Music/Recording Industry
College of Extended Learning
Dean: Peter Dewees
Music/Recording Industry Program (MRI)
SFSU Downtown Center
425 Market Street, 2nd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
415-904-7720
Program Director: Mary Pieratt
Program
Certificate in Music/Recording Industry
Program Scope
The Music/Recording Industry program is designed for those who want to learn more about the music and recording industry through a structured course of study. Musicians, producers, engineers, lawyers, agents, promoters, managers and entertainment writers can all benefit from MRI courses. The program integrates technical skills in recording, business and legal aspects, along with production elements to provide foundations in the music business and the audio engineering field.
Faculty
Program faculty are selected for their expertise in the technical or business aspects of the music/recording industry and for their outstanding teaching ability.
Career Outlook
The Music/Recording Industry Certificate is designed both for the student who wants an overall basic education in the business of music/recording and for the professional who is seeking to broaden an area of expertise. Course work in the program may be applied toward the certificate, or individual classes may be taken to learn or update skills. Students may choose to pursue a technical audio engineering or a business emphasis or apply the academic credit earned in this program towards a degree in related subject areas. Job categories include artist management, professional songwriter, record producer, audio engineer, music publicist, music journalist, market researcher, talent producer/agent, record promotion/distribution, studio manager, music publishing, and concert promotion/booking.
CERTIFICATE IN MUSIC/RECORDING INDUSTRY (MRI)
Admission to Program
To be admitted to the certificate program, students should have completed 56 units of academic credit or have sufficient experience to demonstrate they can perform upper division work. Students who do not have 56 units may be accepted on probation and are encouraged to apply. Students may enroll in up to nine units before applying to a certificate program.
Writing Skills
The certificate program's course content requires a good grasp of writing skills. Certificate students are asked to demonstrate their writing ability soon after admission to the certificate program to satisfy the university literacy requirement. Those who do not have the necessary writing skills are referred to a course offered regularly through the continuing education program: ENG 414, Elements of Writing.
The certificate program requires completion of 23 semester units. Fourteen units must be taken from a core of courses shown below, and the remaining nine may be chosen from the following list of elective courses.
Courses earn three units of credit unless otherwise noted. For complete course descriptions, contact the program director.
Required Courses
MRI 310 Beginning Music Recording Workshop
MRI 315 Intermediate Music Recording Workshop (2)
MRI 350 History of the Popular Music Industry
MRI 360 Legal Aspects of the Music Industry
MRI 330 Music Business Publicity or
MRI 340 Music Artist Management
Elective Courses
MRI 330 Music Business Publicity or
MRI 340 Music Artist Management
MRI 320 Music Mixing Workshop (2)
MRI 322 Advanced Music Recording Workshop (2)
MRI 327 Role of Record Producer (2)
MRI 328 Recording Studio Management
MRI 334 Popular Music and the Media
MRI 342 History and Aesthetics of Popular Music
Record Production
MRI 345 Concert Production and Booking (1)
MRI 347 Tour Management in the Music Industry (2)
MRI 352 Artist and Repertoire in the Popular Music
Business
MRI 362 Music Publishing (2)
MRI 370 Seminar in the Music Recording Industry (1–3)
[Topics will vary and be offered on a
rotating basis]
MRI 380 Field Study in the Music Recording
Industry (1–3)
Additional elective courses are announced to students
as they are offered.