Northridge : Music Students Get Down to Business

Students in Cal State Northridge’s Music Department aren’t just studying chords and keys these days--they’re also studying “the biz.”

When classes resume Monday, the department will begin its second year offering music industry studies, a bachelor’s degree program designed to tutor students in the ways of production, publishing, copyrights, licensing and law.

“We have to face the fact that the music industry has changed in the last 20 years,” said Prof. Joel Leach, who oversees the major. He explained that advances in computers and engineering have reduced the need for talented musicians to work as players-for-hire.

“There is a need for people who understand how the music industry works,” he said.

Matthew Lilley, a 21-year-old saxophonist from North Hollywood, said he switched majors when he knew he wasn’t going to make a living with the instrument.

“I still play, I love to play,” he said, “but I realized that that wasn’t what I wanted to do solely.”

He said he’s planning to attend law school after college with an eye on practicing entertainment law or working as a manager or agent.

By offering the music industry option, Leach said CSUN is hoping to attract students who might be put off by the dwindling number of available jobs for performers.

“When their only love is music, they become reluctant to go to college and choose a music major,” he said.

Approximately two dozen students are currently enrolled in the program, with classes divided between the music and business departments, Leach said. Students study not only the history of music, but also management and accounting.

“We can’t continue to offer curriculum that was relevant in 1960 in 1995,” he said.