Building Leaders to Transform the Caribbean Music Industry

A Partnership with Creative Caribbean, which is being implemented by UNESCO, the CARICOM Secretariat and The UWI with the Financial Contribution of the European Union and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States, under the ACP-EU 11th EDF Culture Programme

The Music Industry Leadership Development Programme is a 3-month intensive training and international certification initiative for music practitioners in the technical and business management aspects of the music industry. It is aimed at developing the specialist business skills required to establish, enhance and manage independent production and music management outfits such as: Live and studio sound companies, music management firms, music tech startups, music marketing agencies and a variety of community music organisations such as steelbands, chutney and calypso tents.

Objectives 

By the end of this course, participants should:

  • Explain fundamental music management and music production theories
  • Compare international music industry models with those in the Caribbean
  • Co-operate with peers to expand music management and music production portfolios
  • Create music business plans for oneself, or a client
1 Team
2 Tracks
3 Months
10+ Masters

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How the Programme is Structured

Choose ONE of 2 Tracks

Track 1: Music Management & Entrepreneurship
Earn an international certification while you start or grow your music enterprise and clients.
Track 2: Music Production- Mixing & Mastering
Grow your audio mixing and mastering skills and earn an international certification.

Grow your skills in 3 ways

Self-paced Training with Tutor Support

  • On-demand, interactive training tutorials and activities from your chosen track
  • Post questions and discussions in the online community at any time
  • Fortnightly live Q&A sessions with course tutors- ask questions about tutorials and clarify assignments

Masterclass Sessions

  • Fortnightly masterclass sessions with industry experts
  • Each session will run for 1 hr and 30mins
  • Learn from their insights and experience
  • Craft strategies for growing your music enterprise

International Certification

  • Complete a final project which will be submitted to RSL Awards (UK) for the award of your certification.

Meet The Masters

Tap the images to learn more about our growing list of Caribbean experts & mentors

Photo of Fabien Alfonso

Fabien Alfonso

Copyright & Related Rights Consultant

Photo of Dr. Jo-anne Tull

Dr. Jo-anne Tull

Creative Industries Academic & Consultant

Image of Lloyd Stanbury

Lloyd Stanbury

Jamaican Entertainment Attorney & Pioneer

Image of Sheldon Mendoza

Sheldon Mendoza

Music Video Producer & Consultant

Photo of Nigel Campbell

Nigel Campbell

Music Businessman, Podcaster & Analyst

Photo of Adanna Asson

Adanna Asson

Music Publicist, Strategist & Brand-builder

Image of Richard Skeete

Richard M. Skeete

Barbadian Music & Business Development Expert

Martin Raymond

Musician, Record Producer & Engineer

Dianne Joseph

Leadership & Management Expert

Darrell Bereaux

Lead Audio Engineer, BEXtronics

Farley J Joseph

Founder, DianJen

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A Closer Look at What You Will Learn

Track 1

Music Management & Entrepreneurship

You will cover:

  • The basics of the UK CDPA 1988 with comparisons to Caribbean countries
  • Rights ownership, assignment  and exploitation
  • Membership in organisations, institutions and companies in the sector and their role
  • The role of the publisher and label in exploiting copyright (revenue and royalties management included)
  • Digital copyright and the Caribbean
  • Own product value in relation to copyright
  • Copyright infringement and protection

You will explore:

  • Artist management roles and responsibilities
  • How artist management is different from music product management
  • Artist management terms, contracts and deal points
  • The fiduciary relationship between artist and manager
  • Management styles — leadership and management
  • Playing to egos and managing conflict
  • At what point is a manager needed
  • Self-management of an artist/project vs. management companies and team

You will explore:

  • The key characteristics of entrepreneurs and business owners
  • Assess own skills base and development needs against these key characteristics
  • Plan and undertake skills development to become more entrepreneurial where required
  • Identify digital and physical business opportunities in response to the demand of identified target audiences
  • Develop and implement strategies for work and self-employment in the music industry
  • Craft new business proposals and enterprise projects
  • Pitch a music industry proposition
  • Develop product and communications to meet the needs of potential customers or partners

Track 2

Music Production- Mixing & Mastering

This module will help you review key digital audio concepts. You will explore:

  • Lossy and Lossless Formats
  • Sampling and the Sampling Rate
  • Nyquist Theory
  • Aliasing
  • Quantization
  • Bit Depth
  • Dither
  • Oversampling
  • Bitrate
  • Perceptual Coding
  • Studio Design and Acoustics Fundamentals

You will develop:

  • Skills in Planning a mix
    • Reference tracks and their purpose
    • Creation of a plan (using existing industry plans as examples)
  • An understanding of Principles of mixing
    • Basic physics of sound
    • Frequency
    • Level
    • Stereo
    • Depth
  • Mixing domain Skills
    • Analogue/digital
  • Processes within mixing
    • Organisation (labelling tracks, colour coding)
    • Editing (strip silence)
    • Referencing the mixes in different environments and through different equipment
  • A grasp of mixing tools
    • Meters and monitoring
    • Dynamic processors
    • Equalisation
    • Automation
    • Effects (reverb, delay, distortion, exciters, stereo spread)
  • Routing
    • Bussing (submixes)
    • Send effects
    • Effects chaining

You will develop:

  • Listening
    • Aural perception skills
    • Frequencies and dynamics associated with style/genre
    • Evaluation of frequency content of material to be mastered
    • Evaluation of dynamics of material to be mastered
    • Assessment of monitoring response and acoustic properties of the listening environment
    • Using metering and analysis to support listening and evaluation of material
    • Evaluation of existing commercial musical products
  • Audio treatment
    • Practical experience in treating a range of musical styles
    • DAWs used in audio mastering
    • Selection of appropriate hardware/software devices for use on a given piece of audio
    • Use of equalisation
    • Use of compression (broadband)
    • Use of compression (multi-band) • Evaluation and adjustment of stereo image
    • Use of limiters
    • Loudness – dbfs levels in relation to end format (CD/digital, vinyl)
  • Technical skills
    • Developing an understanding of a range of DAW packages
    • Selection and use of software in the creation of final masters
    • CD mastering (Red Book) – coding the required information to the final master (ISRC, barcode, catalogue
    number, CD text)
    • Working with digital audio (compression, bit depths, samples rates, dither etc)
    • Vinyl mastering (limitations of the physical analogue format)
    • Audio editing (top/tail, removal of unwanted noise etc)
    • Monitoring and acoustics

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What Past Students Say

Quacy James

Review by past student, Quacy James

Sheldon Mendoza

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FAQs

Things you should know before you apply

Producers, artists, managers, booking agents, mixing and mastering engineers, studio owners and music tech entrepreneurs.

From

Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago.

You should:

  • Have 5 years or more experience with industry credits and a genuine desire to improve skills in a structured manner OR
  • Be in the early career stages (minimum of 2 years experience) with a demonstrated commitment (prior study or experience working on music industry projects)

Cycle 2- March 4th, 2024- May 30th, 2024

Q&A with tutors/ Masterclasses:

  • Music Management & Entrepreneurship Track- Mondays 5:30PM-7PM AST
  • Music Production- (Mixing and Mastering) Track- Thursdays 5:30PM-7PM AST

Sessions will be recorded. But participants should aim for perfect attendance!

Because of the funding provided by the partners, there are no tuition fees for participating in the programme. However, there is a non-refundable registration fee of $100USD. This will be applied to your certification costs with RSL Awards (UK) for the Level 3 Award in the Creative Music Industry in either Music Entrepreneurship or Music Production. Only persons selected to participate after the application process will be required to pay the fee to complete the registration process.

Each student that completes the programme and submits the final project on time, receives a Certificate of Completion from our institution. Additionally, this course is linked to the Level 3 Award in the Creative Music Industry (Production or Entrepreneur based on the track you chose)- Awarded by RSL Awards in the United Kingdom (UK).

RSL Awards is an awarding body specializing in the creative industries- designing qualifications which are relevant and reflective of today’s creative sector. RSL qualifications are fully regulated by every UK regulatory body and carry UCAS Points which can be used to gain entry into UK university programmes.

Once you are fine with everything you have read thus far and you have the time and attitude to commit to good success on the programme, you may complete the application form. You should provide us with as many details as possible and provide links to your previous work/ portfolio to help us to determine your suitability to participate! Tap here to Apply

Transform Your Music Business Today!

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