By Mark Stoddard, author of Marketing Singers, a business and marketing guidebook written specifically for singers.
Note: This is Part 1 of a two part post. You can also read Part 2.
On a blog called Music School Central, they posted an article, “Why Music Schools Will Go Out of Business If Music Education Is Not Improved” by Bill Zuckerman.
I don’t know who the author is nor anything about this organization, and I don’t care. Too many people only read something when it “comes from a credible source.” I care more about the credibility of the ideas, and his ideas are spot on.
Simply put, if music schools don’t start teaching students HOW they will earn back the $200,000 or so they’ll spend on their education, the school deserves to go out of business.
Right now nearly everyone can either get a grant or student loan and it is assumed this benefit is a right. Not so. Music schools operate budgets based upon students getting loans to continue paying tuitions. Mark Cuban, a successful entrepreneur (one of the investors on the hit ABC show Shark Tank) stated that with colleges and student loan debt: It’s inevitable at some point there will be a cap on student loan guarantees. And when that happens you’re going to see a repeat of what we saw in the housing market: when easy credit for buying or flipping a house disappeared we saw a collapse in the price housing, and we’re going to see that same collapse in the price of student tuition, and that’s going to lead to colleges going out of business.
Art for art’s sake is a tough sell, even to wealthy donors in the best of times. Easy donors are scarce. Instead, music students must be taught ways to earn money from their music – a distasteful thought to some.
The author’s summary is: “If there is a remedy at all for college music institutions to survive, it is this: by teaching students real skills for monetary success in music, students will have at least a fighting chance at paying for their education and student loans, thus reducing the incentive of the federal government to create a cap on lending money that would force colleges to dramatically reduce their tuitions and then go out of business.”
Here are some other quotes from the article worth considering:
“(Music schools must) make music marketing and business classes a Requirement…the ability to market your talents effectively will have you stand out above the competition. It is often said that your success as a musician has less to do with your abilities and more with how people perceive you – the only way to promote your image properly is if you understand marketing and if you perform frequently…you do have to understand how your audience perceives you in and out of the concert hall.”
“Having a fantastic website that you can effectively use for marketing and getting gigs will most certainly be of incredible benefit to your career.”
“… basic music business knowledge – like understanding royalty rights, mechanical licenses, negotiating, work-for-hire agreements, copyright, and the universal studio & performance fees associated with the Musician’s Union – would only benefit the careers of people who wish to make their business music!”
“Whether it is in (singing,) arranging, studio music, … or just simply understanding how to successfully get performance gigs outside of the orchestra hall, it is critical that musicians start being taught the skills of becoming a paid musician.”
“We need to throw out old-world ways of teaching and embrace new ideas to make sure tomorrow’s musicians are well-paid professionals.”
*****
I agree if singing is your professional calling, not a side light or hobby. It’s what I’ve been preaching to singers since 2000 when my niece told me her student loans from San Francisco Conservatory exceeded $100k but she had never been taught how to get singing jobs. When Classical Singer magazine asked me to educate singers in marketing I jumped on the soap box and have been teaching singers how to create perpetual job machines for their careers ever since. Too many singers are like the body of the atheist in the funeral parlor – all dressed up and no place to go.
Mark Stoddard, author of Marketings Singers, is a business leader, professor, marketer and consultant who has been helping singers get jobs for more than 20 years. On the singing front he staged more than 100 professional shows aboard cruise ships that employed classical singers, pianists and strings. He’s also coached singers on how to sell their CDs and other products, use the social media and how to negotiate contracts. Email Mark at mark@mjstoddard.com.
