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Why did you choose to come to ������̳?

The program for Music Industry is unique at ������̳. It is an umbrella of a lot of different avenues of the industry, which is interesting to me because I was interested in audio production, and I’m also a song writer and I love playing my saxophone as well. I wanted to learn more about the business side and being able to promote myself, and I think that being at a college that doesn’t just focus on one avenue when they talk about music is important - so this program was perfect for me.

Best experiences and involvement in other activities?

Since I started coming here, I’ve been involved with Music Industry Club, Song Writers Club, and more recently getting more involved with . I have helped run sound for the live shows here on campus in the Music Industry Club. Setting those shows up has been another great learning experience and being with the people in the club and getting to know them.

Making friends through Music Industry, through Song Writers Club, and being able to attend shows, too, because there are a lot of great musicians that play on campus frequently. We have a lot of spaces that we use on campus as venues. So being able to come and enjoy those shows is like a night out, you can come with your friends and see whoever is playing. It’s a great time.

Presenting at the 13th International Music Business Research Days

So, this an event that takes place in Vienna this year from Oct. 18-20, and they have a specific part of this program that I am a part of called the Young Scholars’ Workshop. This is where it’s open to students that are in the music business field, and they have a topic of research that is supposed to help enlighten the rest of the industry. This workshop is just one of the 13th International Music Business Research days in Vienna, and it’s specifically designed for students to have a mentor.

What is your research topic?

My topic of research is music industry festivals, so the live music scene, encompassing a few different factors including COVID-19 and the impact that had on the live scene and coming back from that.

I would really like people to start thinking more about different aspects of the music industry scene especially between the live music integrating. All the topics in my research are sectioned out. I have COVID-19 and how returning kind of changes our approach to live music, how the trends in the industry are going now after being virtual, and musicians having to make money in other ways and how that is kind of sticking with us. I think just opening those conversations of creativity in other ways so that musicians can make money is important.

On top of that, there is another huge topic that I talk about, which is diversity overall in the industry and hiring, you know, when you’re in a position to hire, who are you going to hire? Who are you going to look for? What’s your bias? What are you going to think about when you’re hiring people to work on your team?

What are you looking forward to most about presenting?

A lot of my research pertains to the US, so I’m excited to see the reactions of people from other countries and hear their perspective and ideas about the organization here, and the diversity here, and even COVID-19 because I think a lot of those perspectives are different in other countries. They may look at my research and say, “Wow this is a huge problem here, I would have never of thought of that.” Or maybe there is another issue they have that I don’t mention in my research, and we can learn from each other. I’m really excited about that aspect.