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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The Copyright Environment of the Modern Streaming Industry with Financial Analysis
Randle Thompson
2019The birth of streaming has not only changed the way the recording industry is paid for their works but has also allowed new forms of piracy to persist. The music industry claims that large UGC sites such as YouTube are exploiting a value gap created by safe harbor provisions created before music streaming became the primary source of music consumption. This value gap seems more apparent with music being the most consumed form of content on their platform. While the music industry is attempting to extract more revenue from digital sound recordings through EU Directive on Copyright they have also lobbied to increase the statutory mechanical rates paid on the publishing side to publishers, songwriters and performing rights organizations through a ruling by the Copyright Royalty Board and modified the rate setting formula among other things outlined after a multi-year fight culminating in the passage of the Music Modernization Act. These legal battles have far reaching effects and I will attempt to shed light on their industry impact as well as calculate the potential financial impact of the CRBs rate increase on Spotify’s financial statements and the piracy effects on a large UK indie label, Beggars Group. This analysis will serve to further determine the need for this legislation.
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Sofar Sounds Valencia
Saria Tourbah
2019My culminating experience is about the organization and implementation of Sofar Sounds Valencia. Sofar Sounds is a community based in over 300 cities around the world. Over the past few years, it has existed in Valencia but hasn't been quite consistent. My mission was to rebuild the brand here and put on a number of shows throughout the year rather than just a limited number. We were a team of seven individuals from all over the world and we took the opportunity to learn from each other’s skills as well as build a family together. My culminating experience has proven to be a success and I will continue to work on this project for the next year as I will remain in Valencia for the Global Entertainment and Music Business fellowship program. I will increase the number of shows we put on per month and continue to create such a memorable experience for our audience.
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2018 DIY Musician Conference: Creative Marketing & Production Guide
Kimberly Albritton
2018This guide is purposed as an informative & suggestive resource for future DIY the next team find this handbook useful and supportive in their efforts to plan and my in-depth evaluation of what I believe contributed to the success of the first ever Conferences, if they are to be held annually in Europe. In this reference, I will relay European DIY Musician Conference, as well as what could be improved to ensure that the next conference is more successful than its predecessor. It is my goal that execute another conference.
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Strategic Marketing and Branding
Justin Angel Rivera
2018My main intentions regarding my culminating experience were to bridge the gap between the artistic mind and the development of an authentic brand. Artistic identity can be hard for artists, and many lack the resources or knowledge to grow in the music industry. My idea was to design and execute an operational project in a creative practical way using DIY tactics. My work was focused on two different artists, Gracie Hays and Sergio Martinez.
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Mexico Tour: An Artist Development Project
Laura Beatriz Vidal-Batiz
2018As our CE project myself together with Paula Alexandra Vicaria, will create a business plan for the urban music group 'Barrio Lírico'. Particularly, focusing on the region of Mexico. The business plan will integrate: a detailed band presentation, a booking strategy and a marketing and promotion campaign. Part of this booking strategy will contain a specific organized mock tour, which will be of great use for the band directly. This CE will take us through the process of understanding the live industry in Mexico. Giving us the chance to learn about the process of when it comes to booking and tour manager tasks, among other operations in the live industry. At the same time, our work will have a direct impact on the bands' live progression and growth, supporting them with a detailed analysis of their market of interest. Professionally, we will be able to progress and further grow by acquiring the necessary skills to deliver this business plan.
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Recent Evolution in the Brazilian Recorded Music: An Analysis of Radio and Streaming Market Shares
Rodolfo Bianchi Guimarães
2018After two years of dull results, the Brazilian recorded music market grew 17,9% in 2017, becoming the 9th largest market in the world and driving the growth of Latin America. Streaming has grown by 64%, more than compensating for the sharp decrease in physical sales and downloads. By reviewing industry-specific reports and by collecting and analyzing radio airplays and streaming data, this paper investigates how the market shares have been evolving in the past two years. Local repertoire is persistently important both for major and independent labels, representing approximately 60% of the music consumed via radio and streaming services. Majors have been striving to maintain their positions, facing strong local players and emerging genres. The overall market growth represents a business opportunity for all parties, while the strengthening of digital distribution makes the marketplace a more even ground. In this context, independent labels and self-released artists can find their way to the customers, while majors need to remain attentive to local trends.
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The Berklee Sessions: COPE Radio Valencia
Melissa Caton
2018Cadena COPE is one of the largest national radio stations in Spain. This operational project focuses on six, monthly organized sessions for the radio featuring Berklee student musicians and Berklee faculty/fellow/staff guest speakers. I wanted to organise an opportunity to showcase the cultural and musical diversity of the Berklee Valencia campus, while at the same time creating an invaluable experience for the emerging artists who are currently attending various degree programs. Each student performer commented that they believed the COPE collaboration was an invaluable initiative. Pre-show and post-show social media numbers were collected from each artist to observe if any noticeable difference could be determined in connected to the sessions. However, I was able to determine that the true value of this collaborative initiative was on a more personal level. For Berklee, organic promotional content, COPE unique engaging programming, and for the students, an industry relevant resume building.
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WUND MUZIK ARTIST RESIDENCY – Empowering the Artists of the Future
Jeheremy Characo
2018The main purpose of this business plan is to decide which will be the best way to open a music artist residency taking into account all the factors that present a challenge for most start-ups in today’s socio-economical arena. These will be achieved by using Butler’s business plan format as a guide.
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International Tour Planning for Independent Artists from Taiwan
Yi-hsuan Chou
2018This Culminating Experience (CE) was dedicated to the planning, primarily logistical, of an international tour for independent artists from Taiwan. The CE should serve as an approachable and practical guide or a reference of know-hows for Taiwanese indie artists who are not signed to a label with extensive international network and resources yet established enough with the budget to tour internationally. Additionally, this serves as a foundation for artists without booking agents or concert promoters to pick up the tour and would like to organize their own tour in a DIY model. Upon completion of a simple tour plan based on this CE as a reference point, artists should also be able to have a concrete plan to submit to potential investors, sponsors (including government grants) or partners, with whom artists can work to enrich the content of the tour, to obtain financial support or to introduce a long-term relationship with brands.
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Analysis of Chinese Hip-Hop Music: Situation and the Possibility of Development
Zhaoyin Dai
2018The goal of this research is to analyze the hip-hop music market in China and evaluate the methods which could help Chinese hip-hop music continue growing stably. By collecting materials from books and documentaries, also combined interviews and surveys, there are several possibilities for this kind of music to live well and be developed in Chinese market. Otherwise, with time passing by, the music trend is updating rapidly not only among Western countries, but also in Eastern countries, especially for South Korea and China. The analysis will base on these changes which are happened recently, for example, the Hip-Hop competitions influence and the cognition of the audience about the music trend changes. At the same time, there are analyze of barriers for developing Hip-Hop music in China and several methods provided as solution reference.
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Weatro as a new source of Entertainment
Nicolás Guasca Santamaría
2018Weatro is a ticketing platform for tourists who don’t know what would be the best event to go on their travel. We have realized people struggle and have the need of finding out the best show to go when visiting. For that reason, we provide the solution for thousands of tourists that want to know a place in terms of culture and entertainment while they are traveling (music, theater, performance, dance, drama, etc.)
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The Impact of Music Festivals to Cities: Is Festivals Worth Investing in?
Ronnie Hansen
2018States spend a significant amount of money on financing various cultural events, but they do so without knowing the exact and broader effects of these investments. To deal with this problem, appropriate methods have to be developed to investigate the actual effects of a specific investment. Doing so would allow for qualification of decision making when it comes to public support of cultural events. We investigate following research question: How do we measure the broader effects of a cultural event? Based on an empirical case of a documentary film festival CPH:DOX we investigate the impacts, economic and social, the festival has on the surrounding society. We develop a mixed methods research design consisting of 58 interviews and 987 survey respondents to map both economic effects and what we term societal effects such as raising political awareness or improving civic engagement. We conclude that we do see an economic impact such as the added value from tourism and increased employment as well as we see a social impact, especially in terms affecting CPH:DOX participants cognitively and emotionally. This framework contributes not only with means to evaluate a given cultural event but also to optimize value enhancement. In addition, it can be used to conduct comparisons between cultural events, both nationally and internationally.
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XCVIII
Kevin Hyun
2018I created a business plan for my brand project "XCVIII". XCVIII is synonymous to a talent management company and a fashion platform. The artist and models of XCVIII will mainly serve as influencers that fashion brands can advertise their designs through. The purpose of this business plan is to better explain to investors the seemingly abstract concept of XCVIII.
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House of Shoom Records
Christina Isaacs
2018A globalized record label with an anthropologic approach to preceding and emerging music in niche markets.
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Kilómetro Cero: Música y Comida Local
Antoine Jaeger and Ben Pirog
2018The following paper describes the background, objectives, actionable tasks, execution, and challenges of organizing Kilómetro Cero: Música y Comida Local. This event was a one-day music and food festival focused on themes of sustainability and local consumption that occurred on May 20th in La Escuela de Ruzafa. The purpose of this Culminating Experience project was to develop our competency as event promoters. while also creating a meaningful, positive environment for promoting the initiatives of Valencian producers and associations acting on change at a regional scale. In order to execute such an event successfully, many actionable steps were necessary including the development of a visual brand, promotion through both printed and digital media, execution of Facebook campaign tactics, development of various partnerships with local businesses and associations, and, perhaps most importantly, the practice of patience and persistence. Over the course of several months, our understanding of the Valencian culture and people who work to preserve it was enriched through personal connections. We hope this event can continue on in our absence, either through Berklee our other partners we made along our journey.
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Indo Flamenco Concert
Dhaval Kothari
2018Indo Flamenco Concert that I organised in Valencia was a successful event of 300 Spanish people enjoying Indian and Flamenco music. It was organised with Dhaval music foundation which is registered with Cultural ministry of India and was supported by Berklee college of music. The other local sponsors were Ayurveda, Taj Mahal restaurant, Raffello, Reina Roja band, and support of Indian Consulate Madrid. The goal of the Indo-Flamenco concert is to raise funds for non-profit organisations that work for the well-being of children. The concept of this concert is to contemplate the Spanish roots of Flamenco that come from the western part of India called Rajasthan. The Romani population (gypsies) emigrated and settled in Spain, after having traveled through the Iberian peninsula, gathering vibrant influences from different cultures. The exuberant and omnipotent joy of Spain shows a great resemblance to the contagious joy impregnated in the Indian dance and its patterns, as well as in the Kathak dance style of northern India. All the money was proceeded to Foundation Vicente Ferrer and Foundation Fuvane.
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Sofar Sounds Valencia
Ali Kutay Bengi
2018My culminating experience project was to organize concerts in Valencia as a city leader of Sofar Sounds. I managed volunteers to help me with various tasks. The first concert was on March 5th in Portland Ale with 2 bands. The second concert was on April 13th in Contrapunto Les Arts with 3 bands. I signed partnership and sponsorship deals, researched and negotiated with various bands and venues, designed marketing materials and promoted the events.
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Streaming Wars Continue Case Study
Artur Elísio Mendonça Melo e Castro
2018My Culminating Experience project – a case study by the name of “Streaming Wars Continue” aims at providing research and a deeper look into the fascinating music streaming business models, its challenges, opportunities and strategies.
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How Blockchain is being used as a solution to solve the music metadata mess
Kirstin Moffatt
2018This paper aims to describe the Blockchain and Ethereum technologies and how they are being utilized today by two leading application developers to realize solutions to the metadata mess in the music industry. Blockchain has some of the essential characteristics needed to record the ownership of intellectual property, immutability and ownership consensus which is reached by a majority audience. This topology has paved the way for investors and entrepreneurs to seek solutions in resolving the issue of intellectual rights claims. The paper starts with a short introductory section divulging the genesis of where the music metadata mess all began and it contextualizes Blockchain within the World Wide Web. It is then followed by the first section which presents a literature review that reports the fundamental components of the platforms and is meant for someone who has no prior knowledge of Blockchain. The second section of this paper dives into the topic of music metadata and explores two companies, one sitting on the Blockchain platform and another on the Ethereum platform, through qualitative interviews. Through conducting these interviews, it can be deduced that both these developments are sitting in the early phases of the technological life cycle, with Blockchain slightly ahead of Ethereum. Nonetheless, both of these technologies are sitting in their infancy and have much potential to flourish and to offer great solutions to the music industry.
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Dreaming in Third Person
Fariz Nasser Ahmed
2018Dreaming in Third Person is a visual, musical and storytelling project that creates art for artists and aims to help develop their business. Behind the scenes, it is a marketing company that creates marketing timelines for release campaigns and a production house that projects the artistic brand through pieces of content within that campaign. Dreaming in Third Person was created to contribute to the value gap that exists for independent artists seeking to build sustainable careers with their music without having to resort to a label.
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How Has Secondary Ticketing Evolved With Technology
Olympia Ornelas
2018The live music business has developed to become the most profitable sector within the overall music industry. Income from streams and album sales currently cannot compare to the revenue that artist and bands can generate from touring. Because of these circumstances all bands and artist that are able to tour, are touring. With an abundance of bands and artist on the road, a secondary market of ticket sales has also benefited and grown stronger. In many cases the sale of concert tickets on the secondary market has become extremely more profitable for sellers of these tickets than for the artists, touring crews, and venues. Although secondary ticketing has always existed parallel to live events such as music, sporting, dramas...etc it wasn’t always as invasive. Various factors have contributed to the current success of the secondary ticketing market such as legal regulation, technological advancements, ticket supply, high concert demand, and ticket pricing to name a few. The market of secondary ticketing is different from country to country and region to region but some similarities do exist. I will address some of these differences and similarities while ultimately uncovering the overall infrastructure that can either encourage or hinder the success of secondary ticketing in the live music business. Secondary Ticketing is a global market and in my research, I will briefly cover parts of Spain but largely focusing on the United States market.
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CD Baby/Berklee DIY Musician Conference EU
Anna Parry
2018This conference was a chance for Berklee and CD Baby to work in collaboration to bring the pre-existing American DIY Musician conference to Europe. The primary focuses were, helping independent musicians gain knowledge on being successful and how to monetize their work, giving Berklee GEMB students the opportunity to gain work experience, and strengthening the CD Baby and Berklee brands in Europe. The conference spanned over 3 days, consisted of 2 live music events, 25 speakers, and 26 topics. The outcome was; 252 individuals purchased tickets, arriving from 31 different countries, with a gender break down of 161 males to 91 females (data taken from Eventbrite). Conference topics consisted of; Building Your Online Brand, How A Song Makes You Money, Authentic Artist Branding, Management, and many more valuable topics. The conference took place at the Aula Magistral, directly across from Berklee’s campus and many spaces on the Berklee Valencia Campus including the recording studios, classrooms, and practice rooms. The main aspect which truly made this project DIY was that it was spearheaded by a team of students consisting of myself acting as the operations manager, David Pozeulo acting as the artist manager and Kim Ortiz acting as the creative manager, all lead by our project manager GEMB Fellow Shana Swayne. In the following pages, I will reflect on how this project aligned with my original expectations, lessons learned, contribution to my professional career and how the project can carry on with success.
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Women in Music – Berklee Chapter
Amisha Patankar, Hillary Storm, and Peter Robaudo
2018Women in Music is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1985 whose mission is to, “... advance the awareness, equality, diversity, heritage, opportunities, and cultural aspects of women in the musical arts through education, support, empowerment, and recognition”. This organization is composed of men and women who want to bring awareness to the disproportionate representation and mobility of women in the music industry. There are many mediums through which the organization educates and empowers including seminars, panels, showcases, and youth initiatives. The organization, headquartered in NYC, has 13 chapters worldwide and now for the first time has a presence in Spain. Berklee selected three students, Amisha Patankar, Hillary Storm, and Peter Robaudo, to work alongside Clara Barberá in bringing the new chapter to life at Berklee Valencia. Each student was assigned a separate role: Patankar/Marketing, Storm/Sponsorships, and Robaudo/Operations. The team worked over the course of six months to launch the chapter and build its brand not only within the Berklee community, but also within the greater Valencian public. Along with the initial launch mixer, the Women in Music Berklee chapter executed a total of eight events featuring prominent guests such as Patrice Rushen, Susan Rogers, and Yvette Noel-Schure. These events included multiple performances, speeches, and workshops all geared towards bringing a wealth of knowledge on the roles of women in the music industry, skills related to working in the industry, and the power of being a woman and supporting women. To round out the successful launch, the team also worked on a special project with Disrupción Records. This project, a compilation album, was the perfect way for the team to celebrate the accomplishments and relationships established throughout the last six months of the chapter and was properly recognized with a launch party at Sala Matisse on April 11, 2018. Overall each event was unique according to location, topic, guest, and audience. The outcomes were equally diverse but came together to form a beautiful mosaic of values, students, community members, and lessons. All of these established Women in Music Berklee as another branch of an essential organization, seeking to play a role in disseminating positivity and unison within the industry and communities we all love.
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Kilómetro Cero: Música y Comida Local
Ben Pirog and Antoine Jaeger
2018The following paper describes the background, objectives, actionable tasks, execution, and challenges of organizing Kilómetro Cero: Música y Comida Local. This event was a one-day music and food festival focused on themes of sustainability and local consumption that occurred on May 20th in La Escuela de Ruzafa. The purpose of this Culminating Experience project was to develop our competency as event promoters. while also creating a meaningful, positive environment for promoting the initiatives of Valencian producers and associations acting on change at a regional scale. In order to execute such an event successfully, many actionable steps were necessary including the development of a visual brand, promotion through both printed and digital media, execution of Facebook campaign tactics, development of various partnerships with local businesses and associations, and, perhaps most importantly, the practice of patience and persistence. Over the course of several months, our understanding of the Valencian culture and people who work to preserve it was enriched through personal connections. We hope this event can continue on in our absence, either through Berklee our other partners we made along our journey.
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DIY European Conference
David Pozuelo
2018The DIY Musician Conference EU was the first European Cd Baby Conference with Berklee Valencia College of Music focused squarely in independent musicians. An event where artists and industry representatives attended panels, breakout sessions, showcases, network and collaborate.