Building Your Career in Music: Developing a Brand and Funding

This course shares practical tips and strategies to help you take your first step into launching a successful music career as a musical artist. We’ll cover everything from developing your unique identity as an artist and how to lead a band all the way to planning and recording your first independent record with the help of crowdfunding. We will start by laying the foundation as a professional musician by defining your identity, vision, and intention as a new artist. Then, we will focus on building your brand and fanbase, developing business partnerships and recording your own music. Finally, we will look at the business side of music production and develop a crowdfunding campaign.

The course curriculum is modeled from the real-world experience of Leah Waldo (also known as the emerging country artist, Elisa Smith) and features interviews with industry executives, artists, producers, and engineers — all designed to help you navigate the music industry.

• Describe and discuss your identity, vision, and intention and identify strategies to balance the management of the band and the creation of the music.
• Develop your musical brand, build and leverage a network of industry professionals, and discuss the benefits of partnering with other brands.
• Develop a vision for a recording project and engage in a professional conversation with producers.
• Plan, design, and launch a crowdfunding campaign.