Zafris Lecture: Can Applications Boost the Industry?
Terry McBride says a turn-around for the music industry could happen at a quick pace over the coming months.
Berklee College of Music has selected Terry McBride, CEO and one of three founders of the Nettwerk Music Group, to give the 16th annual Zafris Distinguished Lecture for Music Business/Management.
The event takes place Friday, February 20, at Berklee's David Friend Recital Hall. This event is NOT open to the public.
On his blog nettwerk.com/terrysblog, McBride is forecasting that applications are going to upend the music industry, bringing more change over the next 18 months than in the last 10 years. He points to mobile social networking trends in Europe where users have increased 152 percent over the last year, and the increasing number of applications developed and sold by Apple and other smart phone manufacturers. Theorizing that the mobile device will become the media control center for millions of users, he says the demand will be unprecedented for content that brings the maximum bang from new and varied music applications.
Christopher Lars Carlson, Berklee music production and engineering student and president of the Music Business Club at Berklee, offers his thoughts on the lecture on his blog, A Musician's Journey.
McBride is the CEO and one of three founders of the Nettwerk Music Group, which includes Nettwerk Productions (Canada's largest independent record label), Nettwerk Management (artist and producer management), Nettwerk One (publishing), and Artwerks (graphic and fashion design).
Founded in McBride's apartment in 1984, Nettwerk has corporate offices in Vancouver, Boston, Los Angeles, Nashville, New York, Hamburg, and London. Nettwerk Management's exclusive client roster includes Avril Lavigne, Barenaked Ladies, Dido, Stereophonics, Sarah McLachlan, and Jamiroquai, among many others. Since its inception, Nettwerk has released more than 500 albums and sold more than 150 million albums worldwide.
McBride was recently recognized as one of the MIDEM Masters at this year's MIDEM conference, where he was honored as one of 10 worldwide music executives who are driving the music industry forward.
The annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture Series for Music Business/Management is Berklee's first endowed visiting lecture series, founded by the college's board of trustees in 1992 and named for James G. Zafris, founding member and longtime chair of the board. Zafris lecturers have included Destiny's Child manager Matthew Knowles; former CBS Records head Walter Yetnikoff; award-winning producer Arif Mardin; Bruce Lundvall, president and CEO of the Blue Note Label Group; and Hilary Rosen, then president of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).