Top Music Schools – Find The Best Online Music Business Course For Your Needs
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Want to know what the top music schools are? Well look no further, as on this page I'll be showing you just that. Before we go into the options though, let's have a quick look at why joining a music business school can be helpful to your music career.
Note: This guide has been updated, you can now find the best online music business courses here.
If you're ready to take your music career to the next level, the best thing you can do is learn from the people that already have the knowledge you need. The alternative is learning everything yourself through trail and error, usually adding years on to your musical journey. Possible, but not practical.
Online music schools are the answer. They can teach you what you need to know in a fraction of the time, helping you get on the right path sooner rather then later.
All of the below courses are online based, meaning you can take them no matter where you are in the world. All you need it an internet connection, and you will have access to all of the learning material on offer.
I have gone through each of these courses myself, so can give you a good idea of what to expect. This guide will be updated regularly as I try out more online courses for musicians, so keep checking back for the latest options, opinions and scores.
Note: If you run an online music course and want your course reviewed on this page, please get in contact and let me know how I can access a review copy of your course. All my opinions will be honest, whether good or bad, so only get in contact if you genuinely believe you're one of the top music schools online.
But first, if it's your aim to do music professionally, you'll want to check out our free ebook while it's still available:
Free eBook: Discover how real independent musicians like you are making $4,077 - $22,573+ monthly via Youtube, let me know where to send the details:
Contents
The IMA Music Business Academy Review
The IMA Music Business Academy is a online music school set up by Shaun Letang. The aim of this course is to help get you set up with everything you need for a successful music career, both in terms of income and popularity.
Some of the things you'll learn in this course includes product creation (CDs, digital downloads, membership sites for your fan etc), online promotion methods that actually works, offline promotion strategies, and tips on adopting the mentality you need to succeed in the music industry. You're also given a proven marketing strategy you can choose to follow, as well as a load of other ideas in case you want to put your own spin on things.
All lessons are aimed at independent musicians, and gives you tips and advice that can be carried out by virtually anyone.
Pros
- Teaches you a lot about music marketing, an essential skill if you want to make more money from your music and increase your fan base.
- Caters to independent musicians, and only gives suggestions that they'll realistically be able to achieve.
- Gives you an action plan. On top of giving you the theory you need to get your music out there, each lessons tells you what you ‘need to do next'. This allows you to take action on what you learn so you can start seeing results.
- Low price. A lot cheaper then many of the other online music marketing courses, many charging upwards of $1000.
- Well structured lessons. Easy to follow.
- Both online and offline promotional methods listed.
- No on going payment. Once you have paid to access all 24 lessons, you keep access for life without paying anything else.
Cons
- Text heavy. If you're not a strong reader, this course may not be suitable for you. If you can read this page start to finish however, it should be fine.
- Lessons delivered over time. While this is often seen as better as it gives you more time to read each lesson and take action with what you learn, if you want all the lessons delivered on day one, this isn't possible. Quickest option is all lessons in 24 days.
- No formal qualification. Like many online music business course, there is no formal qualification given to you at the end. Instead, the end result for you is the knowledge you have gained which you can use in the real world music Industry. We feel this is a much better.
Price
Dependent on option signed up for. Cheapest option $120 for all 24 lessons (Includes a $9.99 3 lesson trial), most expensive option is $160 for all 24 lessons delivered (Includes a $9.99 2 lesson trial).
Duration
Dependent on option signed up for. 24 lessons are always delivered, but this can be one a day for 24 days, one a week for 24 weeks, or two a week for 12 weeks.
Conclusion
This is definitely one of the top music schools to be delivered online. The IMA Music Business Academy is a solid course that will teach you how to market your music on a budget, and to good effect. If you're looking for a school that will give you a solid business plan for your music as well as give you the steps to get you where you want to be, this is the course for you. Check it out and sign up today.
The Music Marketing Classroom Review
The Music Marketing Classroom is a online music school which focuses strongly on online marketing strategies for independent musicians. All lessons are video based, and are delivered by music marketer Chris Rockett.
All lessons fall into one of four sections; fan capture, getting hits, products, and email sales.
The summery of this course is below:
Pros
- Video training. If you're not comfortable reading a lot of text, the video lessons should be perfect for you.
- A lot of marketing ideas. If you want some ‘out of the box' marketing ideas sent your way, you'll find them here.
- A solid marketing plan. Based on proven methods for gaining new fans and marketing your music.
- Well laid out. Structure is easy to understand.
- All lessons are delivered on day one. This allows you to go through it all and start with whichever lesson you like.
Cons
- Mainly online marketing training. Not many offline promotional ideas given.
- No text version. If you're computer isn't set up to watch video at a decent speed (All videos are Youtube based) then video training probably isn't best for you. If you have a modern computer and good internet connection however, this won't be a problem.
- Access to lessons is not unlimited. For each month you want access to the course, you have to pay $97. Once you stop paying you lose access.
- No formal qualification. As with most other online music schools, there is no formal qualification given once you complete this course. The end result is instead a solid marketing knowledge base and ideas, which is much better in my eyes.
Price
$4.95 for a 10 day trial, $97 a month for ongoing access to the videos. $582 for a one off yearly payment (Save 50% on the monthly price).
Duration
Ongoing. You keep access as long as you're paying the monthly fee.
Conclusion
The Music Marketing Classroom is another good music marketing course, and one that is especially well suited for people who aren't big readers and prefer to do video training instead.
Chris Rockett gives a lot of good ways for you to market your music online, so if you want some new music promotion ideas, this course is worth checking out.
His teaching style is not far removed from David's at the New Artist Model; that may be worth you checking out too.
Music Marketing Insider Circle Review
The Music Marketing Insider Circle is a course run by respected musicians John Oszajca. As the name suggests, all lessons are based around marketing your music.
New lessons are delivered once a month. Inside you get access to monthly lessons which started back as early as June 2011. On top of this you also get access to the member's only forum, interviews with experience music business figures, and more.
Below we look at the pros and cons of the Music Marketing Insider Circle music school:
Pros
- Audio / video training. If you're not comfortable reading a lot of text, these audio and video lessons should be perfect for you.
- Access to all previous monthly lessons. Lessons go back to June 2011, so that's a good few lessons.
- Community forum. Here you can ask questions to Jon and other community members. On top of this, you have access to all previous question and answer threads, which may have the answers you are looking for.
- Low entry price. $47 a month.
- All lessons are delivered on day one. This allows you to go through it all and start with whichever lesson you like.
Cons
- No structured plan is given. While there are a lot of good marketing tips, there is no set order given in which you should implement what you have learned. Because of this it seems more suited to musicians who already have a base set up and want things they can do to enhance their career.
- No text version. If your computer isn't set up to watch video at a decent speed then video training probably isn't best for you. If you have a modern computer and good internet connection however, this won't be a problem.
- Access to lessons is not unlimited. For each month you want access to the course, you have to pay $47. Once you stop paying you lose access.
- No formal qualification. Like many online music business course, there is no formal qualification given to you at the end. Instead, the end result for you is the knowledge you have gained which you can use in the real world music Industry. We feel this is a much better.
Price
$47 per month.
Duration
Ongoing. You keep access as long as you're paying the monthly fee. One new lesson added every month.
Conclusion
This is a good course, and one that will teach you a lot. It would have been nice if the lessons were structured and gave you an order with what to do things for the beginner musician, but even so there are a lot of good marketing and promotion ideas in here. You can see more information about the Music Marketing Insiders Circle here.
Conclusion
There are a lot of top music schools around, and enrolling on any of the ones of this page is a good idea. Each have their pros and cons, but all aim to help you learn music marketing, and do a good job of it.
More music schools will be reviewed and added here as I go through them. If you appreciate the above reviews, please share this guide via the below social networking sites.
If you run a online music business school which you want me to try out, please get in contact and I'll see what I can do.
P.S. Remember though, none of what you've learned will matter if you don't know how to get your music out there and earn from it. Want to learn how to do that? Then get our free ‘5 Steps To Profitable Youtube Music Career' ebook emailed directly to you!