Interdisciplinary Certificate in Music Business
Music industry pros discuss keys to success at Terry-sponsored open house/seminar in Atlanta
Having Grammy-winning songwriter Manuel Seal on the music industry panel was invaluable, but he also provided an unexpected treat by performing several numbers live at lunch.
A who's who of the burgeoning Atlanta recording industry was on hand April 15, 2006 to share their expertise with students and help the Terry College introduce its popular new music business program to the metro area. With panelists like Grammy-winning songwriter Manuel Seal and So So Def creative director Stone Stafford, plus record producers, entertainment attorneys, and talent scouts, the six-hour seminar was an extension of the real-world music education that UGA students are getting back in Athens.
Music business program co-directors Bruce Burch and Steve Dancz (standing, at left and right) assembled a who's who of Atlanta music industry pros that included (seated, from left) entertainment attorneys Bakari Brock, Charles Driebe, and Cliff Lovette; Lynn Oliver, an associate director at BMI Atlanta; Jon Schlanger, senior vice president for Dallas Austin's publishing company and Alien Music; and Lance Ledbetter, who owns Dust-to-Digital Records.
"What our students heard today," said UGA music professor and music business program co-director Steve Dancz, "was chapter and verse on what it takes to make it in virtually every facet of the recording industry. And they heard it from people who represent the heart and soul of the red-hot Atlanta music business. But, by the same token, these expert panelists echoed much of what students in this course have been hearing since the first week of class from Drive-By Truckers singer/guitarist Patterson Hood, R.E.M.'s general counsel Bertis Downs, and Widespread Panic's co-manager Buck Williams."
Held at Terry's Executive Education Center in Buckhead, Saturday's morning and afternoon sessions produced enough collective wisdom to fill a textbook. Entertainment attorney Cliff Lovette, who created the legal and business affairs department at LaFace Records, stressed the importance of copyrighting your band's name. The same is true of licensing a song, said music publisher Dee Dee Murray, who pointed out that you can't do ring-tone licensing or get a song included in a movie soundtrack if it's not licensed.
Dee Dee Murray (center), who helped develop the career of Outkast, warned students about the perils of trying to market a song to the movies or for ring-tone use without first getting it properly licensed.
Lynn Oliver, associate director of BMI's Atlanta office, told the audience how to pitch a song or artist to a record label. "You've got about 30 seconds to hook them," said Oliver, a University of South Carolina alum who broke into the business as an intern for Hootie and the Blowfish. "So be passionate and be knowledgable."
The music business may look glamorous from the outside looking in, but Stone Stafford warned students that the path to the top is paved with hard work. "Develop a servant attitude . . . servants get paid!" said Stafford, who advised interns to make themselves indispensable. "You should be the first one in and the last one out."
Entertainment attorney Cliff Lovette (left) created the legal and business affairs department for Atlanta's LaFace Records. BMI Atlanta's Lynn Oliver (right) got her start as an intern for Hootie and the Blowfish.
Several panelists credited special mentors with helping them make it in the music business, but an equal number said they had either made it on their own or had found inspiration and information in a variety of places.
"Mentors are all around you," said Seal, who has written chart-topping hits for Mariah Carey and Usher, "but you have to master the art of listening." "Even bad people are mentors," said nationally recognized vocal coach Jan Smith, "because you learn what not to do."
Stafford made a point of telling students to develop a quick this-is-what-I-can-do-for-you speech. So when the afternoon session ended, UGA music business program student Casey Branch took his advice and told Stafford that she thought she could be a valuable intern in his office.
When the afternoon session ended, UGA music business program students networked with Stone Stafford (at right), who serves as senior creative director for So So Def Productions.
"I told him I have a basic working knowledge of PowerPoint," said Branch, who is from Cartersville. "He asked me if I was good at writing letters, and I said yes."
So how did Stafford leave things?
"He gave me his phone number and told me to call him," said Branch, who said she thought that was a lot better than him taking her phone number and promising to call her. "I'm excited!"
The goal of all this shared insight with music industry pros, says Dancz's co-director Bruce Burch, is to help UGA students avoid the pitfalls that he and Dancz encountered on their way up.
"Traditionally, the music business has been the school of hard knocks," says Burch, who toiled in obscurity for years as a motel desk clerk before writing a string of hits for Reba McEntire and other Nashville artists. "But if you understand how the business works and build relationships with the people who make things happen, you're way ahead of the game. That's what we're trying to do for UGA's music business students."
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