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.