Members 145 Posted April 23, 2004 Members Share Posted April 23, 2004 Originally posted by Lofti I am a music industry major at Northeastern University in Boston. It's in the college of Arts and Sciences, not Business, even though most of the curriculum is business courses. I have recently been thinking about pursuing a law degree not necessarily to be a lawyer but to make myself that much more useful and available to the industry. I have given my choices a lot of thought, definitely had periods of serious self doubt and all that nastiness, but I am happy with where I am headed. My dream is actually to be a producer, making my own music. But I have no idea how my talent stacks up in the marketplace, and need to know that I have some semblance of job opportunities. I have always wanted very much to be self employed, I think that's a big goal for me. I am looking into running a record label as well as producing some hiphop acts for the moment, something I can reach out with on my own. Management is a definite possibility for the future, the law degree would be key there. I would also take a position with a major label doing anything that wouldn't require whoring myself out. But I definitely see myself having lots of different options for how and where I could fit in this industry. You don't have to be a rockstar to follow thd dream. Getting a law degree is an excellent idea. The Music Industry is NOT full of lawyers. One thing is certain, a MBA is absolutely worthless in the music business. I don't know of a single Record Executive with an MBA. In fact the only one I know with a MBA (from Harvard) couldn't get a job with a record company. All record labels have to have lawyers and believe me music law is very complicated and you can NOT learn all you need to know by taking a few courses. If you decide to start your own company having a law license will save you a bundle of money. Also having knowledge of the law won't diminish your abilities as a producer at all. You learn to produce by producing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members IVcrane Posted May 8, 2004 Members Share Posted May 8, 2004 Security is the key word. I would not knock out an MBA as it is usefull in all business not just music. If a law degree is of interest a great plan without much more time is this. Berklee offers a Music Business Degree. One thing you may not know is that they have an affiliation with Suffolk University where you can be working on your MBA at Suffolk while getting you BA in MB at Berklee. By the time you graduate Berklee you would have less than a year left at Suffolk to have an MBA good in all business not just Music. This is also a solid ground to get into a "Good" law school as an MBA will be looked at more favorably by admissions than a BA in music. within 8 years you would have a BA in MB from Berklee, a MBA from Suffolk, and a law degree from wherever. You will be marketable within and outside of Music and look very solid to industry professionals. As people stated Music is a business and to endure that schooling and having those degrees will make you appear as a reliable, hard working professional. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members David Hooper Posted May 9, 2004 Members Share Posted May 9, 2004 Originally posted by IVcrane Security is the key word. I would not knock out an MBA as it is usefull in all business not just music. If a law degree is of interest a great plan without much more time is this. I'd argue: 1. There is no such thing as job security unless you're self-employed. 2. When you have a "Plan B," you use it. I recommend the "gun to the head" method myself. If you really want it, you'll make it work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 145 Posted June 2, 2004 Members Share Posted June 2, 2004 A MBA is useless in the music business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DanteRTS Posted June 7, 2004 Members Share Posted June 7, 2004 I'm an MTSU RIM grad ('99). Here are my thoughts, for what it's worth: MTSU (and probably Belmont) does a pretty incredible job putting something without a book-foundation into a classroom setting. It's far from History or Math, where they can teach facts and info. The tech side is a bit different, as you learn the gear/theories/lingo and get hands-on experience. But the biz side...it's a bit more intangable. YOU HAVE TO NETWORK!!! I didn't, and I sure wish I had now that I'm trying to push our own band. Join the clubs (AES, ARMS), participate in Everything, meet and get to know Everyone in your classes. Get to know your professors!!!! Learn the info, but it's 100 times better to be "in" the game, as opposed to just learning about it. Interships...Use them! Not just 1 credit hour, but set aside a whole semester or summer to work your ass off for the company. When I graduated, 10% of the near 20k students were in the RIM program. That's 1800 students wanting in the same industry as you. Got to stand out!! Out of all of this rambling, my point is that music biz school is definitely helpful. But if you use it the right way, it may prove exponentially (like that word, don't ya:) more benfitial then if just studying books and taking tests. My 10 cents Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tx.toadies Posted June 20, 2004 Author Members Share Posted June 20, 2004 Originally posted by DanteRTS I'm an MTSU RIM grad ('99). Here are my thoughts, for what it's worth:MTSU (and probably Belmont) does a pretty incredible job putting something without a book-foundation into a classroom setting. It's far from History or Math, where they can teach facts and info. The tech side is a bit different, as you learn the gear/theories/lingo and get hands-on experience. But the biz side...it's a bit more intangable. YOU HAVE TO NETWORK!!! I didn't, and I sure wish I had now that I'm trying to push our own band. Join the clubs (AES, ARMS), participate in Everything, meet and get to know Everyone in your classes. Get to know your professors!!!! Learn the info, but it's 100 times better to be "in" the game, as opposed to just learning about it.Interships...Use them! Not just 1 credit hour, but set aside a whole semester or summer to work your ass off for the company. When I graduated, 10% of the near 20k students were in the RIM program. That's 1800 students wanting in the same industry as you. Got to stand out!!Out of all of this rambling, my point is that music biz school is definitely helpful. But if you use it the right way, it may prove exponentially (like that word, don't ya:) more benfitial then if just studying books and taking tests. My 10 cents That's what I want to hear! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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