Students in the College of Music received first-hand advice on building 21^st century music careers when one of the music industry’s most prominent artist managers and record label executives visited the MSU campus in late fall 2016.

Detroit native and attorney Paul Rosenberg shared his business acumen and industry expertise as the featured speaker for “Careers in Entertainment and Music Business,” a workshop jointly created and planned by the College of Music’s Running Start program and MSU’s Career Service Network. Rosenberg framed his presentation by sharing his personal trajectory from his undergrad at MSU (B.S. ’93 Psychology) to eventually founding Goliath Artists, Inc.—a firm that handles the career of global hip-hop superstar Eminem, Action Bronson, Danny Brown and other recording artists. Rosenberg is also president of the boutique record label Shady Records as well as a manager of film, original media content, and radio.

Rosenberg spoke about a variety of issues ranging from how to break into working for artist management and record labels to how he selects new groups and artists for his label. He also talked about the relationships between business and artistic decisions in his work.

“Having someone from the outside world, who has achieved a high level of success and lives the music businesses every day, was very inspiring to me and other students,” says Eric Smith, an undergraduate in jazz studies piano performance. “Mr. Rosenberg brought a unique perspective on music and the industry to the College of Music where his field of work and expertise isn’t talked about as much. Essentially, the benefit is that he supplemented the education we get in our classes with current, real-world information in a field outside of our concentrated areas of study.”

Director of Career Services and Music Entrepreneurship Christine Beamer said that Rosenberg provided valuable insights into the artist-manager relationship, and remarked how fun it was to hear down-to-earth advice from the manager of a popular musician.

“It was a great opportunity to demystify what it means to work full-time in the artist management and record label industry,” she says. “And it was great to showcase entrepreneurship in music. He showed how working in the music business is first and foremost about working in business, and how important it is to have a firm grasp of contracts, branding, marketing and promotion as much as incredible talent as a performer.”

About 120 students from across campus attended the event. Beamer added that Rosenberg’s visit and presentation was the first in a series of programs and workshops that Running Start has coordinated with other units on campus as a way to help students explore careers in entertainment and music business. For more information, visit the MSU College of Music Running Start program here.