DON'T STOP THE MUSIC BUSINESS

Would it be PURE BLISS to have a room full of people “in love” with the music business despite the trade’s financial woes during the last decade?

The question has been ringing in my mind since attending the NARM convention in Chicago a year ago. Is it the nostalgia of being in the mist of music retailers wrangling over how they need more marketing attention from major labels and large independents? Was it networking in the hallways with reps from entertainment marketers, international record companies, local music labels, or the owner of a popular St. Louis record store who lamented: “I made more money last year than most of the people in that room” (music retailers conference)? Could it have been attending a Sony Music sponsored artist showcase like those written about in Clive Davis’ memoirs as if it just jumped out of the book?

Although the answers to the aforementioned questions do not resolve the question of pure bliss, they contribute to a certain truth. The kind of truth that would inspire hardcore music business professionals in a stormy commercial season where financial trade associates shy away or forsake the music industry;  the type of partial truths in a group of reasons why students are courageously pursuing a formal music “business” education on undergraduate and graduate levels (despite amassing school debt in a tough economy).

Attendees of the NARM convention and students of higher education do share a commonality – a willingness to evolve, problem solve, and keep the music trade revolving like a CD in a disc player. A similar component found in the minds of the music professional and the student is identical in function as a part in a disc player – a laser focus! It is like no other time in my personal journey in the music business during the last fifteen years that such an intense attention for the trade has existed.

Has the analysis of a stagnating music industry caused my focus to intensify? Did the reality of having to settle the investment in music business education strengthen my foresight? Is the constant news reporting about the downsizing of giant record companies and record store bankruptcies enhancing my resolve to succeed?

Whatever the reasons illuminating my laser-beam focus, it is with confidence in the skills gained from pursuing a music business bachelor degree at Columbia College of Chicago and entertainment master degree from Full Sail University that my will is to DON’T STOP THE MUSIC BUSINESS!

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REFERENCES:

1)   NARM 2010 Conference in Chicago; http://www.narm.com/events/happenings-recaps/

2)   Clive: Inside The Record Business; Clive Davis with James Willwerth; Chapter 5, Section 4, pp. 81-83