Careers Day 2023 at BIMM University Berlin
Each academic year during the second semester, BIMM University Berlin hosts Careers Day, dedicated to connecting our students with the music industry through a series of workshops, panel talks and 1-to-1 mentoring sessions.
This year we welcomed a group of music industry professionals to House of Music to join our Careers Day and share their wealth of knowledge with our students. Take a look at what was going on!
EPK workshop with Nadia Says
It was great to have Nadia Says from Your Mom’s Berlin back for another EPK workshop! This was not the first time Nadia talked to our students about the dos and don’ts of electronic press kits as she previously held a successful workshop at BIMM University Berlin. Nadia explained what the perfect EPK should look like, what bookers are specifically looking for, how to make students’ press kits stand out from the rest and also gave examples showcasing different variations of an EPK. Students could also ask their questions and get some useful tips on how to create their own professional EPK.
‘Is it pleasing to the eye? The layout, the font, the colours? Then I start reading and I look for that thing where I’m like ‘this person is interesting. I’m going to read everything.’’
– Nadia Says
Endorsement panel with D’Addario, Adam Audio and Shure
We invited representatives from D’Addario, Adam Audio and Shure to Live Room 1 for an exclusive panel talk on endorsements. The panel covered a wide range of topics, from how endorsements work at each of the brands to advice for students on how to best approach a brand or what brands are specifically looking for in artists they work with.
When asked about how brands go about finding the right artists to work with on an endorsement deal, Moritz Amrhein from D’Addario says:
‘It’s not about convincing somebody that our product is better. It’s usually finding the right people who already think this is the right product for them and then we have a really good starting point to work together; because authenticity is basically the currency we work with.’
– Moritz Amrhein, D’Addario Product Specialist
One student then asked if a brand would ever work with an artist that is still under the radar and at what level they would start engaging with an artist:
‘It really depends on what you’re pitching to the brand. Most of the endorsements we do are very chill and very organic. If an artist is already using Adam Audio stuff, we help them upgrade and then we profile the artist. (…) And obviously there has to be a profile for it to be relevant for us. However, if an artist is very low-key, very underground and hasn’t started yet and pitches something to me that has actual value, like educational value, or be it a tutorial series, then it’s not really relevant about the artist profile because they could be ticking a box that I need to tick.’
– Mark Cummins, Head of Product Marketing at Adam Audio
‘If we have a product shoot for a new product, or we have a new campaign and create some assets, a lot of times we work with small musicians because for us it’s just important that there is a musician showing the product in the right environment with the right application, but not necessarily with a familiar face. Of course, in the US sometimes we do such campaigns but for us locally it’s just important to have a genuine person using the product.’
– Marco Stiegler, Marketing Specialist at Shure
At the re-string and re-skin workshops with D’Addario and Evans Drumheads, students were also able to get a fresh set of strings put on their guitars as well as get a new Evans UV head put on their snares for free.
We thank all of our guests for sharing their knowledge and advice with our students and can’t wait for our next Careers Day!
