Music club aims to inform students about industry

Chapman seniors founded the Music, Business and Technology club as a way to open students’ eyes to career opportunities within the music and entertainment industries. Graphic courtesy of CMBT

The new reality of forced isolation has made the formation of new clubs on Chapman’s campus challenging. Despite the obstacles of launching a club over an online platform, board members of the Chapman Music, Business, and Technology club (CMBT) managed to make their idea reality. 

Madison Magursky, a Chapman senior and music and strategic and corporate double major, and Chitra Dassapa, a senior music performance and public relations and advertising double major,  saw an absence in clubs and organizations on campus that provide music industry education, resources, information and connections. The two introduced CMBT to the student body because they believed interested students deserve some guidance as to how to immerse themselves in opportunities to pursue their interests in the industry. 

“We are both interested in careers in this field, so we decided to take matters into our own hands,” Magursky said. “The music industry seems threatening, but our goal is to lessen that fear. We want to show people that it is a very manageable option and it's attainable.” 

Before COVID-19 disrupted their rhythm, the club – made up of six board members – wanted to host performance events and promote Chapman band performances, but the new virtual format forced them to switch gears.

They onboarded Dodge College of Film and Media Arts associate professor Joseph Rosenberg to be the club’s faculty advisor and are working on securing guest speakers through the House of Blues in Los Angeles and their nonprofit Music Forward Foundation. They also promote content through Instagram and Facebook, which often includes the sharing of music management companies and opportunities such as internships, programs or new initiatives.

“There’s so many aspects to the music industry besides what you see on the stage, so our goal is to have guest speakers from different areas of the music industry to inform our club members,” Magursky said. “We also want to put out a lot of content on social media to give students who want to join the music industry the knowledge and access to things they wouldn’t know how to do on their own.”

Melissa Zhuang, a senior film production major and CMBT publicity chair, echoed Magursky’s remarks, emphasizing that many people are unaware of how multifaceted the industry can be. As such, she hopes to educate students who don’t know about the diverse array of opportunities they could pursue in the music industry.

“When people think of the music industry, they usually think of a singer or songwriter, but there’s music photography, publicists, bookers,” Zhuang said. “There’s a huge network of positions that people can learn about and be a part of and this is a great space to discuss these career options.”

With a foundation of about 35 club members, CMBT’s executive board is ready to showcase the club’s debut during their first meeting Nov. 10, featuring guest speaker Bill Gerber, an Academy Award-nominated film and television producer who started in the music industry with Lookout Management.

Although CMBT’s female-dominated executive board was not done purposefully, they are proud of their representation. A February 2019 study by the University of Southern California Annenberg Inclusion Initiative reported that women make up 21.7% of artists, 12.3% of songwriters and 2.1% of producers, emphasizing the industry’s male skew. Having a board that is predominantly female, Magursky said, will show female students that getting into the industry is doable and shouldn't be scary, providing them with a support system for navigating the underrepresented industry.

“We didn't expect it, but we are really proud of it,” Zhuang said of the board’s female representation. “Entertainment and music have been pretty male-centered, so it's great that we have a club that is female-empowered.”