Music industry professionals impart wisdom, encouragement to music students through day of events on campus

Nearly 50 Liberty University School of Music students gathered on Nov. 4 in the Center for Music and the Worship Arts for the Industry Professionals Forum, where they heard from six professionals across the industry and gained insights through a panel discussion, a luncheon, and one-on-one meetings.

The event was open to students across the School of Music interested in music industry careers. The panel gathered industry veterans with experience in record labels, talent representation and management, business management, live event promotion and production, and more.

The event, open to 50 students, was set up through the Michael W. Smith Center for Commercial Music, which regularly brings industry professionals to campus to help students network and discover potential employment pathways. 

The discussion was led by Liberty Music Group Director of Product Development John Forystek, who prompted the panelists with questions about the biggest obstacles, opportunities, and surprises young professionals may face. At the end of the session, there was a brief Q&A time for students before the group moved to the Jerry Falwell Library for lunch. After the meal, the students were divided into individual time slots for a one-on-one meeting with one of the panelists to ask questions, hear advice, and make important industry connections. 

“We bring these professionals out here because we want to bring value to our students,” School of Music Dean Dr. Stephen Müller said. “It’s likely that meetings like this, engagements like this turn into job opportunities in the future. We have a lot of our students working in Nashville, working in the music industry on the business side of things, as well as writers and creatives and performers. There are so many jobs in the business side, which is what we’re talking about specifically today.” 

The six panelists for Wednesday’s event were on campus as guests of Grammy Award winner Michael W. Smith, the executive director of the center. Smith was not part of the Industry Professionals Forum, but he did join the Liberty Worship Collective and LU Praise team at Campus Community that night, along with singer-songwriter Paul Baloche, to make a special live recording of “Open the Eyes of My Heart” for the 30th anniversary of the song being published. 

The Industry Professionals Forum included executives from different aspects of the industry. From left:

• Greg Ham, owner and founder of one:eight Entertainment, an artist management and development company whose clients include Michael W. Smith, CeCe Winans, Steven Curtis Chapman, and others
• Jeff Moseley, the founder of Fair Trade Services, a Christian record label whose artists include CeCe Winans, MercyMe, Phil Wickham, Micah Tyler, and others
• Richard Curtis, founder of Curtis & Co. PLC accounting firm that is heavily involved business management for entertainers in the Christian market
• Kyle Burnside, executive vice president of global touring at TPR., which produces and promotes some of the largest Christian entertainment tours in the world, including Forrest Frank’s record-breaking most recent tour
• Tom DeKorne, a senior agent at Jeff Roberts Agency, a Christian music booking agency with over 50 clients, including Josiah Queen, for King & Country, and others
• Karrie Dawley, head of A&R and publishing at Anotherland, a private record label, publishing company, and creative agency that partners with Christian creatives such as Abbie Gamboa, Allison Eide, Roosevelt Stewart, and others

For more information on Liberty’s commercial music department, visit their website or email som@liberty.edu.