Dave Kusek is an American business executive, music educator, author, and
software developer
Software development is the process of conceiving, specifying, designing, Computer programming, programming, software documentation, documenting, software testing, testing, and Software bugs, bug fixing involved in creating and maintaining applic ...
known for his work in the
music industry
The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...
.
After working as chief engineer at
Star Instruments in the 1970s,
in 1980 he became the founding CEO of the music software company
Passport Designs
Passport Designs Inc. was a software company that created early music production software, such as the pre-MIDI SoundChaser in 1982. Other programs included Master Tracks Pro and Encore.
History Founding and early years
The company was founded i ...
.
With Passport he helped develop
Master Tracks and
Encore
An encore is an additional performance given by performers after the planned show has ended, usually in response to extended applause from the audience.Lalange Cochrane, in ''Oxford Companion to Music'', Alison Latham, ed., Oxford University Pres ...
,
and also co-developed software and hardware that utilized the then newly introduced
MIDI
MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and re ...
interface.
From 1997 to 2012 he taught music business at
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...
,
becoming a vice president
and founding its online music school
Berkleemusic.com.
In 2005, Kusek co-wrote the music business book, ''The Future of Music: Manifesto for the Digital Music Revolution''.
In 2014 Kusek launched
New Artist Model, an online music business school,
which has been featured in publications such as ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'',
''
CMJ
CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...
'',
and the ''
Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
''.
Early life and education
Dave Kusek was born in 1955 in Southington, Connecticut.
From 1974 until 1980, Kusek studied music, communication, and
computer science
Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...
at the
University of Connecticut
The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...
.
Business career
Star Instruments and Passport Designs (1970s-95s)
From 1975 until 1979 Kusek worked as chief engineer at Star Instruments, which made electronic drums such as the
Synare The Synare was a series of electronic drums made by Star Instruments in the mid-1970s through the 1980s. The Synare was a drum synthesizer, meaning that it was essentially a synthesizer, but instead of being controlled by a keyboard, it was triggere ...
.
He became the founding CEO of
Passport Designs
Passport Designs Inc. was a software company that created early music production software, such as the pre-MIDI SoundChaser in 1982. Other programs included Master Tracks Pro and Encore.
History Founding and early years
The company was founded i ...
in 1980, also taking on the role of president.
The company developed music software allowing musicians to record and produce music using home studios. Among other programs, the company developed
Master Tracks,
Encore
An encore is an additional performance given by performers after the planned show has ended, usually in response to extended applause from the audience.Lalange Cochrane, in ''Oxford Companion to Music'', Alison Latham, ed., Oxford University Pres ...
, MusicTime,
Alchemy
Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...
and the Soundchaser.
While with Passport, he co-developed software and hardware interfaces using new the then new
Music Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) industry standard.
He worked with Passport Designs until 1995.
Digital Cowboys (1997-present)
In 1997, Kusek founded and became managing partner of Digital Cowboys, a digital media consultancy. Clients over time included companies such as
AOL
AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo (2017 ...
,
IBM,
Nokia
Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporatio ...
,
A&M Records
A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...
,
BMG BMG may refer to:
Organizations
* Music publishing companies:
** Bertelsmann Music Group, a 1987–2008 division of Bertelsmann that was purchased by Sony on October 1, 2008
*** Sony BMG, a 2004–2008 joint venture of Bertelsmann and Sony that wa ...
,
Polygram
PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a ...
,
Nettwerk
Nettwerk Music Group is the umbrella company for Nettwerk Records, Nettwerk Management, and Nettwerk One Publishing.
Established in 1984, the Vancouver-based company was created by Nettwerk principals Terry McBride and Mark Jowett as a record ...
,
Roland
Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the ...
,
Yamaha Yamaha may refer to:
* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below).
** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...
,
Boston Acoustics
Boston Acoustics was an American manufacturer of home and mobile audio equipment founded in 1979. The company produced speakers for home, custom/architectural, and car audio.
History
Advent veterans Andy Kotsatos (known as Andy Pettit) and Fran ...
,
Liquid Audio Liquid Audio Inc was a US software company based in Redwood City, California.
Formed in 1996, Liquid Audio developed a major standard, multiple software clients, and a client/server media distribution system for streaming and downloading audio on t ...
,
Kaman Music
KMC Music is an owner and distributor of several brands of musical instruments. The company is currently a subsidiary of Canadian corporate group Exertis , JAM.
History
The company began as Kaman Music Corporation , a part of the Kaman Corporat ...
and
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...
.
Berklee Music (1997-12)
Kusek started teaching music business at
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...
in 1997, where he continued to teach for 14 years
and became a vice president of the college.
As founder and CEO of
Berkleemusic, now called Berklee Online,
Kusek created educational curricula as part of the first online music school.
Berkleemusic won the award for the Best Online Course from the University Professional & Continuing Education Association for eight consecutive years.
Kusek wrote a music business book, ''The Future of Music: Manifesto for the Digital Music Revolution'' with co-author
Gerd Leonhard.
Kusek left Berklee in 2012
New Artist Model (2014-present)
Kusek is currently founder and CEO of New Artist Model, an online music business school for musicians,
songwriters, producers, and managers.
According to ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'', Kusek started the course "to help build a next generation of independent artists."
The first eight week Essential online course debuted in early 2014,
and topics include "licensing, publishing, e-commerce, concerts, promotion and networking."
In April 2014,
Music X-Ray,
Bandzoogle and
CDBaby
CD Baby, Inc. is an online distributor of independent music. The company was described as an "anti-label" by its parent company's Chief Operating Officer Tracy Maddux. The CD Baby music store was shut down in March 2020 with a statement that "C ...
became affiliates of New Artist Model.
The program has been used by artists such as Eden Kai, who won the ''
Brown Bags to Stardom'' award in Hawaii in 2015.
By 2018, enrollment in the school reached 3,700 members from 60 countries.
Publishing history
See also
*
2000s in the music industry
In the first decade of the 21st century, the rise of digital media on the internet and computers as a central and primary means to record, distribute, store, and play music caused widespread economic changes in the music industry. The rise of digi ...
Further reading
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*
References
External links
NewArtistModel.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kusek, Dave
American music industry executives
American music educators
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)