Course Overview
MBUS 4100 - Music Business I
Hours: 3
Prerequisite: Certificate Foundation Skills Courses (or equivalent)
Course Description
Music Business I is a survey of the music industry, its various prominent commercial and regulatory organizations, and its developmental history and future directions. Specific issues covered in MBUS 4100 include record and music company operations, income generation and distribution models, and publishing technologies and trends.
Course Content Areas
- General Industrial Overview: A survey of the music industry, its various revenue generating sources, its principal actors, and its developmental history.
- Creative Content: A study of the art and mechanics of content development both at the individual and the organizational level. How do ideas become songs and how to songs progress to recordings?
- Commercialization of Music: A study of the movement of the recorded and printed intellectual content into the market place.
- Music Company Operations: A study of the specifics of company organization and operations to facilitate the creation of content and the management of various revenue streams.
- Industry Opportunities and Threats: A look forward at the arising opportunities and threats to industry profitability in the future.
- Music Career Development: An overview of career development options, with emphasis on arising trends and developments and the skills associated with working effectively in the new environment.
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MBUS 5100 - Music Business II
Hours: 3
Prerequisite: Certificate Foundation Skills Courses (or equivalent), MBUS 4100
Course Description
Music Business II is an in depth study of topics of specific relevance to the music industry, with a strong emphasis on experiential learning and practical application of classroom knowledge to the music business environment.
Course Content Areas
- Production and Distribution: What has been the typical model of music production and how is technology changing that model? What implications does this have for copyright protection, for revenue management, and the overall vitality of the industry?
- Intellectual Property Issues: Who really owns the music and how are owners interests protected? What are the tradeoffs in open-sourcing of music to build market share and creating the belief that music is a free good? What is the state of the art in legal theory related to music copyrighting and use?
- Artist Management: A study of the various facets of artist management, including performance management and recording contracts, talent agencies, personal management and artist promotion.
- Entrepreneurship in the Music Business: A study of arising opportunities and the resources and skills required to pursue those opportunities.
- Experiential Project: A capstone project conducted off-site and in conjunction with organizations and individuals within the music business will be required. These projects may take the form of consultation projects, market studies, or content development, based upon the interests of the students and needs of marketplace.
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