Keywords: MBA in music, Dale King, FAU, commercial music
By Dale M. King
Florida Atlantic University has granted its first Master of Science degree in music business administration, a degree that prepares students for the commercial music business.
Jazmine Valencia was the first to receive the degree in this two-year old program that’s a collaborative effort between FAU’s Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters and the Barry Kaye College of Business.
“Following the success of our commercial music program and Hoot/Wisdom Recordings at FAU, we saw the need to prepare students for the business side of the commercial music world,” said Michael Zager, Dorothy F. Schmidt Eminent Scholar in the Performing Arts at FAU.
“This degree allows the musician, as well as the non-musician, to study the financial, marketing and legal issues surrounding the music industry.”
He said the degree prepares graduates for positions in label management, music recording, music publishing, music marketing and retailing, venue management and entertainment law.
The degree requires two years of full-time study and includes an on-going internship with the department of music’s commercial record label Hoot/ Wisdom Recordings, which has produced eight CDs and is currently completing several new CDs.
Valencia, who lives in Boca Raton, received her bachelor’s degree in finance and international business from FAU and started right into the master’s program in 2006.
“I have always been passionate about music,” she said, “so, after earning my bachelor’s degree, getting a degree in music business administration was the next logical step. I'm not a musician so the only way for me to do what I love for a living is to be a part of the music business.”
Since graduating, Valencia has been busy with her own company, The Brightside Group, a full service arts and entertainment new media firm specializing in online promotion, Internet presence, web design, event production and photography for artists.
FAU has had a commercial music program since 2002, led by Zager, who has broad experience in the commercial music industry. He has produced many Grammy Award-winning artists, including Whitney Houston and Luther Vandross, and he has composed and/or arranged more than 400 commercials.
Zager is joined by an advisory board made up of nine advisors who are prominent figures in the various components of the music industry and business.
