then make those experiences available in tangible, physical forms. Our core tenant is to showcase the perennial relevance of jazz music through the visual prism of cultural heritage sites and landmarks, and to keep the heartbeat of jazz live while providing unique experiences to consumers and listeners. By providing new spaces for music performances to occur, OFF TO will offer creative solutions for artist looking to perform and reach new audiences. OFF TO has the capacity and potential to grow in this new environment, and although the livestreaming market is competitive and particularly cluttered at present, OFF TO sits in a unique position to capitalize on recreating some of the lost value of live performance.

Business plan for an independent record label based in Mexico City.

Music Industry Games present Music Fanatic.

A business plan for a consulting business operating in Japan, involving both import and export of music, offering various services in record/live and with a focus on cultural awareness pertaining to music industry specifics and general business practices that are territory specific.

This is a business plan for East Meets West, a Korean music, culture, and food festival based in Los Angeles, California.

In our day and age, data is one of the most valuable currencies in the world. The most prominent companies in the globe based their success upon knowing exactly what their clients do and like. The music industry started to follow the same approach, even if some branches arrived later than others.
The main objective of this research is to understand how data analytics is used when scouting for potential talent, primarily by the A&Rs of record labels. Upon systematic research, I want to discover what tools are used to assess an artist’s performance and what implementations can be useful to consider. Those types of analyses are challenging because there are several aspects regarding artistry and the characteristics of a record that are difficult to gather through machine learning. Nevertheless, due to the impressive number of tracks that are uploaded every day on streaming platforms, reaching a certain degree of automation is mandatory. I interviewed different professionals from the Warner Music Group that are utilizing data A&R tools on an everyday basis, as well as consulting several papers and articles related to Music Information Retrieval (MIR) and predictive models.

Keywords: A&R, artist development, classification, data analysis, MIR, predictive models, talent scouting.

The so-called virtual singers are personified singing synthesizer voicebanks, with the business around them straddling music industry and AGC (anime, games and comics) industry. Originated from Japan, where the first singing synthesizer in the world was invented, the virtual singer business has grown into a global business of billions. Today virtual singers are widely recognized as the first generation of virtual artists who have achieved notable global success, especially Hatsune Miku, the most popular Vocaloid singer in history. A local virtual singer business in China blossomed soon after the rise of Hatsune Miku, which has formed its own shape over the years in the unique social-economic context of China. Having gone through many ups and downs, the Chinese virtual singer business has moved into a stable yet bottleneck period, with one profitable superstar Luo Tianyi and hundreds of others struggling with attaining any attention of the audience. This paper intends to present the history, market structure, business model and copyright
distribution of the Chinese virtual singer business, as well as to conduct a preliminary SWOT analysis on it. In order to better explain the business model and cultural context of the virtual singer business, some relevant aspects of the Japanese virtual singer business will also be discussed in literature review. The methodology of the paper is part case studies analysis, part primary interview.

Keywords: virtual singer, Hatsune Miku, Luo Tianyi, Vocaloid, China

The following business plan outlines the details of BOBA Music Agency ltd., which is a music consultant agency aiming to Taiwanese music export to Europe. The company is based on the spirit of serving independent artists for providing them all around services, depending on the stages of the artist and the goal of his or her career. The services include mentoring, branding consultant, artist website, digital health check and digital marketing, data analysis, press and media, Spotify playlist curation, tour consultant and live events in Europe.

As the Promotions&Events Manager for Disrupción Records I was responsible for producing and maintaining the social media accounts for Disrupción Records, creating and executing events in order to interact with Berklee students, and the world, presented the artists of Disrupción Records to a more expansive audience, and directly produced materials and events that honored the fifth year anniversary of Disrupción Records.

Transcend is a concert promotion company that will use music as a catalyst for social change with the intention to overcome the absence of large scale concerts in Delhi and raising funds to alleviate socio- economic issues.

These Culminating Experience documents contain the strategies and experiences that the European DIY Musicians Conference team had during the preparation of the conference and during the 2-day conference. Readers will find tips and suggestions for next year's edition of the European DIY Musicians Conference as well as a guide to maximize their efforts.

The 21st century has seen the proliferation of music as a utilitarian tool that can alter, regulate, and observe mood. Functional music takes on many definitions—from musique d’ameublement, Muzak, film scores, to MTV and brand sponsored media. Today, functional music (a mood stabilizer) is the biggest economic driver for user choice. “When presented with a large array of affordable or free options, consumers can be mentally paralyzed by the worry that they aren’t making the most efficacious and fulfilling choice,” (Schwartz, 2005). Spotify and other DSPs help alleviate the strain of choice by providing preset and often branded playlists fit for any mood or occasion. At the same time, smart speakers are a fast-growing piece of the music listening market. According to Music Ally, smart speaker sales grew 169% in 2018 with over 80 million units sold. The global market is expected to reach 200 million by 2019. Smart speakers are inherently functional given their hands-off approach. They provide an intimate space for an often-dissociated listener. “Ethnomusicologists have told us, the functions of music can be described in almost exclusively social terms,” (Frith, 2012). There are still unknown implications of how smart speakers will integrate with functional music—especially as it pertains to places of work and social gatherings.

This project aimed to create the world's first record label for robots using artificial intelligence to create synthetic artists and music. The outcome paper takes the form of a business plan outlining the process of creating this new company.

This research paper is an exploratory report on the elusive concept of globalization and its effect on the music industry. Social Media and YouTube serve as key predictors in understanding the global reach and popularity that music is able to make all around the world. These platforms give people in rural countries and small cities a voice on a global scale. Brand partnership and the increase of cellular penetration has proven to be two very important factors on these platforms and within the music industry. This paper conducts two case studies about Latin America and South Korea to give examples of how these factors can are actively being used in two of the largest music markets. Finally, it concludes by correlating these markets to how these key predictors have affected the global music industry for the future.

Disrupción Records is the record label from Berklee College of Music Valencia. Throughout the years, Berklee projects and artists were released through the label. The students of the Global Entertainment & Music Business Master program have run the label from its beginning, presenting a difficult challenge which is the fact that the team changes every year when the new students come. This disadvantage makes the label lack continuity in its vision and mission, among other things, and it also makes the different teams start from scratch every time they take over. This past year, one of the main objectives was setting strong foundations and coming up with a way of making the transition between each year a smooth one. In this paper, the journey of the past year working for the label as an A&R Manager is described, together with the objectives, resources, experiences and learning outcomes. Its main aim is to provide some guidelines for the next A&R Managers who will have written words at their disposal, about what the previous person in charge of doing the job wished had known before, what was learnt throughout the year, which artists still need to be taken care of, and how, due to their agreement term.

Being a young music business professional who creates live events in different scales for almost 10 years, I believe that in an over- saturated and high-risk festival environment, an entrepreneur should differentiate its project in order to establish a strong brand and claim a long-term position in the market. This is the reason why I have always prioritized that the event concepts that I create and promote were all first of their kinds, offered unique experiences to the audience and cared about the society as a whole. In line with that personal perspective, I undertook an entrepreneurial live entertainment project as my Culminating Experience at Berklee Valencia and developed a business plan. The main value proposition of this model is to create a new festival concept with a unique marketing strategy which transforms the consumers into the prosumers and allows them to tailor their preferred lineup (and more!). The participants are stepping forward, given a significant role in the event production, as genuine prosumers. Each ticket holder immediately becomes an investor and programmer, later incorporating into a volunteer marketing representative who buzzes around in favor of his/her dearest artist’s confirmation for the festival.

The following business plan has been created to outline the first three years of operation for environmntl. environmntl is a consulting company that assists music festivals in implementing an environmentally sustainable plan, also known as a ‘green’ plan into both the festival and everyday life. This is done through two different services provided, consulting and partnership, allowing for a hands on approach to truly be effective. The business will be based in Akron, Ohio, USA as it works to get off the ground and expand to neighboring states and eventually other countries. This is vital as sustainability become a more important aspect in today’s world.

Keywords: sustainability, environment

Disrupción Records is an independent record label supported by Berklee College of Music, comprised by a core team individuals from
different countries, and working with artists from around the globe for international exposure with distribution through the Orchard under Sony Music. Housing a catalogue of artists spread across three imprints: EVLVE, Common Chord, and Disrupción; the label continues to expand with new signings and new releases. Formed in 2013, this is the first year the label has worked with artists outside the Berklee College of Music program, participated in the Berklee College of Music Valencia Campus “Musaico” live music festival, and added a synchronisation department, Fusión.

In the less than two years since Hurricane María, artists from various genres have released songs inspired by the storm’s effect in Puerto Rican society. In order to answer the main research question, a sample of songs were analyzed. As this paper will demonstrate, under the context of this specific event, disaster-inspired songs generally do not generate much money nor attention for its artists. Rather, they serve as artistic expressions that help each artist develop their career journey. More importantly, this Research Paper showcases industry-wide issues that continue to greatly affect artists across the world.

This paper provides insights about the results of a survey conducted with professionals working with live music in Brazil. After conducting a bibliography review focused on identifying the main contemporary challenges faced by the live music industry and the tools being used to address them, the survey was designed in order to check the level of knowledge and practical use of those tools made by Brazilian professionals. Chapter 2 provides an overview of the current state of the music business including the most recent number for the recorded and live industry. Chapter 3 goes into detail about the main challenges identified in the bibliography research and point out the most innovative tools being used or develop to address them. After explaining the methodology principles for this research on Chapter 4, Chapter 5 covers in a very pragmatic manner the results of the survey. A discussion about the results is done on Chapter 6, followed by the conclusion with propositions for future steps.

Keywords: Research project, Brazilian live music, Survey, Data Analytics

Women in Music is a non-profit organization founded in 1985 with a mission to advance the awareness, equality, diversity, heritage, opportunities, and cultural aspects of women in the musical arts through education, support, empowerment, and recognition. The organization is a dynamic group of music industry pros working & learning together through educational seminars, panels, showcases and our Touchstone Awards (2019). In addition to the New York City headquarters, the organization has 14 chapters spread across the globe, each in charge of taking local action. The Berklee College of Music Valencia chapter was established in 2017 by a selected group of students from the Global Entertainment and Music Business program. These students handed down the project to Maria Jose Guzman Basilis, who took on the role of Marketing, Sponsorship & Partnership, Tayler Mooney, who took. On the role of Production Manager, and Constanza Rivera Arizabalo, who took on the role of Artistic Curation. These women who along with supervisor Clara Barbera continued to grow the project for the class of 2019.

Zpod is an Entertainment Services Company primarily focusing on the needs of artists and content creators within the niche market of Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. Whistler is a premiere destination resort with millions of visitors each year. It sustains numerous events/conferences, musical concerts and entertainment related initiatives and is one of the biggest economic centre's of British Columbia. It is also in close proximity to Canada’s second largest entertainment centre which is the City of Vancouver. Zpod is eager to grow its already existing network of cliental and provide creativity, professionalism and dedication to its new and existing clients. The business plan for Zpod Entertainment Company Limited will outlay the direction it is heading, market information, ideas for growth as well as financial projections.

I was the Marketing and Promotions Coordinator for all live events of CPPD.

My Culminating Experience is focused on my role as A&R Manager of Disrupción Records. It reports the activities I carried on within the
label, the goals we had in mind when starting the project and what we were able to accomplish. Finally, the way it contributed to my professional development.

A journey through partnership, working with a booking agency as a consultant. Working in the fields of business development, consultancy, event management.

I was the Project Manager for the 2019 European Musician Conference, hosted by CD Baby and Berklee Valencia.

My CE is a business plan that outlines the details of the first three years of operation for J. Porter Studios; a limited liability company that focuses on facilitating the needs of artists and students who desire to increase their knowledge and understanding of the musical arts. We will achieve this by providing music lessons, recording spaces, rehearsal rooms, and a venue for performances that will be available for booking to all artists within Northeast Ohio. Though this will be a multi-faceted and complex company in the future, this plan focuses on my first of three phases of operation.

The purpose of this study was to examine and measure the subliminal influence of a particular compositional device on music listeners with the intent of learning whether or not the device elicits any sort of emotional response, and if so, possibly uncover ways in which this device can be implemented as a tool throughout the music industry’s many facets.

My Culminating Experience is based on a Business Plan of a service called Ontti Labs, where people from around the world can share their home studios to creatives in the platform the company will provide that includes access to the market and other services.

This paper attempts to provide context for what it means to be a middle-class musician in 2019. While the term is often referenced by independent labels, digital service providers (DSPs) like Spotify, and media outlets, it lacks a universal definition. Additionally, the main sources of consumption have drastically changed the economics of the music industry, shifting from a physical sales approach to an increasing reliance on streaming and other digital outlets. This paper will attempt to highlight what effects, if any, these changes have had on middle-class artists.

Keywords: middle-class, independent music, music industry, Berklee, distribution, streaming, sustainability, alternative revenue models

Women In Music is an international non-profit organization that basically exists to oversee and direct the music business into a more inclusive environment. Shining light on females in the business and their amazing work.

This culminating experience focuses on the development of a business plan that describes into detail a niche concert booking agency in Mexico City, that focuses on Mexican folklore music artists. The company offers Mexican folkore artists concert booking outside México, mainly looking for opportunities in world music festivals and cultural events, in exchange of a percentage fee on payments coming from promoters and festivals. The business plan defines as well a data analysis service, offered as a differentiator from other booking agencies to the artists that are part of the agency. This service can be useful in order to make better strategies and decision making. Also, as an extra revenue stream, this service will be offered for a monthly fee to artists that are not part of the booking agency, record labels, managers, etc. The objective of México Pa’l Mundo is to export Mexican talent in order to make folkore artists grow in hand with folklore Mexican genres. This will be possible by getting connections, expanding our network by attending to different music conferences and events.

My 2019 Culminating Experience was the opportunity to be the Label Manager for Disrupción Records. In this role I was able to oversee all departments of the record label and make sure that all functions ran smoothly. I also was able to foster a rebrand and staff hire for the record label as well as sign a multitude of successful artists. Among those artists were the first third party artists (outside of the Berklee community to the record label and have one of those artist perform at the Musaico festival here in Valencia. Working and advising the other departments, I learned how to successfully operate a team and manage with the best practices, not just internally for a business, but externally as well. Disrupción Records has allowed me to understand and experience the ins and outs of working at a record label as well as what it is like to be responsible for something of high stature within the music industry.

The following work describes and analyzes the goals and results of the Culminating Experience Project related to the position of the Marketing & PR Manager at Berklee’s own independent record label Disrupción Records, for the academic year of 2018-2019.

The project consisted of creating a business plan for an independent record label called ODL Records based in London, England. ODL Records is a label for mission-driven artists hoping to boost their careers and make their missions reach as many people as possible. In order to achieve this, ODL Records will seek partnerships with like- minded non-profit organizations and pitch their artists to these organizations for opportunities to feature their music in future campaigns.

This paper is focused on developing Lali's career in Europe. Since Europe has numerous countries and markets, it is important to be strategic about which ones to expand to first, being that it is more efficient to start with only a few and develop those. In this specific case, the selected countries are France, Italy, Portugal and Spain - however, Israel will also be part of it. Furthermore, the expansion strategy will be divided in four phases. It will start by building a media presence as it is important to be a recognised voice and face, followed by the promotional tour, Netflix series and finally the release of the new single and tour dates announcement. With these efforts culminating in a European Tour in these territories for her current "Brava Tour", it is hoped that this will be the first step to solidify her career and better prepare these markets for her next album and tour.

The Culminating Experience project is a business plan for the development of a non-for profit organization geared towards artist development and artist promotion in Assam, a state in North-east India. The objective is to provide a platform for independent musicians in Assam to learn music management skills and also promote them outside the region. Artist development will be conducted through workshops that will be carried out to impart business awareness and skills and a promotional service would exist to promote artists outside the region. Sound Consequence envisions being a leading organization in terms of artist development and promotion in Assam thereby facilitating the creation of new revenue generating pathways for artists and the Assamese music industry as a whole.

ROBACH is a limited liability company that provides the musical artist with all the necessary tools like management, booking agency and a record label to successfully penetrate the music market, specifically India. We aim to globalize the Indian music community through cross collaborations between Indian and western artists.

The Sync Department at Disrupcion Records was created as a platform to facilitate artists and composers with Sync possibilities and work for hire/ bespoke music.

The birth of streaming has not only changed the way the recording industry is paid for their works but has also allowed new forms of piracy to persist. The music industry claims that large UGC sites such as YouTube are exploiting a value gap created by safe harbor provisions created before music streaming became the primary source of music consumption. This value gap seems more apparent with music being the most consumed form of content on their platform. While the music industry is attempting to extract more revenue from digital sound recordings through EU Directive on Copyright they have also lobbied to increase the statutory mechanical rates paid on the publishing side to publishers, songwriters and performing rights organizations through a ruling by the Copyright Royalty Board and modified the rate setting formula among other things outlined after a multi-year fight culminating in the passage of the Music Modernization Act. These legal battles have far reaching effects and I will attempt to shed light on their industry impact as well as calculate the potential financial impact of the CRBs rate increase on Spotify’s financial statements and the piracy effects on a large UK indie label, Beggars Group. This analysis will serve to further determine the need for this legislation.

Rosewood/Yucca Tech is part business plan part operational project centered around the release of my own music and the establishment of an adjacent holding company through which to brand and expand the operations.

The following business plan outlines the details of a startup called RAD Music. RAD stands for rate and discover. This company is an LLC that provides hip-hop artists with a vehicle for easier discovery and a community for development. The company focuses on consumer ratings and feedback to help develop artists and organize them based on development/popularity. It aims to organize new talent in an easily discoverable format for talent scouts looking to invest, consumers searching for new music, and artists looking to collaborate. We plan to help artists, consumers, and talent scouts alike. RAD Music is positioned as a tool for talented artists to have their music actually heard and receive feedback. It aims to combat the high level of over-saturation on other free music uploading services like Soundcloud and Youtube. In addition, it focuses on only undiscovered artists and acts in some capacity as a talent competition further encouraging only the most talented artists to upload to the site. Finally, RAD Music further cuts down on over- saturation by focusing only on hip-hop artists which is currently the most popular genre in the United States.

First Artist Aid is the name of the company, chosen due to the idea that it conveys the main activity of the company: being the first stop for help for independent musicians when they have creative problems, in other words, being the first responders for when they are having issues to further develop their career. First Artist Aid (FAA) is designed for new artists who are not aware of the industry ́s ways and do not have a team supporting them.

This paper is about a journey of my hybrid identity, as an artist Kish and a business professional Seo Hyun Kim, on the process of re- releasing my first single, Sing with Me, in three different languages and three different genres. The purpose of this project is to test my multi-language and multi-genre recordings on specific target markets as an international release strategy. Throughout the process, I have collaborated with a total of 28 musicians, recording engineers, mixing and mastering engineers, and designers and faculties across all programs at Berklee Valencia to produce six recordings. In order to test the market before the release, I have surveyed a sample size of 200 people, mainly targeting the markets of English- Speaking countries, Spanish-speaking countries and Korea. Through the analysis of the survey result, I was able to gain valuable qualitative and quantitative results that provided insights for forming an international release strategy. It was a challenging process to produce recordings and analyze data within a tight time frame, but rewarding in that I was able to experience interdisciplinary aspects of being an artist and an executive producer, conducting market research and analysis, and providing a gateway for other emerging artists.

Keywords: International Release Strategy, language, genre, EP, market analysis

Being selected as the Communications & Marketing Manager of the 2019 European DIY Musician Conference served as a very valuable and educational Culminating Experience opportunity for me. Thanks to the help of my fellow GEMB colleagues, Berklee faculty and CD Baby staff, we were able to welcome back over 250+ visitors to our campus for our sold out music industry conference. My responsibilities included the online promotion of the event, communications between our brand and the attendees, graphic design work and management of the ticketing platform and event credentials. We were proud to report that the 2019 ticket sales surpassed the previous year's amount, expenses were cut down drastically and we had overwhelmingly positive feedback and expect attendees to return. The outcome paper, reflection paper, and presentation will serve as a resource or manual for next year's graduate students, who will hopefully further improve the DIY Musician Conference for students, speakers, and young independent artists.

My culminating experience is about the organization and implementation of Sofar Sounds Valencia. Sofar Sounds is a community based in over 300 cities around the world. Over the past few years, it has existed in Valencia but hasn't been quite consistent. My mission was to rebuild the brand here and put on a number of shows throughout the year rather than just a limited number. We were a team of seven individuals from all over the world and we took the opportunity to learn from each other’s skills as well as build a family together. My culminating experience has proven to be a success and I will continue to work on this project for the next year as I will remain in Valencia for the Global Entertainment and Music Business fellowship program. I will increase the number of shows we put on per month and continue to create such a memorable experience for our audience.

Women in Music Berklee is an organization with a mission to advance the awareness, equality, diversity, heritage, opportunities, and cultural aspects of women in the musical arts. This year this was executed through education, support, empowerment, and recognition throughout the Berklee Valencia campus. Our seminars, showcases, social campaigns, and youth initiatives celebrated the female contribution to the music world and strengthen community ties.

I completed the planning and execution of a tribute performance, commemorating the 40th anniversary of Michael Jackson's solo album, Off the Wall. In executing a musical performance of scale at a respectable public venue, I’ve displayed testament to my abilities to organize and manage a project. It was a platform with which to showcase my musicianship, and my pursuit of excellence in mastering a new musical craft. I’ve proved that I'm an accomplished singer, and also a bassist, drummer, and pianist. Furthermore, I was able to develop an ideal growth strategy for my consulting firm, Grown, Gifted, and Black, feeding my desire to serve and give back to young artists of color. Finally, I’ve expanded upon my research into how we can
encourage and support public figures to be socially conscious artists, and fully embrace their duty to be a well-informed global citizen. This is research intended to propel me into my doctoral thesis ethnomusicology application on my completion of this program.

Marabou Digital is a music consultancy firm offering campaign management, marketing and business development strategy services to artists, indie labels and artist managers in the East African region. We also offer digital distribution, data analytics and media tracking services. The music industry in Uganda and East Africa has always taken small gradual steps towards full functioning and capacity, however, with the limited local solutions and lack of expertise, it is difficult for an artist to break through the African and global market. We strive to provide music companies, independent artists and label partners with access to the resources, relationships and experience required to share their creative vision with the African and global audience.

My culminating experience project was to organize concerts in Valencia as a city leader of Sofar Sounds. I managed volunteers to help me with various tasks. The first concert was on March 5th in Portland Ale with 2 bands. The second concert was on April 13th in Contrapunto Les Arts with 3 bands. I signed partnership and sponsorship deals, researched and negotiated with various bands and venues, designed marketing materials and promoted the events.

Women in Music is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1985 whose mission is to, “... advance the awareness, equality, diversity, heritage, opportunities, and cultural aspects of women in the musical arts through education, support, empowerment, and recognition”. This organization is composed of men and women who want to bring awareness to the disproportionate representation and mobility of women in the music industry. There are many mediums through which the organization educates and empowers including seminars, panels, showcases, and youth initiatives. The organization, headquartered in NYC, has 13 chapters worldwide and now for the first time has a presence in Spain.

Berklee selected three students, Amisha Patankar, Hillary Storm, and Peter Robaudo, to work alongside Clara Barberá in bringing the new chapter to life at Berklee Valencia. Each student was assigned a separate role: Patankar/Marketing, Storm/Sponsorships, and Robaudo/Operations. The team worked over the course of six months to launch the chapter and build its brand not only within the Berklee community, but also within the greater Valencian public. Along with the initial launch mixer, the Women in Music Berklee chapter executed a total of eight events featuring prominent guests such as Patrice Rushen, Susan Rogers, and Yvette Noel-Schure. These events included multiple performances, speeches, and workshops all geared towards bringing a wealth of knowledge on the roles of women in the music industry, skills related to working in the industry, and the power of being a woman and supporting women. To round out the successful launch, the team also worked on a special project with Disrupción Records. This project, a compilation album, was the perfect way for the team to celebrate the accomplishments and relationships established throughout the last six months of the chapter and was properly recognized with a launch party at Sala Matisse on April 11, 2018.

Overall each event was unique according to location, topic, guest, and audience. The outcomes were equally diverse but came together to form a beautiful mosaic of values, students, community members, and lessons. All of these established Women in Music Berklee as another branch of an essential organization, seeking to play a role in disseminating positivity and unison within the industry and communities we all love.

This conference was a chance for Berklee and CD Baby to work in collaboration to bring the pre-existing American DIY Musician conference to Europe. The primary focuses were, helping independent musicians gain knowledge on being successful and how to monetize their work, giving Berklee GEMB students the opportunity to gain work experience, and strengthening the CD Baby and Berklee brands in Europe. The conference spanned over 3 days, consisted of 2 live music events, 25 speakers, and 26 topics. The outcome was; 252 individuals purchased tickets, arriving from 31 different countries, with a gender break down of 161 males to 91 females (data taken from Eventbrite). Conference topics consisted of; Building Your Online Brand, How A Song Makes You Money, Authentic Artist Branding, Management, and many more valuable topics. The conference took place at the Aula Magistral, directly across from Berklee’s campus and many spaces on the Berklee Valencia Campus including the recording studios, classrooms, and practice rooms. The main aspect which truly made this project DIY was that it was spearheaded by a team of students consisting of myself acting as the operations manager, David Pozeulo acting as the artist manager and Kim Ortiz acting as the creative manager, all lead by our project manager GEMB Fellow Shana Swayne. In the following pages, I will reflect on how this project aligned with my original expectations, lessons learned, contribution to my professional career and how the project can carry on with success.

The following paper describes the background, objectives, actionable tasks, execution, and challenges of organizing Kilómetro Cero: Música y Comida Local. This event was a one-day music and food festival focused on themes of sustainability and local consumption that occurred on May 20th in La Escuela de Ruzafa. The purpose of this Culminating Experience project was to develop our competency as event promoters. while also creating a meaningful, positive environment for promoting the initiatives of Valencian producers and associations acting on change at a regional scale. In order to execute such an event successfully, many actionable steps were necessary including the development of a visual brand, promotion through both printed and digital media, execution of Facebook campaign tactics, development of various partnerships with local businesses and associations, and, perhaps most importantly, the practice of patience and persistence. Over the course of several months, our understanding of the Valencian culture and people who work to preserve it was enriched through personal connections. We hope this event can continue on in our absence, either through Berklee our other partners we made along our journey.

Keywords: Live events, local economy, farmers market, social entrepreneurship

This project describes the current status of Ra. Sounds SRLs’ business plan, an events company I opened and run during my year at Berklee College of Music. The objective of this paper is to define aspects of the company such as its corporate identity and customer segmentation, while also identifying the presence and characteristic of its business environment. The company’s mission is key to the understanding of the work. Ra.’s main objective is to promote art and music exhibition, merging cultures and ideas. Here, I focus on the theoretical approaches used when developing business ideas, nevertheless real results justify what formulated. The events organized so far have been a success. I have great hope for the future of this project, I trust it will keep growing in the following years as I will keep learning on the field.

Keywords: business plan, events, music business, Ra. Sounds.

My Culminating Experience project – a case study by the name of “Streaming Wars Continue” aims at providing research and a deeper look into the fascinating music streaming business models, its challenges, opportunities and strategies.

The following paper describes the background, objectives, actionable tasks, execution, and challenges of organizing Kilómetro Cero: Música y Comida Local. This event was a one-day music and food festival focused on themes of sustainability and local consumption that occurred on May 20th in La Escuela de Ruzafa. The purpose of this Culminating Experience project was to develop our competency as event promoters. while also creating a meaningful, positive environment for promoting the initiatives of Valencian producers and associations acting on change at a regional scale. In order to execute such an event successfully, many actionable steps were necessary including the development of a visual brand, promotion through both printed and digital media, execution of Facebook campaign tactics, development of various partnerships with local businesses and associations, and, perhaps most importantly, the practice of patience and persistence. Over the course of several months, our understanding of the Valencian culture and people who work to preserve it was enriched through personal connections. We hope this event can continue on in our absence, either through Berklee our other partners we made along our journey.

Keywords: Live events, local economy, farmers market, social entrepreneurship

A Chance to Dream was an original event concept conceived by the student club Creativo Collective, which the team built from the ground up with the support of Berklee College of Music. Our goal for this project was to do something educational and inspirational for the student community in Valencia while helping others in need. This is why we chose to use the event to raise money for Music Action International, which is a non-profit organization that supports survivors of war-related trauma and stress through music programs.

A globalized record label with an anthropologic approach to preceding and emerging music in niche markets.

The DIY Musician Conference EU was the first European Cd Baby Conference with Berklee Valencia College of Music focused squarely in independent musicians. An event where artists and industry representatives attended panels, breakout sessions, showcases, network and collaborate.

Indo Flamenco Concert that I organised in Valencia was a successful event of 300 Spanish people enjoying Indian and Flamenco music. It was organised with Dhaval music foundation which is registered with Cultural ministry of India and was supported by Berklee college of music. The other local sponsors were Ayurveda, Taj Mahal restaurant, Raffello, Reina Roja band, and support of Indian Consulate Madrid. The goal of the Indo-Flamenco concert is to raise funds for non-profit organisations that work for the well-being of children. The concept of this concert is to contemplate the Spanish roots of Flamenco that come from the western part of India called Rajasthan. The Romani population (gypsies) emigrated and settled in Spain, after having traveled through the Iberian peninsula, gathering vibrant influences from different cultures. The exuberant and omnipotent joy of Spain shows a great resemblance to the contagious joy impregnated in the Indian dance and its patterns, as well as in the Kathak dance style of northern India. All the money was proceeded to Foundation Vicente Ferrer and Foundation Fuvane.

Dreaming in Third Person is a visual, musical and storytelling project that creates art for artists and aims to help develop their business. Behind the scenes, it is a marketing company that creates marketing timelines for release campaigns and a production house that projects the artistic brand through pieces of content within that campaign. Dreaming in Third Person was created to contribute to the value gap that exists for independent artists seeking to build sustainable careers with their music without having to resort to a label.

The entire idea of Disrupción records this year is to be an incubator record label preparing artists from Berklee Valencia for the real industry.

Women in Music is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1985 whose mission is to, “... advance the awareness, equality, diversity, heritage, opportunities, and cultural aspects of women in the musical arts through education, support, empowerment, and recognition”. This organization is composed of men and women who want to bring awareness to the disproportionate representation and mobility of women in the music industry. There are many mediums through which the organization educates and empowers including seminars, panels, showcases, and youth initiatives. The organization, headquartered in NYC, has 13 chapters worldwide and now for the first time has a presence in Spain.

Berklee selected three students, Amisha Patankar, Hillary Storm, and Peter Robaudo, to work alongside Clara Barberá in bringing the new chapter to life at Berklee Valencia. Each student was assigned a separate role: Patankar/Marketing, Storm/Sponsorships, and Robaudo/Operations. The team worked over the course of six months to launch the chapter and build its brand not only within the Berklee community, but also within the greater Valencian public. Along with the initial launch mixer, the Women in Music Berklee chapter executed a total of eight events featuring prominent guests such as Patrice Rushen, Susan Rogers, and Yvette Noel-Schure. These events included multiple performances, speeches, and workshops all geared towards bringing a wealth of knowledge on the roles of women in the music industry, skills related to working in the industry, and the power of being a woman and supporting women. To round out the successful launch, the team also worked on a special project with Disrupción Records. This project, a compilation album, was the perfect way for the team to celebrate the accomplishments and relationships established throughout the last six months of the chapter and was properly recognized with a launch party at Sala Matisse on April 11, 2018.

Overall each event was unique according to location, topic, guest, and audience. The outcomes were equally diverse but came together to form a beautiful mosaic of values, students, community members, and lessons. All of these established Women in Music Berklee as another branch of an essential organization, seeking to play a role in disseminating positivity and unison within the industry and communities we all love.

The main purpose of this business plan is to decide which will be the best way to open a music artist residency taking into account all the factors that present a challenge for most start-ups in today’s socio-economical arena. These will be achieved by using Butler’s business plan format as a guide.

For my culminating experience in the Global Entertainment and Music Business (GEMB) program, I will work together with three other GEMB candidates—Henry Liao, Amisha Patankar, and Rodolfo Guimaraes—to relaunch Disrupción Records, and make it a preeminent, student-run indie record label. Together we will define and create a delineated blueprint for continued use by future master's candidates. Primarily, I will manage the production of the music for the label. This will entail overseeing recording sessions, managing and scheduling a group of top-notch volunteer engineers and studio musicians, and mastering all of the releases. As the Executive Producer, my role in the label will extend beyond the scope of production and be diverse in its range. Henry and I are the Co-directors of A&R; together we will draft a consolidated business plan that will outline the label’s mission, responsibilities, operational framework, and campus community engagement, and on the creative end, I will redesign Disrupción Records’s website. As a group, we will cultivate and sign artists to the label, create a timetable for single and EP releases, and generate social media content to promote the 2017/18 signed artists and the release of their music. We will also partner with the Women in Music (WIM) chapter in Valencia to release a compilation album highlighting and celebrating women in the music industry.

My main intentions regarding my culminating experience were to bridge the gap between the artistic mind and the development of an authentic brand. Artistic identity can be hard for artists, and many lack the resources or knowledge to grow in the music industry. My idea was to design and execute an operational project in a creative practical way using DIY tactics. My work was focused on two different artists, Gracie Hays and Sergio Martinez.

I created a business plan for my brand project "XCVIII". XCVIII is synonymous to a talent management company and a fashion platform. The artist and models of XCVIII will mainly serve as influencers that fashion brands can advertise their designs through. The purpose of this business plan is to better explain to investors the seemingly abstract concept of XCVIII.

This guide is purposed as an informative & suggestive resource for future DIY the next team find this handbook useful and supportive in their efforts to plan and my in-depth evaluation of what I believe contributed to the success of the first ever Conferences, if they are to be held annually in Europe. In this reference, I will relay European DIY Musician Conference, as well as what could be improved to ensure that the next conference is more successful than its predecessor. It is my goal that execute another conference.

This paper aims to describe the Blockchain and Ethereum technologies and how they are being utilized today by two leading application developers to realize solutions to the metadata mess in the music industry. Blockchain has some of the essential characteristics needed to record the ownership of intellectual property, immutability and ownership consensus which is reached by a majority audience. This topology has paved the way for investors and entrepreneurs to seek solutions in resolving the issue of intellectual rights claims. The paper starts with a short introductory section divulging the genesis of where the music metadata mess all began and it contextualizes Blockchain within the World Wide Web. It is then followed by the first section which presents a literature review that reports the fundamental components of the platforms and is meant for someone who has no prior knowledge of Blockchain. The second section of this paper dives into the topic of music metadata and explores two companies, one sitting on the Blockchain platform and another on the Ethereum platform, through qualitative interviews. Through conducting these interviews, it can be deduced that both these developments are sitting in the early phases of the technological life cycle, with Blockchain slightly ahead of Ethereum. Nonetheless, both of these technologies are sitting in their infancy and have much potential to flourish and to offer great solutions to the music industry.

As our CE project myself together with Paula Alexandra Vicaria, will create a business plan for the urban music group 'Barrio Lírico'. Particularly, focusing on the region of Mexico. The business plan will integrate: a detailed band presentation, a booking strategy and a marketing and promotion campaign. Part of this booking strategy will contain a specific organized mock tour, which will be of great use for the band directly. This CE will take us through the process of understanding the live industry in Mexico. Giving us the chance to learn about the process of when it comes to booking and tour manager tasks, among other operations in the live industry. At the same time, our work will have a direct impact on the bands' live progression and growth, supporting them with a detailed analysis of their market of interest. Professionally, we will be able to progress and further grow by acquiring the necessary skills to deliver this business plan.

Cadena COPE is one of the largest national radio stations in Spain. This operational project focuses on six, monthly organized sessions for the radio featuring Berklee student musicians and Berklee faculty/fellow/staff guest speakers. I wanted to organise an opportunity to showcase the cultural and musical diversity of the Berklee Valencia campus, while at the same time creating an invaluable experience for the emerging artists who are currently attending various degree programs. Each student performer commented that they believed the COPE collaboration was an invaluable initiative. Pre-show and post-show social media numbers were collected from each artist to observe if any noticeable difference could be determined in connected to the sessions. However, I was able to determine that the true value of this collaborative initiative was on a more personal level. For Berklee, organic promotional content, COPE unique engaging programming, and for the students, an industry relevant resume building.

Weatro is a ticketing platform for tourists who don’t know what would be the best event to go on their travel. We have realized people struggle and have the need of finding out the best show to go when visiting. For that reason, we provide the solution for thousands of tourists that want to know a place in terms of culture and entertainment while they are traveling (music, theater, performance, dance, drama, etc.)

The live music business has developed to become the most profitable sector within the overall music industry. Income from streams and album sales currently cannot compare to the revenue that artist and bands can generate from touring. Because of these circumstances all bands and artist that are able to tour, are touring. With an abundance of bands and artist on the road, a secondary market of ticket sales has also benefited and grown stronger. In many cases the sale of concert tickets on the secondary market has become extremely more profitable for sellers of these tickets than for the artists, touring crews, and venues. Although secondary ticketing has always existed parallel to live events such as music, sporting, dramas...etc it wasn’t always as invasive. Various factors have contributed to the current success of the secondary ticketing market such as legal regulation, technological advancements, ticket supply, high concert demand, and ticket pricing to name a few. The market of secondary ticketing is different from country to country and region to region but some similarities do exist. I will address some of these differences and similarities while ultimately uncovering the overall infrastructure that can either encourage or hinder the success of secondary ticketing in the live music business. Secondary Ticketing is a global market and in my research, I will briefly cover parts of Spain but largely focusing on the United States market.

As our CE project myself together with Laura Vidal, will create a business plan for the urban music group 'Barrio Lírico'. Particularly, focusing on the region of Mexico. The business plan will integrate: a detailed band presentation, a booking strategy and a marketing and promotion campaign. Part of this booking strategy will contain a specific organized mock tour, which will be of great use for the band directly. This CE will take us through the process of understanding the live industry in Mexico. Giving us the chance to learn about the process of when it comes to booking and tour manager tasks, among other operations in the live industry. At the same time, our work will have a direct impact on the bands' live progression and growth, supporting them with a detailed analysis of their market of interest. Professionally, we will be able to progress and further grow by acquiring the necessary skills to deliver this business plan.

Women in Music is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1985 whose mission is to, “... advance the awareness, equality, diversity, heritage, opportunities, and cultural aspects of women in the musical arts through education, support, empowerment, and recognition”. This organization is composed of men and women who want to bring awareness to the disproportionate representation and mobility of women in the music industry. There are many mediums through which the organization educates and empowers including seminars, panels, showcases, and youth initiatives. The organization, headquartered in NYC, has 13 chapters worldwide and now for the first time has a presence in Spain.

Berklee selected three students, Amisha Patankar, Hillary Storm, and Peter Robaudo, to work alongside Clara Barberá in bringing the new chapter to life at Berklee Valencia. Each student was assigned a separate role: Patankar/Marketing, Storm/Sponsorships, and Robaudo/Operations. The team worked over the course of six months to launch the chapter and build its brand not only within the Berklee community, but also within the greater Valencian public. Along with the initial launch mixer, the Women in Music Berklee chapter executed a total of eight events featuring prominent guests such as Patrice Rushen, Susan Rogers, and Yvette Noel-Schure. These events included multiple performances, speeches, and workshops all geared towards bringing a wealth of knowledge on the roles of women in the music industry, skills related to working in the industry, and the power of being a woman and supporting women. To round out the successful launch, the team also worked on a special project with Disrupción Records. This project, a compilation album, was the perfect way for the team to celebrate the accomplishments and relationships established throughout the last six months of the chapter and was properly recognized with a launch party at Sala Matisse on April 11, 2018.

Overall each event was unique according to location, topic, guest, and audience. The outcomes were equally diverse but came together to form a beautiful mosaic of values, students, community members, and lessons. All of these established Women in Music Berklee as another branch of an essential organization, seeking to play a role in disseminating positivity and unison within the industry and communities we all love.

This is an operational project describing a concert series held by Boundless Music. The concert series aims to provide 3-4 different concerts with a different cultural theme, in order to maximize the benefit of being in such a diverse and global campus, and benefit local people and Berklee students to have the opportunity to listen to music they might have never heard of before.

After two years of dull results, the Brazilian recorded music market grew 17,9% in 2017, becoming the 9th largest market in the world and driving the growth of Latin America. Streaming has grown by 64%, more than compensating for the sharp decrease in physical sales and downloads. By reviewing industry-specific reports and by collecting and analyzing radio airplays and streaming data, this paper investigates how the market shares have been evolving in the past two years. Local repertoire is persistently important both for major and independent labels, representing approximately 60% of the music consumed via radio and streaming services. Majors have been striving to maintain their positions, facing strong local players and emerging genres. The overall market growth represents a business opportunity for all parties, while the strengthening of digital distribution makes the marketplace a more even ground. In this context, independent labels and self-released artists can find their way to the customers, while majors need to remain attentive to local trends.

Keywords: research project, mixed methods research, recorded music, radio, streaming, market share, industry analysis, Brazil.

States spend a significant amount of money on financing various cultural events, but they do so without knowing the exact and broader effects of these investments. To deal with this problem, appropriate methods have to be developed to investigate the actual effects of a specific investment. Doing so would allow for qualification of decision making when it comes to public support of cultural events. We investigate following research question: How do we measure the broader effects of a cultural event? Based on an empirical case of a documentary film festival CPH:DOX we investigate the impacts, economic and social, the festival has on the surrounding society. We develop a mixed methods research design consisting of 58 interviews and 987 survey respondents to map both economic effects and what we term societal effects such as raising political awareness or improving civic engagement. We conclude that we do see an economic impact such as the added value from tourism and increased employment as well as we see a social impact, especially in terms affecting CPH:DOX participants cognitively and emotionally. This framework contributes not only with means to evaluate a given cultural event but also to optimize value enhancement. In addition, it can be used to conduct comparisons between cultural events, both nationally and internationally.

Keywords: research project, impact analysis, social change, mixed methods, festival, public funding.

This Culminating Experience intends to develop such management plan that can be timely executed for the Metro Vocal Group (MVG), an American A Capella group based in Hong Kong specialized in singing asian pop/rock songs, with the author taking on the role of an artist manager. The group was formed in 1998 and consists of four male singers (Eric Monson, Sean Oliver, Michael Lance, Kevin Thornton) individually from Iowa, Ohio, Nebraska, and Kentucky in the USA. Each individual member has extensive experience in vocal performances. MVG has been in residency in Hong Kong since 2005 and is now touring around Asia and Oceania, such as Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam, southern part of China, and Australia. The unique area that MVP mainly specializes in singing - pop & rock Chinese & Cantonese songs with occasional arrangements of Western pop songs, has gained a special niche market space for the career development of MVP within Asia. The group has released seven albums, including one all-Chinese album No Borders and is now expanding their musical trace into the Greater China.

This Research paper is about Iceland and its music industry. It looks at the main income of musicians, how is the music industry built up and what can be improved. It goes over popular venues and festivals and where the industry lies. The main finding is how hard it is for musicians to get their music played on radio, and that most people listen to music on radio. There is clearly that somethings have to be done to support Icelandic artists and help them develop as artist and to break into the industry. Iceland does not have to look far for ideas to improve the radio laws, for example Canada has a really good system Iceland could try to implement or even look over to France.

This Culminating Experience (CE) was dedicated to the planning, primarily logistical, of an international tour for independent artists from Taiwan. The CE should serve as an approachable and practical guide or a reference of know-hows for Taiwanese indie artists who are not signed to a label with extensive international network and resources yet established enough with the budget to tour internationally. Additionally, this serves as a foundation for artists without booking agents or concert promoters to pick up the tour and would like to organize their own tour in a DIY model. Upon completion of a simple tour plan based on this CE as a reference point, artists should also be able to have a concrete plan to submit to potential investors, sponsors (including government grants) or partners, with whom artists can work to enrich the content of the tour, to obtain financial support or to introduce a long-term relationship with brands.

The goal of this research is to analyze the hip-hop music market in China and evaluate the methods which could help Chinese hip-hop music continue growing stably. By collecting materials from books and documentaries, also combined interviews and surveys, there are several possibilities for this kind of music to live well and be developed in Chinese market. Otherwise, with time passing by, the music trend is updating rapidly not only among Western countries, but also in Eastern countries, especially for South Korea and China. The analysis will base on these changes which are happened recently, for example, the Hip-Hop competitions influence and the cognition of the audience about the music trend changes. At the same time, there are analyze of barriers for developing Hip-Hop music in China and several methods provided as solution reference.

This project is a critical and analytical look at how hype within the music industry can be created through digital marketing tactics.

The idea is to secure an externship that allows me to explore career paths in which I am interested.

I would like to work with an artist development/management company for my CE.

Brand | jarrett Management is a music start-up that takes a hollistic approach to artist development. Supporting services include career management and consultancy, industry education, mental health support, and resource discovery tools. Our goal is to empower artists by equiping them with
extensive knowledge and practical skills needed to pursue an independent career until otherwise desired.

The main objective of this project will be to complete an externship with Solid As A Rock Publishing in hopes to gain a professional experience and broader network.

The goal of my proposal this semester is to find my dream externship in either Artist Development in an independent record label in England, or as a Licensing Representative in publishing company.

Fully integrated in the MIDEM live team and will play an active role in the first business career booster for emerging talent powered by Midem".

I'm following the live practicum this semester but also wanted to take advantage of this year to discover how record labels function.

This study is centered on the concept of utilizing influence and the importance of cultural relevancy and strategy, detailing how social media has shifted the roles of who establishes the tastemakers. The research garnered supports the argument that the future of branding and marketing in today’s society of oversaturation, should indeed be inclusive of embracing cultural implications and the strength of online influence. Consequently, the way in which the industry positions artists, brands and campaigns needs to continue to evolve beyond traditional methods, allowing for firms to be proactive in their strategies versus reactive.

Coastline Carnival will be a music conference and festival located in downtown Asbury Park, New Jersey. The festival will make use of already existing music venues and create a unique boardwalk atmosphere for both delegates and festival goers alike.

This CE project was born in the most natural and unexpected way. Initially the idea was to work together on two different projects that would’ve included Michael’s CE for artist management and Devontè’s CE about artists as a startup.

The proposed project is the collaboration in the form of an externship with an established music business entity.

A case study of Kobalt Music Group, an innovative company in music publishing, label services and neighboring rights.

I would like to get an externship with ONP Productions and help them in the leading up to (and work the festival) and help out with their En Route Shows.

An externship within the legal sector of the music industry, focused on bringing elements of AR into contract and copyright law.

I have launched my own company, MILKMAN, during my time in Valencia. MILKMAN is a hybrid of ideas, emotions and sounds that come to life through live events and extraordinary experiences.

The CE will be a business plan for my start-up, AMDG Productions, a Portuguese theatrical production company, which operates under a social business model.

My project was the creation and execution of an experience based label. I was inspired of this concept after Benji Rogers came to speak to the GEMB class about Pledge Music platform. It seemed to me to be a perfect concept, inviting the the fans of an artist to have access to the creative process. This way the fan is engaged in the process from the beginning to end and revenue is guaranteed throughout the production process instead of solely relying on the end product to yield a profit. I wondered why no label had attempted to tap into profit on the front end in this manner, with the right artist (say Beyonce or Justin Bieber) a label could easily make an killer and inspire brand loyalty while facilitating a sense of intimacy between fan and artist.

The September 28th, 2016 I was notified that I got selected, together with Taylor Tobak, to be the Creative Coordinator of the TEDxBerkleeValencia’17. The excitement was unmeasurable. I knew that taking care of a worldwide recognized event was going to be an incredible experience. I still remember the first Business Seminar class in Sala E in which we saw an amazing TEDxBerkleeValencia video. Was since that moment that I wanted to be part of the team in charge of organizing such incredible event. I told Emilien my intentions on our first meeting, and I almost prayed for it (if I didn’t make it). Before TEDx, my only experience with music live events was as musician. I wasn’t able to imagine all the work that needs to be done to make an event a reality. But the TEDx creation started, and I had to learn quickly.

XX Management is a collective of creative minds united by the common goal of curating and developing talents for the music industry.

As my Cumulating Experience project I would propose to work on the generation of a business plan for a boutique heavy metal festival in Athens area in Greece. I would like to establish a festival that targets both local and foreign fans of heavy metal music, that combines the touristic attractions of Greece, like beautiful seaside landscapes and a high-quality curated festival billing with a variety of bands from local and upcoming to major and established bands that have never played in Greece before. The long-term goal is to create a community of fans that are gathering at least once a year in the festival and integrate this community in the general society. Our theme and philosophy is to be known and respected for our passion of heavy metal music and provision of a great festival experience, through hospitality, communication and affordable prices.

The following business plan outlines the details of a startup called EighthNote Artist Consultancy. This company is a sole proprietorship that provides musical artist with the necessary branding, marketing and public relation services required to successfully penetrate the music market, specifically Canada. The company focuses on the balance between qualitative observation and quantitative analysis from the multiple data analytic softwares available for artists.

I would like to gain an externship within the A&R sector of the record industry.

In this research project, the main focus was to understand the ways in which music affects children’s early development. To gather this information, there was a literature review done about neurological and scientific experiments done about the motor skill, language, social, and auditory memory. An evidence of a sensitive period for music education before the age of 7 was noted throughout the literature review and is advised to take into consideration by parents. Also, a study on the musical toys and electronic games was fulfilled in order to understand if these follow the scientific research and if they helped create a musically rich environment. In fact, these products do take into consideration and other proposals on products were made. For example, the development of an app that records a mother’s voice in a low pitch that will help newborns in their auditory development. Also, the creation of musical electronic books in the future.

CoCreatIn born out of the ideal of enabling collaboration and holistic growth of the music industry in developing markets. We want to be the LinkedIn of the music industry, by creating a platform made from and for professionals in the music industry. The perfect place to network, learn and find opportunities in this exiting field.

The goal of this research paper is to document and analyze the various scenarios that lead to misallocation of royalties within the music industry’s supply chain and to uncover the truth behind what happens to these missing royalties every year. The research will be specifically focused on the US market.

This paper is about the surge of emerging unsigned artists and other artists leaving record labels, which I call exaggeratingly ‘the anti-label era’. I do so with the aim to stress that times are changing. In attempts to investigate the discourse in the feasibility of being and remaining a successful unsigned artist the primary methods used are documentary analysis and survey. This highly theoretical paper explores issues such as why artists are turning away from labels and the necessity to rethink the music industry.

Seeking an externship that would develop my experience in identifying, developing, and marketing artists.

For the CE I have selected TEDxBV2017. As the Communications Coordinator for this established operational project, I serve as a liaison between all departments; artistic, sponsorship, and marketing, to meet deadlines and facilitate all internal communications aspects of the project.

The Artistic Coordinator for TEDxBerkleeValencia 2017 is responsible for leading the creative process from start to finish. Responsibilities include developing the theme and speaker selection, creating promotional materials, analyzing general content, and stage management on the day of the event. The Artistic Coordinator must participate in weekly team and Creative Department meetings to discuss progress, new promotional materials, venue selection, and other artistic aspects. The artistic team makes the incredible experience of TEDxBV a creative and inspirational event for both the audience and the speakers. This position begins in September 2016 and continues through the event on April 29, 2017, as well as after the event to begin working on TEDxBV 2018. As Artistic Coordinator for TEDxBV 2017, I have the amazing experience of participating as one of the main creators of the entire event, and truly making this year’s TEDxBerkleeValencia even better than the last.

My Culminating Experience consisted of an externship with Serious Fan Music, SFM, located in Valencia, Spain. The company offers a variety of services including: international artist management, concert production, artist promotion, as well as musical and cultural events. Julio Martí, who currently runs the organization, founded SFM over forty years ago. Specializing in Jazz, SFM has worked with artists such as Miles Davis and Chick Corea.

The aim of this research paper is to analyze the leading digital streaming platforms in China with focus on playlists. The five major music streaming portals in China are: QQ Music, NetEase Cloud Music, Kugou and Kuwo. The purpose of the work is to provide a general insight of digital streaming services in China to Western music labels and independent artists to develop their business in the China market.

This Culminating Experience deals with successfully raising funds for the Prakriti project and also to create the structural and functional structure for the company. This CE will focus both on corporate and individual funding and shall help to define the possible stakeholders of the company. The CE if successful, will be an inspiration for other musical enterprises in India and will help bring back the musical heritage of India which is fading away due to a changing culture.

Manifesting in two-parts, my culminating experience involved drafting a business plan for a boutique agency, Know Your Cut, that facilitates partnerships between emerging music artists and independent fashion brands, as well as producing a multi-media music, fashion and
technology event in Valencia, Màquinas y Màscaras, that served as a case study for the potential success of these types of collaborations. This reflective paper outlines how my course work the project over the past year, the inspiration and strategic thought behind it, and how it did and did not meet my expectations.

After years of working as an individual concert promoter and booking agent, and attending the Global Entertainment and Music Business Masters Program at Berklee Valencia, it is my duty to create LiveXmusic as company which is ready to fill a gap in the local and national music market. My experience in the local music industry has provided me with management skills and deep knowledge, including contacts, data, partners, employees, etc. Also, having attended the Music Business Program has provided me with very valuable information and the understanding of the music industry in a global scale, something which makes me totally ready to work with professionals both nationally and internationally.

Develop a research paper which will second as a market study on the intrinsic, yet seemingly divergent relationship between the markets Greater Caribbean (Northern Colombia, Cuba, Trinidad, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Coast of Mexico, etc); their difficulties, their similarities and the bigger idea of looking at the Caribbean as one interconnected network and ever-expanding consumer market which boasts perhaps one of the most rich and diverse genre-based regions in the world but that still needs to consolidate in a more formal and transversal way.

This past March, I began working for Soundsgood, a Parisian playlist- curation startup, doing business development for the United States and Spain as part of my Cumulative Experience. My externship with Soundsgood has proven to be such a valuable learning experience for me, and in this paper, I will highlight this experience, my work, and the outcome of my contributions to the Soundsgood team.

My goals as an extern were simple. I wanted to polish all skills I have learned about in our classes, such as Music Marketing and Global Leadership, and put them to use. As someone who is new to the music business world, I wanted to be able to practice fulfilling obligations in an entertainment company before my career officially started. At the same time, I wanted to be able to say at the end of the project that I was confident in not only having this great learning experience with a very interesting music project, but the company benefitting from having me as part of the team as well.

Growing up in a hectic and hustling city like Hong Kong, many citizens consume caffeine to energize themselves to deal with the everyday workloads ahead, either from studies or work. This year, when I am studying in Europe, I discover that the culture of drinking coffee is even more prevailing. This huge demand in the coffee market attracts the visions of businessmen, triggering a trend of small coffee shops and cafés opening. However, due to the keen competition from large-scale chain coffee shops such as Starbucks and Pacific Coffee, it is difficult for these small coffee shops to survive and sustain. This phenomenon contributes to my thoughts of possible ways to increase their value. Simultaneously, a literature, which manifests the positive relations between background music and taste of wine triggered my research. In the following research paper, I am going to investigate into the relationships between the value of a cup of coffee and the background music.

For my Culminating Experience project, I will be working as the Artistic Coordinator for TEDxBerkleeValencia reporting to Max Wright, the Artistic Director, and working in conjunction with the entire TEDxBV team. The major goal of this event is to bring “Ideas Worth Spreading” to the Berklee students as well as the Valencia Community under the theme “Connecting the Dots”. Therefore, we will be looking to bring in speakers that do just that; connect the dots in their own subject field and with each other.

The objective of my externship was to help ProjectNextUp plan and execute an event called HERoes (HER Original Empowering Stories) in Valencia, Spain. The event took place at the El Auditorio del Cubo Azul in the IDEAS institute (Universitat Politècnica de València) on April 8, 2016. HERoes invited men and women of all ages and backgrounds into the conversation of gender equality, while recreating the narrative of leadership and success, and inspiring action as a united music community. A diverse group of music executives would come together to speak on panels, mentor, and craft their own workshops for students at Berklee Valencia, greater Valencian community, and global music community as a whole.

For my culminating experience I will be working as a partnership coordinator for TEDxBerkleeValencia. In addition to the normal requirements, I also plan to take on a role as marketing technology advisor. I’ll show the team how to maximize efficiency by utilizing specific technologies useful in start-up companies and small businesses. As Partnership coordinator I plan to focus on technology companies that can help reduce the cost of our operations. For example, by having companies like Google Domains and SquareSpace provide their services for free in exchange for ad space. I also plan to work with larger international companies that have deeper pockets and more of an ability to help with the event. That tied with local support being worked on by my team members should in theory offer the best results for our event.

STAGGER is my stage name and I’m a rapper, lyricist and producer myself. My goal of this project is a making a firm career for myself as an artist. For making more solid career and be a successful artist, whole strategies, music, style, visual and issues should be disruptive and creative.

My project is called “Take me to Neverland” which I did with Xi Chen together. Basically, “Take me to Neverland” is a live music promoter based in Beijing and Shanghai who will provide high quality, affordable live music entertainment in these two cities. It will bring curated, special live music associated with most fun, artsy and cultural related theme events to bring the whole experience to the next level. Moreover, one thing special about the project is we choose to target the expatriates in China as our primary target audience, which nobody did it before in China. We also aimed to become the first live promoter in China who has a strong branding concept behinds the company itself, not merely promoting various artists without any connection between one and another, or without delivering deeper messages to our consumers which is, we want to share a certain live style of young people, more than just an music experience. We want people are able to “listening to the heart, living in the art.”

This paper explores metal music and related subgenres as niche markets and studies the behaviors and personality traits of metalheads in terms of consumptions and beliefs. The paper uses metalheads as a representation of niche genres of music due to their high fidelity and passion for the specified music. In the course of the paper we highlight different personality traits of metalheads and draw comparisons in the behaviors with that of other niche genres. The paper talks about the importance of niche genres like Metal to stay authentic to itself while also talks about the difference between niche and underground. The methodology used in this paper included first hand data collection to analyse data in the form of: surveys, literature review, focus groups and interviews with record label professionals. Business models and practices of the metal music ecosystem are still largely traditional and needing to adapt to a more versatile means of conducting business. The music industry has revolutionised since the beginning of digitalisation. The introduction of peer to peer applications and streaming has changed the music business. The introduction of technology has shifted the paradigm of businesses, where the incorporation, influence and induction is a necessity in order to be ‘successful’. The need for new, inventive and creative business strategies is at its utmost importance at this moment.

Keywords: ​metal music, metalheads, niche genres, music consumption, big data, marketing, music business, ecosystem, neo­tribes, consumer

I received the opportunity to work as an extern for the Midem Conference. The position was with a particular arm of the conference called the “Midem Artist Accelerator”, which invites 12 bands from around the world to learn from top industry executives as well as perform at the associated Midem festival. Because of its close alignment with my professional goals and interests in the music industry, I accepted the offer to work as an extern. The details of this externship are the topic of this paper, as this job was my Culminating Experience. Below, I will describe the Midem Accelerator, the job position, expectations for this position, as well as the work that I completed.

To launch of a music business that directly introduce foreign independent artists to China's music industry. The business provides consultancy services on market education, direct marketing and fan building, music publishing, licensing and distribution, as well as channels of monetizing music in a different market.

As humans we have an inclination to tell stories. Music has always resonated with me in terms of memories thus giving me a heavy interest in the sensory effect music has on human beings when paired with visual media. For my culminating experience (CE), I created and produced a Berklee College of Music- Valencia documentary style web series that features, a Cosmic Clown and his bike, a conversation with a folk making businessman, the making of a South African hit, a night at Berklee venue and a meeting with Disrupción Records. This documentary will feature music specifically supervised and placed by me to showcase my music supervision.

Woo Management is a rebranding and expansion of the existing company Patty Woo Management. Based in Los Angeles, California, Patty Woo Management is currently a sole proprietorship theatrical talent (actors and actresses) management company. This business plan proposes a rebranding initiative that would expand the type of talent represented to also include creatives in the music industry (artists, musicians, composers, producers, etc.) while maintaining a reputation of firm honesty and a dedication to only work with quality talent. Our mission statement is to protect and advise creative clients as to how thrive in the cutthroat entertainment industry.

My passionate interest in American country music and my will to better export the genre in Europe explain my choice. I’ve been always wondering why the country music superstars making millions of dollars in US seemed to be completely unknown and were reduced to a tiny niche market in the old continent. I really wanted to dig into it. In this paper, I talk about the current economical and cultural impact of the genre within the American and European music market and make a summary of the challenges country music faces in Europe. This project involved the creation different surveys that targeted people from all over Europe and interviews with artists and music industry professionals. The data collected from those surveys and interviews were then compiled and analyzed in order to make assumption regarding what European truly think about country music and which strategies could improve the outreach of the genre.

The purpose of this business plan was to assess the Chinese music market’s potential and favorability to new artists, and hence develop a marketing strategy to promote myself as a visionary C-pop artist who ultimately hopes to bridge the gap between C-pop and the international community.

As a culminating experience I decided to launch my own independent record label, called Cosmic Tones. The outcome is a business plan, but since I am actually doing it for real, the goal during this semester was also to make it the more concrete possible. Therefore, more than a business plan, this CE presents the tangible outcomes that I have so far. Our mission is to release innovative and underground electronic music through different formats: vinyl, cassette and digital. The goal during this semester was to build the foundation of the label and start putting together all the elements necessary for our first release, which we want it to be a compilation of at least 8 different Montreal artists and that we would release on cassette and in digital format.

The purpose of this case is to highlight the elements of Tidal, and how their business benefits artists, consumers, and the music industry. Today more than ever, consumers nearly have unlimited access to information, however still lack in knowledge the roots of the topic of music streaming. Outlined in the case study lies the competitive advantages of Tidal, and areas of growth that hint to outliving the streaming wars through its dedication to uniting artists. Tidal’s lane exists to grab the attention through exclusives, but also implementing program that promote emerging independent artists.

The popular global event TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading that has been running successfully for the past 30 years. In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. TEDx and Berklee Valencia have joined hands to call this event TEDxBerkleeValencia (TEDxBV), where x = independently organized TED event. I am responsible for the role of Marketing and Communications Coordinator for their third edition, scheduled on 16 April 2016.

My project this year was to develop my plan and marketing for my career as a songwriter. I have been publishing songs since 2008 and I took this year to formulate a plan for my publishing catalogue and to develop my self as a singer songwriter. My plan incorporates taking advantage of my back catalogue and looking towards marketing and developing new material. Over the course of the year I worked on recording a new EP , making a website, doing research, developing my social media and generally implementing my plan.

As one of the two Sponsorship Coordinators, now known as Partnership Coordinators, for the 2016 TEDxBerkleeValencia Team I, along with the rest of the team, will be bringing to fruition the Connecting The Dots TEDx Event on April 16th, 2016. It is common knowledge that connecting the dots is a form of puzzle containing a sequence of numbered dots that when connected in relative order depicts a certain image and that is, in a metaphorical sense, what the 2016 TEDxBerkleeValencia Team has aimed to accomplish come April 16th. We will host speakers, singers, and individuals from multiple disciplines that will come together to invite us into their world. By combining diverse ideas with new and creative ways of thinking and pushing the limits of expectations we will “connect the dots” and share with our audience a more enhanced and profound way to understand the world we live in.

Berklee Dance Party (BDE) is an EDM party brand hosting a set of regular dance party events for Berklee students and Erasmus Valencia, which are performed by Berklee DJs, especially focused on mainstream EDM music.

This paper explores metal music and related subgenres as niche markets and studies the behaviors and personality traits of metalheads in terms of consumptions and beliefs. The paper uses metalheads as a representation of niche genres of music due to their high fidelity and passion for the specified music. In the course of the paper we highlight different personality traits of metalheads and draw comparisons in the behaviors with that of other niche genres. The paper talks about the importance of niche genres like Metal to stay authentic to itself while also talks about the difference between niche and underground. The methodology used in this paper included first hand data collection to analyse data in the form of: surveys, literature review, focus groups and interviews with record label professionals. Business models and practices of the metal music ecosystem are still largely traditional and needing to adapt to a more versatile means of conducting business. The music industry has revolutionised since the beginning of digitalisation. The introduction of peer to peer applications and streaming has changed the music business. The introduction of technology has shifted the paradigm of businesses, where the incorporation, influence and induction is a necessity in order to be ‘successful’. The need for new, inventive and creative business strategies is at its utmost importance at this moment.

The project completed for my culminating experience was a compilation in an audio-visual form of pieces of South Indian Classical music, which were composed based on western notes mainly in C major scale. These pieces referred to as nottuswara (notes), have been composed in the early eighteenth century in India by Muthuswami Dikshitar inspired by the Irish bands that used to play European airs at Fort St. George, Madras Presidency of the British East India Company. Nottuswara compositions are short rhyme like songs that are penned in Sanskrit, which is an old Indo-Aryan language and are sung in praise of God. Around forty songs were composed out of which only 36 have been revived and notated. There is an influence of Celtic music in all these compositions.

To create a business plan for a booking agency that facilitates relations between Spanish/Portuguese speaking countries and the US. The agency will enable artists within these countries to reach national and international audiences through live performances, as well as international artists looking to work within the Spanish/Portuguese markets. Opportunities for US­based Latin and non­Latin artists will also be offered. Agency will begin with booking and touring services at first with the goal to expand and offer more services.

Based on the research, interview and conversation that I did during the completion of the culminating experience project, I have identified the fact that music market in China becomes one of the most up­rising markets in the world, Chinese audiences, especially younger generation who has been further exposed to foreign music, are eager to discover great music as well as live experience to fulfill their need. So, this project lives its mission by holding a series of event and inviting artists from all over the world to the Chinese promising market, thus helping to generate and integrate resources from both sides in a more efficient way. Moreover, the idea of connecting and integrating resources to hold event could help to better discover commercial opportunities so that both sides can benefit from it. More specifically, the project will first focus on artist from neighbor county ­ South Korea and then expand to other connections such as Spain, Sweden, United States and United Kingdom.

As a culminating project I chose to work on the Business Plan of AM Agency, a company I have cofounded with Marie Trifault, student at l’IFM, a fashion school in Paris. AM Agency is a sound design agency dedicated to the fashion and art sectors. Our activity consists in illustrating musically the vision of a fashion designer or an artist, illustrating the message he/she wants to convey or giving other ways of translation to his/her work.

For my CE research paper I decided to investigate the Mexican music festival market, using the question “Is Mexico the next big music festival scene of the world?” as the primary question of my investigation. This main question unveiled a series of other questions that I found very useful to complement the main topic and get a grasp of the Mexican market as a whole in terms of festivals.

This research project is intended to document the rise of an Underground Genre as it evolves and becomes a Mainstream attraction. The aim is to create a roadmap of the scene, and determine the underlying drivers of success (what factors are causing high levels of growth across the spectrum).
The genre selected for this task is entitled “Future Bass”, a relatively new phenomenon that has become increasingly popular in America, Europe, and in the world of Electronic music. The sound is best described as a global melting pot of styles combining hip-hop, jazz & soul, and electronic music with signature EDM melodies, bass and synths. To provide a manuscript of its growth, a database was created measuring a multitude of social media metrics over a 6-month period (SoundCloud, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and Instagram Followers). Almost 200 artists/labels were selected from 6 regions including: UK, USA, France, Australia, Canada, and Holland. Due to the heavy quantitative nature of this research, I used a quantitative inductive approach (where data are used to develop theory) in order to comment on the growth of this evolving sound.

Over the past several years, Latin America has seen a drastic transformation from a region that is seen by foreign artists and companies as too risky to enter due to political unrest, piracy, and unknown market potential to one that has fully accepted global trends in technology and digital media and is now predicted to be one of the fastest growing markets for entertainment. The transformation in South America’s entertainment industry has led to a remarkable growth in the live music industries in Brazil and Argentina, and more and more foreign artists, promoters, and brands are forming strategies to penetrate these emerging markets. This research document collects the perspectives of some of the leaders in live music who have been active in the internationalization of South America’s festival and concert scenes and combines this information with the newest news reports, data, and industry reports to highlight the crucial areas of opportunity for strategies in the music industry of these countries. The report expands on the particular music consumption behaviors within Brazil and Argentina, the two largest markets for electronic music in the continent.

Plural Music is a young start-up company that entered the live music event production industry two year ago through their dance music concert series “The GetDowns”. The company originated in Stockton, California, but recently has moved to an office in Oakland, California. Most of the company’s operations occurs in the Bay Area of Northern California and the city of Stockton. Upon agreeing to collaborate for this consultation project, Plural Music devised a multi-faceted mission aimed at accomplishing three major goals: an analysis of the company’s current financial health and social media strategy, a report on suggesting a new revenue stream that leverages the company’s current assets, and the organization of a quarterly live dance music concert series.

OverHear will be the first platform to offer a live music events discovery feature coupled with a public review and rating system for live music venues. With its unique combination of a free platform for public users and a paid content management system (CMS) for venues, OverHear is a revolutionary offering to the live music market. Unlike competitors that give limited information on venues and artists, and/or focus on only highly established or international acts, OverHear will offer its services to even the smallest of venues to give them the opportunity to compete with established venues. OverHear will assist live music venues, streamline their event planning process, better understand their customers live music taste and expectations and use that information to promote and reach out to their targeted market in the most effective way.

This paper for the Culminating Experience introduces a music supervision company called ScreenSound Music Supervision. This company specializes in classical music and makes exclusive bespoke content for film and video. Its potential clients are advertising agencies and filmmakers. ScreenSound Music Supervision will be set up to keep classical music alive and engage this music with the public in a more contemporary format. This is done via different creative ways, for example, a classical piece could be transformed into a dance music tune to get the audience's attention.

We had three clear goals in mind when we were talking about this event. First of all, we wanted to make more money for the charity. Whatever happened, we wanted to surpass the nearly 1000 euros they raised. The second goal was to keep ticket prices low. From feedback about last year and a survey conducted inside school walls, we knew that we had to accommodate to students’ budgets to have as much involvement and engagement as possible. The last goal was to create lasting relationships between Berklee, Música para el Autismo and the Valencian community.

This project consisted on a consulting project for the publisher Warner Chappell Spain. To complete their question, “How to better market our music to brand”, I needed to conduct a research that consisted in both, secondary information research and primary information research. Whereas the secondary information research consisted on articles and books about music advertising, the impact in music in advertising and even how psychological theories like neuroscience impacted in music advertising, the primary information research was, in the end, what brought most value to the project. It consisted in firstly, analyzing the music of successful Spanish advertisements of all time, trying to find similarities between them and seeing whether the music was key for them or not. Later on, I conducted a series of interviews with different profiles of industry specialists, not only music industry experts but, in fact, I also reached marketing specialists of IT companies and consumer goods companies. This led to interesting answers where sometimes all the interviewees clearly agreed on, and where sometimes, the variety of answers led to an interesting approach depending on the specialization area and hence, industry.

This Consulting Project consisted of my integration in the Midem Live team to actively participate in the organization and administration of the first Midem Artist Accelerator program. From December 2014 until June 2015, under the management of Delphine Grospiron and in collaboration with my colleague Perrine Leydier, I performed a number of tasks relating to several entertainment industry roles such as programmer, A&R and project coordinator. Some of the main purposes of this consulting project were to develop talent-scouting skills, learn how to identify future successful acts, and gain experience in the complex organization of industry conferences and live music events.

“Jazz Para El Autismo” was a collaborative Project between the Contemporary Performance (CP) and the Global Entertainment and Music Business (GEMB) Master Programs at Berklee Valencia. Jacopo Mezzanotti (Artistic Director, CP Program) and Felipe Saalfeld (myself, as head manager, producer and promoter, GEMB Program) joined forces together to create a unique an innovative show, in the form of a Symphonic Jazz concert, to be
presented to the local Valencian community and raising funds for a local NGO.

Concert navigation made easier. From its conception, Flits was designed as a mobile- based application dedicated to the facilitation of live music events based on the user’s location. Although the team quickly recognized and identified the competition, we still saw a need for a better interface, a better service, and a much better experience overall. We want to become the go-to app by providing a high-quality service and accurate and trusted information regarding the latest concerts and live music events taking place in our users’ corresponding cities. Flits understands that elements such as proximity and immediacy are staples in these types of applications. But we want to take it even further. When we talk about creating a better experience we imply a full transformation of product to persona. We want the app to feel like you, the user, are interacting with a friend, connecting with another concert-lover. We want it to have a personality. By adding different real-time features, implementing contextual UX navigational elements, and making the most of micro-interactions, Flits wants to connect you to your local music scene. Only thing left is for you to enjoy the night.

Ask A Guru is an interactive platform that allows users to discover and share music. Paul Nnaoji, Nicolas Schipper and Gabrielle Mella from the Berklee College of Music in Valencia, Spain, developed the platform. This idea was formed when we were presented with an industry problem in our Entrepreneurship & Innovation class and turned it into an opportunity. The issue is that there are more than 4 million songs on Spotify that have not been streamed and this gives listeners around the world the immensely difficult task of discovering new music and moreover choosing the music that matches their exact personal taste.1 Ask A Guru was created as a solution to this current music mess by offering a platform that will easily enable individuals to discover and share music and gets rewarded by doing so.

As an operational project, Speak for Music (SFM) is an organization that began at Berklee Valencia in the fall of 2014; founded by Gianni Abbott and Giselle Hausman, master students at Berklee College of Music Valencia, and Catalina Millán, a local language professor. SFM is a spoken word poetry project that aims to develop English skills through a creative medium. When combined, the power of spoken word poetry, music, and education can have a very strong impact. SFM connects Berklee Valencia to the wider creative and academic communities of the city, encouraging local collaboration. Additionally, this opportunity exposes Berklee’s name to residents around Valencia and highlights the importance of music in educational settings. Three students from Berklee’s Music Technology Innovation program will serve as educators, lecturing the Escuela Malvarrosa students on the technology in Studios A-D during their visit. The final album is scored with original instrumental music by Berklee Valencia students from a variety of programs.

This consulting project was created to provide an external advice for the firm Seed&Click, to help them improve business and organization results. Seed&Click is a young company created in 2013, as an investor network associated to a crowdfunding platform and it operates in three lines of business.

LOVE the LIFE you LIVE is the title of my on-going culminating experience fundraising campaign. As an operational project, I implemented a suicide and depression prevention fundraiser that uses the creation of inspirational music to raise awareness, inspire hope, and offer monetary support to suicide prevention. The fundraising platform of LOVE the LIFE you LIVE works using two core methods: artist and musician feature donations, and download donation profit. All music created will be shared for donations. All monetary proceeds will be donated to suicide prevention philanthropies: events, foundations, and organizations.

The purpose of this research is to explore the world of digital currency and how it’s being used in the music industry. It’s not a secret that since the dawn of the Internet, the world as we know it is in a continuous state of change. Every industry is moving from physical to digital, including our payment systems. Consumers are spending more time and money on the Internet, which has led to innovations in digital currencies as recognized ways to pay for online content or physical products. These digital currencies may allow for innovation, and quite possibly revolution, in a music industry plagued by piracy, low royalty payouts and an overall indifference to pay for music, a once highly valued product. This research project aims to suggest how the music industry can use digital currency as a standard.

The goal of this Culminating Experience project was to actively expand the Yun SeokCheol Trio more internationally, by developing the social media content to have a more global focus and running a long-term social media campaign. Furthermore, with the stronger social media, I was able to create an electronic press kit for the trio, which led me to confidently search for possible performance opportunities in Europe. I researched and updated possible gigs in Europe until I built stronger social media content to accompany the press kit.

For my Culminating Experience project in the Global Entertainment and Music Business Master’s program of 2015 I focused on the music festival and conference sector of the international music industry, therefore complying with my focus in Live Events at Berklee College of Music - Valencia. The project consisted of two parts: a position on the Artistic Production team at the MBC Festival in Valencia and a position as Translator, Hospitality and PR at Sónar+D, Sónar Barcelona’s new technology and business conference during Sónar by Day. The two projects aligned with my focus in Live Music Events through the Live Practicum course, which took place during the spring term, 2015. While unalike in nature due to their differing phases of development, my experience at MBC and Sónar+D complemented one another by showing me the reoccurring structures, endeavors, methodology and roles observed in the production of events of this kind and size and by exposing me to the industry of live music events in Spain.

During the first semester, I heard about an event that took place the previous year at Berklee Valencia, called the Berklee Ball, which also sponsored a local charity. With the help of my colleague, Claïs Lemmens, we decided to continue this tradition. Our goals were to display Berklee’s talent and love of music, create a lasting memory for the students, and also raise money for Música para el Autismo (MUA), a non profit organization aimed to improve the lives of people with autism through the use of music. This was the perfect solution to my personal and professional goals throughout the year.

The project completed for my culminating experience was a research paper covering the music industry in China. My paper is an effort to provide a greater understanding of the country and how music is consumed and marketed. It starts with a literature review, which looks at historical realities in the country, first being the development of piracy in the country. Unlike the US, who views piracy as a digital issue, China has had problems with piracy going back to the 90’s, with illegal CD’s being sold on the black market. The paper also outlines methods of government censorship, in the form of social media control and festival closures. I also analyze how Western countries have influenced the music, through the opening of China’s borders, and through sovereign regions within China including Hong Kong and Taiwan. The second half of my paper outlines social media networks and habits. Platforms are analyzed individually by users, content, and trends to produce best practices and methods for success. Streaming services are also considered to measure current usage and provide an overview of the music technology market. Branding and sponsorships are briefly covered as an important method of raising money and awareness for artists and companies. Lastly, I discuss areas for growth and untapped markets within China, which include crowdfunding, and increasing merchandise and value added sales.

The role of Artistic Direction Coordinator for TEDxBerkleeValencia 2015 was one that took on many responsibilities. I was in charge of the acquisition of speakers and performers for the conference that took place on April 25th 2015. Although the whole team was responsible for reaching out to potential speakers, the artistic team, Max Wright and myself, spearheaded this initiative including having the most speakers to coach throughout the coaching process along with the performers. Coaching consisted of bi-weekly Skype rehearsals with the speakers no on location and coaching on campus of speakers who were here. We conducted a contest on campus to create an official theme song for this edition of TEDxBV. Combined we had 62 speaker, 18 performer and 13 theme song submissions to sort through before narrowing it down to 13 speakers, 4 performers and 1 theme song that was in line with the theme of Changing Currents. The Artistic Coordinator also included being in charge of the main info email account and dealing with the stage, lighting and feel of the entire show. This meant that we were in constant communication with marketing and production throughout. I personally would go to production meetings and was there with the team when setting up and tearing down the day of the show.

This culminating experience will take the form of a Research Paper. The following thesis project aims to analyze the reemerging and trend-like popularity of the episodic video game content development and distribution model (hereby referred to as EVG). This research further explores the key conditions of the current video game industry that have since lead to the re- evaluation, experimentation, and implementation of the episodic gaming concept. This study was conducted in two phases, the first being a literature review of available secondary sources and information, followed by expert interviews with video game industry professionals of various backgrounds. In conclusion, this study will provide a deeper investigation of the current impact of episodic gaming processes, along with an evaluation of the sustainability of the model. The study has resulted in an understanding that the EVG is neither a fad nor a concept that will completely revolutionize the industry, but it is one of several emerging innovations that will thrive in upcoming years. This study also aims to shed light on various parallels and cross-sections between the modern video game industry and the music industry. By recognizing similar (yet sometimes vastly different) elements, concepts, and best practices shared by both industries, this paper hopes to encourage cross-industry analysis and increase shared learning between industry professionals. The successes and failures of each industry are lessons, and should fuel further growth and innovation in today’s dynamic and rapidly changing global entertainment and music business.

Keywords include: Episodic Gaming, Downloadable Content (DLC,) Social Engagement, Transmedia, Emerging Business Models, Game Development, Game Publishing, Game Distribution.

The initial goal was to write a business plan for the company Flits a real-time music event discovery platform (formerly known as WhatsOn). In addition to that, I set up the team, founded the company and we released an MVP. Therefore I see my project as bringing Flits alive.

Flits is a social platform that allows concertgoers to find trending music events in their location. Its core added value with relation to existing services is providing multimedia (text, photo, audio, video) real-time user-generated updates from ongoing events. Although, we focus in its initial phase only on local small and medium size music venues (e.g. Facebook as a service for students on Harvard Campus), the business has a scalable model that can be applied in any musically rich urban area all around the world covering not only music, but also all kinds of other artistic events.

Imagining Colombia and Music 4 Kids Playground arise form the idea of start generating spaces for Children within the Music Industry including the new tools that technology has given us in order to share experiences and educate them at the same time, always with content for their age. Imagining Colombia is the short-term goal of the project with which we want to get experience and gain credibility within our market. It is an interactive performance for Children that will mix music, sound design and technology in one to teach Children about Colombia activating their imagination while they enjoy the journey discovering new tools adapted for them. Music 4 Kids Playground is the long-term goal of the entire project. It is the first Children’s Music Festival in Colombia based in technology with specific goals, to spread messages, to improve the Children’s Music Industry and deliver right content to Children.

This case is designed for an undergraduate or master’s level class in music business exploring business models, especially in the realm of blue ocean strategies in value proposition and revenues streams. It is ideal for considering ethical and transparent business practices within a notoriously unethical and veiled industry. It introduces students to business development tools such as SWOT analysis, while empowering them to understand institutional logic and its role in ethical and transparent business practices. Crowdfunding is a new tool that is disrupting the process of funding in the music industry. PledgeMusic capitalizes on this, while breaking into the third frontier of the music industry in order to increase sales power and marketing reach. This case is designed to study how PledgeMusic is participating in the paradigm shift that is occuring in the music industry, and encourage students to think critically and creatively about how to stay ahead of the curve as a leader in this quickly-changing market.

My Culminating Experience project, developing a business plan, focused on this new company, Deacon Creative. This business, in its’ current developed form, is present as a boutique entertainment consulting firm, that specializes in bringing ideas into reality. It is designed to provide custom business solutions for artists and creative businesses, with a focus on being experts in simplicity.

For my Culminating Experience, I have managed two artists: The George Lacson Project (GLP), a band of Berklee masters students here in Spain, and also Milk, a band of recent Boston University graduates based in Alston, Massachusetts. This has been an operational project. In the following reflection and appendices, I will show what I have done and how it has impacted my learning at Berklee.

My Culminating Experience was taking on the role as Marketing Coordinator for TEDxBerkleeValencia, with the ultimate goal of strengthening the TEDx brand at the school, with the incorporation of this year’s theme, “Changing Currents,” and redefining the voice of TEDxBerkleeValencia across multiple platforms. The ultimate goal was to connect with the student audience and reach out to establish an extended audience outside of the Berklee community, into Valencia. I worked with Gwendolyn Alston, the Online Social Media Management Professor at Berklee Valencia, and the Founder of MocaMedia, a company that develops community engagement campaigns and strategies for independent films. We both shared the same goals, and on a weekly basis, spoke about how we can further increase exposure of TEDxBerkleeValencia to the school and neighboring community. In the spirit of innovation and community, the theme for TEDxBerkleeValencia 2015, Changing Currents, spoke to several notions of change: paradigm shifts; movement, both physical and societal; and new tendencies across multiple disciplines.

Ask A Guru consist of a website and an app that allows Internet users to connect, share and discover music in a fun and rewarding way, the platform allows users to find music from any genre, curated by the music Guru’s, who make up our user base. Ask A Guru rewards its top users with ranking earned by number of Karmas (likes) received. Ask A Guru is now a company that devoted to bringing the world the premier music discovery Experience. The company is founded on evidence that there are tremendous changes occurring in the music industry. The need for a perfectly simple way to discover music has never been more necessary.

For my culminating experience, I put together Chiu Productions ­ a service and video channel for musicians who are looking to add pieces of video content to their promotional library. This project was implemented for the purpose of my interest in further exploring music­based videos. I have been involved in video­work for a few years now, but in a fairly low­level capacity. This was likely due to my lack of filmmaking education and experience. For some time, I’ve wanted to figure out how I could provide musicians with content that can contribute to the growth of their online fanbase. With the resources and personnel of Berklee Valencia, I had the opportunity to experiment.

Pronebula Awards is a newborn and innovative yearly event in Valencia, Spain. This event became the first independent Music Video Contest from Valencia. The human efforts that met to build a strong work team ranged from a NGO expert to experienced professionals in the audiovisual scene of Valencia. The leader, myself, represented the unbeatable spirit of Berklee College of Music though it’s motto: “To be, rather than to appear to be”.

Ask a Guru is a music curation platform that allows users to quickly and easily share and discover music from all over the world in a fun and interactive way. The idea for the company began here at the Berklee College of Music Valencia, during the first semester. On the first day of Entrepreneurship and Innovation class, leaders were selected amongst the class. One of those selected was Nicolas Schipper. These leaders were entrusted with the task of selecting a team whom they would work with for the entire rest of the semester.

Today’s music industry is convoluted by brands. As a result of social, cultural, and technological advances, the music industry is being financed and controlled by a new arsenal of forces. Over the past 20 years, the music industry has seen the emergence of brand activations. At pace like no other, non-music brands are beginning to control and influence the music industry. The category of brands most active in music marketing are undeniably alcohol brands. Despite this unstoppable force in music, there still remains many problems. The impact and influence of non-music related companies in the music industry can be detrimental to the quality and creative nature of the actual music. In this research paper, I investigate exactly how beer brands can positively engage in the music industry in a way that beneficial to the artists, the brand, and the overall music. I focus my research on two of the most active and powerful beer brands in the world: Heineken International and AB InBev.

This consulting project was a collaboration to promote the existing music scene in Valencia, Spain. With more than seventy music venues, this city provides never ending possibilities to organize and manage live events and music concerts. Each venue is known to embrace its own unique style meaning various genres are found throughout the city on a daily day basis. From the intimate jazz clubs such as the Jimmy Glass Bar to large music halls like the Palau de les Arts. From café-theaters like Matisse to more exclusive spaces like the Loco Club.

Over the course of the graduate program at Berklee Valencia I built a business plan/ business strategy that I hope to use as a guide to change the lives of young people across regions. G Arts Foundation is an arts organization dedicated to educating and supporting the next generation of performing arts. The organization will provide experiences to enrich and invest youth through fine and performing arts education by creating opportunities to make the arts more accessible.

What Tune Does the Bluebird Sing is a work of original research. In this study, I collected and examined Twitter usage and Next Big Sound data that covered 3000 professional musicians, representing hundreds of major music acts. The purpose of this study was to identify how music acts of varying genres utilize Twitter in distinct ways, and to differing effects. Finding trends in usage by specific genres, I came to several conclusions based on subjects from audience demographics and segments, technological fluency and workplace culture.