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Professional Certificate

Music Supervision

Next semester
starts April 1

Tuition

$7,725

5 Courses (15 Credits) or $1,545 Per Course
Only $6,952.50 when paid all at once

A good music supervisor is in a powerful position—the right music cue can help catapult a film or television show to greatness, and the songwriter or performer to acclaim. Berklee Online’s Professional Certificate in Music Supervision gives you the skills you need to excel in the field—how to work with songwriters, producers, artists, publishers, directors, and performance rights organizations; how to know whether a given piece of music would fit a mood or scene; and how to navigate the statutes that govern who gets paid for what when a piece of music is licensed for use in film or TV. This five-course program explores the ins and outs of legal issues, copyright, music supervision, publishing, and songwriting so that you will be able to function effectively on either side of a licensing transaction from the position of an artist or as a music business professional.

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Music Business Trends and Strategies, the first course in this program, will guide you through the critical areas of the music industry, including publishing and licensing, marketing, promotion, and retail best practices. Students will gain a deep understanding of the pressing issues that all musicians, music industry entrepreneurs, managers, and other music business professionals face in these main segments of the music industry, and how to leverage opportunities that the new business provides.

Music Licensing comes next. Licensing powers virtually every use of music, from streaming, to live performance, to music across mixed media, and is one of the most lucrative and rewarding revenue streams for many artists. Discover how to create new avenues for placement of your own music, identify current opportunities for your copyrights, understand the difference between master/publishing revenue streams, and how to use online resources to introduce your music to music supervisors, ad creatives, video game producers, and more. You’ll gain the knowledge needed to monetize your own creative property across various licensing uses, as well as create a summary licensing plan capable of acting as a business plan for your licensing efforts.

Next you will dig into Copyright Law, to examine in detail what copyright is and what it protects, and how copyright is used to monetize artistic works. Through analysis of real-world cases and copyright laws passed in the United States, you will learn what you need to know to successfully protect your own works and avoid infringing on others’ copyrights, as well as the ground rules of copyright, from how to register one to how to protect your works overseas.

Next, you will explore the ins and outs of music supervision with a course titled—accordingly enough—Music Supervision 1. This course progresses from a basic introduction to what a music supervisor does, to how to approach a project creatively or negotiate a complicated series of clearances. Through course materials including exclusive interviews with music supervisors, sound and music editors, and other industry players you will gain insight into the past and present of the job, and learn how to work as part of a production team, license music, stay on budget, make a piece of music work in a production, and much more.

Finally, building on the essential skills acquired from Music Supervision 1, students will continue to expand their fluency in music supervision in Music Supervision 2 by analyzing the use of music in montages, main titles, end credits, trailers, video game promos, and advertising. Students will also learn more advanced music editing techniques working with stems as well as mixing techniques to alter audio in order to make a more convincing live sound for source music usages.

With what you learn from Berklee Online, you will be ready to launch a career in music supervision at any level, from a local film production to a Hollywood blockbuster, as well as understand what music supervisors are looking for from a placement standpoint. Read Less

Course Requirements

5 Required Courses to Complete this Certificate

Music Business Trends and Strategies (OMBUS-240)
Mike King
Level 2 Course
by Mike King

Gain a forward-thinking approach to key issues in the music industry and learn and how to create new music business possibilities as well as leverage existing opportunities.

Music Licensing (OMBUS-496)
Scott Sellwood
Level 4 Course
by Scott Sellwood

Learn how to make money through creative licensing of your music and how to introduce it to music supervisors, ad creatives, video game producers, and more.

Copyright Law (OMBUS-385)
Allen Bargfrede
Level 3 Course
by Allen Bargfrede

Understand how creative works are protected by copyright law, what rights you have as a content owner, and how to leverage your copyrights to generate income.

Music Supervision 1 (OMBUS-495)
Brad Hatfield
Level 4 Course
by Brad Hatfield

Explore the ins and outs of music supervision so that you can achieve the best possible outcome for yourself or client on either side of a licensing transaction.

Music Supervision 2 (OMBUS-497)
Brad Hatfield
Level 4 Course
by Brad Hatfield

Expand your range of negotiation techniques and licensing practices. Working as a team member on a longform project will build collaborative skills required to succeed in the fast-paced world of music supervision and post production.

Upon Completion of this Certificate Program, You'll Receive:

  • Professional credential from the world leader in music education
  • Credits that may be eligible for transfer toward a Bachelor's degree program
  • A physical certificate from Berklee College of Music
  • A verified, digital certificate that you can share

Questions?

Contact our Academic Advisors by phone at 1-866-BERKLEE (U.S.), 1-617-747-2146 (INT'L), or by email at advisors@online.berklee.edu.