EVERY BUSINESS A MUSIC BUSINESS

Related to this valuable reminder is an important commercial trend I've noticed that holds vast implications for music business programs and the students we teach: every business is becoming a music business.

Converging industries, a digital lingua franca and a relaxed regulatory climate are enabling traditionally separate enterprises to ally with one another in completely new ways. In the process, unprecedented career opportunities for those trained in the musical and entertainment arts are evolving.

Examples abound: AT&T now has a music division; so does IBM. Home entertainment retailer Best Buy has an artist development program and a record label in the works. Everyone from Pottery Barn to Victoria’s Secret issues compilation records. And this past fall, Sting made a deal with Compaq for the computer giant to essentially serve as the marketing department for his latest recording (in loco A&M Records).

Each of these "non-music" companies are staffing up in the music and entertainment areas. They are seeking to know how music works in the marketplace and how value is added through music and entertainment affinities.

Delving into the arts is a trend also reflected in the current crop of business books. Companies which used to draw their metaphors from the military and machines, are now encouraged to see themselves as jazz bands and theater productions. Titles like John Kao’s Jamming, Peter Senge’s The Dance of Change and Max Dupree’s Leadership Jazz argue that successful contemporary businesses must be guided by these more musical and artistic models or be left in the dust.

How can we begin applying these developments in our music business programs?

These trends require a new way of thinking about the "music business" and "industry careers." We must encourage our students to "think outside the box" of traditional music business models and explore fresh possibilities; to reflect on where musical skills are used rather than on where music has traditionally been sold; and to not limit themselves by standard job titles but to instead find ways to creatively engage their skills with the evolutionary dynamics of emerging business paradigms.

Music business faculty can encourage the exploration by their students of other arts and entertainment areas in their schools in order to synergize creative alliances; they can create bridges to other university departments in order to constellate true interdisciplinary success; and they can scope out new business partners eager to "dance" with the music industry (read: provide jobs).

The traditional music industry is transforming. With the right mix of creativity and boldness we can help our programs grow in value to our students, our institutions, and newly emerging workplaces.

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