REQ: Berklee Online - Music Business Finance
The music industry continues to move towards a place where the opportunity for new artists and new entrepreneurial endeavors starts with leveraging your own knowledge base. With this in mind, a hands-on understanding of finance is an essential skill for anyone looking to succeed in the music industry, whether you're an artist, manager, executive, or entrepreneur. Music Business Finance will demystify a critical area for anyone involved, or interested in being involved, in the music industry.
The course breaks finance down into three digestible components, roughly weighted equally in time spent per week: (1) determining and understanding financial calculations, both focused on the music industry in particular, as well as more general important overall business calculations, (2) money, markets, and the music business, and (3) funding music. You will learn how to access money, take advantage of micro finance opportunities, and apply financial tools to assess the financial health of your enterprise. Topics include compound interest, interest rates, capital markets, startups, stocks and IPOs, cash flow, balance sheets, price elasticity, and exit strategies. The course explores nontraditional forms of music funding, such as venture capital and crowdfunding opportunities like Kickstarter and PledgeMusic. You'll also learn about bonds, grants, business loans, financing in rounds, and much more. The goal of the course is to empower you to apply the critical tools of financial analysis to leverage talent (your own or someone else's!), assess the potential of music enterprises, and drive new music businesses.
By the end of the course, you will be able to:
Employ best practices and budgeting in crowdfunding
Understand the role of venture capital for music entrepreneurs
Understand the cash flow dynamics of music startups
Explain how to leverage the loan market for a music business
Define equity in a music enterprise
Use stock indicators to track publicly-traded music companies
Understand bonds and use them in the music business
Prepare a pitch for venture capitalists
Differentiate the roles of startup founders and venture capitalists
Apply the methodology of price elasticity to music goods
Understand the cash flow dynamics of music startups
Evaluate profit and loss statements
Evaluate a company's cash flow statement
Assess government funding and non-profit grants
Plan entrepreneurial exit strategies
“Peter Alhadeff is not only knowledgeable but also excellent at adapting the material to each student’s experience level and interests, so whether you’re familiar with the subject area or don’t know which way to hold a calculator, Peter will help you to get the most from the course." - student Maureen Lilla
The course breaks finance down into three digestible components, roughly weighted equally in time spent per week: (1) determining and understanding financial calculations, both focused on the music industry in particular, as well as more general important overall business calculations, (2) money, markets, and the music business, and (3) funding music. You will learn how to access money, take advantage of micro finance opportunities, and apply financial tools to assess the financial health of your enterprise. Topics include compound interest, interest rates, capital markets, startups, stocks and IPOs, cash flow, balance sheets, price elasticity, and exit strategies. The course explores nontraditional forms of music funding, such as venture capital and crowdfunding opportunities like Kickstarter and PledgeMusic. You'll also learn about bonds, grants, business loans, financing in rounds, and much more. The goal of the course is to empower you to apply the critical tools of financial analysis to leverage talent (your own or someone else's!), assess the potential of music enterprises, and drive new music businesses.
By the end of the course, you will be able to:
Employ best practices and budgeting in crowdfunding
Understand the role of venture capital for music entrepreneurs
Understand the cash flow dynamics of music startups
Explain how to leverage the loan market for a music business
Define equity in a music enterprise
Use stock indicators to track publicly-traded music companies
Understand bonds and use them in the music business
Prepare a pitch for venture capitalists
Differentiate the roles of startup founders and venture capitalists
Apply the methodology of price elasticity to music goods
Understand the cash flow dynamics of music startups
Evaluate profit and loss statements
Evaluate a company's cash flow statement
Assess government funding and non-profit grants
Plan entrepreneurial exit strategies
“Peter Alhadeff is not only knowledgeable but also excellent at adapting the material to each student’s experience level and interests, so whether you’re familiar with the subject area or don’t know which way to hold a calculator, Peter will help you to get the most from the course." - student Maureen Lilla