A special course called “B-Side School” will be held by the general incorporated association B-Side Incubator.
Since the 2010s, the spread of music distribution services and various social media has created an environment in which artists can be successful without being affiliated with a record company or management agency. While the number of independent artists engaged in large-scale activities is increasing, it is also becoming necessary for them to take on a variety of roles themselves, from music production to promotion, fundraising, and legal and contractual matters.
“How do you create a team for sustainable musical activities?”, “How do you get your music to the people you want to reach?”, “How do you gain knowledge about laws and contracts?” – to answer these questions and challenges that artists face, “B-Side School” will run a total of 11 programs. Online, there will be lectures by expert lecturers on each topic, while offline, music producers starRo and Maika Loubté will act as mentors and hold workshops to think about “what kind of artist you want to be in the long term.”
Details of each program are as follows:
▼1st session (August 1st): Workshop “Why be independent? Thinking about the ideal form of musical activity for each individual”
Mentors: starRo (music producer/director of B-Side Incubator), Tsuyachan (writer/director of B-Side Incubator), Kotaro Okada (representative director of B-Side Incubator)
▼Session 2 (August 15): “How do you get your music to the people you want to listen to? Thinking about music promotion methods based on the scale of your activities”
Lecturer: Kenta Nishimura (CEO, CotoLab. Inc.)
▼ 3rd session (August 29): “How can we visually express an artist’s worldview? Thinking with up-and-coming video artists about the future of video communication”
Lecturer: Ayaka Ohira (Animation Artist)
▼ 4th session (9/12): “What is the meaning of working as a collective? Thinking with wau about how to create the next music scene”
Speakers: Kota Matsukawa / voquote (CEO, founder, producer of creative label/collective “wau”), Tsuyachan (writer/director of B-Side Incubator)
▼ 5th session (9/26): “How do you create a management team that supports artists’ activities? Thinking about it through the practice of CANTEEN”
Lecturer: Keiichi Toyama (CEO of CANTEEN)
▼ 6th session (10/10): Midterm workshop: “Summarizing points that can be applied to your own artistic activities”
Mentors: starRo (music producer/director of B-Side Incubator), Micah Rubute (music producer/singer-songwriter/director of B-Side Incubator), Tsuyachan (writer/director of B-Side Incubator), Kotaro Okada (representative director of B-Side Incubator)
▼7th session (10/24): “What legal and contractual knowledge do you need to know when working independently? Thinking about legal support for musical expression with the founder of Law and Theory”
Speaker: Eisuke Mizuguchi (Representative Attorney at Artifact Law Office)
▼Session 8 (11/7): “How can we take care of our own mind and spirit in order to continue our activities? Thinking about how to deal with anxiety during creative activities”
Lecturer: starRo (Music producer/Director of B-Side Incubator)
▼ Session 9 (11/21): “How do you deal with money in your creative endeavors? Learn about various fundraising approaches”
Instructors: Nobuyuki Takeda (LITE/certified administrative scrivener), Ryo Miyata (Music producer/CEO of OIKOS MUSIC)
▼10th session (12/5): “How can we use AI to expand musical expression and creativity? –Thinking with Neutone’s Tokui Naoyuki about the image of an artist in the age of AI”
Lecturer: Naoo Tokui (artist/researcher)
▼11th session (12/19): Final workshop: “Putting together your future plans as an artist”
Mentors: starRo (music producer/director of B-Side Incubator), Tsuyachan (writer/director of B-Side Incubator), Kotaro Okada (representative director of B-Side Incubator)
*Each session will be held from 19:30-21:00.
*The 1st, 6th, and 11th workshops will be held offline. All other workshops will be held online.
