Catherine Fitterman Radbill [Catherine Fitterman Radbill] - Introduction to the Music Industry: An Entrepreneurial Approach

Id like to tell you a story. Its a tale based on the hopes, fears, successes, failures, and collective wisdom of the thousands of students and music professionals with whom Ive had the distinct honor of working for more than 14 years as a music entrepreneurship evangelist.

Ive met you in classrooms, meeting rooms, coffee shops, railroad stations, airports, and on line. You are 17, or 30, or 55. You are performers, educators, composers, technicians, administrators, inventors, venue managers, DJs, recording artists, bloggers, music retail store workers, record label owners, publicists, or a hundred other thingsall working in the service of this thing we cant live without called music.

When I founded the Entrepreneurship Center for Music at the University of Colorado in 1998, I spoke the musical language of the faculty and students: nonprofit classical music, jazz, and composition. Since moving to New York University in 2002, my vocabulary has expanded to include commercial musicpop, rock, hiphop, country, electronicand the variety of ways music is used to make money.

No matter where Ive met you or what youre doing for a job, your stories all revolve around a common underlying question: How can I make a living doing what I love? Or specifically: How can I work in the music industry in whatever area Im passionate about right now, and sustain myself economically?

The answer is straightforward: You will need to learn how to think and act like an entrepreneur. Music is a business with its own distinct culture. If you want to find your place in it, youll need to look under the hood to see how all the moving parts fit together. Learning to think like an entrepreneur as you explore the inner workings of the music industry will catapult you into a mindset that allows you to see opportunities where others see only problems. The world around you will look like one gigantic suggestion box, full of great ideas for you and other entrepreneurial thinkers to play with. You will be able to control your own destiny, whether you decide to work for yourself and create a new product or service, or choose to make meaning in the world by being an entrepreneurial thinker as an employee.

The market conditions are perfect for entrepreneurial activity in the music industry. Everything is in flux as it adapts to changing consumer habits and new technologies. There is no longer a fixed shape or direction to the landscape. How did we get here? Where are we going? Its messy and chaotic. Its a perfect entrepreneurial opportunity .

Creativity, innovation, opportunity, and a why not? attitude are the hallmarks of entrepreneurship. These are the skills and tools you will acquire in the chapters ahead. Well apply some myth busting to conventional wisdom and reject a thats just the way things are done mentality so you can find your place in the music industry. In each chapter, I will urge you to ask questions, challenge my answers, look under every rock for opportunities, and make meaning in all that you do. I invite both teachers and students to add their own imagination, creativity, wisdom, and energy to this story.

As an entrepreneurial thinker, how will your passion and enthusiasm guide the music industry? What areas of the business will intrigue you? What creative ideas and insight will you bring to solving some of our industrys challenges? The opportunities for you to have a satisfying and sustainable career in the music industry are abundant if you learn how to develop an entrepreneurial mindset.

I want to hear your story. Please contact me through the books website as you journey through the textbook with your class. I look forward to hearing from you.