Creativity, Characteristics and Training the Music Business Entrepreneur

Ben O’Hara
Head of Music Business (Higher Education)
Box Hill Institute, Australia

    The growing trend in the establishment of music business courses at post-secondary level around the world has sought to recognize the contemporary and future needs of music industries, to legitimize an often ‘seedy’ industry and to secure industry and government income through the creation of successful products (often for export markets).  At the same time, there is a growing body of literature and debate about the personal characteristics of the ‘creative industries entrepreneur’.  This paper considers the central themes in the existing literature around the ‘creative entrepreneur’ and how specific understandings of creativity have been implemented in the education and training of music business professionals.

    Creativity has become central to cultural, media and arts policy, although it has different meanings and definitions among various sectors.  In this paper I begin to examine the links between business creativity and music entrepreneurialism, and how these are fostered within the teaching of music business studies. These questions are important in identifying certain ‘creative entrepreneurial characters’ and the forms of current training available to people seeking music industry employment.

    There are clear tensions between ‘education’ (producing and teaching a set of knowledge and attributes) and ‘training’ (skills attuned to specific industrial requirements) in a music business context.  This paper seeks to identify common entrepreneurial ‘characters’ found in the music industry and poses questions around the appropriate methods of educating and training students to work within these common characteristics.

Does an Academic Terminal Degree Exist for the Field of Music Business/Industry?

Timothy L. Channell
Music Business Program Director
Radford University

    Programs covering various disciplines within the music industry continue to be introduced and expanded in community colleges, private colleges as well as regional colleges and universities.  The number of new undergraduate programs introduced, in addition to the established programs in this country, provides a great number of music business/industry graduates, yet, the number of masters or doctoral programs in the field is relatively low or non-existent.  Practitioners as well as administrators voice the question of what is considered a terminal degree for a qualified faculty member in this discipline?

    As a relatively newer discipline in the academy, those teaching students artist/artistic management, recording, producing, or concert promotion, to name a few, may be credentialed differently than their faculty colleagues in the music or business schools.  This study quantitatively reviewed degrees held by music business/industry faculty members across the United States to determine if there was a prevailing consistency in the consideration of a terminal degree.  An empirical analysis, as well as qualitative interviews the study defines trends being set in new hires as well as promotion of seasoned professionals.  In addition to trends, the study also reviewed faculty degree expectations by the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) and regional accrediting organizations.