Author: James Undercofler

  • Earned Revenue? Contributed Revenue?

    I continue to be puzzled, or is it defensive about the question of whether contributed revenue can be considered sustainable, especially as opposed to earned revenue.  Perhaps because of my not-for-profit background, I see both types of revenue the result of sales (although we cloak the contributed revenue domain in flowery language and avoid sales…

  • Entrepreneurship in Music and the Arts Redux I

    Student teams made their final presentations last week.  They were evaluated according to the rubric previously published.  What I would like to do in this blog posting is to feature the winning plan.  I will include the team’s PowerPoint presentation, and a copy of the scoring rubric.  The name of the project is Will Power. …

  • Entrepreneurship in Music and the Arts Project Evaluation

    My friend, Bob Ellis, a business school professor will be evaluating student projects next week. He has provided them (and me) with this rubric. Summary Clear communication of business concept Good understanding of “what business are we in?” Good understanding of key success factors Good understanding of financial aspects Complete analysis of concept feasibility Complete…

  • Entrepreneurship in Music and Arts Student Projects

    Here are all but one of the student projects – as promised. Sound for Spaces is a group of musicians and composers that specializes in creating sound installations, designed to aurally transform a space. These installations utilize space in unique ways, surrounding listeners with sound and musical texture. By performing these works in art galleries,…

  • Entrepreneurship in Music and the Arts, Class Reporting

    Within a day or two I will post students’ project ideas and an update on progress, but for this post I want to share some observations of the process over the past 2 weeks of classes. My first observation and perhaps pearl of wisdom comes from student teamwork. I have taught arts entrepreneurship a number…

  • Entrepreneurshp in Music and the Arts, 2nd Class Report

    So even from my own (humble) assessment, the 2nd class was a huge success, going beyond my expectations. Approximately half the students (15) pitched their ideas to the class. Each had 2 minutes for their presentations, plus a bit more time to answer clarifying questions. After each pitch, the student taped a paper to the…

  • Entrepreneurship in Music and the Arts, Class Planning

    I have completed my planning for my course that begins next week. The course catalog entry reads, “Frequently the failure of the most creative ideas lies with an inability to build a working model and “business plan.” In this course students will learn to build business plans, both linear and non-linear for projects and entities…

  • Entrepreneurship in Music and the Arts: Class 5 Redux

    I have learned a lot from teaching this recent class (now at the end of the first half of the semester). The students’ projects are superb: in imagination, breadth of subject area and commitment to positive change. However, it was their work in developing their projects that gave me greater insight into how to teach…

  • Recap, Class Four, Entrepreneurship in Music and the Arts

    Here is the email recap + assignments that I sent to my class this morning. Dear Class, Here’s a recap of last night’s class + your assignments for the next 2 weeks. I congratulated you as a group for your superb ideas. I am genuinely impressed by your imaginations and ability to create in a…

  • Recap, Class 3, Entrepreneurship in Music and the Arts

    Class 3 focused on personal branding, and then transitioned to idea development and enterprise creation. We talked about 3 issues related to personal branding: alignment, extension and integrity. We (often humorously) compared students’ responses from their assignments (asking 2 people who knew them personally to describe what makes them distinct as individuals, and 2 people…