George Howard, Professor of Music Business at Loyola University, New Orleans and ArtistsHouse Music, continues his course “Music Business 101” with a question and answer session based on the material covered in Lesson 9, on understanding how to stay current on industry trends, how to be innovative while remaining true to your core principles, assessing whether the goals you have set are the right ones and whether they are moving forward, and much more.

George Howard, Professor of Music Business at Loyola University, New Orleans and ArtistsHouse Music, continues his course “Music Business 101” with a discussion of the importance of building a system for your career within which you are free to innovate and which you don’t deviate from. He describes how adhering to this system is a recipe for laying the groundwork for an enduring and successful career in music, and why embracing innovation – within the bounds of your core values – can add enormous momentum to your career. He also discusses the value proposition of presenting music to fans and why giving people exactly what they want is the surest way to get no word-of-mouth at all. Then, he explains how to harness your focus, motivation and master plan to devise one of several possible strategies that can break your or your clients’ music wide open.

Former Rykodisc label head and Loyola University, New Orleans professor George Howard speaks to a class about the economic and business realities that they as aspiring musicians and businesspeople need to face in order to succeed in today’s music business. Topics include: The economics of independence; how capitalism supports the arts; how technology is altering the economics of music distribution; the Long Tail and niche marketing; and how to use the machinery of a capitalist economy to sell your music to people who want to buy it.

George Howard of Loyola University, New Orleans and ArtistsHouse continues his course “Music Business 101” with a discussion of how you, as an artist, can use some common-sense techniques and entrepreneurial strategies to shrink your world, focus your efforts, and get your music heard above the mass of thousands of other artists just like you.

George Howard of Loyola University, New Orleans and ArtistsHouse continues his course “Music Business 101” with a discussion of why having a professional, engaging, amazing live show is your absolute, undeniable, number-one key to launching a successful, sustainable career in music He also addresses how to develop that live show (that is, how to give yourself a chance to suck) in a way that does not jeopardize your professional development, and how to capitalize on your live show as a linchpin of your overall marketing efforts.

George Howard of Loyola University, New Orleans and ArtistsHouse continues his Music Business 101 series with an introduction to the all-important art of marketing your music to the people who need to hear it. He discusses the concepts of attraction and retention and how they apply to your music, delves into an exploration of Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point and how the concepts explored therein can be reverse-engineered to your advantage, and encourages you to dig into your own values and passions to discover what it is you should be trying to communicate to your growing fan base.

George Howard of Loyola University, New Orleans and ArtistsHouse answers some questions about the material presented in Lesson 6 of his Music Business 101 series, on how to market yourself efficiently to the fans who will buy the music you make. In particular, he expands on his discussion of Malcolm Gladwell’s “mavens” and their role in spreading the word about new music, how to handle your street teams, how to use technology to keep yourself in touch with your fans, how to prepare for a live show, and – most of all – how to keep your fans wanting more.

In this discussion, Loyola University, New Orleans music business professor and entrepreneur George Howard evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of student Alex McConduit’s plans for a New Orleans-based entertainment company. Howard assesses the company’s mission, initial strategy, business model, and long term goals for McConduit’s company, whose aim is to strengthen the hip-hop community in New Orleans through a combination of artist development and community service. Howard helps McConduit to articulate the problem in the marketplace; identify ways to solve it; and determine how to profit from this endeavor, all within the context of today’s music industry.

In this discussion, Loyola University, New Orleans music business professor and entrepreneur George Howard advises student Kelvin Brown on the formation of his hip-hop production company, Third Shift Entertainment. Howard describes the three major types of business entities (sole proprietorship, corporation, and limited liability company (LLC)), and offers suggestions on which will best protect Brown’s assets. Howard also discusses the importance of having a strategy to achieve long term business objectives, and uses case studies to demonstrate ways in which other hip-hop producers have created successful partnerships with rappers.

In this discussion, Loyola University, New Orleans music business professor and entrepreneur George Howard advises student Marley Lovell on how to create a focused business model for the enterprise he plans to launch upon graduation. Together they assess various aspects of today’s music industry and the implications for Lovell’s business plan. Topics they touch upon include the ways in which the digital music market is changing as the industry moves away from digital rights management; alternative revenue sources beyond traditional record sales; and the kinds of filters that currently exist to help guide music fans toward content that interests them. Howard concludes with advice on how to distill a business idea into ten words or less, and how to present this idea to prospective partners and investors in a succinct, meaningful way.

Former Rykodisc label head and Loyola University, New Orleans professor George Howard explains the two foundations that successful independent artists need today: an independent financial situation and a strong commercial market.

George Howard of Loyola University, New Orleans and ArtistsHouse aswers some questions about the material presented in Lesson 4 of his Music Business 101 series – in particular why strategy matters to artists who want to someday hit it big, and why being self-reliant is the only sure key to your success.

George Howard of Loyola University, New Orleans and ArtistsHouse answers some questions about the material presented in Lesson 5 of his “Music Business 101” series, on the ins and outs of getting yourself booked into venues that are right for you, and how to use nonpaying gigs to hone a live experience that can be the centerpiece of your advancing career. In particular, he discusses how to know whether where you live is a fruitful market for your kind of music, why a professional website are a necessary addition to your marketing arsenal, how to describe your music to booking agents, and much more.

Former Rykodisc label head and Loyola University, New Orleans professor George Howard speaks to a class about the role of capitalism and business in supporting and disseminating art, and how independent artists can put this dynamic to use for them. Part 2 of 7.

Former Rykodisc label head and Loyola University, New Orleans professor George Howard speaks to a class about the opportunities and power that technology has put in the hands of individual musicians, how this technology has altered the underlying economics of making music, and how to leverage this situation to support your career and ambitions. Part 3 of 7.

Former Rykodisc label head and Loyola University, New Orleans professor George Howard speaks to a class about the economics of buying and selling music in a digital age – the opportunity costs involved in finding music to download, the transaction costs involved in marketing and buying music via the internet, and the tension between the Law of One Price and the interests of the established music industry in pricing for-sale downloads. Part 4 of 7.

Former Rykodisc label head and Loyola University, New Orleans professor George Howard speaks to a class about the power of niche marketing and the various economic arcs that niches can follow over time, and about how current economic and market conditions are making it easier for artists to find a paying audience who will understand and support them. Part 5 of 7.

Former Rykodisc label head and Loyola University, New Orleans professor George Howard explains to a class the dynamic by which art made by outsiders (minorities, marginalized populations) becomes part of the next cutting edge, and how individual artists’ career strategies can either help or hinder their ability to capitalize on this phenomenon. Part 6 of 7.

Former Rykodisc label head and Loyola University, New Orleans professor George Howard explains to a class how market interests – that is, the desire of people to buy things that other people want to sell – work in the context of getting your music into distribution channels (whatever they may be) and to a set of consumers who will support your endeavors. Part 7 of 7.

Producer, musician and label owner George Howard discusses the debate over branding (licensing music for use in advertisements and media), and the effect that branding can have on a career. Can branding be a good thing? Can an artist really ever sell out? Analyzing several cases (such as Nick Drake, Led Zeppelin and U2), Howard offers concrete advice to musicians who will need to confront whether to license, and to whom to license, their own creations.