John Snyder Rocks

Now in my final semester at Mcnally Smith College I have mixed feelings about graduating. Of course I'm very excited to be leaving school in a few short weeks, but with all the positive momentum and energy McNally's creating, I wish I was just beginning my first semester, because McNally Smith is doing big things. In this semester alone, we've had international super star Sheila E. visit our school, major music mogul Ron Sobel lecture in one of my classes. The most recent superstar to grace us with his presence was major music producer, four time grammy winner, and creator of a revolutionary website for musicians artistshouse.org John Snyder.

John Snyder gave the speech that by far, resonated with me the strongest. Not only has he accomplished the aforementioned accolades, but he is also a really cool guy. What stood out to me most was that Mr. Snyder had a masters degree in law, not music, and that he attributes the majority of his success in music to the degree he earned in law. Personally, it's inspiring to know that our music degree doesn't pigeon hole us into having to only work a career involved in music. In fact, according to John Snyder roughly 90 percent of people who get a bachelors in music don't go on to make their living in music, which isn't to say that music is no longer important to them, it's just not their only source of income.

While meeting John Snyder in class was inspiring, his website artistshouse.org is unbelievable. I checked it out after meeting him, and that site has everything for the independent musician; marketing, promotion, fan base, teaching, related jobs, etc... and they have videos of experts lecturing on how to accomplish these goals. There's so much information,it's ridiculous.

Yes, this last semester at McNally has been inspiring and I wish I could continue to take advantage of the great benefits McNally has offer. However, after listening to John speak, I'm ready to enter the real world and make a name for myself.

Ron Sobel

McNally Smith College is moving in exciting new directions. In the past week alone I had the privilege of meeting; Desa Darling, a local superstar, see Sheila E perform and lecture, and have major music mogul Ron Sobel lecture to my class of about ten people. It's great!
I found Ron's discussion with our class to be extremely educational, exciting, and a little frightening all at the same time. As a young musician that enjoys arranging and composing I realized now more than ever, the importance of joining some sort of publishing company, whether it be ASCAP or BMI. In plain English, the way Ron described the music business, the majority of the people out there "whores and hookers" out to take advantage of us musicians, because as much as we know about music. And as much time effort we put into music, those people put into stealing it from us. Fortunately, there are people like Ron and his associates who realize that music and business is a symbiosis. We can't function without them, and they certainly can't function without us, and is why it's important to know enough about music business to hire a reputable representative that you can trust.
While all of Mr. Sobel's sobering stories and scare tactics were great at forcing me to get in gear and take care of the legal aspects of my musical career. It was his insights into the future that really inspired me. in particular, the idea about birthday cards with music in them. That brand of futurist thinking is powerful, for the obvious reason that the early bird gets the worm.
Overall, I enjoyed Ron Sobel's discussion with our class. He shed light on the business side of music, which I'm not entirely familiar with while inspiring the futurist in me to innovate.