Bone Up on the Music Biz at These Free Workshops

The University of Colorado Denver is offering eight-week classes in music industry studies for any musician in the city.

By Jon Solomon

February 19, 2021

Storm Gloor, far right, takes students into the world. Storm Gloor

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Storm Gloor, associate professor of Music and Entertainment Industry Studies at the University of Colorado Denver, is committed to taking his students into the music community, introducing them to nonprofits and having them build marketing plans for musicians. In March, some of Gloor’s students will lead the CAMunity Music Leadership Program, a free eight-week course promoting the development of Denver’s music economy.

Gloor sees the program, a research project funded by the CU Denver Presidential Initiative on Urban and Place-based Research, as a chance to give his students hands-on experience working with musicians who could use some extra professional support amid the pandemic.

“It's also my belief that we've always got to be breaking down any barriers between the university and the community,” Gloor says. “We've got a music business program. There are folks out there who could use that education but aren't particularly degree-seeking or anything like that. I think it's a way of also using the university's resources to support the music ecosystem here.”

Gloor says the CAMunity Music Leadership Program, which is limited to thirty participants, is open to all Denver-area musicians over eighteen years old, from those who might have just started on an instrument to seasoned artists who have played large venues. The deadline to apply is 11:59 p.m. Sunday, February 21.

“My goal is for it to be a group of musicians who are diverse and represent the music community,” Gloor says.

Following an orientation session on March 13, two-hour classes will be held over Zoom on Saturdays from March 20 through May 8. Tentative session topics include music ecosystems, career planning, activism, social justice issues, music marketing and branding, publishing and licensing of music, legal aspects of the music business and more.

Gloor has been thinking of heading up something like the CAMunity Music Leadership Program for a decade, ever since the Denver Music Task Force put on the first Denver Music Summit, which he was also involved with. Through that, he and his students hosted four-hour sessions with local musicians, and Gloor realized it wasn’t enough time to cover the breadth of the music business.

Says Gloor: “I want our students to learn how to teach and learn how to do these kinds of things in the community, and see the fruition that comes from helping out in the community through service learning."

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