The music industry is one that has been huge since times began. It is a fast industry, where someone can be famous today and completely unknown tomorrow. But it is about a lot more than fame and fortune. It is, in actual fact, a true business sector with various opportunities for highly rewarding and diverse careers. It is, as well, a very competitive sector, so there has to be something special about you if you want to enter this field. To increase your chances of getting noticed, you may want to consider completing a music business degree. What this does is tell potential employers that you know what you are talking about, that you understand the industry, and that you have the necessary competencies to take things to the next level.
Choosing a Music Business Degree
There are quite a lot of things that you have to think about if you are considering enrolling in a music business degree program. These include:
- The reputation of the degree program and the school that offers it. Look for both program and institutional accreditation, which is a voluntary certificate to demonstrate excellence and commitment to the subject matter. Any accredited institution is one that is properly organized and established, and that is financially stable as well. An accredited program, meanwhile, means that faculty has worked incredibly hard at creating something that is 100% relevant to the industry you’re studying towards. The National Association of Schools of Music is a particularly good accrediting body to look for.
- The depth and comprehensiveness of the program itself. You should be able to learn not just from text books, but to get real life experience in a range of different parts of the overall music industry as well. This should include multimedia based projects, digital distribution, merchandising, event organization, promotions, advertising, and so on. Additionally, there should be a good balance within the program, in which you learn about skills that are specific to the music industry, but also some more transferable skills such as business strategy and communication. These are the skills you need to learn in order to be able to have knowledge that is relevant to a wealth of different industries.
Those are the two most important things to take into consideration before you decide to enroll in a music business degree. Once you have completed it, you will join the ranks of some of the industry’s greatest professionals. You may have stood shoulder to shoulder with them before, for instance during your internship, but you are now in a position to actually work alongside them on an equal footing. By completing a music business degree, you will be far more relevant to the industry as a whole. And, because this particular degree focuses on business, not on performing, you will have important transferable skills that you can take into any industry that you want to. You can even decide to study towards a Master of Business Administration.