On Teaching Next-Gen Startup Founders

On Teaching Next-Gen Startup Founders
When I conceptualized and developed a course on building and launching tech startups in the music industry at UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, my goal was simple yet ambitious: I wanted to prepare the next generation of young entrepreneurs to enter the competitive startup landscape with a breadth of music industry knowledge, a fundamental understanding of strategic business research and planning skills, an entrepreneurial mindset, and founder insights gained from guest speakers, internships, and networking opportunities.
After spending several years advising, mentoring, and consulting founders of music tech and digital media startups, I felt that universities and colleges had a unique opportunity to prepare individuals early on with a robust class in music industry entrepreneurship and innovation. UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music agreed and hired me to develop and teach such a course course in 2016; a course that Billboard recognized among its list of “The 15 Best Music Business Schools In 2017.”
It is with this backdrop that I am made ever more proud by many of my former students who do exactly what I had hoped my class would inspire them to do: pursue a path towards music industry entrepreneurship.
That said, I’d like to shine a spotlight on one of my former students and his innovative startup.
David Hartley is a former student and the founder of SoundSmith, a marketplace for artists, labels and distributors to automate their influencer marketing on TikTok. They’ve recently been accepted to the Startmate business accelerator program.
David took my class in Winter 2018 and was a shining example of a model student. Not only was he engaged during lectures and guest speakers, he excelled in completing course assignments. He and his collaborators leveraged my officer hours to seek advice on their startup ideas and took full advantage of the ancillary opportunities that I offered students to land an internship at Repost by SoundCloud.
Students like David is what makes teaching music industry entrepreneurship enjoyable and stories like his is what makes it rewarding.
See David’s message to me below via LinkedIn (shared with his permission).
Enrollment Open – Music Industry Entrepreneurship Masterclass
Marcato Academy’s “Music Industry Entrepreneurship Masterclass” is now accepting enrollment for April 27th, 28th, and 30th. A recorded replay will be sent to individuals who cannot attend the live masterclass.
Learn More
[Podcast] Dae Bogan Appears On Music Tectonics To Talk About Los Angeles’ Music Tech Scene
I was recently invited by host Dmitri Vietze to appear on his new podcast Music Tectonics for the episode “The Shifting LA Music Tech Scene.” It was a fun discussion about the various ecosystems and hubs of innovation, creation and thought-leadership that is taking place in Los Angeles right now.
The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. The podcast includes news roundups, interviews, and more.
Listen to the episode here or on Spotify, Stitcher, or Google.
Dae Bogan To Provide Mentorship To Music Makers And Tech Founders At The Rattle Los Angeles
RattleCCPitch2018 from The Rattle on Vimeo.
Apple To Recruit College Students For Apple Music From UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music
I am pleased to announce that Apple has selected my Billboard-recognized class, Music Industry Entrepreneurship and Innovation, at UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music as a preferred source to recruit aspiring music industry professionals into its college internship programs at Apple Music.
Upon successful completion of an internship and graduation from UCLA, recent grads may become eligible for full-time employment at Apple music divisions.
An Apple Worldwide Recruiting representative will visit my class in January 2019 to promote their internship program to my students and answer any questions that students might have.
I am pleased with Apple’s decision to partner with universities and educators that deliver best-in-class education and experiences to students who may become tomorrow’s music industry leaders.
In reviewing my class students have shown great appreciation for the course and the speaker series that I curate throughout the quarter:
Hi Dae, Just wanted to thank you for an awesome class. This was one of the few classes at UCLA where I felt I was taught skills, not just about the subject matter but in how to go about achieving my career goals, that were applicable to my endeavors and will be used for the rest of my life. I got more out of it than I had with any other course here and I would highly recommend your class to to anyone interested in a music industry career.
– Student testimonial, Winter Quarter 2018
Without a doubt one of the most useful classes I have taken in my undergraduate career at UCLA. Professor Bogan has so much real world knowledge and knows how to convey that knowledge in a classroom setting immensely well. All the course material was invaluable to my progression and aspirations of being in the music industry. Every lecture was extremely well-prepared, with amazing guest speakers and information that I will be using for the rest of my life. Professor Bogan did a phenomenal job and I will be recommending this class to all my friends interested in music or starting their own company. Can’t say enough good things about this class.
– Student testimonal, Winter Quarter 2018
In addition to the relationship with Apple, I am excited to announce that I’ve established a relationship with music tech start-up accelerator Techstars Music that allows me to recommend student and alumni owned start-ups for consideration to receive seed investment and to participate in its accelerator program.
I look forward to continuing to add value to my course to offer students one of the best experiences in their academic careers at UCLA.
Dae Bogan To Join Panel On The Future Of Rights Technology At A2IM Indie Week In New York
Dae Bogan will join Shanna Jade (Director of Brand Strategy, Stem) and Rob Weitzner (Head of North America, The state51 Music Group) on the panel “Future of Rights Technology” on Wednesday, June 20th at A2IM (American Association of Independent Music) Indie Week conference taking place at the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural and Educational Center in New York. The panel will be moderated by Anna Siegal, SVP FUGA North America.
For more details, visit https://a2im.org/event/a2im-indie-week-2018/
[Podcast] Copyright Clearance Center Adds Recording Of “View From The Top: The Future Of Machine-To-Machine Rights Management” Panel Discussion From RightsTech Summit 2017 To Its Beyond The Book Podcast

“View From The Top: The Future Of Machine-To-Machine Rights Management” panel at RightsTech Summit in New York

Left to Right: Dae Bogan (CEO, TuneRegistry), Benji Rogers (CEO, dotBlockchain Music), Michael S. Simon (President of Rumblefish & CEO of Harry Fox Agency), Michael Shanley (Vice President of IT Business Development, Music Reports)
Machine-to-machine communication is the ideal scenario if we want to enable on a global scale, with as little friction as possible and at a reasonable cost, the licensing of works and the payment of royalties to rightsholders. That at least is the stated premise for a recent discussion at the annual RightsTech Summit conference.
But how far have we come? How close are we to achieving a digitized business environment for rights and royalties that is as fully realized as we see today in media distribution and consumption? Until code entirely does away with contracts will human beings will continue to add a value that no machine ever can?
“I think all of this starts with a human being. No matter what technology we apply to these systems, if a person doesn’t know how to interact or create the data that they need to disseminate, it’s just not going to get there,” said Michael Shanley of Music Reports. Technology evolves all the time, and I think we’re getting to great places in technology. But education and information is, I think, paramount.”
Panelists for the session moderated by CCC’s Chris Kenneally included Dae Bogan co-founder & CEO of TuneRegistry, a music and rights metadata management platform; Benji Rogers, a British-born, New York-based entrepreneur, who co-founded the Dot Blockchain Music Project, an attempt to create a de-centralized global registry of music rights using blockchain technology; Michael S. Simon, President of Rumblefish, a world leader in music micro-licensing and YouTube monetization and also CEO of the Harry Fox Agency LLC, the nation’s leading provider of rights management, licensing and royalty services for the music industry; and Michael Shanley, Vice President of IT Business Development at Music Reports, developers of proprietary databases and software applications that facilitate music rights administration.
Listen here.