Although the question came from a full professor of music, it was rudimentary.

In a piece he was composing, he wanted to quote a seven-note phrase from one Broadway show and a fourteen-note phrase from another. "Was it legal?"

His colleague, the Music Industry instructor, told him what he wanted to do was probably a permissible “fair use,” but since these were key phrases in the original pieces, advised contacting the publishers of the compositions. The professor later emailed the M.I. instructor to tell him that it had worked out. The publishers merely required a program note that the musical quotes were used with permission.

Fast-forward a couple of months: The M.I. instructor asked the professor if he had published the piece he had written. He said, “No, we haven't had it printed.”

Now, if you are a music instructor, and don't understand why the vocal professor’s answer has nothing to do with the M.I. instructor’s question, you have made our case for us. After four decades in music, this well-educated, well-liked vocal music professor didn't know the first thing about music “publishing” vs. music “printing.” Nor did he understand “fair use” in the first place, nor did he even know that when he (or anyone else) performed his piece theatrically, he was eligible to collect Grand Performing Rights royalties. In other words, the professor was sorely in need of an “Introduction to the Music Business” class - at a freshman level.

As a tenured professor, this colleague had little to worry about professionally, but clearly his education had a very large hole in it. Unfortunately, we continue to turn out music students whose educations have this same crucial gap. This leaves our students both woefully vulnerable legally, and unprepared in many ways for the “real world” of their art and craft.

When money changes hands over music, that's the music business: a practical definition. What are performance majors working toward, if not making money from playing? What will composition majors do with their compositions, if not try to parlay them into money? So, is it fair -- indeed, is it moral – for us to graduate performance or composition majors that have no concept of how to profit from their skills outside of academia? Or how to avoid the legal pitfalls that await them, in their ignorance?

And consider how much we as educators need to know, just to get through a school day: How freely can we make and distribute copies of modern sheet music? CDs of recitals containing copyrighted music? What licenses, if any, do we need in order to create a new choral or band arrangement of copyrighted music? To record those arrangements? Can we post YouTube films of school concerts without parental permission? Publisher permission? What is our obligation if we stumble upon a YouTube video that suggests a student may be at risk? What legal issues do race, sex and religion present in the classroom?

Therefore, in light of all this, shouldn't an Introduction to the Music Business course be something that every music major not only should take but must take? We advocate that it is unconscionable for a college or university not to make this education mandatory.

What would such courses entail? Essentially, all the rudiments of what it takes to make money (and avoid unnecessary losses) in the music business. We should not confuse the thriving music business with the somewhat moribund record business. People still buy musical instruments, and sales have risen over 20% in the last decade (Wilson, 2007). Music publishing and licensing continue to make money. The concert business has suffered little from skyrocketing fuel and ticket prices. Even not-for-profit performing arts organizations continue to operate, from small town performing arts councils to the opera companies whose costs run a million dollars every time the lights go on in the theater (Hicks, 2007).

Our students need to know what a contract looks like: a venue contract, a recording contract, a songwriting contract. They need to know about the AF of M, ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, NARAS, NAMM, NARM; the organizational alphabet soup that protects, promotes, and abets their careers.

Our students need to understand that music exists in a world of commerce, and they need to know how to interact with that world. Take these dozen real-world examples of things that might happen to our students. How would you advise them?

1. You’re starting to teach private lessons at home. Is it likely that your homeowner’s insurance covers potential small business liabilities, such as sexual harassment allegations?

2. You have a great idea for teaching composition on the internet via Skype. Site setup: $3,000 plus $100/month to maintain and promote yourself. How many weekly students (at $75/ lesson) do you need to reach “financial breakeven” in 6 months?

3. The promoter of a concert in which you are the lead performer wants to send the local papers a press kit. List 4 elements that might be part of your press kit.

4. You’ve been asked (by the film director) to compose an original score for a documentary film “as close as possible to the music of ‘Appalachian Spring’ without violating copyright.” What is the name of the legal agreement you need to help protect yourself?

5. Your best friend Sallie Smith is forming a string quartet to play local gigs.
a. Name a few of the most common business perils of such an enterprise.
b. Name two legal entities she might logically choose to build her quartet enterprise.

6. The local NPR station is giving you three 60 second slots, for free, to advertise your upcoming concert. Name a few general distinctions between writing good ad copy for print vs. good ad copy for radio.

7. You have written an exciting new book about Broadway show music. Name one advantage or disadvantage for each of the following:
a. E-publishing through a web retailer.
b. Retaining a book agent.
c. Setting up download purchases from your own site.

8. You’re a studio singer, being asked to imitate the voice of Barbra Streisand for a film soundtrack -- something you can do perfectly. Should you do so? Why or why not?

9. You are playing for a small charitable fundraising event. The musicians each receive only a $25. stipend from the charity. Is this a union violation? Must you pay tax on such a fee from a charity?

10. You’re in a union recording session for a commercial, and the conductor says, “Let’s do that again, so we can double-track the strings.” Does this violate union rules? Why or why not?

11. Your first major composition is about to be published. You must decide: ASCAP, BMI or SESAC. State any supportable reason for choosing among them.

12. Powerful new-media developments now affecting the future of all styles of music include: Collaborative filtering, P2P file-sharing, crowd-funding and lifestyle branding. Define each in a few words.

If we as instructors cannot answer these questions accurately, how can we protect and prepare our students for the real world? Every college and university accredited by the NASM has “General Education” requirements: a certain amount of English, Math, Social Science, Lab Science and even Kinesiology. The goal here is to turn out well rounded students, students we can be proud of, and students who realize there’s more to reality than just their musical training.

College courses ready our students to start understanding the world of musical arts. But how useful is that if they don’t understand the rudiments of actually making a living in their chosen field?

Now you should try your hand at answering the questions above. In next Fall's Ezine, we will post our answers!

References

Hicks, William (March 2007). Metropolitan Opera, Interviewed by Author (HB).

Wilson, Ken (June 2007). “2007 NAMM Global Report: Music USA, A Statistical Review Of the Music Products Industry”, NAMM, Carlsbad CA.