An inaugural class of 21 New York City high school students recently completed a new program designed and operated by Carnegie Hall, which provided them with an in-depth tour of the music industry. Ten years in the making according to its organizers, The B-Side – short for business side – launched in February.
On a recent Thursday afternoon, participating students got a chance to indulge their creative sensibilities during a visit to Pulse Music Studio. For two hours, Stanley Brown – a producer, composer and performer who’s collaborated with countless prominent artists, including Shirley Caesar, Salt-N-Pepa, Dru Hill and Michelle Williams – demonstrated the studio’s workings with house engineers. Participants learned how to set up microphones and record, and picked up songwriting fundamentals. By the end of the visit, students had participated in creating two new songs from scratch.
The studio experience was part of a deep-dive introduction into how the music business works, designed to help reverse a trend that historically has seen disproportionately low representation of people of color in corporate offices. The B-Side also allowed students to visit an actual record label and attend panels with industry professionals. Each day the high schoolers learned about a different area of the business, including A&R, marketing, law, and artist management.