John P. Kellogg, Esq., is the director of Berklee Online’s Master of Arts in Music Business program, where he teaches Music Business Revenue Streams. In this series of videos, he introduces key contemporary concepts of the music business.

Tiered Ticketing, Sponsorship, and Merchandising at Music Festivals

In this first video, Kellogg gives an overview of the revenue streams associated with music festivals. He discusses the various categories and tiers of tickets that are commonly made available to festival attendees and demonstrates how they create quasi-individualized experiences for consumers. He also examines sponsorship, merchandising, and vendor marketplaces as music festival revenue streams, with attention to the millennial generation as a target market.

Spotify and Music Streaming Services

In the next video, Kellogg discusses the business model and growth of Spotify. He explains recent developments including renegotiation of Spotify’s agreements with record labels regarding their share in streaming revenue. He also discusses the concept of making deals directly with independent artists. As streaming increasingly becomes the standard for music consumption and the independent route increasingly becomes viable for artists, Spotify will remain a fascinating and important subject in the music business.

The Importance of a Personal Brand

In this video, Kellogg discusses Queen Latifah’s career as a model for building a brand and capitalizing on revenue streams. He charts the morphing of her brand, touching on her success as a recording artist, her development of a record label and publishing company, her expansion into acting then talk shows, and her work in television and film production.

The Advent of Discos and Dance Clubs

In the video below, Kellogg talks about how the advent of disco clubs provided new opportunities for R&B artists in the 1960s and ’70s. He relates some of his experiences playing with Cameo at discos in New York, including brushing shoulders with some of the biggest stars of the era.

Music Industry Revenue Streams and the 360° Deal

In this video, Kellogg discusses how Napster led to a crisis for the music industry in the 1990s and how some companies were able to eventually rebound with the advent of the 360° deal. He details a eureka moment when his clients, members of the O’Jays, were seeking credit on songs they claimed to have participated in composing, and he considered leveraging a deal with the record label by offering the label participation in the money they earned on the road. Eventually Robbie Williams brokered one of the first 360° deals. Although it wasn’t an instant win-win for the artist and the label, it opened a lot of eyes within the music industry to the possibility of a deal that encompasses all income revenue streams.

The Power of Working It

In this music business session from Berklee Onsite 2017, Kellogg speaks about what it means to “make it” in the music industry. He also reviews some of the issues that have impacted the evolution of music in the digital age.

About John P. Kellogg, Esq.
In addition to being the director of Berklee Online’s Master of Arts in Music Business program, John P. Kellogg, Esq. is also the former Chair of the Music Business/Management department at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, and an entertainment attorney. He has represented recording artists Levert, the O’Jays, Eddie Levert, Sr., LSG, Stat Quo of Shady/Aftermath Records, and G-Dep of Bad Boy Records. He also served as general counsel for the late R&B recording star Gerald Levert and his entertainment venture, Trevel Production Co., Inc.

Kellogg is a former president of the Music and Entertainment Industry Educators Association (MEIEA), a former board member of the Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyer’s Association (BESLA) and a 2005 inductee into the BESLA Hall of Fame.

A songwriter and former vocalist with the group Cameo, he now advocates for the rights of artists through his writings, which include the Second Edition of his best-selling book, Take Care of Your Music Business: Taking the Legal and Business Aspects You Need to Know, that reached No. 1 and No. 2 on the paperback and general music business category sales chart on Amazon.com.

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