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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A Journey
Hildur Hamidsdottir
2019A journey through partnership, working with a booking agency as a consultant. Working in the fields of business development, consultancy, event management.
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Mexico Pa'l Mundo
Mariano Hernandez Garcia
2019This culminating experience focuses on the development of a business plan that describes into detail a niche concert booking agency in Mexico City, that focuses on Mexican folklore music artists. The company offers Mexican folkore artists concert booking outside México, mainly looking for opportunities in world music festivals and cultural events, in exchange of a percentage fee on payments coming from promoters and festivals. The business plan defines as well a data analysis service, offered as a differentiator from other booking agencies to the artists that are part of the agency. This service can be useful in order to make better strategies and decision making. Also, as an extra revenue stream, this service will be offered for a monthly fee to artists that are not part of the booking agency, record labels, managers, etc. The objective of México Pa’l Mundo is to export Mexican talent in order to make folkore artists grow in hand with folklore Mexican genres. This will be possible by getting connections, expanding our network by attending to different music conferences and events.
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Zpod Entertainment Company - Business Plan
Edward Hugill
2019Zpod is an Entertainment Services Company primarily focusing on the needs of artists and content creators within the niche market of Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. Whistler is a premiere destination resort with millions of visitors each year. It sustains numerous events/conferences, musical concerts and entertainment related initiatives and is one of the biggest economic centre's of British Columbia. It is also in close proximity to Canada’s second largest entertainment centre which is the City of Vancouver. Zpod is eager to grow its already existing network of cliental and provide creativity, professionalism and dedication to its new and existing clients. The business plan for Zpod Entertainment Company Limited will outlay the direction it is heading, market information, ideas for growth as well as financial projections.
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Sing With Me: Reborn
Seo Hyun Kim
2019This paper is about a journey of my hybrid identity, as an artist Kish and a business professional Seo Hyun Kim, on the process of re- releasing my first single, Sing with Me, in three different languages and three different genres. The purpose of this project is to test my multi-language and multi-genre recordings on specific target markets as an international release strategy. Throughout the process, I have collaborated with a total of 28 musicians, recording engineers, mixing and mastering engineers, and designers and faculties across all programs at Berklee Valencia to produce six recordings. In order to test the market before the release, I have surveyed a sample size of 200 people, mainly targeting the markets of English- Speaking countries, Spanish-speaking countries and Korea. Through the analysis of the survey result, I was able to gain valuable qualitative and quantitative results that provided insights for forming an international release strategy. It was a challenging process to produce recordings and analyze data within a tight time frame, but rewarding in that I was able to experience interdisciplinary aspects of being an artist and an executive producer, conducting market research and analysis, and providing a gateway for other emerging artists.
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THE EMERGANCE OF THE GLOBAL VOICE
Bianca Johnson
2019This research paper is an exploratory report on the elusive concept of globalization and its effect on the music industry. Social Media and YouTube serve as key predictors in understanding the global reach and popularity that music is able to make all around the world. These platforms give people in rural countries and small cities a voice on a global scale. Brand partnership and the increase of cellular penetration has proven to be two very important factors on these platforms and within the music industry. This paper conducts two case studies about Latin America and South Korea to give examples of how these factors can are actively being used in two of the largest music markets. Finally, it concludes by correlating these markets to how these key predictors have affected the global music industry for the future.
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FIRST ARTIST AID
Sofiko Kereselidze
2019First Artist Aid is the name of the company, chosen due to the idea that it conveys the main activity of the company: being the first stop for help for independent musicians when they have creative problems, in other words, being the first responders for when they are having issues to further develop their career. First Artist Aid (FAA) is designed for new artists who are not aware of the industry ́s ways and do not have a team supporting them.
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Marketing & Promotions Coordinator CPPD
Elsa Llorente
2019I was the Marketing and Promotions Coordinator for all live events of CPPD.
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environmntl: Business Plan
Casey Miller
2019The following business plan has been created to outline the first three years of operation for environmntl. environmntl is a consulting company that assists music festivals in implementing an environmentally sustainable plan, also known as a ‘green’ plan into both the festival and everyday life. This is done through two different services provided, consulting and partnership, allowing for a hands on approach to truly be effective. The business will be based in Akron, Ohio, USA as it works to get off the ground and expand to neighboring states and eventually other countries. This is vital as sustainability become a more important aspect in today’s world.
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Disrupción Records Product Manager
Calen Mims
2019Disrupción Records is an independent record label supported by Berklee College of Music, comprised by a core team individuals from different countries, and working with artists from around the globe for international exposure with distribution through the Orchard under Sony Music. Housing a catalogue of artists spread across three imprints: EVLVE, Common Chord, and Disrupción; the label continues to expand with new signings and new releases. Formed in 2013, this is the first year the label has worked with artists outside the Berklee College of Music program, participated in the Berklee College of Music Valencia Campus “Musaico” live music festival, and added a synchronisation department, Fusión.
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Women in Music Berklee
Tayler Mooney
2019Women in Music Berklee is an organization with a mission to advance the awareness, equality, diversity, heritage, opportunities, and cultural aspects of women in the musical arts. This year this was executed through education, support, empowerment, and recognition throughout the Berklee Valencia campus. Our seminars, showcases, social campaigns, and youth initiatives celebrated the female contribution to the music world and strengthen community ties.
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Disrupción Records
Eleonora Muraglia
2019My Culminating Experience is focused on my role as A&R Manager of Disrupción Records. It reports the activities I carried on within the label, the goals we had in mind when starting the project and what we were able to accomplish. Finally, the way it contributed to my professional development.
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Music shines in the dark: a study of the songs inspired by Hurricane María in Puerto Rico
Cristina Nadal
2019In the less than two years since Hurricane María, artists from various genres have released songs inspired by the storm’s effect in Puerto Rican society. In order to answer the main research question, a sample of songs were analyzed. As this paper will demonstrate, under the context of this specific event, disaster-inspired songs generally do not generate much money nor attention for its artists. Rather, they serve as artistic expressions that help each artist develop their career journey. More importantly, this Research Paper showcases industry-wide issues that continue to greatly affect artists across the world.
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Disrupción Records Marketing/PR Manager
Nicole Otero Meneses
2019The following work describes and analyzes the goals and results of the Culminating Experience Project related to the position of the Marketing & PR Manager at Berklee’s own independent record label Disrupción Records, for the academic year of 2018-2019.
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2019 European DIY Musician Conference Presented by CD Baby & Berklee Valencia
Stephanie Piedrahita
2019Being selected as the Communications & Marketing Manager of the 2019 European DIY Musician Conference served as a very valuable and educational Culminating Experience opportunity for me. Thanks to the help of my fellow GEMB colleagues, Berklee faculty and CD Baby staff, we were able to welcome back over 250+ visitors to our campus for our sold out music industry conference. My responsibilities included the online promotion of the event, communications between our brand and the attendees, graphic design work and management of the ticketing platform and event credentials. We were proud to report that the 2019 ticket sales surpassed the previous year's amount, expenses were cut down drastically and we had overwhelmingly positive feedback and expect attendees to return. The outcome paper, reflection paper, and presentation will serve as a resource or manual for next year's graduate students, who will hopefully further improve the DIY Musician Conference for students, speakers, and young independent artists.
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The J. Porter Studios Business Plan
Joshua Porter
2019My CE is a business plan that outlines the details of the first three years of operation for J. Porter Studios; a limited liability company that focuses on facilitating the needs of artists and students who desire to increase their knowledge and understanding of the musical arts. We will achieve this by providing music lessons, recording spaces, rehearsal rooms, and a venue for performances that will be available for booking to all artists within Northeast Ohio. Though this will be a multi-faceted and complex company in the future, this plan focuses on my first of three phases of operation.
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Main Contemporary Challenges Faced by the Live Music Industry: A Survey with Professionals from Brazil
Clara Rescala
2019This paper provides insights about the results of a survey conducted with professionals working with live music in Brazil. After conducting a bibliography review focused on identifying the main contemporary challenges faced by the live music industry and the tools being used to address them, the survey was designed in order to check the level of knowledge and practical use of those tools made by Brazilian professionals. Chapter 2 provides an overview of the current state of the music business including the most recent number for the recorded and live industry. Chapter 3 goes into detail about the main challenges identified in the bibliography research and point out the most innovative tools being used or develop to address them. After explaining the methodology principles for this research on Chapter 4, Chapter 5 covers in a very pragmatic manner the results of the survey. A discussion about the results is done on Chapter 6, followed by the conclusion with propositions for future steps.
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Women In Music
Constanza Rivera
2019Women in Music is a non-profit organization founded in 1985 with a mission to advance the awareness, equality, diversity, heritage, opportunities, and cultural aspects of women in the musical arts through education, support, empowerment, and recognition. The organization is a dynamic group of music industry pros working & learning together through educational seminars, panels, showcases and our Touchstone Awards (2019). In addition to the New York City headquarters, the organization has 14 chapters spread across the globe, each in charge of taking local action. The Berklee College of Music Valencia chapter was established in 2017 by a selected group of students from the Global Entertainment and Music Business program. These students handed down the project to Maria Jose Guzman Basilis, who took on the role of Marketing, Sponsorship & Partnership, Tayler Mooney, who took. On the role of Production Manager, and Constanza Rivera Arizabalo, who took on the role of Artistic Curation. These women who along with supervisor Clara Barbera continued to grow the project for the class of 2019.
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Outcome Paper European DIY Musicians Conference
Annelise Rivera Rivero
2019These Culminating Experience documents contain the strategies and experiences that the European DIY Musicians Conference team had during the preparation of the conference and during the 2-day conference. Readers will find tips and suggestions for next year's edition of the European DIY Musicians Conference as well as a guide to maximize their efforts.
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Where functional music finds its home: a literature review
Abigail Robinson
2019The 21st century has seen the proliferation of music as a utilitarian tool that can alter, regulate, and observe mood. Functional music takes on many definitions—from musique d’ameublement, Muzak, film scores, to MTV and brand sponsored media. Today, functional music (a mood stabilizer) is the biggest economic driver for user choice. “When presented with a large array of affordable or free options, consumers can be mentally paralyzed by the worry that they aren’t making the most efficacious and fulfilling choice,” (Schwartz, 2005). Spotify and other DSPs help alleviate the strain of choice by providing preset and often branded playlists fit for any mood or occasion. At the same time, smart speakers are a fast-growing piece of the music listening market. According to Music Ally, smart speaker sales grew 169% in 2018 with over 80 million units sold. The global market is expected to reach 200 million by 2019. Smart speakers are inherently functional given their hands-off approach. They provide an intimate space for an often-dissociated listener. “Ethnomusicologists have told us, the functions of music can be described in almost exclusively social terms,” (Frith, 2012). There are still unknown implications of how smart speakers will integrate with functional music—especially as it pertains to places of work and social gatherings.
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An Extensive Exploration into the Sedative Effect
Kyrie Rolle
2019The purpose of this study was to examine and measure the subliminal influence of a particular compositional device on music listeners with the intent of learning whether or not the device elicits any sort of emotional response, and if so, possibly uncover ways in which this device can be implemented as a tool throughout the music industry’s many facets.
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Creating the World's First Record Label for Robots
Alejandro Sabillon
2019This project aimed to create the world's first record label for robots using artificial intelligence to create synthetic artists and music. The outcome paper takes the form of a business plan outlining the process of creating this new company.
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Tools for Navigating Public Relations in a "Cancel Culture" Climate/Grown, Gifted, & Black Consulting/Michael Jackson’s 40th Anniversary of “Off the Wall”: A Tribute Performance
Zoe Schneider
2019I completed the planning and execution of a tribute performance, commemorating the 40th anniversary of Michael Jackson's solo album, Off the Wall. In executing a musical performance of scale at a respectable public venue, I’ve displayed testament to my abilities to organize and manage a project. It was a platform with which to showcase my musicianship, and my pursuit of excellence in mastering a new musical craft. I’ve proved that I'm an accomplished singer, and also a bassist, drummer, and pianist. Furthermore, I was able to develop an ideal growth strategy for my consulting firm, Grown, Gifted, and Black, feeding my desire to serve and give back to young artists of color. Finally, I’ve expanded upon my research into how we can encourage and support public figures to be socially conscious artists, and fully embrace their duty to be a well-informed global citizen. This is research intended to propel me into my doctoral thesis ethnomusicology application on my completion of this program.
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Fusion at Disrupcion Records
Rea Shena
2019The Sync Department at Disrupcion Records was created as a platform to facilitate artists and composers with Sync possibilities and work for hire/ bespoke music.
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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.