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Tag: music (Page 1 of 26)

music

The 29th Annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture Series with David Israelite

The Music Business/Management Department hosted its 29th Annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture Series and featured one of the music industry’s most influential advocates for equity in the music business, David Israelite. As President and CEO of the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), Israelite has dedicated his career to advocating for publishers and songwriters. He fights to protect and advance their interests in the music industry, specifically relating to their domestic and global protection of music copyrights. He played an integral role in raising the CRB rate for songwriters, as well as modernizing copyright laws. He visited Berklee and joined Professor Tonya Butler, Chair of the Music Business/Management Department, to talk more about his career and work in the industry.

From a young age, Israelite always had a passion for music, but he had an equal love for debate, politics, history, and government. His collegiate and professional careers were spent pursuing law and government where he collected many experiences working for the government in Washington D.C. During this time, Israelite noticed a lack of government protection on intellectual property which inspired him to create a task force dedicated to raising awareness and changing protection laws on intellectual property. His initiatives led him to land his current position as President and CEO of the NMPA, which is a trade association that represents all publishers and their songwriters in the music industry. As a member of the NMPA board, he participates in a trial every 5 years in which he litigates with streaming services to decide on how much money streaming services should pay their songwriters. Just recently, he championed the largest CRB rate increase in history, meaning songwriters will now receive even more royalties for their music. 

As for other ways songwriters can monetize their music, David Israelite had lots of advice for songwriters. Israelite dove into the complicated calculations of streaming royalties and explained how artists really get paid from top streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. He stressed the importance of signing up for a Performing Rights Organization (PRO) and the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) in order to collect all applicable royalties. Both organizations are extremely crucial for songwriters to get paid for their work. There are also other ways to monetize your music aside from streaming, such as public performance (radio) and synchronization placements (TV/Film). Additionally, songwriters should join songwriter advocacy groups like Nashville Songwriters Association International and Grammy Advocacy. 

In the Q&A session, Israelite shared his favorite piece of advice, “Grit is the most important quality of success. You can be born with it but you can also develop it.” He encouraged aspiring songwriters to always keep going in their careers, pushing through any rejection and advocating for themselves in any way possible. For the full-length recording of the lecture, click here. We recommend watching if you’re interested in how songwriters get paid!

Friday Night Classical ft. Berklee Indian Ensemble

September 27th. 8:00pm. Boston Conservatory at Berklee. You had to be there to experience the music in all its glory. The sold-out performance aptly titled “Which Classical Music?” was directed by Markus Placci and was a celebration of chamber music, performed by acclaimed Boston Conservatory at Berklee faculty members and renowned guest artists from around the world. 

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Here’s What I’ve Learned

I have one week left. The nostalgia is already kicking in. Here’s one last post!

Although I did something literally every single day, all summer, I still know there is so much more to do in Los Angeles. Here, I felt like a tiny fish in a massive ocean, with endless opportunities and experiences to discover. I’m truly looking forward to my future career, and my experiences here have affirmed my hope that I will be successful in following my dreams.

Friday fun at Tunecore!! I wanted to get everyone in the office, but some of them snuck out before Katie got out her selfie stick..

Friday fun at Tunecore!! I wanted to get everyone in the office, but some of them snuck out before Katie got out her selfie stick..

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Big Questions, Big Ideas: Being a Fellow for the Open Music Initiative

small snare innovationRecently, BerkleeICE completed a summer lab that tried to help foster the creation of a new service/project/business that will be beneficial to creating an open source for the identification of music rights.

The summer lab was under the banner of the Open Music Initiative— a leading group of people from creators, to technologists, to entrepreneurs, and music industry experts that are driven and devoted to promoting the development of open source standards in the music industry.

IDEO, A global design company that helps public and private companies with their innovation and growth, guided the technical platform for the project. For the last few months, OMI hosted gatherings and labs. Some of the launch gatherings include one on June 22 in New York City with all OMI participants. One of the events included a three-week innovation lab in Boston, run by BerkleeICE with guidance from IDEO, which involved choosing participates from current students and recent graduates create models and explore the project deeper.

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So Much to Say, So Much to Learn

 Hey everyone,

Time is moving so quickly here. It’s crazy. I feel like there is so much more to learn! I mean, there is obviously so much more to learn, but it’s more that I don’t want to leave LA before I learn it! There are moments where I feel like the task I’m doing may not be teaching me anything, but then I get home, and I have so many thoughts and questions. My mind is racing constantly. Maybe it’s just me that’s crazy… hm. 

One of my bosses, Lucas Vidal, wrote the score for Fast & Furious 6, The Quiet Ones, Nobody Wants the Night, The Raven, and more!

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