Culminating Experience projects are completed in fulfillment of degree requirements for Berklee's Graduate Studies programs. Browse project titles and abstracts below and click on individual entries to access project files and further details. You can also browse project titles by year.
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Case Study on Amuse and the Independent Music Distribution
Alejandro Hernández
2021Case study on the independent music distributor Amuse and and the indie music distribution scheme.
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Label Manager at Disrupción Records
Laure Herouart--Siamina
2021A dive into the life of the student-run, independent on-campus label in 2021, Disrupción Records. Founded in 2014, Disrupción Records has seen and lived evolution in many ways. innovation, diversity and inclusion, first student-label NFT ever, global artists, pandemic... Dive into an intimist and factual summary of what the year 2021 looked like for the expanding label, the music industry in general, how indie label work, the ambitions of a team and their achievements, all through the eyes of the label manager that year, Laure Herouart.
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MAGS LLC. - Business Plan
Magda Jedrzejewska
2021MAGS LLC. is a music marketing consultancy company based in Europe, which works with independent artists and labels on their marketing and promotion. My project is a complete business plan for the company.
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INO CON 2021
Chris Kireopoulos
2021As you all know, in 2020 the world was turned upside down and all live events came to a halt. In an effort to bring the school together and showcase Berklee Valencia's incredible talent, a team of GEMB and MPTI students came together to create INO CON -a 4 day live- streamed virtual conference that aims to highlight innovation in the music industry. After the incredible success the team had in its inaugural year, Berklee decided to continue the conference and pass it on to the following class. Our team was fortunate to take on this project and solidify it as part of Berklee's academic program. It was our job to take the conference to new heights, taking the framework that was provided to us and giving it a fresh look that is still representative of the INO CON brand. From May 18-21 2021, INO CON hosted 20 hours of content, nearly 1300 attendees from 83 different countries, 20 panels, 18 performances, and gathered music industry professionals from all sectors of the industry in one event. INO CON is more than just a virtual conference. It is an opportunity to learn, grow, and develop as a music business professional.
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Oxyd Music SRL
Nicolas Klersy
2021The creation of a record label and publishing company gravitating in the EDM sphere. The concentration of the project is on the Dance Pop subgenre. We will be distributing and promoting records from various producers and will control the publishing of those releases. We also will create collaboration opportunities for our producers through our publishing department.
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The Three Bs: Artist Service Company
Ziyuan (Lisa) Liu
2021A business plan about an artist service company, The Three Bs.
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Boomerang Music Brazil
Pedro Lohman Coda
2021Boomerang Music Brazil is a Brazilian record label and music production company aimed to spread Brazilian music to the world. Currently located in Goiânia, in central Brazil, the label’s roster embraces artists from the most different Brazilian cultural manifestations, traditional and contemporary, and is already recognized for working with the most reputable musicians in the country. The recent experience of the label with physical media, particularly Vinyl Records, and the owner’s DJ and record collector background have biased the company towards the physical music market, once it has proven to be more profitable and able to provide more fair remuneration to the music supply chain around the label’s orbit. Physical media still represents 20% of the total revenues of the music industry, and Vinyl have been experiencing subsequent increases in the last years, in what has been called the Vinyl revival. This business plan regards the internationalization of Boomerang Music Brazil, targeting the European market, and deploying new business models and services such as a subscription service and the release of Non-fungible tokens (NFTs), the latest format that has shaken the foundations of the music industry in 2021.
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Head of Marketing and Branding for Disrupción Records 2021
Camille Lopez-Silvero
2021For my CE project, I oversaw Disrupción’s Marketing and Branding department. My project was operational, and I worked in conjunction with the record practicum during the Spring semester. My project was twofold: define the Disrupción brand and implement a content and marketing strategy to communicate the brand; and provide branding and marketing guidance for all the artist teams within the label. I solidified Disrupción’s brand as a youthful, innovative, and global independent record label by implementing a soft rebrand and various social media campaigns. I also compiled a number of marketing and branding resources for the teams to access at their convenience and followed up with the project managers to ensure that all the artist projects were on track. The reflective paper and operational slides go into detail about my accomplishments and my future plans. I will continue to serve in this position until we transition the label to the next team of GEMB students.
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VALKYRIA STUDIOS: The Branding & Digital Marketing Agency that all Ecuadorian Indie Artists need
Carolina Luciano Freile
2021This Business Plan analyzes the possibility of developing a Consulting Marketing Agency in Quito, Ecuador to provide Branding and Digital Marketing services to emerging and mid-size Ecuadorian artists to help them further their professional music careers. Valkyria Studios’ services consist of different bundles, based on a monthly subscription or a flat flee, depending on the client’s needs, at reasonably affordable prices. Its main objective is to help artists develop a successful, long-term musical career by focusing mainly on creating a strong visual and conceptual identity that can be easily recognized and endures with time, accompanied by a great story to be told along the way. The independent music scene in Ecuador has increasingly been growing for the past decade; which has led to the appearance of many musical acts, most of them dangerously similar to one another. Many music artists don’t realize the importance of having a unique artistic identity and the big role it plays in the music industry. This business plan emerges from the need to provide specialized marketing services to artists so they can develop a strong artistic identity, and with that, a creative digital marketing strategy to boost all of their upcoming launches and professional activities. Valkyria Studios’ aim is to advise music artists how if they treat their ‘band as a brand’ they can take their music career to the next level and into the big leagues. The company’s services are meant to set apart the amateur musician that creates music as a hobby from the professional musician that wants to make music for a living.
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Investment in Entertainment post-Covid
Ignacio Martin Sancho
2021After analyzing the global macroeconomic climate and entertainment industry with the aim to point out current trends that will mark business and the relationships between consumers, creatives, governments, companies, and largely the global population, a conclusion has been reached in terms of what could be one of the best mechanisms for investment in the entertainment industry for the long term. With the expectation of world economies going through a wave of inflation that will cause serious economic turmoil, along with market trends in the entertainment industry that lead us to believe that the best investments in entertainment for the long term include the following characteristics: a global perspective, market leaders, differentiated content, technology driven, sustainable, diversified and a strong balance sheet. In the other hand, investments in royalty catalogs were also analyzed in relation to the economic environment, and although the final conclusion was to not invest currently in this asset class, a market based queue to be followed for investment was found. Along with that, a top 25 list of publicly traded companies within the entertainment industry was arrived at through both technical and fundamental analysis. These companies are the most optimal for investment, according to the specified parameters within the thesis.
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Steps: Gamified Artist Accelerator Program
Chrystelle Nammour
2021This CE project is about developing an education tool adapted to the modern independent artist. I searched for the most efficient way to empower the independent artists’ community, and education has been the first and main answer that came to my mind. In this project, I developed a full business plan for an artist accelerator program that I named Steps. Steps has the potential to help thousands of artists take their music careers to the next level. My approach has been very pragmatic, learning from my own artistic experience and the artists I have worked with as well as interviewing important actors of the independent music industry sector to frame the most efficient idea possible. Berklee college of music gave me access to a huge database of knowledge that I based my program on. I took out of my own GEMB classes the most useful information, I tailored it for artists and imagined a 7-modules program to cover these notions. If the program will be enhanced in the future with the help of professional music business teachers and consultants, I believe I now have a solid basis to take as a starting point. Steps is about climbing up the stairs toward success, one step after another. This program has huge potential for profits but this is not the primary reason why I decided to develop it. If it is important to show proof of profitability to potential investors, I believe it is even more important to demonstrate real value for artists and stakeholders. Indeed, too many programs have been overpromising and charging a substantial amount of money to artists in search on guidance. Steps is not one of these. Not only will we create real value for our stakeholders but also charge lower fees than competitors, because we believe making profits with artists as partners is possible but not make money off artists' back. We will build a relationship of trust, transparency, inclusion and kindness with our artists because being an artist is one of the hardest positions in society, it requires courage, perseverance, resilience and hard work. Artists deserve the best; we will give them Steps.
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Bxtchin’ Entertainment
Lydia Netterville
2021The outcome of this Culminating Experience is a business plan detailing a full proposal for a company called Bxtchin’ Entertainment. The company is a full-service management and booking agency catering specifically to women and woman-identifying artists operating within the electronic dance music genre. Women are generally underrepresented in the industry as a matter of principle, and the company seeks to remedy this problem. The plan explains in great detail the challenges that women in dance music often face. The company’s mission is to empower women within the electronic dance music genre, to help them overcome the barriers and problems that they face in their careers, and to ultimately make atangible difference in the industry gender imbalance. The company will offer full-scale services for artists, and will act as both manager and booking agent. The company will also offer extra enrichment opportunities to clients such as workshops, lectures, teaching opportunities, and mentor/mentee programs.
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Duson Audio: Sample Distribution & The Artist to Artist Market
Ryan O'Leary
2021With the rise of platforms like Splice and other music creation technologies, the market for samples in the music industry is rapidly growing. This project outlines the trials of starting a new sample label and exploring the emerging artist-to-artist market. A sample label is very similar to a record label with the difference of signing producers, musicians, and sound engineers instead of recording artists. Record labels sell songs to consumers on DSP’s like Spotify and sample labels sell samples to producers. Essentially, it is the B2B market for musical assets.
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Nigeria’s Music Industry: A Look at the Opportunities & Challenges in the Country’s Current Streaming Age
Oluwaferanmi Stephanie Ologan
2021With more of Nigeria’s biggest contemporary artists gaining traction on playlists and mainstream radio as well as receiving awards and recognition for their notable collaborations, it is evident that an increasing amount of attention is now being placed on the country’s talents and its growing music market. The influx of digital service providers, distributors, record labels and various startups expanding their operations into the country within the past five years, speaks to the sudden urgency for companies to focus on this particular industry given its rich cultural capital. Although streaming is leading the growth in Nigeria’s recorded music sector, issues centered around monetization and digital infrastructure are currently affecting the entire ecosystem, from artists to the consumers who go about seeking this music. Some digital service providers and distributors already present in the market have gone about their respective methods of maneuvering around these challenges or have attempted to solve them through the implementation of new initiatives. However, the biggest concerns that still remain are how companies can improve their value proposition to maintain a sustainable business model while also tailoring their services to meet the music demands of the consumers in this particular market.
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Hipgnosis Songs Fund: A Deep Look Into Hipgnosis Business Model
Lamberto Sanchez Carbajo
2021The objective of this research paper is to provide a dissemination document that easily explains and contextualizes the business model of Hipgnosis Songs Fund. This research will analyze in an exhaustive way how music intellectual property works, the growth opportunities it has, and based on that, what are the key reasons that make Hipgnosis Songs’ strategy one of the most interesting and disruptive today from both an M&A and rights management perspective. The first section will consist of a literature review on music intellectual property and why today is considered an attractive asset class for investors. It will describe what are music rights and how they generate revenue for rightsholders, as well as showcase why they are a stable, predictable, and uncorrelated source of income. The second section will focus on Hipgnosis Song’s business model. First, it will bring a little overview of the company’s purpose, followed by an analysis of the company’s catalog strategy and why it makes sense from an investment standpoint. It will also touch on the Hipgnosis advocacy argument and how it could positively affect Hipgnosis shareholders –apart from improving the paradigm for songwriters. Also, it will describe what’s “Song Management”, what effects it has had on the company’s results, and how it breaks with the traditional publishing model. Finally, a conclusion will be provided collecting the ideas drawn about the research and that simply will explain the “why” of Hipgnosis. To undertake this research and support the hypotheses, the research methodology carried out has been based on the analysis of articles, official reports, and essays from specialized sources such as CISAC, IFPI, Goldman Sachs, MBW, Music Week, Rolling Stone Magazine... Also, this research has been complemented with interviews made to experts in the field and music professionals from companies such as Sony Music Publishing, Association of Independent Music (AIM), Hipgnosis Songs Fund, and Warner Chappel.
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INO CON Marketing & Content Manager 2021
Gracie Sands
2021My culminating experience consisted of an operational project where I acted as the marketing and content manager for INO CON Music & Tech Conference 2021. INO CON is a 4-day, globally streamed music & tech conference hosted in collaboration with Berklee Valencia. The conference presents interactive panels between creative startups, industry experts, aspiring professionals, and artists, as well as unique multimedia performances from around the globe. The conference took a deep dive into the themes of innovation, discovery, education, and artistry through the curation of diverse seminars featuring leading professionals from across the industry. My role was to create the branding of the conference as well as build the communication strategy that showcased that branding to our audience in a meaningful, impactful way. It was my job to make all major announcements during and after the conference and to ensure that all of our social channels were consistently updated with all important information and news surrounding the conference.
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INO CON 2021
Cooper Scheuerell
2021INO CON is a four-day, globally streamed music and technology conference hosted in collaboration with Berklee Valencia from May 18 through 21. The conference hosts networking opportunities between creative startups, industry experts and artists. INO (short for Innovative Nomad) CON was created in order to provide a global network of creators with access to new ways of collaborating and learning without physical limitations. The conference takes a deep dive into the topics of innovation, discovery, education, and artistry within the music industry. The conference consisted of 20 Panels, 40 Speakers, 15 Partners, 18 Performances and engaged a total of 1300+ Registrants from 80+ Countries.
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INO CON 2021
Jameson J. Shelnut
2021As you all know, in 2020 the world was turned upside down and all live events came to a halt. In an effort to bring the school together and showcase Berklee Valencia's incredible talent, a team of GEMB and MPTI students came together to create INO CON -a 4 day live- streamed virtual conference that aims to highlight innovation in the music industry. After the incredible success the team had in its inaugural year, Berklee decided to continue the conference and pass it on to the following class. Our team was fortunate to take on this project and solidify it as part of Berklee's academic program. It was our job to take the conference to new heights, taking the framework that was provided to us and giving it a fresh look that is still representative of the INO CON brand. From May 18-21 2021, INO CON hosted 20 hours of content, nearly 1300 attendees from 83 different countries, 20 panels, 18 performances, and gathered music industry professionals from all sectors of the industry in one event. INO CON is more than just a virtual conference. It is an opportunity to learn, grow, and develop as a music business professional.
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Business Plan: Public Relations Agency “ToLo Group”
Diana Marcela Tobar Lozano
2021ToLo Group provides public relations services to Afro-Colombian musicians (Black, Afro-Colombians, Raizales, and Palenqueros) to improve their global promotional efforts, shape their public image in the most professional and cost-effective manner following global best practices and experiences.
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Oxyd Music
Pietro Villani
2021Oxyd Music is a company that was created during my master's program which became my CE project. The company is operating as a Record Label and Publishing company in the EDM world. This project was the fruit of a collaboration by student Nicolas Klersy and myself.
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Business Plan for DAYA JAMAICA LTD
Djavan Warner
2021This Cumulative Experience was created through the GEMB Entrepreneurship practicum throughout the Spring and Summer semester. This practicum focuses on developing a business plan for students who wish to start their own company once graduated from Berklee. I was inspired to create a business plan for a company named DAYA, whose purpose is to work with Jamaican and Caribbean artists on creative assets for single or album releases. The business plan to follow below shows all aspects, services and necessary finances of the company from launch to year three. The Entrepreneurship course acted as a guiding hand to ensure all sections of the business plan were completed properly and the overall idea of the company could be proposed to future investors in a professional manner.
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StudioPoet Business Plan
Sydney Wilke
2021StudioPoet is an app for songwriters to network in a professional setting, store and organize their catalogues and share access with their Publishers to ensure the correct transfer of metadata.
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An Investigation of the Future of Music, Fitness and Technology
Brooke M. Williams
2021Recent studies provide concrete evidence supporting the benefits of listening to music while exercising, including reduction in perceived exertion, increase in time to exhaustion and increase in workout intensity and efficiency. This research aims to provide deeper understanding as to why and how consumers are using music or audio during exercise, how this consumer behavior has influenced the interdependent relationship between the music and fitness industries, and how new technological developments can be utilized to open new revenue streams to music rights holders while providing unique fitness experiences to consumers. Through a series of focus group discussions and a survey, it was discovered that most consumers are using familiar music and audio as a source of motivation, and selecting music based on their mood. Among participants, the use of podcasts and a distrust in curated playlists were common. Using these results, four consumer profiles emerged, and two unique innovations were conceived. These findings and consumer profiles suggest that mood indicators in connection to music are an adequate direction to follow when integrating audio and technology into the fitness landscape. To continue to improve the beneficial relationship between music and fitness, the music must be properly licensed depending on its use, which offers an opportunity to emerging artists for exposure to an untapped audience.
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Seoul-cial Media: Can An Unknown Western Artist Use Kpop Marketing Strategies To Build A Fanbase?
Abigail Wynans
2021The KPOP industry has taken the world by storm with their ability to create and maintain loyal fanbases. They do this with specific marketing tactics, focused on fan engagement. However, since the beginning of COVID, there have been less opportunities to function in the same ways as the industry is used to. Established KPOP artists have been able to transition easily with simple elimination of contact with others, without any damage to their fanbase. Yet, new groups who have debuted during 2020 have seen consistent rises in fandom members. These groups have thrown themselves into social media marketing, rather than relying on show appearances. They strategically oversaturate their fans with content, like YouTube reality shows and TikTok accounts. There are standard practices used among Korean idols when it comes to specific areas like day to day curated content, release and event promotions, and distribution. These practices, while not entirely unique to the Kpop industry, have been utilized to their advantage in a way that no one else has been able to accomplish due to tactical changes that the Korean entertainment industry has added over the years. I chose to take it upon myself to see if the Korean style marketing strategies could be utilized by artists not associated with the Kpop industry. Using my own artist career and social media accounts as the test subjects, I conducted a five month social experiment to coincide with the question: Can unknown western artists use Kpop idol marketing tactics to create a fanbase? I found through this experiment that while it is possible to grow a fanbase using these strategies, it is not as rapid or successful as what is typically seen for Korean artists. The biggest factors for this is the lack of time and resources and a general difference between what goes into a Kpop idol identity and that of a DIY artist.
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Blurred Lines: The Morals and Ethics of Music Listening in Twenty-First Century America
Mallory Wynne
2021The digital age has changed the way music is seen in the modern world. In order to combine the past history of music censorship in America with the current trends and topics in music, this paper examines three miniature case studies based on the RIAA’s guide for explicit content: depictions of violence, sex, or substance abuse. The conclusion of this paper is not a definitive answer, but a call to continue discussions about morals and ethics of music as America continues to move forward.