New Music + Web3 Course to Prepare Students for the Next Generation of the Internet

Berklee's Music Business/Management Department is offering a new course, Music + Web3, that will provide students with an understanding of emerging web3 tools and technologies, such as blockchain, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), virtual reality (VR), artificial intelligence (AI), cryptocurrency, and the metaverse.

Web3, the third generation of the internet, is a decentralized and open web movement that will allow individuals to own what they do, create, and share based on blockchain, the online technology behind Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

"The Music Business/Management Department's mission is to prepare students for careers in the music industry of today, tomorrow, and beyond. This class and others like it will do exactly that,” said Tonya Butler, chair of the Music Business/Management Department.

The goal of the Music + Web3 class is to teach students to use web3 technologies and resources to both advance and protect their artistic endeavors in a more sustainable and self-directed manner, as well as provide them with the skills to gain employment with the companies and institutions using the emerging tools. 

The course will be taught by Professor George Howard, who was featured in Newsweek in 2021 as one of “America’s greatest disruptors” for developing and advancing business and technological initiatives related to empowering artistic creators. Howard, who is also a faculty member for Berklee Online, teaches classes on topics that range from entrepreneurship and music streaming to music publishing and licensing and music law.

"I am thrilled that Berklee continues to pave the way for the next generation of artists and executives to utilize these new tools and technologies to build and maintain successful careers on their own terms," said Howard of the new course. 

In addition to teaching, Howard is a serial entrepreneur who founded Acme Innovation, a media and entertainment investment and advising company focused on the emerging web3 sector. He cofounded the Music Audience Exchange, a company of digital marketers, engineers, and music lovers using technology to redefine the fundamental structure of brand-artist relationships; the Open Music Initiative, a consortium of academic institutions and media and entertainment firms focused on interoperable data; and TuneCore, one of the world’s largest independent digital music distributors. Howard is the former president of Rykodisc, one of the world’s largest independent record labels, and the author of Everything in Its Right Place: How Blockchain Technology Will Lead to a More Transparent Music Industry.