For every magical festival performance or sold-out night at the rock club, there is someone like Julie Greenberg who connects artists with venues and makes tours happen.
Greenberg, a booking agent at Creative Artists Agency in New York, works with artists to book concert tours. But before helping artists such as Shaboozey, Tems and Ashe plan their treks across the United States, she was a music business student at the Terry College of Business.
“I loved my time at M-Bus,” she told students during music business lecturer Andrew Rieger’s Live Music and Touring class on a recent trip back to Athens. “I liked connecting and meeting all the people in my classes and collaborating with them, and hearing what they were doing … I always wanted to see what everyone was doing.”
The relationships she forged in her MBUS classes were the bedrock of a musical network that helped get her into the music business and continue to succeed. Greenberg, who grew up a competitive dancer and self-proclaimed music nerd, loved making mixes for friends and for her team to dance to.
“I always wanted to work in music,” she said. “I came to school as a psychology major but realized quickly I would not be great at that type of job. So, I pivoted to major in communications studies and wanted to do whatever I could do working music in some capacity.”
She learned about the Music Business Program after being rejected from a job at the 40 Watt Club in downtown Athens. The connections she made through the program helped her land summer internships in Nashville and her first full-time job.
The ability to blend the art she loves with business is a skill she honed as she built her career. She still loves to see live shows but is serious when talking to potential new clients or negotiating with venue owners on their behalf.
“I think asking questions, going to events, and throwing your own events are the ways you start to learn the job,” Greenberg told students. “Because you can read all these books, and that gives you the intel you need to start — but you learn by doing. You’re not going to evolve or get the experience you need in the industry unless you start working jobs.”
The University of Georgia’s Music Business Certificate Program was launched in 2006 and is open to all UGA students but housed in UGA Terry College of Business. Music business students learn from industry leaders in the classroom and the real world.