Career and Job Success in the Music Industry
Career and Job Success in the Music Industry is a course designed to help you gain insight into the seismic shifts in the music industry job market and extract universal success tenets that will help you become “future-proof.” As a TechCrunch writer pointed out, “Of all industry roller coasters, the music industry must be the wildest.” Today’s music industry job seekers face unprecedented challenges and stresses. Long gone are the prescribed professional pathways and clear career tracks. Instead, we have a model of free agency, where you must decide for yourself how, when, and where to develop and deploy your talents. You must be able to effectively communicate, listen, and understand—and know how to find and leverage opportunities for employment and career advancement. This course will focus on four dimensions of career development: clarifying your professional value, focusing the opportunity lens, advancing personal growth strategies, and orchestrating a successful job search. Throughout the course, you will hear from Berklee alumni and employers about what it takes to succeed in the music industry in today’s shifting climate.
This course fulfills a liberal arts requirement for the Bachelor of Professional Studies program. In addition, it fulfills the LHUM-400: Professional Development Seminar requirement for students enrolled in the Bachelor of Music program at the Boston campus.
By the end of the course, you will be able to:
- Understand your career interests and what drives you to be successful
- Assess your personal and professional goals, and articulate your value as a candidate of choice
- Research, evaluate, and effectively manage your online identity/reputation
- Communicate effectively in the workplace
- Determine strategies to meet employers’ expectations
- Research and analyze targeted companies, industries, and career opportunities
- Build relationships in a variety of settings
- Interview successfully in different interview formats
- Negotiate the right job offer
- Explore competencies that support long-term professional success
- Synthesize strategies for self-promotion as well as independent success, including the creation of a resume, cover letter, and other appropriate job search materials
- Develop a career track based on macro goals and corresponding micro projects
Syllabus
Lesson 1 Setting Up Your Career Journal
Lesson 2 Clarifying Your Professional Value
Lesson 3 Building Successful Work Relationships
Lesson 4 Exploring Career Opportunities Today
Lesson 5 Success Models
Lesson 6 Discovering & Working Your Niche Distinction
Lesson 7 Intrapreneurship: Acting Self-Employed
Lesson 8 Organizing & Positioning Your Body of Work
Lesson 9 Expanding Professional & Social Networks
Lesson 10 From Intern to Employee & Employee to Promoted Employee
Lesson 11 Ready, Aim, Hire!: Creating Your Job Search Strategy
Lesson 12 Composing Your Career Advancement Plan (MyCAP)
Requirements
Prerequisites and Course-Specific Requirements
This course does not have any prerequisites.
Required Textbook(s)
- None required
General Course Requirements
Below are the minimum requirements to access the course environment and participate in live chats. Please make sure to also check the Prerequisites and Course-Specific Requirements section above, and ensure your computer meets or exceeds the minimum system requirements for all software needed for your course.
Mac Users
- OS X 10.10 Yosemite or higher
PC Users
- Windows 7 or higher
All Users
- Latest version of Google Chrome
- Zoom meeting software (available in the course when joining your first chat)
- Webcam
- Speakers or headphones
- External or internal Microphone
- Broadband Internet connection
Instructors
Author & Instructor
Peter Spellman is focused on helping people discover and express their potential as creative careerists. As former director of Berklee’s Career Development Center, Peter advised thousands of students and alumni, and facilitated collaboration among numerous college departments to ensure high-quality service to and engagement with the Berklee community.
He is the author of several handbooks on music career development, including The Self-Promoting Musician: Strategies for Independent Music Success (Berklee Press), Indie Business Power: A Step-By-Step Guide for 21st Century Music Entrepreneurs (MBS Business Media), Plan Your Band! (MBS Business Media), and Indie Marketing Power: The Resource Guide for Maximizing Your Music Marketing (MBS Business Media).
As a composer, Peter has scored films for the National Science Foundation and composed video game soundtracks for Massachusetts General Hospital.
He has worked as an artist manager, booking agent, label director, and producer. With more than 30 years of experience as a performing and recording artist, he brings this experience to Berklee in order to help students effectively bridge their college experience to real-world opportunities in their chosen fields. He also performs with the improvisational collective, Underwater Airport.
What’s Next?
When taken for credit, Career and Job Success in the Music Industry can be applied towards these associated programs:
Associated Certificate Programs
- General Music Studies Professional Certificate
- General Music Studies Advanced Professional Certificate
Associated Degree Majors
- Bachelor’s Degree in Music Production
- Bachelor’s Degree in Music Business
- Bachelor’s Degree in Interdisciplinary Music Studies (Create Your Own Major)
- Bachelor’s Degree in Songwriting
- Bachelor’s Degree in Electronic Music Production and Sound Design
- Bachelor’s Degree in Music Composition for Film, TV, and Games
- Bachelor’s Degree in Songwriting and Producing Music
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