Join True North Brass on Saturday May 5, 2012 as they performing and conducting a workshop from: 12:00-1:00 and 2:00-3:00 in Room 235 of York University.

Another reason to come out is that we’ll be offering a special deal on CDs this weekend: pay only $35 when you buy any two of the following: True North Brass, Strong and Free, Beginning to See the Light, or A True North Christmas.  That’s a lot of good music, and you know what?  If you want three or four CDs they’re only $5 each!  ..that’s right, we’ll give you 4 CDs in exchange for $45.

That’s a pretty great deal, so let’s just keep this between us.

We’re really excited to see all the community bands with everything they have to offer, so don’t miss this May 5th at York University!

…and a quick shout-out to the event’s sponsors Yamaha Canada (because of course members of True North Brass are Yamaha Artists), York University and St. John’s Music.

• Monday May 14th, 1:00 PM
• Tuesday May 15th, 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM
• Wednesday May 16th, 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM
• Thursday May 17th, 11:00 AM

Check out more events on the MusicFest website – MusicFest.ca

See you there!

PAUL GUISE
is an arts consultant, conductor and music educator living in Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
Check out his website at CultureConsult.ca

The holiday season is upon us! Time to shop, eat, and perform endless Christmas gigs (to pay for all the shopping and eating). Because you have other things to digest at this time of year, we’ll wrap up our series on The Biz with a quick summary of our first eleven episodes…

Way back in January we began by looking at the basic reasons why professional skills are important to your musical success. Indeed, it appears that most people who leave the profession do so because of a lack of business, not musical, skills. Of course, most people without suitable musical skills don’t enter the field in the first place…

So, where do you turn to gain these business skills? Well, the main approaches are 1) the school of hard knocks, 2) working with a mentor, or 3) studying formally, usually at a college or university. There are plusses and minuses to each of these approaches, so go back and read February through May’s articles and then choose appropriately. Better yet, mix and match approaches and gorge on the information you find (that’s the holiday spirit!).

Having studied a bit about the business of music, you can then move on to planning your own business. This begins with choosing the career(s) for you, which is assisted by looking carefully at your strengths and weaknesses, as well as any opportunities or threats the market may offer. This SWOT analysis sounds impressive when inserted into conversation at parties, and also gives you a much better handle on where your particular skills and interests may lie. Remember that musicians with just one career are exceedingly rare – most work in several different areas simultaneously. This can be good in several ways, as it helps pay the bills, gives you options should one of those career paths not work out, and keeps your brain engaged as you move from one task to another. Pity the poor engineer who only has engineering to keep him/her going…

Paying attention to the details can make a big difference to your success as a musician. As much as no one wants to hear it, doing your homework is essential to business success. Learn as much as you can about your market, meaning the place where you work and the people who are your potential customers and/or competitors (yes, competitors can be excellent customers). Spending spare time in the library will not only help you find this information, it will ease the ringing in your ears from one too many gigs (out, Jingle Bells, out!). You can also sit quietly at a computer, visit your chamber of commerce, or chat with a cultural research professional. Feeling more sociable? Join a society, union, or association and get connected with other people in your field.

Take your time with all of this; it’s not unusual for a new business (in any field) to take 2-3 years before becoming profitable. Your success will be less likely if you rush through these steps, so be patient and do a thorough job. Finally, stay humble and listen to the words of others (even those with whom you do not agree). Musicians will always do well to seek out different opinions and perspectives, such as what you might find at http://www.BusiMusic.ca , in a book, at a workshop, or in a formal course. Investments in knowledge, especially near the beginning of your career, pay the best dividends. Invest wisely!

Thanks for reading – happy holidays & best wishes for 2006!

PAUL GUISE
is an arts consultant, conductor and music educator living in Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
Check out his website at CultureConsult.ca

This month we’ll be looking at a different type of clubbing, namely musician’s clubs (also known as associations, federations, societies, unions, etc.). These organizations offer a wealth of information and benefits, including networking opportunities, job postings, legal and financial help, and many ways to learn from the experiences of others. There are many different types of associations, so we’ll look at a few examples. For more information, look in the Links section at www.BusiMusic.ca.

Sometimes associations can be great money savers! For example, a common concern regarding a career in music is the lack of benefits (meaning health/dental/optical, not tickets/beer/etc.). However, many musicians’ associations offer their members benefit packages that are similar to those found in the corporate world, and usually at competitive rates. My local Music Industry Association (MIA), for example, charges between $70 and $136 per month for comprehensive coverage for your entire family. That’s not too bad. In addition to such coverage, most MIAs offer members access to professional development funds, which means you can establish or expand your business more effectively than if you were paying exclusively out of your own (empty?) pocket.

Another type of association here in Canada is SOCAN, the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada. SOCAN’s primary function is to collect and distribute Canadian royalty money to members and, through various reciprocal agreements, ensure that Canadian artists get paid for the use of their work in other countries. The organization is also takes an active role in furthering artists’ rights in Canada and abroad. Simply put, SOCAN members often make money through being members: how many associations can offer that? Actually, there are others in Canada, particularly CMRRA, the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency, which covers mechanical rights (CDs etc.).

No discussion of associations would be complete without mentioning the various performers’ associations that exist. No matter whether you’re a songwriter or composer, fiddle player or violinist, there is an association to suit your needs. Unfortunately, it is all but impossible to list the many organizations in an article such as this, but a brief web search or a look at the links mentioned in the first paragraph will get you started.

One of the cornerstones of musicians’ associations is the musicians’ union. In North America, that usually means the AFM, or American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (guess which part they added!). The AFM is extremely powerful in some regions, and where they are, you’ll need a union card to play: take this seriously. Where the union controls the market, they also control the minimum rate of pay for musicians, meaning venues that try to change the payout at the end of the session are asking for trouble. The union also works to improve the lot of professional musicians overall, so even if you’re not a “union person”, consider the merits of supporting this important organization.

Don’t forget to consider various forms of professional development, such as conferences, workshops, master classes, or song circles: professional associations don’t need to be long-term to be beneficial. Finally, take the time to read about each of these organizations on their respective websites, and consider joining the club! See you in December for a roundup of this year’s articles.

PAUL GUISE
is an arts consultant, conductor and music educator living in Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
Check out his website at CultureConsult.ca

Over the past several months we’ve looked at the basics of planning your music business. This month, we’ll consider some different sources of information that can help you establish whether there really is a market for what you’re selling, and if so, what the characteristics are of that market (population, spending patterns, cultural background, etc.). You can skip this step and simply start working as a musician, but taking the time to do your homework on the business side of your music career can save you time and money (as discussed way back in January’s article). So, where to begin?

These days, the first step that most people will take is to look on the internet. This isn’t a bad strategy, but remember, there’s more to searching the internet than just visiting Google. There are other websites out there that you can visit directly that will give you most of your preliminary information. Here in Canada, the place to start is the Statistics Canada website, statcan.ca. This website, available in English and French, presents a wide assortment of demographic data for every region of the country, and is especially useful for identifying trends in population and finance. Use this to get a basic understanding of whether your city or neighbourhood is an appropriate place for the business you’re planning.

Need more information? Then your next step is to head to the public library, where you’ll find two important resources: the collection and the librarians. Public libraries contain excellent collections of materials about the local business environment, and these materials are usually kept up to date. In addition, the librarians who work at these wonderful places are trained to help you find specific types of information within the overall collection, saving you time and effort. Public libraries are usually better suited to market research than libraries at colleges or universities (which are designed for academic research), so pack up your list of questions and make a day of it!

If you’re still looking for information at this point, consider a visit to your local business development office and/or chamber of commerce. Mandated with helping people start and grow their businesses, these centres are rich with print and electronic materials about the local marketplace, local regulations (such as registering your business or paying taxes), and personal contacts (such as mentors) to help you along your way. Materials are always kept up to date, and the staff is experienced in helping people like you find the information you need.

Note that the above options are all available at little or no cost. If you need still more help, look to a cultural research specialist (such as BusiMusic.ca!). Cultural research specialists are highly trained people or organizations that spend all day, every day, looking into the inner workings of the cultural industries. They are usually contracted to work on specific projects (meaning you have to pay them), but many offer free consultations or publish via newsletters or, increasingly, the internet. While many musicians don’t need to research their market in such great detail, the services of such a specialist can be indispensable to larger music organizations such as orchestras, universities, and record labels. One fine example of an arts research specialist is Hill Strategies Research hillstrategies.com, who produce a regular bulletin called the Arts Research Monitor. Browse their site for more information on how to subscribe.

Each of these sites leads to many others, and there are more links available at BusiMusic.ca. Let me know if you come across something that’s helpful and I’ll add it to the site, as we all benefit from sharing resources. Remember to keep thorough notes as you’re doing your research, as this will help other people help you! Finally, don’t forget your colleagues when you’re doing market research. Many of your fellow musicians will have words of wisdom that they can pass along, often saving you significant amounts of time. Just remember that even the wisest words should be confirmed through one of the sources we’ve been investigating, and that it never hurts to get a second (or third, or twelfth) opinion. Enjoy Thanksgiving – see you in November!

PAUL GUISE
is an arts consultant, conductor and music educator living in Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
Check out his website at CultureConsult.ca

The end of our SWOT analysis is in sight! Last month’s focus was on strengths and weaknesses. This month we’ll finish with a look at opportunities and threats through the eyes of ETOP, an Environmental Threats and Opportunities Profile. What follows is a very basic overview, as the creation of an ETOP can be a complex, formal process (and we don’t want that, do we?).

At the most basic level, the creation of an ETOP involves making a list of career opportunities and threats in your environment. These can be related to internal factors (such as your level of training or musical preferences) or external factors (such as the state of the economy or your competitors). Starting with the positive, let’s look at opportunities. Your extensive training as a composer of accordion music could suggest a career opportunity, as could your skills repairing brass instruments or your talents behind a mixing board. Mark these down on your list, and don’t worry about your competition: that will be addressed later.

Often you will hear it said that an opportunity appeared as if from nowhere. Rarely is this the case (it usually takes years to become an overnight success). By carefully observing trends in the world around you, you will be much better prepared for these “sudden” changes. For example, it has been suggested that we’re on the edge of a teachers’ retirement boom, which could lead to significant opportunities for people entering (or planning to enter) a career as a music teacher. Of course, this assumes that those retirements lead to replacement teachers being hired, an assumption that is threatened by changes in educational policy, a trend towards part-time employment, and many other factors. Which leads us to threats…

When considering threats to their future careers, most people think of the same thing: competition. Certain musical professions are extremely competitive and overflowing with talented people, such that entering into those professions can be highly risky (there’s rarely a shortage of excellent pianists, lead guitarists, or sopranos). In addition, some musical professions that appear to lack competition are simply too small to accommodate more than a few individuals (such as bassoon teachers, organ tuners, or electroacoustics composers). Finally, consider that the less competition there is in a certain field, the more likely it becomes that other people will enter that field: competition will fill a vacuum, unless the barriers to entry (such as education or cost of equipment) are sufficiently high.

Some threats are harder to see, simply because they don’t seem threatening on a day-to-day basis. For example, if you’re hoping to make a living as a touring musician, having a family can be a threat to your career. Some people can thrive professionally while balancing a touring career and family, while other have to choose. The changing demographics of society can also result in threats to your career. Here in Newfoundland, the number of youth is expected to drop to one-third of 1980s levels within the next few years. This is an enormous threat to those entering the piano-teaching profession (unless the number of existing piano teachers also drops by a similar margin).

Finally, don’t ignore threats from outside of the music world. As musicians, we often compete against other arts, pop entertainment such as television, and sports for our audience. A hockey strike could mean boom times for musicians, if there’s a common audience. The invention of recording and playback equipment over the past century has meant the end of a wide variety of live music, and yet the current omnipresence of “canned” music might cause a rebirth of live performance. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between opportunity and threat.

As you develop your own ETOP, try to keep it framed in terms of your own career. Are there opportunities for your chosen career(s)? Are there threats? Be prepared to discover that your career plans need modification. For some people, this may mean small change (jazz saxophonist becomes musical theatre saxophonist), while others will have to spend more time re-assessing their goals. Finally, remember that no matter how crowded any market may appear, there is always room if you are the very best. Try to be objective about this: your mother may not be the best source. Statistically, most people are not the very best.

That marks the end of our look at SWOT analysis. Hopefully you’ve noticed a few gaps in your understanding of SWOT, which can be quite complex but is a great tool to use as a professional. There’s a great deal of information available on this subject, so pay a visit to your library and dig a little deeper. The last three articles for 2005 will clean up some remaining details about the making of a business plan. See you in October!

PAUL GUISE
is an arts consultant, conductor and music educator living in Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
Check out his website at CultureConsult.ca

Last month’s article gave the basics of looking at your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, something we called a SWOT Analysis. As you recall, this analysis helps us to find our niche in the music business by identifying those things we do exceptionally well, or similarly to everyone else, or so poorly even our mothers would be embarrassed. This month we’ll focus on strengths and weaknesses.

So, you ask yourself, what types of strengths are worth mentioning when conducting an analysis (if you didn’t ask yourself that, now’s the time)? The answer is, “well, it depends.” Remember from the previous articles that what may be a strength in one career can become a weakness in another. For example, if you prefer to work in groups, that counts as a strength if you’re hoping to play in an orchestra, but it’s likely to be a weakness if you’re planning to become the only alphorn teacher in Labrador. Thus, one individual is “a team player”, while the other is “comfortable in self-motivating environments.” Both are strengths, given the appropriate context.

Other attributes that could be strengths or weaknesses, depending on the career, include the ability to play a piece of music exactly the same every time (essential in theatre, dangerous in jazz), the ability to write music in the style of a particular composer/artist/group (the basis of much pop music, the bane of much classical music), or the ability to lead an ensemble musically (great if you’re supposed to be the leader, but…). Your strengths and weaknesses will help determine your career choices, and vice versa. This means you can’t simply write down your friends’ lists and pass them off as your own (although you can read them to get ideas).

There are some strengths that can help your career in less obvious ways. Don’t ignore attributes that are important to you as an individual, but not central to music. For example, your ability to speak four languages (and read seven) may not seem important to your future as a cello teacher, but it substantially broadens the range of places where you might work. Your excellent marks in biology might have seemed irrelevant to your composition studies, and yet they could prove the key to success as a music therapist. And your habit of scribbling pictures during boring history lectures (which might have offended the teacher) could be of interest to the organizers of a music festival, perhaps leading to a job in marketing and promotion.

An important note: there are some behaviours that are more than just weaknesses: showing up late, mouthing off, and breaking promises are a few examples. Sure, there are rock stars who exhibit all these behaviours (indeed, some even cultivate such behaviours), but for mere mortals there’s simply no excuse. A weakness is something positive that needs time and effort to develop into a strength. Showing up late (and such) is not a weakness: it’s inexcusable. If you suffer from such deficiencies, you can either take immediate steps to eliminate them or suffer the consequences (ranging from bad feelings and poor recommendations to getting fired or even blacklisted). Now, back on track…

The key to this process is to narrow down your list of careers to those that emphasize your strengths and downplay your weaknesses. This advice also holds in other situations, from performances to job interviews. We all have areas in which we excel, and others in which we clearly do not. By making sure the focus of others’ attention is on your strengths, you won’t just appear to excel, you will excel. Of course, the same holds true for the ways in which you view other people. If you focus on someone’s weaknesses, they may appear ill-prepared, or unintelligent, or incompetent. By focusing on their strengths, the same person may seem to be studious, clever, or wise. The difference is often one of perspective, and by knowing your strengths and weaknesses, you can find a career that presents you in the best possible light.

Next month, we’ll have a look at opportunities and threats that may arise as you’re planning your business. Enjoy the last few days of summer – see you in September!

PAUL GUISE
is an arts consultant, conductor and music educator living in Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
Check out his website at CultureConsult.ca

Having looked at career options in a broad sense last month, we’ll now move on to the preliminary stages of setting up your business. This could mean creating a business of your own, or going to work for someone else. For readers who are uncertain about their career goals, this article should help to narrow down the range of options. It is still strongly recommended that you look at a guide to careers in music (as noted last month) in order to broadly understand all the options before narrowing them down.

In order to figure out how realistic your career goals really are, you should conduct a brief Environmental Scan. This is a simple process involving your brain, a pen, and paper (add a computer as needed, infuse coffee, and cook for 45-60min). An environmental scan, at its simplest, looks at four things: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. For our purposes, we’ll also consider Strengths and Weaknesses in terms of both internal and external factors. If you’d like to wow your friends (or banker), you can call this a SWOT Analysis.

Before proceeding, it is essential to point out that having a variety of options (instead of just one or two) leads to better choices. If you want to be a grade-10 band teacher, live in a small town, and are unable or unwilling to move, your options are limited. If, on the other hand, you simply want to teach music and are willing to move anywhere in the world, your range of choices is enormous. Note that while neither choice is inherently right, one may be more right for you. This same point applies to playing a range of musical styles, writing a range of musical genres, or repairing a range of musical instruments, amongst other possibilities. So as you read through the material on careers in music, try to write down as many options as possible.

Back to the SWOT Analysis. Internal SWOT factors are those that relate to you, as an individual. Internal strengths or weaknesses could include your ability to play an instrument (or several instruments) well or poorly, your ability or inability to work with other people, or your comfort level in multiple languages. Don’t forget to consider your physical strengths and weaknesses, as music can be a very physically demanding sport!

External SWOT factors are those that relate to your interaction with the outside world. Simply put, think of the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors (you don’t think you’ll be working in a bubble, do you?). Once you have an idea of your competitors’ attributes, review your own strengths and weaknesses and revise accordingly. The more thorough you can be, the better.

Once you’ve got a reasonable handle on the strengths and weaknesses of yourself and your competitors, it’s time to go to OT: Opportunities and Threats. You may know plenty of well-qualified, personable, multi-lingual musicians, but if you’re the only music therapist within 500km, that suggests a significant opportunity. Similarly, if you live in a city with a vibrant music scene that turns out excellent pianists every year, you should consider the possible threat to your piano studio. However, such a situation might present a great opportunity to a piano tuner, or a piano mover, or a piano retailer!

As with most things musical, the best way to make sure your SWAT Analysis is thorough is through practice. The more often you consider your strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of your competitors, the more effective your professional decisions are likely to be. In an ideal SWOT situation, everyone is able to find their own niche, turning potential competitors into colleagues or collaborators. Your strengths are your competitors’ weaknesses, and vice versa. People tend to be very generous when they don’t see you as competition. Of course, people can also be extremely competitive when they do feel threatened. Find your niche.

Finally, make sure you take a complete inventory of your strengths and weaknesses: many people ignore their obvious attributes, which can be key to success or failure. By being thorough at this stage, you can make a business plan that will save you time and money in the long run. Any corners you cut now may come back to haunt you. That said, next month we’ll take a more in-depth look at strengths and weaknesses, completing the process (with opportunities and threats) in September as you develop a complete SWOT Analysis. Enjoy the summer months, and don’t forget your sunscreen

PAUL GUISE
is an arts consultant, conductor and music educator living in Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
Check out his website at CultureConsult.ca

Having found sources of information about music business over the past few months, now it’s time to decide what to do with that knowledge. Before conducting an environmental scan, which we’ll begin next month, it’s time to ask two simple questions: what do you want to be when you grow up, and what do you want your life to be like?

So, what do you want to be? Such a simple question, yet so hard to answer. You may know that you want to be a performer, a composer, or a teacher. But what exactly do you plan to perform, compose, or teach? Lets take the example of a performer. You probably have a preferred instrument, perhaps a saxophone, and thus you want to be a saxophone performer. And maybe you have a particular performer in mind who you’d like to emulate. How about Gerry Mulligan, baritone saxophonist extraordinaire? Great! So it’s decided, when you grow up, you want to be a saxophonist just like Gerry Mulligan. Done.

But this leads to the next question: what do you want your life to be like? What are the implications of choosing to be just like Gerry Mulligan on your non-music life? Well, performers generally work evenings and weekends, so don’t expect to spend a lot of time with friends or family (unless they’re also musicians). Most people like to go to concerts during the holiday seasons as well, which means you’ll probably be working during Christmas, around Easter, and throughout the summer. On one hand, this means you might not be able to travel during the normal holiday periods (except perhaps for work), but on the other hand, you’re more likely to have time off during the “low season” for tourists. Hmm, which is more important to you?

There are also lots of little things you need to consider. People who play large instruments, like harp, tuba, or baritone sax, tend to need large cars to move them (although some rely on friends with large cars). This can add quite enormously to the cost of doing business, as it costs around $8000 per year to own and operate an average car: you’ll need to get more gigs to pay the difference! Certain sports can also be risky for some musicians, so consider whether you’ll have to give up your love of rock climbing, inline skating, or cycling to avoid a career-threatening injury. You may even need to give up some types of food or drink, especially if you’re a singer, as they can have a negative impact on your ability to perform at your peak, night after night. Which is more important, beer or Beethoven? Choose carefully.

Ask yourself; do you prefer to play music of your own choosing? Can you play the same music, every day, for a year without going insane? Can you sightread well enough to nail the music the first time around, or do you prefer to spend time rehearsing every little detail? How do you feel about audiences? Do you notice their attentiveness and applause, or their catcalls and candy wrappers? Would you rather be playing in a studio? A bar? A practice room?

As abstract as these things sound, they are all key questions when planning your business. Every decision you make, no matter how small, will have implications on how you live your life. You only get one pass at this life, so there will be some things you get to experience and some things you don’t. Take the time to consider your priorities. Write a few of them down, and see how they impact one another. Are your priorities compatible? Do they open doors to other possibilities, or do they require you to abandon your other dreams? Will they all fit in to a 24-hour day? Will they make sense to you in ten years, or twenty, or fifty? Finally, no matter what you are “qualified” to do, don’t let your education limit you! If your goals are slightly beyond your reach, find ways to stretch yourself. Take an extra course, spend time at the library, rehearse thoughtfully, and observe others.

If this whole process seems daunting, consider starting with a book. There are a great many books out there about careers in music: here are three good starters (see citations at the end). They are best read slowly, carefully, and with a big mug of coffee (I’ll have a Mocha!). Field lists 79 careers in the music industry, while Crouch presents 100 careers in the music business, and Exploring Careers presents 39 careers in music. Field gives each entry a career profile, career ladder, position description, salaries, employment prospects, advancement prospects, education and training, experience/skills/personality traits, unions/associations, and tips for entry. Both Crouch and Exploring Careers follow much the same format, but in less detail. While each book looks rather dry, they’ll all answer questions you didn’t even know you had! What’s most important in each of these books is the ideas you’ll find, ideas that may lead you to a distinctive career of your own.

As you have probably discovered at this point, it’s extremely difficult to look at a list, choose a career, and leave it at that. I still haven’t decided what I want to be, and probably never will, but I have priorities. For each decision you make, a whole new series of questions comes to mind. Life’s big decisions deserve a more thorough, thoughtful approach, and because it’s best to answer hard questions with hard data (and not just your gut feelings), next month we’ll outline what goes into an environmental scan, with a practical guide to implementation coming in August and September.

PAUL GUISE
is an arts consultant, conductor and music educator living in Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
Check out his website at CultureConsult.ca

Last month we saw the variety of Canadian colleges that offer music business content. This month, we’ll look at Canadian universities, several of which have been making great strides to provide business education to music students without compromising the rest of their music education. Here are the schools, again listed by province, from west to east.

Want to include music business education in your university course mix? If you’re living west of Sudbury, ON, Brandon University (Manitoba) is your only choice, with one business course that is targeted specifically to musicians, Introduction to Arts Administration. This course is designed to provide students with certain administrative skills that are handy for musicians working within organizations such as schools and professional ensembles. These skills may, or may not, readily transfer to more entrepreneurial situations.

Ontario is home to five universities that offer music business programs, but only two of these offer music business courses. Carleton University, in Ottawa, has two music business courses. The first of these, Music Industries, is designed as, “an introduction to the structure and history of the music industries,” and as such focuses on historical and theoretical, as opposed to practical/professional, issues in the music industries. Carleton also lists Music, the Law and Morality, but this course exists only on paper and has not yet been taught. The University of Ottawa offers eight music business courses within their Arts Administration certificate program, four in English and four in French, followed by two Work Period options. The four courses are Selected Topics in Arts Administration/Thèmes choisis en administration des arts, Administration of Artistic and Cultural Organizations I-II/Gestion des organismes artistiques et culturels I-II, and Interdisciplinary Seminar/Séminare interdisciplinaire. The University of Ottawa has the broadest music business offering of any university in Canada, in both English and French (you can even mix & match!). The University of Waterloo, University of Western Ontario, and Wilfred Laurier University each offer musicians business content through their respective business departments, but this business content is not tailored to the needs of musicians or the artistic community at large.

University students in Québec have three options for music business education, one in English and two in French. McGill University, in Montréal, requires all students in its performance program to enroll in Life as a Professional Musician, a course which is closed to all other music students (despite great demand, according to the instructor). Guest lecturers are used for eleven of the thirteen class days, and thus content varies according to the guest list. McGill may begin offering a three-credit course in music marketing in the future. Université de Montréal offers Gestion de carrière (Career Management), a music business survey course that covers career development, management, marketing, finance, legal aspects, production, and distribution. Particular attention is paid to the subtleties of the Québec marketplace. Université de Sherbrooke also offers a single, French-language course, Industrie de la musique (The Music Industry). This course is similar to that at U Montréal, but is essentially taught as a music-specific exercise in strategic/career planning.

Two schools in Nova Scotia offer music business programs, with Acadia University in Wolfville combining discrete music courses and business courses. St. Francis Xavier (Antigonish), on the other hand, offers The Business of Music, a well structured survey course that touches on many areas of the music business. The course is guided throughout my materials that result in the students’ construction of a business/career plan, and is well supported by an excellent website, http://www.thebusinessofmusic.com/.

Finally, Canada’s easternmost university, Memorial University of Newfoundland, offers a single music business course, Music Industries Seminar. This course is part of a new M.Mus. Performance program, and as such is the only graduate-level music business course in Canada. Because the course has only been taught once, content is still somewhat flexible, but Music Industries Seminar is a broad survey course that makes extensive use of guest lecturers.

Thus concludes our look at the majority of options facing musicians who want to improve their knowledge of the business side of the profession. Too much school? In the next few articles, we’ll move on to look at the basics of how to plan for your future business, including how to conduct an environmental scan. Not sure what that is? Tune in next month!