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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SŪRU: More Than Just Merch
Julian Luczywo
2024SŪRU is a business plan created by Matthias Kristensen and Julian Luczywo. It is an innovative music merchandise concept that fuses the traditional merchandising method with innovative exclusive content and digital asset features. The company essentially co-designs high quality and unique merchandise with artists before selling the items on the company platform to customers. Customers unlock rewards on the platform once they receive their merchandise. The document covers the initial iterations of important components to any business, such as corporate identity, mission statements, market research and analysis, financial and operational planning, and more.
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Poshy Media
Analise Malick
2024In the dynamic realm of social media marketing for the music industry, tailored strategies and creative content are crucial. This project addresses these needs through bespoke membership packages designed to enhance musicians' social media presence. Drawing from my experience with successful campaigns for prominent artists, I aim to offer personalized social media management services that drive growth and engagement.
The Planner package includes monthly strategy calls and weekly emails with insights, while The Social Manager package provides intensive services such as curated content lists, dynamic video content creation, and detailed content calendars. Additional services like filming and live event coverage further enhance these offerings.
The project underscored the importance of adaptability and creativity in content creation, presenting challenges in managing diverse client needs. It contributed valuable skills in strategic planning and client management, with future prospects of expanding service offerings and exploring new digital platforms to reach a broader audience.
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Business Plan - Amazing Beats
Julián Márquez Rodríguez
2024This business plan sets the foundations for a music company that provides tailor-made services such as record label, publishing, and business consultancy to up-and-coming Latin American electronic music artists. The company aims to bridge the gap for exciting talent and cutting-edge music between Latin America and Europe, focusing on artists that make electronic music (electro, techno, dubstep, drum n bass, footwork, etc.) mixed with traditional Latin American music (cumbia, samba, milonga, andina, champeta, salsa, merengue etc.).
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Research Paper on the “Award Show Effect” of East & West: Influence of Artist’s Nomination and Winning on their Streaming and Social Media Profile
Wai Yu Mok
2024Articles like “The Death of Award Shows: Do People No Longer Care?” or “And the Loser Is...: Are Music Awards Shows in Crisis?” are widespread on the internet, criticizing the diminishing significance of music award shows beyond their cultural impact (Epigram Music, 2022). Exploring the impact of music award shows on digital cultural goods like streams and social media engagement lacks systematic and data-driven research. Bridging this gap involves comprehensive studies on music shows across countries with varying levels of industry development, promoting comparison and knowledge-sharing beyond geographical boundaries. This research evaluates the influence of major music award shows on artists' streaming performance and social media presence, using statistical data from 2022 to 2024. It focuses on three geographic regions: the U.S. (The Grammy Awards), Taiwan (The Golden Melody Awards), and Hong Kong (The Ultimate Song Chart Awards Presentation), each with unique music dynamics. The study includes survey results to understand awareness and post-award show streaming behavior. The findings aim to provide insights into fostering sustainable relationships among award show academies, artists, labels, commercial partners, recording companies, and other stakeholders. The research concludes that music award shows continue to hold substantial influence over streaming and social media, albeit with varying degrees of impact depending on the region, category of award, and the artist's prior standing. These events remain crucial cultural markers and drivers of commerce, adapting to the evolving digital landscape and audience interests.
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Queration
Anna Nikoltchev
2024This project is a business plan, divided into three adjacent services, targeting B2B live music industry clients.
The first service, Queration, is a venue-fan and promoter-fan communication app, sold to venues and promoters, who then make it available to concert attendees. It offers four core features: The app provides information about the event and venue. It allows to survey fans anonymously about their concert experience, their music consumption habits and their opinions on the artist performing. There is a function for emergency alerts to be sent to venue security. It also offers the possibility for fans to directly communicate with the event organizers.
The second service, Queration+, is an optional add-on to the Queration base app, offering a digital queuing system to fans, facilitating crowd control and minimizing the time fans spend outside of venues.
The third and final service, Queration Trends, is separated from the previous two and sold to all artist-affiliated music industry parties. It presents the survey data from Queration, as well as the location and queuing data from Queration+. It allows to draw important conclusions on the artist’s superfans and anticipate future challenges at shows, and opens the door for potential partnerships with surrounding businesses.
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Marketing-focused Business Plan for Burnt P*tch Records
Veronica Noboa
2024During my time at Berklee College of Music, I had the opportunity to create 'Burnt Pitch Records', a house-focused imprint at the university’s student-run record label, ‘Disrupción Records’. The core purpose of the imprint is to showcase and celebrate the culture of house music through the sound of Latin American and European producers. As I'm aiming for a career in music marketing within the house genre, for my Culminating Experience I decided to study the market of this genre to craft a personalized marketing-focused business plan for my imprint to become a label of its own.
When deciding what would be the core purpose of my label, I summarized it to the following question: ‘How can we exploit Latin/Caribbean and European house producers' techniques into a greater market?’. I’ve researched and analyzed different labels, collectives and contributors to the genre to use as a guide for crafting my objectives and strategies to create a wide community within both cultures mentioned. The goal of this business plan is to function as a base structure for my imprint to be able to live outside Disrupción Records once those contracts have been completed
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Disrupción Records Operational CE
Niall O'Grady
2024My culminating experience was an operational one acting as the head of A&R for Disrupción Records
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The Value of Back Catalog in the Music Industry: The Factors and Strategies that Reignite a Brand and Earn Money
Marie Owyong
2024In this research paper, I will dive into the value that back catalog has had in the music industry in recent years. I first dove into the financial statements of one of the biggest music companies in the world, Universal Music Group, to investigate how much money they invested into back catalog acquisition last year as well as some strategies they have in place to promote their back catalog. In my next phase, I use industry examples to show how current and past campaigns have generated revenue for the music industry and what strategies could be the most effective for back catalog marketing in today’s day and age. Finally, I conclude my research analysis by going over the current challenges catalog marketing is facing by diving into topics that focus on financial restrictions, song longevity, and timelessness. I conclude my paper by reviewing some current trends that the music industry is following to promote their back catalog and how these trends could continue to generate revenue for years to come.
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Celestial Haven Edition
Celeste Plascencia
2024This business plan is based on a festival catered to the Queer Latinx community, specifically in Los Angeles. This festival will be following a grass roots festival model that focuses on the importance of community. The festival, Celestial Haven festival was designed to meet the demand for more queer music spaces in East Los Angeles. Celestial Haven plans to host music and non-musical activities from local artist, such as graffiti workshops, screenprinting, and a fashion show. This festival is to support local emerging queer artist within the Latinx community and create a safe space where queer folks can express themselves freely with no judgement and support from their community. Celestial Haven will be the first edition of the festival , but will then branch out to other target markets within the same region.
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Notas y Escenas
Juan Carlos Restrepo
2024Notas y Escenas is a pioneering publishing and synchronization representation company established to address a critical gap in the music industry within Colombia and broader Latin America. The company emerges in response to a significant need for comprehensive understanding and proper representation of Latin American artists, who have historically been underrepresented and underserved. The primary mission of Notas y Escenas is to ensure that Latin American artists are adequately represented and equipped with the knowledge to navigate and thrive in the complex music industry. This includes a focus on educating artists about their rights, opportunities, and the intricacies of music publishing and synchronization.
The business aims to foster a deeper understanding of the music industry in these emerging markets, leading to the adoption of better practices and the realization of the untapped potential of diverse artists. By providing education and robust representation, Notas y Escenas seeks to create a more equitable and prosperous environment for artists, thereby contributing to the growth and professionalization of the music industry in Latin America. The company is committed to enhancing the visibility and influence of Latin American music on a global scale, ensuring that artists from the region receive the recognition and opportunities they deserve.
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Soundtrack Concerts: "Evolution of the phenomenon, trends and growth opportunities"
Leire Ruiz Garcia
2024This paper examines the emerging trend of soundtrack music concerts, a genre closely related to classical music, and their potential role in attracting new audiences to symphonic performances. By analyzing a comprehensive database of global soundtrack concerts, we aim to understand where these concerts are most prevalent and identify the key players in this burgeoning field. Our study also investigates audience demographics, behaviors, and preferences, comparing soundtrack concertgoers with traditional classical music audiences. We explore the impact of different concert formats and the role of technological enhancements in audience engagement. Additionally, the integration of video game scores into soundtrack concerts is analyzed to determine its influence on audience demographics and engagement.
Through a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative data analysis with qualitative insights, this paper provides a detailed understanding of the current trends and future potential of soundtrack music concerts in the classical music industry.
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From Salsa to Reggaeton: Lesson from the past to the future of Puerto Rico Music Business
Imanol Santiago
2024This master's thesis submitted to Berklee College of Music by Imanol Santiago-Maldonado explores the evolution and impact of salsa and reggaeton within the Puerto Rican music business. The research aims to analyze how the music industry in Puerto Rico has evolved, focusing on the transition from the prominence of salsa in the 1970s and 1980s to the dominance of reggaeton today.
The study examines various factors that contributed to the success and subsequent decline of salsa, and how reggaeton has managed to become a globally influential genre. It highlights the economic impact of these genres on Puerto Rico's entertainment industry, analyzing public consumption patterns, industry strategies, and the role of key artists. The research also includes interviews with industry professionals and quantitative data from platforms like Spotify and Pandora.
Key findings indicate that while reggaeton currently generates substantial revenue and international acclaim, the music industry in Puerto Rico remains diversified and not entirely dependent on reggaeton. The thesis suggests future directions for maintaining the vitality of Puerto Rico's music industry, emphasizing the importance of innovation and adaptation.
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Head of Sync and Neighboring Rights: Disrupción Records
Laney Schorno
2024This project aims to ensure the practical execution of Sync and Neighboring Rights for Disrupción Records. Additionally, this paper is designed for students working at a university record label. The project ensures the development of both a system for Neighboring Rights and the proper collection of these rights. It describes the differences, contrasts, and suggestions for the collection of monies. The Sync branch of this project was developed with a clear structure, collection of music, and development of client relationships. It is designed to assist in creating a comprehensive sync branch for the label and details the processes required to achieve this. Furthermore, this paper describes CRIA (Collegiate Recording Independent Association), where I helped develop a new association to aid the further development of university-level record labels. I hope to inspire future students in this position to think critically. This project includes many resources that they will be able to use in the coming years.
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DR Composer and Creative Talent Agency
Carole Schweitzer
2024For my CE project, as Head of the new DR Composer and Creative Talent Agency, I put a plan into place that would address our specific Berklee environment, and what assets we have: talent, tech, music theory skill, low-cost recordings, education in creating high quality midi mock-ups, law classes, and professors with experience in the music & film worlds. I aimed to build a large agency, made up of exclusively Berklee talent (as we had more than enough to go around), capable of satisfying the varying needs of a multitude of film projects. This involved forming mutually beneficial relationships between new, talented filmmakers, and our composers. I envisioned a hands-on approach in which the DR Agency would be a one-stop-shop for everything these filmmakers needed with regard to the music in their films. I’d help these parties to collaborate effectively, guiding filmmakers through the process of working with a music department, and ensuring composers felt supported along the way. The support I provided for the composers included procuring projects that matched their career goals and pay expectations, ensuring fair contracts were signed, that the composers were paid on time, and that the projects were completed within the agreed upon timelines. On some of these projects, I would additionally serve as music supervisor.
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Globalisation vs. Glocalisation: Exploring Streaming, Policy, and Progress in the Australian Music Industry
Charlotte Sterenberg
2024The last official figures of domestic music consumption within Australia were published by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) in 2016. These figures stated that Australian music only represented 13.4% of music consumed by Australian audiences. The Australian music industry is currently experiencing uncertainty. In a constantly globalising world with more music access and an overwhelming dominance of English-speaking markets, Australia’s consumption of their local music is almost non-existent. The Australian music industry is being inhibited by globalisation, and overrun by American content, when it should be glocalising and celebrating its own music. Using data from both Spotify and ARIA charts to analyse the consumption of Australian music within Australia, and interviews with Australian music industry professionals, this investigation finds that Australians are listening to a very small amount of local music. Additionally, through an exploration of music policy – using examples from Australia and around the world – this research establishes that music policy is key in increasing the consumption of domestic catalogue, is a driver in cultivating music industries, and its role should be reassessed within the Australian music landscape.
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Head of Legal and Business Affairs at Disrupción Records
Rebecca Suh
2024The Head of Legal and Business Affairs Reflection Paper explores my reflections on my time serving in the role of Head of Legal and Business Affairs for Disrupción Records, Berklee Valencia’s student-run record label. The scope of the role is to oversee the legal and financial operations of the label, and in this paper, I explain the accomplishments I achieved, the challenges I faced, and the learnings I discovered. In the Outcome Slides, the same topics are explored by all members of the executive team for Disrupción Records.
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Business Plan - 'WE'
Kristen Zhang
2024The Culminating Experience is based on my past internship and college background, I discover how artists would like to develop in different countries. 'WE' will focus on bringing Asian Artists to the North America Market, to help them on their social media management or any touring needs. During the finalization of the business plan, I interviewed with different people, such as agents, Touring managers, Journalists etc ... Those people provide me a lot of information about how this market works and how to bring new artists to the market. This project did meet my expectations, it let me have a deep understanding about the US market. The next step I would like to really go to the US to help Asian artists have their concert.
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Designing an innovative MENA music awards
Nada Alhelabi
2023This research paper focused on designing an innovative music awards system for the MENA region with exploring four pillars: macro perspective, community and sustainability, best models, and innovation. The research employed primary and secondary methodologies, including 14 interviews and a survey with 71 respondents from various target groups such as musicians, labels and brands, DSPs, technology companies, government, and the public.
The findings of the research indicate that music awards are widely recognized as crucial for acknowledging talent and fostering further development within the industry. However, the study also revealed common misconceptions across geographical locations, particularly concerning credibility and transparency in the awarding process.
In conclusion, the research highlights a strong desire for an award system in the MENA region and identifies an opportunity to introduce an innovative approach that ensures fairness, active public engagement, and support for emerging artists. Additionally, the study raises questions regarding the availability of sufficient talent in Saudi Arabia at this stage, as well as the adequacy of the artist pool within the region. As a result, this research paper serves as a set of guiding principles to inform the design of an award system tailored to the MENA region.
Overall, this study provides valuable insights and recommendations for creating a music awards platform that addresses the specific needs and challenges of the MENA music industry, while also fostering credibility, transparency, and support for emerging talents.
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INOCON 2023
Nicolás Barboza
2023INOCON stands for Innovative Nomad Music & Technology Conference. It is a free music conference focusing on innovation and its impact on the music industry. As part of the INOCONcert, Berklee students had the opportunity to showcase their talent. After four years of INOCON solely being present in the virtual world, this year for the first time INOCON is in-person. In that spirit, we aimed to create a community fueled by our passion for music that goes beyond listening to speakers on stage. We believe in the power of collaboration and interaction. That is why this year, we presented student run panels to inspire others and have the chance to share something you feel deeply excited about. In addition, based on the students’ feedback we got music professionals on board to share their stories on the following topics such as venue management, the future of labels and artists in the metaverse. My specific function for the project was the Technical Manager role. The responsibility for my position was to ensure that all of the technical needs of the conference, concerts and performance events were met in a timely and reliable manner by the technical team.
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Disrupcion 2023
Jamie Barlow
2023Disrupción Records is a genre-fluid independent record label based in the Valencia, Spain campus of Berklee College of Music. The label features an international executive suite and artist roster, in accompaniment to an extensive back catalog.
Disrupción aims to scout and sign emerging artists worldwide. In the spirit of showcasing underground and/or undiscovered talent, Disrupción champions creative freedom and artistic experimentation. The label offers artist-friendly licensing agreements, performance/collaboration spotlight deals, consultations, and artist growth / development plans.
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Sustainability at Environmentally Conscious American Festivals
Zoe Berman
2023The climate crisis is an ever-increasingly impending threat to our planet. While live music events do not constitute a high percentage of overall global emissions, the pervasive cultural influence of music gives festivals the capacity to influence widespread cultural change. As such, music festivals can ignite behavioral changes that reverberate into stakeholders’ daily lives. Furthermore, large-scale gatherings result in over-consumption of sizable quantities of energy, water and natural resources and production of waste, albeit varying depending on the event’s capacity and geographical location. Many festivals across the globe are working diligently to mitigate their carbon footprint and offer greener and more socially equitable programming to reshape the industry status quo. This research highlights five of those festivals within the United States, providing a snapshot of their current sustainability initiatives and offering suggestions for future improvement and expansion. These festivals represent a breadth of sizes and locations (rural versus urban areas, across five different US states). Additionally, in order to account for all primary stakeholder groups within the festival ecosystem, two organizations making noteworthy strides towards greening artist tours and other external facets of festival operations are outlined herein. The contributions of these seven organizations are analyzed using ten United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) deemed applicable to music festivals per the triple-bottom-line framework, which accounts for environmental, social and economic sustainability. The influence of festival size and location are discussed, potential areas of improvement are identified and broader implications are outlined, such as a demonstrated need for further standardization and tangible resources for carbon footprint monitoring and transparent reporting, as well as more developed organization and collaboration under industry coalitions built to unify the live music sector in collective climate activism.
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INOCON 2023
Carolin Böhnemann
2023INOCON stands for Innovative Nomad Music & Technology Conference. It is a free music conference focusing on innovation and its impact on the music industry. As part of the INOCONcert, Berklee students had the opportunity to showcase their talent.
In 2020, the first INOCON was conducted by a group of GEMB and MPTI students. Their vision was to create the first Berklee online conference that gathered music business talks and live streamed performances. The two objectives were to produce a high-quality virtual experience that provides practical, forward-thinking knowledge and opportunities for artists to grow their careers; and to give these artists a platform to showcase innovative solutions in the music industry and performances.
After four years of INOCON solely being present in the virtual world, this year for the first time INOCON was in-person. In that spirit, we aimed to create a community fuelled by our passion for music that goes beyond listening to speakers on stage. We believe in the power of collaboration and interaction. That is why this year, we presented student run panels to inspire others and have the chance to share something you feel deeply excited about. In addition, based on the students’ feedback we acquired music professionals on board to share their stories on topics such as venue management, the future of labels and artists in the metaverse.
INOCON 2023 took place at the CCCC (Centre del Carme Cultura Contemporània) in Valencia on April 29th, 2023. The conference featured a mix of panel discussions, masterclasses, showcases, and workshops... But what is a music conference without music? For the grand finale, students showcased their wide range of talents. Just as diverse and multicultural as our community is, so was this concert. Timeless, non-genre specific and overall epic.
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Case Study on Amuse and the Independent Music Distribution
Miriam Boulos
2023Taylor Swift, named biggest global recording artist by IFPI in 2022 has captivated audiences worldwide with her empowering success story, while simultaneously shedding light on the flaws and challenges of the music business. This case study aims to analyze how Taylor Swift has managed to disrupt the industry while being an integral part of it, creating a phenomenon known as the "Taylor Swift paradox." By conducting a comprehensive analysis this case study aims to present new insights into the changing dynamics of the music industry by providing a better understanding of the way in which Taylor Swift's career has challenged traditional notions of what constitutes a blockbuster artist and how indie artists can achieve commercial chart-topping success.The positionality of Swift is addressed using qualitative research design combining primary sources including interviews and secondary research methods including data analysis, and content analysis.
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Popping the Culture, the Podcast
Berta Briones
2023The following pages comprise the Business Plan of an artistic entrepreneurial project in the form of a podcast. The theme revolves around the concept of “Careers only make sense in hindsight”, compiling the rare sight of stories of unsuccess from successful people who do not fit the regular status quo (women, LGBT+ people, non-white) in the entertainment industry. By Entertainment Industry it is understood any consumable creative piece (music, movies, TV shows, influencing, fashion trends) and all fall within the notion of Popular “Pop” Culture. The hardships of ‘making a living’ from this industry are of common knowledge, and it is often that the public is only able to witness the positive highlights (from a traditionally Anglo-Saxon capitalistic framework) of this type of public career. For newcomers and professionals in it, it induces anxiety, for consumers, it hardens their perspective. This series intends to showcase a different side; the unglamourous. A combination of the theme “breaking down the industry” and a word play on the concept of “Pop Culture” as a verb, bring the name Popping the Culture.
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Disrupción Records Operational Culminating Experience
Alessandro Cabrini
2023For my Culminating Experience, I served as Head of Branding & Marketing Strategy for Disrupción Records. My goal was to revitalize the company's brand and increase brand awareness through innovative strategies. I took on the responsibility of rebranding the company, managing social media pages, and orchestrating marketing strategies and campaigns for both the label and its artists.
During this experience, I developed a holistic branding and marketing strategy that would make a significant contribution to the industry. I focused on enhancing the brand's image, expanding its reach, and engaging with the audience effectively.
One key aspect was managing the label's social media presence. I created engaging content and utilized various platforms to increase visibility. As a result, the Instagram follower count grew by nearly 30%. Additionally, I leveraged merchandise, events, and other creative strategies to create an efficient and successful marketing plan for Disrupción Records.
Through this experience, I acquired valuable skills in branding, marketing, and social media management. The project's success demonstrates the effectiveness of a comprehensive approach to brand revitalisation. The insights gained can be applied to benefit other music industry entities seeking to improve their brand image and engage with their target audience more effectively.