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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INO CON Music & Tech Conference
Luis Fernando Pérez Ruiz
2020INO CON was 3-day virtual music and tech conference, in collaboration with Berklee College of Music, streamed globally. The conference featured lectures, workshops, multimedia performances, and networking opportunities so attendees could look at innovative ways on how to move forward in their careers. On July 8th, 9th, and 10th of 2020, INO CON hosted more than 20 hours of content, 600+ unique registrants, more than 40 online sessions, and gathered music industry professionals from all over the world. In pursuit of innovation, INO CON became more than a project, but an opportunity to learn, grow, and enjoy music and knowledge when the only stage was your screen.
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LAVICHI Entertainment: Business Plan
Michelle Raymond and Max Heumann
2020LAVICHI Entertainment is an innovative record label that seeks to break the rules of the current market through a unique approach in its A&R process and with a fresh business focus. Created by people who are not only business professionals but also artists and producers themselves, the company is built with insights from people that have already been working for years in the industry on both sides of the business. Our label is dedicated to offering artists better deals for their music and disrupting archaic music industry structures.
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Understanding The Genre Fluid Movement: Do Genres Matter Any More in the Recording Industry?
Jorge Riveros and Martina Verano
2020The purpose of this research is to investigate if traditional genre structures created by the music industry are still relevant in today’s world. In the last few years, we have seen a high influx of artists blending influences and sounds - this phenomenon is what we call genre fluidity. This study will tackle pinnacle concepts, defining a genre, the evolution of popular music genres and finally the relationship of genres with the Recording Industry and some of its stakeholders. In order to understand this phenomenon, data analysis of music charts and interviews with record label stakeholders took place.
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Data-driven A&R: What is the future for the music industry?
Tommaso Rocchi
2020In our day and age, data is one of the most valuable currencies in the world. The most prominent companies in the globe based their success upon knowing exactly what their clients do and like. The music industry started to follow the same approach, even if some branches arrived later than others. The main objective of this research is to understand how data analytics is used when scouting for potential talent, primarily by the A&Rs of record labels. Upon systematic research, I want to discover what tools are used to assess an artist’s performance and what implementations can be useful to consider. Those types of analyses are challenging because there are several aspects regarding artistry and the characteristics of a record that are difficult to gather through machine learning. Nevertheless, due to the impressive number of tracks that are uploaded every day on streaming platforms, reaching a certain degree of automation is mandatory. I interviewed different professionals from the Warner Music Group that are utilizing data A&R tools on an everyday basis, as well as consulting several papers and articles related to Music Information Retrieval (MIR) and predictive models.
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A Creative Director's Journey to Producing a Virtual Event: INO CON 2020
Gabriela Rodríguez Bonilla
2020In this reflective paper, you will find a detailed summary of my journey to Producer & Creative Director of INO CON and how it has impacted my career, so far. As part of my culminating project, I have also prepared a chapter on the INO CON Handbook, developed alongside my team, as a resource guide for the next generation of Berklee’s virtual event producers, as well as a visual presentation of my project outcomes. I hope you enjoy reading on how this journey has impacted my life and more importantly, show how even in times of uncertainty, resilience and determination will help you push through and achieve your goals.
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Creating and Structuring a Sync department
Antoine Rousseau
2020The Culminating Experience for my Master of Arts in Global Entertainment and Music Business was an operational project to expand our activities and range of Licensing and Synchronization services within Disrupción Records, and this was my main mission as Sync Department Manager within the label. During my term, my strategic goal was to create a viable structure that would ensure continuity between generations: Disrupción Records Sync Services. The objective was to provide the minimum viable tools and methods to build from, as well as a diverse catalogue to enrich year after year. My most valuable deliverables can be summarized with the following: two featured initiatives, four contracts templates, two platforms as main resources and a complete roster including: artists, songwriters and composers. This was the start of my journey in the Sync world and it has been a revelation for me as it allowed me to discover a career path that I desire to pursue further. In regard to the future of this department, I am very optimist with our representation model and our structure. It will only evolve and grow with the partnerships we bring along, as my work this year showcased.
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Auras Studios Business Plan
James Shannon
2020The following culminating experience project was completed in the year 2020 as part of the Graduate Entertainment and Music Business program. The authors are James Shannon and Alica Molito. This project includes business plan, reflective paper and presentation deck outlining the business Auras Studios – Augmented Reality Music Marketing. The authors have incorporated this business in the UK as an LLP and successfully completed a pilot project with the Glass Animals signed to Polydor records. The following project culminates over a year’s work and study at the intersection of Augmented Reality and music. It reflects not only the authors’ evolving understanding of how technology moves the music industry but also a real world plan for implementing a business in the height of the covid-19 pandemic. To you, the faithful reader. The authors hope you find some small inspiration in our journey and wish you the best of luck on yours.
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Understanding The Genre Fluid Movement: Do Genres Matter Any More in the Recording Industry?
Martina Verano and Jorge Riveros
2020The purpose of this research is to investigate if traditional genre structures created by the music industry are still relevant in today’s world. In the last few years, we have seen a high influx of artists blending influences and sounds - this phenomenon is what we call genre fluidity. This study will tackle pinnacle concepts, defining a genre, the evolution of popular music genres and finally the relationship of genres with the Recording Industry and some of its stakeholders. In order to understand this phenomenon, data analysis of music charts and interviews with record label stakeholders took place.
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INO Con Music and Tech Conference - Marketing Coordinator
Caitlin M. Williams
2020INO, being short for Innovative Nomad, would be the first completely virtual conference Berklee Valencia has ever hosted, which provided a solution to the dilemma of COVID in 2020. INO CON provided access to a new way of collaborating and learning from a global network of creators, regardless of location. Presented in simultaneously streamed hubs, the conference took a deep dive into KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (KPI) of the music industry essential to build a sustainable career. This culminating experience walks through the process of creating and launching INO CON 2020.
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“DON’T LET DADDY KNOW”: FROM AMSTERDAM TO LIMA
Jimena Wu Crousillat
2020This business plan analyzes the opportunity to bring “Don’t Let Daddy Know”, an electronic dance music festival, from Amsterdam to Lima, Peru. I had the chance to be a marketing volunteer for their 2020 Amsterdam edition, which led me to evaluate the risks and benefits of introducing the brand to my home country, Peru. The electronic dance genre has shown growth in South America in the past few years, which has slowly created a big market for international electronic dance music festivals. I have collaborated with E&A Events, owners of the brand currently based in Amsterdam, and Vastion Group, a production company based in Lima, in order to develop a realistic marketing and financial plan, as well as a tentative production timeline, line-up, venue, and sponsors list. During this project, I have faced the unexpected challenge of pivoting and adjusting due to a global pandemic. For this reason, this business plan briefly overviews the impact of Covid-19 in Peru, an important factor in determining the best way to market this festival. “Don’t Let Daddy Know” would bring a massive, international and rollercoaster experience to Lima, offering a different concept and perfect tourism opportunity for Peru.
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Sound Consequence
Rayhan Ahmed
2019The Culminating Experience project is a business plan for the development of a non-for profit organization geared towards artist development and artist promotion in Assam, a state in North-east India. The objective is to provide a platform for independent musicians in Assam to learn music management skills and also promote them outside the region. Artist development will be conducted through workshops that will be carried out to impart business awareness and skills and a promotional service would exist to promote artists outside the region. Sound Consequence envisions being a leading organization in terms of artist development and promotion in Assam thereby facilitating the creation of new revenue generating pathways for artists and the Assamese music industry as a whole.
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A&R Manager at Disrupción Records
Camila Anino
2019Disrupción Records is the record label from Berklee College of Music Valencia. Throughout the years, Berklee projects and artists were released through the label. The students of the Global Entertainment & Music Business Master program have run the label from its beginning, presenting a difficult challenge which is the fact that the team changes every year when the new students come. This disadvantage makes the label lack continuity in its vision and mission, among other things, and it also makes the different teams start from scratch every time they take over. This past year, one of the main objectives was setting strong foundations and coming up with a way of making the transition between each year a smooth one. In this paper, the journey of the past year working for the label as an A&R Manager is described, together with the objectives, resources, experiences and learning outcomes. Its main aim is to provide some guidelines for the next A&R Managers who will have written words at their disposal, about what the previous person in charge of doing the job wished had known before, what was learnt throughout the year, which artists still need to be taken care of, and how, due to their agreement term.
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ROBACH LLC
Rohin Bachwani
2019ROBACH is a limited liability company that provides the musical artist with all the necessary tools like management, booking agency and a record label to successfully penetrate the music market, specifically India. We aim to globalize the Indian music community through cross collaborations between Indian and western artists.
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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.