On this page, you can find the Culminating Experience (CE) Projects for all graduate students from the Berklee College of Music master’s program Global Entertainment and Music Business (GEMB) from 2015 – present. Click on any title for more information and access to the full paper and other deliverables (if available).
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Rosewood / Yucca Tech
Stephen Bailey-Heelan
2019Rosewood/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.
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Business Plan: RAD Music
Stephen Bisson
2019The 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.
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Disrupción Records - Label Manager
Nicole Casino
2019My 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.
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2019 European DIY Musician Conference
James Connor
2019I was the Project Manager for the 2019 European Musician Conference, hosted by CD Baby and Berklee Valencia.
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Business Plan for ODL Records
Oscara De Lara Toribio
2019The 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.
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Disrupción Records Culminating Experience: How to Create & Manage Successful Promotions & Events for a Record Label
Alexjandria Edwards
2019As 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.
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Pyramid Festival: Prosumer- Driven Underground Electronic Music Gathering
Can Eltutar
2019Being 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.
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Ontti Labs Business Plan
Manuel Fernandez
2019My 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.
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The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living: The Plight of the “Middle-Class” Artist
Michael Gelberg
2019This 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.
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LALI, FROM ARGENTINA TO EUROPE: AN EXPANSION STRATEGY
Patrícia Gomes
2019This 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.
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Transcend: A Music Promotion Company With a Social Conscience
Ahir Gupta
2019Transcend 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.
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Women In Music Berklee
Maria Jose Guzman Basilis
2019Women 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.
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A Journey
Hildur Hamidsdottir
2019A journey through partnership, working with a booking agency as a consultant. Working in the fields of business development, consultancy, event management.
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Mexico Pa'l Mundo
Mariano Hernandez Garcia
2019This 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.
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Zpod Entertainment Company - Business Plan
Edward Hugill
2019Zpod 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.
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Sing With Me: Reborn
Seo Hyun Kim
2019This 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.
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THE EMERGANCE OF THE GLOBAL VOICE
Bianca Johnson
2019This 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.
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FIRST ARTIST AID
Sofiko Kereselidze
2019First 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.
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Marketing & Promotions Coordinator CPPD
Elsa Llorente
2019I was the Marketing and Promotions Coordinator for all live events of CPPD.
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environmntl: Business Plan
Casey Miller
2019The 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.
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Disrupción Records Product Manager
Calen Mims
2019Disrupción 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.
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Women in Music Berklee
Tayler Mooney
2019Women 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.
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Disrupción Records
Eleonora Muraglia
2019My 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.
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Music shines in the dark: a study of the songs inspired by Hurricane María in Puerto Rico
Cristina Nadal
2019In 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.
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Disrupción Records Marketing/PR Manager
Nicole Otero Meneses
2019The 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.