Music Business Careers ― Career Duality in the Creative Industries

The music industry offers the opportunity to pursue a career as either a creative (artist, producer, songwriter, etc.) or as a music business "logician" (artist manager, agent, entertainment attorney, venue manager, etc.). Though both vocational paths are integral to the industry’s success, the work of calling songs into existence or entertaining an audience differs from the administrative aspects of the business, such as operating an entertainment company. And while the daily activities of creatives may differ from those of the music business logician, the music industry careerist may sense a call to Career Duality, to work on both sides of the industry as a Career Dualist, a concept this book introduces, defines, and explores in the context of the music industry.

This new volume speaks to the dilemma experienced by those struggling with career decisions involving whether to work in the industry using their analytical abilities, or to work as a creative, or to do both. The potential financial challenges encountered in working in the industry as an emerging artist may necessitate maintaining a second and simultaneous occupation (possibly outside the industry) that offers economic survival. However, this is not Career Duality. Likewise, attending to the business affairs that impact all creatives is not Career Duality. Rather, Career Duality involves the deliberate pursuit of a dual career as both a music industry creative and music business logician, which is stimulated by the drive to express dual proclivities that are simultaneously artistic and analytical.

By offering a Career Duality model and other constructs, examining research on careers, calling, authenticity and related concepts, and providing profiles of music industry dualists, this book takes readers on a journey of self-exploration and offers insights and recommendations for charting an authentic career path. This is a practical examination for not only music industry professionals and the entertainment industry, but for individuals interested in expressing both the analytical and artistic self in the context of career.

Cheryl Slay Carr, Associate Professor, Author, Attorney, and Vocalist, is Associate Dean of the Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business at Belmont University, Nashville, Tennessee. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan, received a Master of Public Administration from Clark-Atlanta University, and earned her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Maryland School of Law. Carr began her career with Belmont University in 2008. As a professor, she has taught and designed courses including Copyright Law, Music Industry Contract Law, Legal Issues in the Entertainment Industry, and Diversity in the Entertainment Industry: Understanding the Business of Jazz.