I’ve got a story to tell. A young musician wants to make it to the big time.

On-the-verge musicians like local band Long Division are smart to get business savvy before they get big.

He works hard, practices every day, and writes some pretty good tunes. Four nights, maybe five nights a week, he plays in dive bars—pouring out his soul for the drunks and the hipsters. He struggles. He wants to make it and wants it bad.

And it happens. An A&R man stumbles in and checks out his band, thinks they are great and signs them on the spot. Number one albums follow, and with them, awards, houses, cars—the works.

One day the young guitarist goes to check his bank account and finds out he is broke. He calls up his agent and says “Where’s my money?” but gets no answer. The label isn’t taking care of him so he decides to break his contract. He can’t.

Had our young ax slinger known the first thing about what the music industry is really all about–the various possible income streams that could contribute to his making a living–he might not have needed a recording contract with a record label in order to make it. He didn’t know that he didn’t just sign away one right to his music; he signed away five different rights with the swoop of that pen.

Now he finds himself not only broke, but also learns he no longer owns any rights to his music. Does this sound farfetched? It shouldn’t. It happens all the time.

Someone who knows this happens, and seeks to assist musicians from falling prey to the business end of the music business is ODU’s Dr. Tim Anderson. He is a professor in the Communications Department and teaches a class that is not only fun and entertaining, but educational and interesting. I took The Business of Music last semester and saw that Dr. Anderson understands the importance of a music scene, not only to the musician, but for area as well.

“Music was my way to meet people,” he says as he sits behind his desk, which is covered with piles of CDs and DVDs. “It was a way to socialize. The scene was about more than the music.”

Dr. Tim Anderson, the man with the answers.

Dr. Anderson also believes that music is a path to becoming an intellectual, but not the type you might think. “Musicians become a different kind of intellectual; they are more creative. It’s a different form of intellectual.”  That creative form of intellectualism is the driving force behind most musicians.

“You can’t tell Prince to stop writing songs, or tell The Roots that they have six months to produce an album with 16 hits. That’s not how creative people work. They are not the 9 to 5 type. They might not do a thing for a week, and then they get hit with an idea or get on a run and they don’t stop working for a month.”

He believes that it is this sort of focus on creativity that leads to very little interest in learning the business end, which of course is where the money is made for the label and often lost for the artist himself.

“A musician has to understand what a 360 deal is, what rights they have when they write a song, what it means to ‘brand’ your name,” Dr. Anderson stresses. “Most importantly, they need to know that we are in a paradigm shift. The business is changing. There are new ways to help them make that living as a musician.”

He also wants to explain what it means to make a middle class living by playing music—how it’s possible even if you’re not signed or a superstar.

Dr. Anderson’s class discusses all the aspects of the music business. There are various and multiple sources of income, and it is important to recognize them. He believes a musician needs to be realistic about the difference between making it big or making a living.

“What does the musician value? Is it about blowing up or about making a middle class living?” He uses the examples of bands like the Insane Clown Posse, who have toured the nation and made good money without ever having the support of a major record label. Or OK Go, who broke big on the music scene though the help of the internet and some exercise equipment. “Their label didn’t want them to have the ability to embed their videos, yet it was because their video went viral and kids would attach it to their MySpace page that they were able to reach a whole new audience.”

Creative Intellectuals: Sarah Carter, Skye Zentz, Diana Rose Ray and members of DJ P and Mr T.

Dr. Anderson also talks about one of the biggest things that plague musicians today: health care. “Being a touring musician, you put your health on the line. From eating unhealthy food daily, to working under unsafe conditions, to the activity of the physical performance—not to mention drugs and alcohol. If a musician gets sick, he has very few options. Thirty-three percent of musicians don’t have health insurance. Compare that to 17 percent of the population. That number is alarming.”

He touts The Future of Music Coalition with making strides in this area. Their website describes them as “a national nonprofit organization that works to ensure a diverse musical culture where artists flourish, are compensated fairly for their work, and where fans can find the music they want.”

“They have on their website, HINT (Health Insurance Navigation Tool), which offers advice on health care options in their state. This is invaluable to someone trying to make it in music.” If you’re a musician in need of heath care advice, check this out.

Dr. Anderson will be teaching this course again in the fall but he hopes to eventually develop a stripped-down version he may be able to sell at a price most musicians can afford. He envisions “either a DVD or maybe a one-hour course where the musician can learn all the aspects that they aren’t taught when they are busy learning their chords.”

If you are interested in finding out more information on the course, you can contact Dr. Anderson at tjanders@odu.edu. To sign up or find more info, contact the Old Dominion University’s Registrars’ office.