REQ: Berklee Online - Music Business DNA: How Policy Defines Your Income Streams
Today’s artists and entrepreneurs have a shared interest in music policy, though it might not be immediately obvious. At its most basic, music policy determines what is possible in the evolving, global marketplace for music. It’s no longer enough to learn the nuts and bolts of the business; long-term sustainability also requires a working knowledge of the laws and regulations around the world. Music policy has a direct impact on the paychecks of working artists and entrepreneurs, and seizing opportunities means taking a proactive role in the debates that are shaping the future of creativity and commerce. The goal of this course is to expand the knowledge base and cultivate leadership among artists and entrepreneurs who will help solve persistent problems in a global music industry. Taught in a plain-language, conversational style, Music Policy demystifies complex topics and inspires confidence to engage in these important discussions. In addition to understanding the systems and structures that govern music, students will learn real-world strategies via case studies featuring musicians such as My Morning Jacket, R.E.M., OK Go, and more. By the end of the course, students will recognize how creators, technology, and fan communities can work together to effect positive change. More importantly, they will be able to use this knowledge to make a difference in their own communities all the way up to the international policy arena.
By the end of the course, you will be able to:
Make career decisions based on an understanding of how federal, state, and municipal policy shapes the music ecosystem from the local to the global
Recognize the challenges to devising and implementing music policy and opportunities to evolve the global framework for music entrepreneurship
Identify the zones where policy intersects with music: copyright, digital distribution, telecommunications, broadcast, live performance and urban development
Describe the primary stakeholders in music policy, their historic emphasis and situational leverage in current debates on issues such as copyright reform, access to audiences, participatory economics and competition
Explain how bills are drafted, introduced, and passed
Debate copyright reform from the position of recognizing the basic history of how this specific body of law established the framework for every business directly or indirectly involved with recorded music
Describe how public policy provides for differing levels of equity for artists
Explain the different standards for setting statutory rates for the use of sound recordings, the rationale behind each, and the practical ramifications regarding modification
Explore how new tech developments such as the blockchain may reduce the necessity for policy intervention, and evaluate where policy guidance may still be required
By the end of the course, you will be able to:
Make career decisions based on an understanding of how federal, state, and municipal policy shapes the music ecosystem from the local to the global
Recognize the challenges to devising and implementing music policy and opportunities to evolve the global framework for music entrepreneurship
Identify the zones where policy intersects with music: copyright, digital distribution, telecommunications, broadcast, live performance and urban development
Describe the primary stakeholders in music policy, their historic emphasis and situational leverage in current debates on issues such as copyright reform, access to audiences, participatory economics and competition
Explain how bills are drafted, introduced, and passed
Debate copyright reform from the position of recognizing the basic history of how this specific body of law established the framework for every business directly or indirectly involved with recorded music
Describe how public policy provides for differing levels of equity for artists
Explain the different standards for setting statutory rates for the use of sound recordings, the rationale behind each, and the practical ramifications regarding modification
Explore how new tech developments such as the blockchain may reduce the necessity for policy intervention, and evaluate where policy guidance may still be required