Good time for a music career?

Parents Forum
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<p>Music College: Smart Choice in the New Economy
By Danielle Dreilinger- from Berklee College of Music website</p>

<p>May 13, 2009</p>

<p>One of the more than 800 students graduating from Berklee on May 9.
photo by phil farnsworthIs music recession-proof?</p>

<p>When the economy goes down, hemlines go up… and so does the entertainment industry. Believe it or not, people spend more on music in hard times, said Dwight Heckleman, Berklee’s career development and job recruitment coordinator.
Which means that students graduating this week into the 2009 economy are finding it less rough than they might have feared.
Graduating saxophonist/composer Kyle Nasser left his Harvard economics degree aside to study jazz at Berklee. Now, watching banker friends face layoffs, he said, “Who would’ve thought I’d have picked the safer career path?”</p>

<p>Although the old guard of the music industry started declining a decade ago, that means good pickings for the innovative and adventurous.</p>

<p>Among the class of '09, “there’s been more of an entrepreneurial spirit of starting new companies,” said Brandon Kress, the graduating student body president. He’s moving to L.A., where he wants to find a job—any job—in the music industry and write music after-hours.</p>

<p>To be sure, students need to hustle. Like Kress, “they may have to do more than one thing,” Heckleman said, cobbling together full-time employment. But most came to Berklee expecting that, he thought: “Because so many Berklee students are musicians first, they’re pretty tuned in to the idea that no one’s going to be handing them a job.”</p>

<p>Brian Schopfel figured it out. The graduating codirector of Heavy Rotation Records got his dream job through persistence, pursuit, and chutzpah. In December, he discovered Jeff McClusky & Associates, a large music promoter that handles acts like U2 and Madonna. Immediately, he knew where he wanted to be.</p>

<p>So he cold-called and landed an interview—for a job that didn’t exist. “I kind of made one for myself,” he said, by analyzing the company’s needs and presenting his ideas. In March, they clinched the deal, creating an associate project manager position.</p>

<p>“I didn’t really want to be anywhere else,” Schopfel said, “and I made it clear… that I was going to do what I had to do.”</p>

<p>To help students, the Career Development Center has amped up its offerings. Berklee doubled its on-campus auditions this year from cruise lines, theme parks, Cirque du Soleil, and other large entertainment employers, and could have held more, Heckleman said. That, plus the low numbers of alumni coming back for help, shows that jobs are still out there.</p>

<p>Schopfel said some niches were thriving, particularly digital companies and live music. Kress’s professors gave out tons of contact info and tips for creating a career “without being a slave to the major music industry,” he said.</p>

<p>In addition, more earlier-semester students are visiting the CDC to get a head start. Joseph Herrington-Palmer is only two semesters into Berklee, but he went to the Disneyland on-campus audition. This summer he’ll play the drums five times a day with the marching band and big band—no mouse suit required.</p>

<p>Herrington-Palmer didn’t fear the future because “it’s not necessarily as bad as if I was a lawyer or a stockbroker,” he said. “People will always want to be entertained.”</p>

<p>“I don’t think there’s any reason for any Berklee grad to feel intimidated by the environment now,” Heckleman said.</p>

<p>Which is news parents will surely like. Perhaps someday the class of '09 will tell their teenagers, “Forget business school. You should study music.”</p>

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<p>EVERYONE I know in the music industry (here in Los Angeles) from musicians to recording
industry professionals, is having an extraordinarily rough time in this economy. This Berklee article is irresponsible at best.</p>

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<p>I’m guessing that most music majors have low expectations and an entrepreneurial bent to begin with, so a recession doesn’t really affect their outlook. Most of the musicians that I know, especially starting out, have 3 or 4 jobs to get by. And not all of them are music related.</p>

<p>Does it help to be a Berklee grad (that is, the degree from Berklee will be of use open doors) rather than a music grad from other places?</p>

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<p>A rosy outlook is one thing, but my issue with this article is that it states that there is currently a good economic climate for music careers. Nothing could be further from the truth.( And there is a very good chance that a grad from Berklee is going to be burdened by a substantial amount of tuition debt. )
I was chatting with a working jazz musician at a party on Saturday night and he was telling me how rough things are right now. He has a masters degree from a top conservatory. He has sustained a pretty good middle class income for about 30 years, but that has recently been cut in half. Due to cut backs in the California university system,his adjunct professor position at a CS is in grave peril, corporate event gigs have disappeared, people are cutting back on private lessons, and his studio session gigs are half what they were the previous year. Music recording studios are shutting every week. It doesnt matter if your degree is from Berklee or Juilliard-----it is NOT a good economy for music right now.</p>

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<p>Not a good economy for many occupations right now…</p>

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<p>It’s not a good economy for music, but musicians haven’t become accustomed to certain lifestyles that rely on bonuses, or any other “easy money”. Musicians are used to cobbling together a career, and relying on their own ingenuity and initiative. And, there will always be a place for music, as there was even in the darkest times in human history, through the Great Depression, the Holocaust, etc. These are the times we need the joy of music and the arts the most.</p>

<p>Signed: Mother of conservatory student :)</p>

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<p>Add to that the corresponding cuts in state, local, and corporate funding for many long supported arts programs, the fact that opera companies and symphonies are shutting their doors, others are renegotiating contracts looking for concessions, the cuts in public school music programs, students abandoning private lessons because the family budget needs stretching… the list goes on.</p>

<p>I agree with musicamusica, the article is irresponsible, and a bit self serving.</p>

<p>The top talent (with the drive and dedication) will survive, and might prosper, but the sad reality is there is a wealth of incredible talent and far too few openings. The name on the degree matters little. </p>

<p>Son has a day job that pays the bills, and a tenured professional chair, yet he’s lost private students and the two programs he teaches privately for are probably not going to be funded next year. At least he makes enough to pay the audition airfare and hotel expenses.</p>

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<p>This article seems to look at careers in music through a very narrow lense. I agree, it paints a much rosier picture than reality. DS went to an audition for ONE trumpet position. TWO HUNDRED people were in the audition pool, and all were talented. It’s nice to think that the entreprenurial spirit will sustain musicians, and for some it might. BUT it is hard and exhausting work just to GET an audition, never mind a job. And then…no matter what, there is the worry that whatever job you have will not find the necessary funding to continue.</p>

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<p>I have two friends with graduate degrees from Julliard who are having a hard time right now. They also have huge student loans to pay back. :(</p>

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<p>Well being a part- time musician these days but a full time Investment planner I would tell anyone who is seeking a degree in music to be practical. As I have said to my clients when asked if from a financial point of view a $200,000 liberal arts degree is worth it. I equate it to putting a $100,000 kitchen in a house that is worth $200,000…why spend $200,000 for a career that at best may only produce $50,000 a year. And that is Pre- tax!!! College expenses are paid generally with after tax money so the cost is even higher. Most of the musicians I know eek out a living but are very happy people. Happier than my peers in finance.</p>

<p>The article is self serving and if this recession lasts for several years the expensive private schools on the margin will be in a whole lot of serious hurt!</p>

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<p>this thread caught my eye because of my own concerns for my daughter, who’s earned a recent (and in my humble opinion difficult to apply to the working world) BA from an expensive LAC. Musicians aren’t much different from others - after all, everybody’s in show business (The Kinks). But there’s a key difference between the immensely talented and the merely well educated artist. I mean, studying music at Julliard is one thing - studying at New Mexico State University (a random name, nothing personal) is another. It isn’t even necessary that the immensely talented (one assumes they’re the ones who go to Julliard) ever formally “study” their instrument. They just go on in life to wherever it is the immensely talented go, enroute to becoming who they become (ie, Bob Dylan). But the “educated” artists with distinctly lesser inherent talent? They become, let’s face it, members of the audience. So think of it that way in doing the financial analysis before investing in an expensive arts-oriented BA. What’s it worth to educate the audience?</p>