Students spend a minimum of 30 hours in on-campus entertainment projects/initiatives/placements during the semester. Working with first- and second-year peers under the guidance of the professors, students plan, execute, and evaluate approved on-campus entertainment activities for Music Business Administration/Management, the Student Association and the Student Centre, community charitable organizations, and/or other college programs such as Athletics. Students must follow established procedure as dictated by MBA/MBM process.

This course introduces students to the Canadian music industry. It examines several broad topics: 1) Music Business System; 2) Copyright; 3) Music Publishing; 4) The Recording Industry; 5) Artist Relations; 6) Media; and 7) Careers in the Music Business.  Topics and learning activities will focus on the Canadian marketplace, with insights to equivalent U.S. and European music-industry systems.

This course provides a review of the principles of written communication skills as well as an introduction to those communication rudiments which are essential in business today.  Through hands-on, practical writing exercises, students will learn and practice these essential communication processes. The primary focus of the course will be on effective writing, including correct spelling, grammar, sentence structure, and punctuation.

This course will introduce students to theory behind effective event planning and management, and challenge them to apply that theory in creating a mock event proposal. Topics include the role of the event planner, event/client needs assessments, task identification and coordination, document design, strategic planning, marketing, sponsorship, risk management, site development, safety and security, theme and décor development, post-event analysis, and more. Students will apply their knowledge from this course to Entertainment Workshop I (WSKP 3303) and Campus Entertainment I through IV in practical, hands-on situations.

The history of Rock and Roll is synonymous with the history of popular music.  Popular music has a number of elements:  it appeals to a large percentage of the population; it is familiar and widely heard; and it is profitable.  Leading up to the early 1950’s, American music experienced the merging of a variety of musical styles that blurred racial, economic, geographic, cultural and class boundaries.  According to historian Michael Campbell, “…the marketplace dictated the rules, for better or worse”.  The music became known as Rock and Roll and would reflect, and even shape, mainstream culture, politics and economics in America and abroad.  Through readings, lectures, the use of historical audio and video recordings, discussions and group work.  Students will examine the thematic growth of popular music, paying attention to music industry structure, technological innovations and social and political impetus. 

This course equips students with the necessary technical and operational knowledge of basic sound reinforcement principles and the operational methods and practical application of these required to present professional music and entertainment events in a variety of indoor and outdoor facilities and venues.

Upon successful completion of this course, the learner will competently use the computer as a tool for writing, on-line communication and time management, spreadsheet creation and manipulation, and file management. This course includes the use of the Windows XP, Outlook 2007, Word 2007, and Excel 2007.Students also learn how to effectively utilize the on-line resources the college provides which allow the students access to vital information regarding their academic careers at Durham College.

Students build upon the skills and knowledge gained in CENT 1300 by spending a minimum of 30 hours in on-campus entertainment projects/initiatives/placements during the semester. Working with first- and second-year peers under the guidance of the professors, students plan, execute, and evaluate approved on-campus entertainment activities for Music Business Administration/Management, the Student Association and the Student Centre, community charitable organizations, and/or other college programs such as Athletics. Students must follow established procedure as dictated by MBA/MBM process. 

Canadian Music Industry II is a seminar course that features guest speakers from the music and entertainment industries. Guest speakers will share their up-to-date knowledge and experiences, helping students to build on the theoretical base of the Canadian Music Industry I class. Guest lecturers will include professionals from the following areas (depending on their availability): Recording Artist, Music Lawyer, Radio Announcer/Program Director, Agent, Artist Manager, Trade Magazine Editor/Writer, A&R Manager, Promotions Representative, Concert Promoter, Video Director, Publisher, Performing Rights Representative, Songwriter, Producer, Recording Studio Owner, and other professions relevant to the music and entertainment industries.

This overview course is designed to provide participants with a beginning level understanding of management and leadership styles, and an opportunity to develop personal management skills. In today’s changing economic and political climate, the role of a manager/supervisor is extremely demanding and complex. In addition to managing the many practical aspects of a business operation, he/she must provide leadership by motivating, empowering, and supporting staff. Topics include types of organizations, ethics, diversity, innovation, problem solving and team building skills.

This course introduces the student to digital document publication using Adobe InDesign and Photoshop. Adobe InDesign and Photoshop are the industry standard applications for creating publications digitally and editing digital images respectively. The course also covers other topics related to document publication, including scanning, file resolution and the Macintosh operating system. The course is taught in a lecture-lab format where the student learns by using the hardware and software to create digital documents.

This subject is designed to help Music Business Administration students further develop their skills in written communications. Entertainment Communications I and Entertainment Workshop I are designed to support each other and assignments are integrated between the two courses.  Students will use the writing skills learned in Communication Essentials to specific applications in the field of entertainment administration. Such applications include:  various business letters, media writing, biographies, and informal reports. Significant emphasis is placed on the continued improvement of grammar, spelling, word usage, punctuation, and sentence/paragraph structures.

This course is focused on the planning and presentation of an on-campus event. Using knowledge and skills learned in Event Planning and Management (EVNT 1300), the students will plan and execute an event from start to finish, including follow up. The planning strategies set and followed, and the event itself will be tangible results of this learning process. Students work in groups to actively assume hands-on roles and responsibilities in many areas including administration, production, site management, talent management, hospitality, sponsorship, marketing, media relations, theme, and more. The teamwork ability and attitudes of the students, along with the application of lessons from the first semester and this course, determine the success of the event presented.

In Canadian Marketing In Action, Keith Tuckwell defines marketing as “…a process that identifies a need and then offers a means of satisfying it.” This introductory course deals with a) the fundamental assessment of the marketing environments, b) consumer buying behavior, c) identifying market segments and d) elements of a marketing plan. The course introduces students to the concepts, theories and methods of the marketing discipline. The theories discussed will be applicable to any type of product.  

This course will introduce students to the theories and value of effective networking in the music industry. The main focus is on networking and personal selling to further career development in any aspect of the industry after a job has been obtained. Students will create their own contact/resource list and networking goals, as well as recognize the role that their own principles and values can play in relation to personal selling, relationship building, and career development. Students will research and explore models of success in networking, practice and enhance their networking and communications skills, and develop an understanding of and strategies for dealing with various personality types and situations in the music business.

This is a first accounting course for people who will eventually be expected to manage or work with those who manage the financial resources of entertainment organizations. No prior knowledge of accounting is required.

This third-level course requires students to again complete a minimum of 30 hours in on-campus entertainment projects/initiatives during the semester. The focus will be on leadership, and the mentoring by second-year students of first-year students. Working with classmates under the guidance of the professors, students will plan, execute, and evaluate approved on-campus entertainment activities for Music Business Administration/Management, and, where there is opportunity, for the Student Association, the Student Centre, community charitable organizations, and other college programs. Students must follow established procedure as dictated by MBA process. 

Entertainment Communications II focuses on the enhancement of communications skills frequently used by the music business administrator. It covers reports, the job interview and follow-up process, summaries, proposals, front office skills, creative writing such as newsletters and advertisements, writing for the web, and writing broadcast copy. The subject material is critical to the student’s preparation for the entertainment administrative environment.

This course examines the roles and objectives relevant to musicians, songwriters, publishers, industry organizations and associations, etc., and the copyright law that governs and protects each. Entertainment Law I focuses on intellectual property, the evolution of copyright law, copyright protection and infringement, music licensing and administration, and music publishing, all of which are considered the cornerstone components in today’s ever-changing music industry. Case studies will enhance the students’ ability to see these laws in action in today’s industry around the world.

This course is built on the fundamentals covered in Introduction to Marketing and Canadian Music Industry classes. It focuses on the marketing of music and examines the fundamentals of packaging, price, placement (distribution), and promotions (publicity and public relations).  Students will apply their knowledge of the Canadian Music Industry to set marketing goals and develop strategies.   

In this course, students will answer the question “Why?” by using cultural analysis to connect what’s “popular” to what’s going on in our society.  By taking a closer look at the movies and television shows they watch, the clothes they wear and the music they listen to, students will endeavour to understand the role of popular culture in maintaining and reproducing the kind of society we live in.  What messages are intended by the producers of mass media and what messages are received by the consumers?  Popular culture will be investigated from a sociological perspective with an emphasis on North America with Canadian content as available.

We will explore the ways in which each of us is both a user of and is used by popular culture.  Popular culture is all around us influencing how we think, how we feel, how we related, how we live our lives in countless ways.  This course will use your own expertise as consumers of popular culture as a take-off point for exploring the various roles played by mass-mediated popular culture in our lives. We will look primarily at television, film, advertising and popular music with occasional forays into other types of pop culture.  We will analyze how such critical factors as ethnicity, race, gender, class, age and sexuality are shaped by and reshaped in popular culture. The course considers the four main dimensions of cultural analysis to understand and critique pop culture: 1) Production Analysis (Who owns the media?  Who makes these texts?  With what intentions?  Under what technical constraints?  How elitist is the production of popular culture?  How much is commerce?  How much creative expression?) 2) Textual Analysis (How do specific works of popular culture make their meanings?  How do explicit meanings differ from implied ones?  How do texts consciously and subconsciously shape those who hear, see or touch them?) 3)Audience Analysis (How do different groups of popular culture consumers or users make similar or different sense of the same texts and what role does the audience play in perpetuating cultural ideologies and myths?) Historical Analysis (How have these other three dimensions changed over time?  How does current popular culture differ from that of ten, twenty or thirty years ago?  What accounts for the changes?)

The Canadian radio broadcasting industry is a vital part of the entertainment scene. It is a viable career choice as well as an essential outlet for marketing and promoting products of the music business. In this course, students will learn about the development of the Canadian radio industry infrastructure, CRTC regulations, formats, radio station operations, audience determinants, revenue sources, promotions and networking, programming, and show production. From the varying topics, students will develop an in-depth understanding of the radio broadcasting industry.   

This course is a continuation of Administrative Accounting (ACCT 1307) and offers insight into how accounting helps an organization to meet its financial goals.

This final CENT course requires students to complete their final run of a minimum of 30 hours in on-campus entertainment projects/initiatives during the semester. Second-year students will continue to focus on leadership, and the mentoring of first-year students. Working with classmates under the guidance of the professors, students will plan, execute, and evaluate approved, on-campus, music-related and entertainment activities for the Music Business Administration/Management program, and, where there is opportunity, for the Student Association, community charitable organizations, and other college departments or programs. Students must follow established procedure as dictated by MBA processes. 

This course completes the thorough understanding of the legal rights and responsibilities of individuals working in the music and entertainment business. Focusing on contract law, it examines the roles and objectives relevant to musicians’ unions, agents and managers, live performance, merchandising, recording, production, and personal service contracts and laws that govern and protect each. The secondary focus of Entertainment Law II concentrates on utilizing the acquired knowledge from Entertainment Law I in the discussion and debate process of actual case studies, their outcomes and solutions, to best prepare you for the challenges in today’s entertainment and music industry.

The workshop course is structured around organizing and implementing an event called Reel Music Festival within the college and its environs (Oshawa) March 30 – April 2, 2012. Reel Music Festival is a combination music and video conference that features a trade show, seminars, panel discussions, key note presentations, workshops, artist showcases, and film/video festival. The organization and execution of the Reel Music Festival will be divided up into component parts. Each student will be given an area of responsibility in which he/she will work with team members to accomplish team and event goals. Details for each section of the event will be provided and discussed in the first weeks of classes. In subsequent weeks, students will meet to plan, discuss their progress, and execute the plans.

General education courses strengthen students' essential employability skills, such as critical analysis, problem solving, and communication, in the context of an exploration of topics with broad-based personal and/or societal importance.

Elective general education courses appear in your program of study as GNED 0000. This is called a “placeholder.” This placeholder is replaced by an actual course that you will select from a list of available "elective" general education courses when you register in the relevant semester.

Please note that the type and number of elective courses available will vary from semester to semester and from year to year.

Students will learn the basics of music business promotion and publicity within the framework of print, radio, TV, video, new media, social media and live events in the Canadian music industry. Additionally, students will explore the roles and responsibilities of the publicist with respect to promotion within the entertainment and music industry. Students will appreciate the unique skills required to prepare documents and assignments while utilizing the common practices of other professionals in this field of cost-effective communication

This course will introduce students to the machinations of the touring side of the music business, including the responsibilities and working relationships between tour managers, artists, promoter/presenters, and booking agents. Students will spend the semester developing a realistic tour plan, which will involve choosing the most effective venues, deals, vehicles & route, researching & calculating all costs, developing a forecast budget, developing hospitality & technical riders, creating plans to maximize tour marketing & publicity opportunities, and learning the geography of the area to be toured. 

This course studies the theoretical aspects and practical applications administered by professional Artist Management through establishing, achieving and maintaining the relationships critical to developing and furthering the career goals and aspirations of artists seeking professional guidance and representation.

This course, working in conjunction with the Web Design course, focuses on the development and maintenance of professional quality web sites using industry standard prototyping practices. Through various hands-on assignments, students will get introduced to the computer languages HTML and CSS, as well as gain valuable experience inside of the Adobe Dreamweaver and Flash environments. Other topics covered include, but are not limited to: web publishing; search engine optimization; social media, online marketing, torrents, HTML5 and CSS3.

A key strength of the Music Business Management program is the field work. It offers students the opportunity to apply the academic knowledge they have acquired in previous semesters in a supervised, workplace setting.  In this first of two semesters (Semester 5), students work two days per week (Thursdays and Fridays, total 215 hours) from September to December, for an entertainment-related business or organization.

Students will have the opportunity to meet and discuss field placement issues during this class. For one hour each week, the students receive insights from faculty, discuss workplace situations, and report on their fieldwork experience. Assignments are designed to illustrate the link between formal education and practical experience. It is extremely important that students have the opportunity to discuss their fieldwork experience in a ‘safe’ group environment.

This course will examine institutions and procedures used in the crucial process of getting one’s musical masterpiece into the hands of the consumer. Existing and developing distribution and retail models will be discussed.  The course will also examine the merchandise process from design to manufacturing to distribution.

This course will cover a wide variety of introductory topics for those interested in starting or seeking employment in small business. The course will focus on the factors that affect the success of small business in Canada. Such factors include entrepreneurial spirit, a strategic approach to starting a business, source of funding, basic financial management, management issues, government issues and other selected factors of interest to the entrepreneur. It will review the entrepreneurial spirit and character it takes for individuals to start their own business.  Ethics, human resources management and marketing techniques are also introduced. The role of accounting and successful management of financial resources is also addressed.

This course, working in conjunction with the E-Business course, focuses on giving students the basic understanding of how websites are designed, the various components of design, and the design theory behind effective websites. Through various hands-on assignments, students will gain experience and the opportunity to design a comprehensive website using industry-standard software. Though students will still need lots of practice and experience to produce professional grade sites, this course, along with E- Business, gives MBM graduates a solid foundation that they will need to succeed in this growing market.

The Entrepreneurship class carries on from the Small Business course on which students learn the building blocks of entrepreneurship and how to write a business plan. Students spend the semester being mentored through the creation of a personal entrepreneurial plan for a realistic music business related venture that they could either do full time or part time on the side of a day job. The objective of the course is to provide students with a concrete plan for creating a job for themselves in the music business. Industry relevant topics such as music business financing, launching a venture in a declining industry, risk & return in the music industry, international expansion, and valuing rosters & catalogs will be covered.

This is the final of two semesters of Field Placement. Field work offers students the opportunity to apply the academic knowledge they have acquired in a supervised workplace setting.  Students continue to work two days per week (Thursdays and Fridays, total 215 hours) in Semester 6, from January to April, for an entertainment-related business or organization.

Students will have the opportunity to meet and discuss work placement issues during this class. For one hour each week, the students receive instruction from faculty, discuss workplace situations, and report on their fieldwork experience. Assignments are designed to illustrate the link between formal education and practical experience. It is extremely important that students have the opportunity to discuss their fieldwork experience in a controlled group environment.

This course will expand on the music publishing lessons in Law 1303. Students will explore in depth some of the more significant aspects of the publishing business. Topics include copyright/intellectual property, acquisitions, songwriter contracts, co-publishing, performance right licensing, reproduction right licensing, synchronization right licensing, foreign licensing, print, grand and dramatic rights, licensing for commercial advertising, catalogue exploitation, marketing, and international publishing and licensing practices.

This course provides all the practical and basic knowledge required to operate and manage a successful recording studio business. Students will learn how to perform basic audio editing and processing functions with industry-standard ProTools software.  Students will also learn the importance of writing a business plan and procure funding, as well as soliciting and securing partnerships. Additionally, students will learn how to select and purchase equipment, regulate expenses, establish work hours, and schedule employee shifts and recording sessions, tender recording projects, develop income sources, draft contracts, develop plans for advertising and public relations, handle studio politics and psychology, as well as hire, manage and fire personnel.

Students will develop a clear and concise understanding of managing a music venue and promoting concerts.   This course covers familiarization with Toronto’s key music venues, the fundamentals of independent concert promotion, the current live music market & the issues affecting it (secondary ticketing, consolidation, 360 deals, Wall Street valuation, etc), risk management, health and safety, security concerns, plus maximizing ancillary non-traditional revenue streams. Students will complete a major research paper on a live industry topic.